Bittersweet

As is our family tradition, we spent Sunday evening at my folk's house.

Kean has a new passion-- Drum Stick Ice Cream with a fudge center.

Given a choice of bacon or a Drum Stick-- I'm really not sure which he'd choose.

 We also crossed the street to visit our dear friend Janice, her husband Bob and her mom, Crickett.

Janice, if you remember, has an extremely aggressive form of Cancer.

Months of brutal Radiation and Chemotherapy have done nothing.

The tumors in her stomach have doubled in size and the doctors

here have told her there is nothing more they can do.

So she and her family are heading to the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Ohio

with the hopes of having surgery and getting on some type of experimental treatment.

The girls have sung for her in the past and she has "claimed" to love it...

so they went over tonight with a big poster they made for her and put on a show.

 Here's a little taste of their repertoire.

They really tried to keep it fun and entertaining.

We hate to see them go... but we know this is her one shot at saving her life.

Keep her in your prayers.  We will.

She's a pretty special lady and we sure hope her positive attitude

will put her over into the beating Cancer category.

Hooters

My dear friend Pam came over to watch the kiddos tonight

and shooed Byron and I off on a date.

We, of course, cracked all kinds of jokes about

not knowing what a date is....

But somehow we muddled through

and you'll have to laugh.

We ended up having dinner at Hooter's.

Ok, so not a choice for either of us.

But our crazy friend, Mark Borup

gave Byron a gift card for Hooter's for his

birthday.

I figured I'd much rather be there with my husband

and get a good laugh out of the sights and sounds...

And let's just say it was, um, entertaining.

I really don't think people go there for the food.

Mr. Giggleston

Since we live in the hills overlooking Boise, it is illegal for us to even light

so much as a sparkler. Last night, we (along with our friends Stacy and Brett) just sat outside and watched

the fireworks all over the valley.  It was great.

 Frankly, I didn't miss trying to keep the kids from

turning into little pyros.

And lucky us, forget the fireworks, we saw quite the show.

Someone less than a mile away was lighting off illegal fireworks

and literally, seconds after Byron pointed out the embers falling from the sky

and said there would be fire-- yep, you guessed it, there was a fire in a field.

All the kids were way into watching the flames flare up, get beaten down and then

see the fleet of fire trucks and police cars race to the area.

Pretty exciting stuff--- even better than the lights in the sky!

This morning came too early though.

Luckily, we had Lindsay over this morning to work with Kean.



 She took him to the park for a little while and then came home and

helped me (and Reese) read and sing to him-- really we were just trying to

keep him occupied so he wouldn't pull his hearing aid out.

And it worked.  He only yanked it out once or twice.

So we are making progress.

 This evening we went swimming with the Moomey's and their grandchildren.

Kean was a wild man-- and I'm talking wild!

I swear the boy thinks he is Michael Phelps.

He flips around, kicks and tries to float on his back.

He's crazy in the pool-- I feel like I'm trying to hold onto jello.

He has definitely turned a corner and is feeling much better

after Monday's Chemo.

So good to have Mister Giggleston back.

(The girls made that nickname up, not me).  

Yee Haw

Hopefully, you are out enjoying the Fourth's fireworks instead of reading this!

But, boy, oh boy, did we have a fun packed day.

Kean had his third horse therapy lesson and I swear, he is already a pro.

 He rode the entire session (30 minutes) and was smiling and loving every minute.

In fact, he was pushing both of us on either side of him away-- he didn't want us to hold on to him.

Our now favorite horse, Reba was perfect.  She'd snort and Kean would snort.

Watch out Special Olympics... I think we have a contender.

Kean hung out with Grammy and Grandpa while the rest of us headed to Middleton

for their country fourth of July parade.  

 One of my best friends in the world, Stacy Fuller and her family

are in visiting from Arizona.

The parade was great... lots of candy for the kids, horses, antique cars

and even fire trucks that squirted down the crowd.

 We walked around after the parade to see all the antique cars.

Then we all headed to Grandpa Bodily's to swim for a few hours.

Finally, we headed back to my folks for BBQ ribs, salmon

and all kinds of yummy food.

Joining all of us, were my parents neighbors-- we celebrated Crickett's

birthday with patriotic cupcakes made by Katy.

 This is my mom's neighbor, Janice.  We all have fallen in love with her

and her family.  She is in the throes of fighting for her life.

She has a very aggressive form of Uterine Cancer.

We all get together and swap horror stories of her meds

and Kean's meds.  Her nausea experiences and Kean's nausea experiences.

I think Kean inspires her to keep fighting.

And she certainly inspires us to keep fighting.

Keanut Gump

You know that's what Byron calls Kean-- ever since he got leg braces.

Kean's ankles are super floppy and he's been hyper extending his knees.

This morning, an Orthopedist made a home visit to check him out and re-measure.

Yes, the parade of appointments never ends.

 The good news is he's getting rid of the higher braces that keep him from

hyper extending his knees-- he's improved in that department.

The bad news is his feet are turning in more, so he's getting a more

aggressive foot brace that will go up to the ankle only.

While we are talking appliances, I got Kean to wear his hearing aid

for a solid 15 to 20 minutes while we read stories and sang songs.

I'm trying to make it a fun time for him (and keep him distracted from yanking it out).

I've really been lax in that department since he got sick.

He had a decent day-- wasn't into doing any therapy whatsoever

and threw up a few times... but he seemed much happier than yesterday

So I think he's getting back to his normal.



The Bionic Boy

I could tell Kean was off today-- but geez, who wouldn't be after the doses of Chemo

he got yesterday through the Spinal Tap, then one in his port and finally one

orally at bedtime.

He only threw up once today-- so he's definitely turning a corner.

Personally, I think the boy really doesn't know any different than

probably feeling a bit rotten here and there.

He sure is a trooper.

Case in point, my friend Pam Brown dropped in today, just in time to

accompany us for his hearing aid fitting.



 Kean wasn't too thrilled with the whole process

but he put up with it (and us).

 Poor guy.  He really just wanted us to leave him alone

so he could watch Cars.

His new hearing aid seems to fit him great.

But the real work will start tomorrow when I try to get him

to actually wear it and not pull it out.

May the odds ever be in my favor!

Super Chemo Man

Big exhale.

Kean did great today.

(He's vomited twice tonight and had the runs... but he did great today).

Stephanie Simpson (on the right) was our Chemo date today... as was

my cousin's daughter, Christina.  She is the Valley's Junior Miss

and wants to go serenade the little Cancer kiddos with her beautiful voice.



 Today we made her sing for Kean while he got his blood drawn

(and thankfully after last week's stresser, it worked perfectly), while

they took his vitals and when they de-accessed his port.

 He's gone down a bit in his counts (to the 600's) but the doc said no matter what,

in this phase, they move forward with the Lumbar Puncture (Spinal Tap to put

Chemo in his brain and spine).

I'm sure you can't tell, but Kean is in this picture, that's him on the bed, 

under the hands of the RespiratoryTherapist.

 I guess they had some kind of emergency coming in, so the doctors were

in a hurry to get Kean's procedure done before they were pulled.

I swear, they had him out and done in record time.

Our boy just took his own sweet time (as usual) coming back to consciousness.

Guess who came home from Texas tonight-- our sweet Greer.

I didn't capture it, but Kean was thrilled.

 And oh, was he ever happy to see his Grammy.

Me too!