Winding Down

Wow, what a weekend we've had.

I'm needing another one to recover from this one.

We've just run from one thing to another.

Greer went to her best friend's birthday party the other night.. 

 a glow in the dark dart party.

 Reese went with her little friend, Morgan to their school's carnival- where

Reese informed me she is one lucky girl.

Guess we should take her to Vegas in that she won a prize at every game she tried.

 And then tonight we celebrated my (much, much, much older) brother's 50th birthday

and Holland's soon to be 12th birthday at my parent's house tonight.

 As for Keanut, he had his moments today but overall, is progressing toward

the happier boy we know and love.

At the beginning of this weekend, I would've bet I'd be making a trip to the E.R.

Thankfully, that didn't happen and life has continued on uninterrupted.

Love this picture of my dad giving him a jelly bean.

Somehow, he's trained every one of his grand kids to know

that Grandpa is always good for a treat.

This so reminds me of my childhood.



Out!

Good news.

Keanut was much better today.

Oh, he's still grouchy and off but he's loads better than he was yesterday.

And trust me, that is huge.

While he took a nap today, (yes, Byron was home) the girls and I

headed out to the mall.

Holland's birthday is in a few days and we promised her

she could get her ears pierced when she turns 12.

So today was the big day.

If you can't tell, she was quite nervous (and excited).



 I think the worst part was the anticipation.

 She now has two cute sparkly aquamarine earrings.

Should've taken a close-up.

But here she is with her friend Rachael and Greer with her friend Lorienne.

 The getting the ears pierced only took minutes.

It was the looking at all the stuff in the store that took an hour.

These crazy girls!

 Oh and my husband is wonderful.

He watched the kiddos so I could get a much needed break--

a girls night out birthday dinner for my friend Joannah.

Not only am I full... I'm recharged

and ready to keep going.

Ick, Ug and Yuck

Is there a word in the English language that means way more than exhausted?

Kean has had one heck of a rough day.

He has cried and whined for oh, about ten hours (with a few breaks to recharge).

He doesn't have a fever and I can't see any mouth sores.

But I do know one of the Chemo drugs he got on Tuesday causes jaw pain.

He's been grinding his teeth like nobody's business.

So perhaps that's the culprit.

 It got so bad today, I took him out for a walk thinking the chance to be outside would cheer him.

Nope.  We turned around after a short jaunt.

I came back, called the doc and while I waited for the return call, I opened a package

from my childhood best friend, April.

She had heard this mom interviewed on NPR yesterday about how she had

learned to cook specifically for her son's mouth sores, Neutropenia, constipation

and all the other lovely side effects that come with Cancer and Chemo.

She ordered the book yesterday and look what showed up today.

 Can we all say "perfect timing"?

I opened it up and while Kean sputtered unhappily on the couch, I whipped

up a strawberry, blueberry, honey yogurt smoothie.

 And voila... not only did he love it and drink most of it,

he stopped crying and was actually happy for a little while.

Talk about perfect timing.

His Cancer doctor called back and wanted me to bring him in

to check him over since he seemed so off.

Since he was finally feeling a bit better, I won out to let him

stay home and take a nap.

He was somewhat better after his shortened nap (dang Steroids)...

so we dodged the bullet for now.

No hospital trips today.

Nothing like being saved by a cookbook or a smoothie.

Either way, I'll take it!

A Long Week

Boy Wonder spent the day with Grandpa and Grammy so I could

finish day two of disability training.  It's been a long time since

I've had to spend that many hours in a classroom taking notes.

Other than being extremely tired, Kean did well today.

And his evil twin brother-- Steroid Boy-- was a bit more reserved tonight

versus last night.

The biggest fit he threw was while waiting for his Poppa to take him on

a motorcycle ride.

Nothing like a little ride before bedtime to calm the spirits.

And there's nothing like being surrounded by adoring girls.

I can't tell you how glad I am that this week is almost over.

Friday is a welcomed guest.

The Devil Made Me Do It

My younger brother Marc is going to kill me for writing this.

I remember when we were kids, I swear, he could've won an Academy Award.

The boy had all of his teachers snookered.  They'd tell my parents how he was a model

child, kind, courteous and oh, so well mannered.

He was Mr. Hyde at home.

All spit, vinegar and fury.

In fact, I secretly referred to him as Satan's spawn.

(Thankfully, he grew out of that and is an incredible brother now).

My point is, Kean clearly takes after his Uncle Marc, the younger version.

I had to go to the first day of a two day disability training meeting.

My mom watched Keanut for the morning and my dear friend Kim Leach

took over for the afternoon.

When I got home, Kean was soooo sweet-- hugging on her, hugging on me, then back to her.

I was worried about leaving him after yesterday's Chemo-- but Kim told me he was wonderful.

Yep, he was until about an hour after she left.



Then Angel Boy turned into Anger Boy.

Old shades of Uncle Marc emerged.

I'm pretty sure we can blame it on the steroids Kean is back on again.



 Thankfully he's only on it for ten times each month

and won't end up going back to the Buddha Baby stage (see below).

But we will get Roid Rage Boy.

Oh well.

p.s. Byron opened up our one remaining hive tonight.

It looks healthy and thriving.

Keep your fingers crossed the little guys survive and we get some honey-- yum.

A New Beginning

Today marked the first day of the final phase of Chemo for Kean.

Of course, that final phase will last until September 13, 2015... but it is the final phase--

the one, we've been hoping we'd make it to.

 Kean has been quite lethargic and so we were all surprised when he made his counts

today and we could go forward with Chemo.

Of course, he doesn't look too low energy here.

He likes his music loud and proud and wasn't too happy when we turned it down.

 All went well with the boy while he was under.

This new phase of Chemo (Maintenance) calls for a Spinal Tap

every three months (instead of every month)!!!!!!

 I always flee while the docs do their thing and Kean is under.

Today, I joined Dustin Simpson and Lori Swanson who are two of the main

players from our board putting on the fundraising concert (Baldapalooza) to help raise money

for the Pediatric Oncology Unit.  On the right, is Zoe from St. Luke's Foundation

who was giving us a tour.

I only joined in for part of the tour-- frankly, been there, done that, and lived that.

 They kept the tour going while I waited for Keanut to wake up.

It was a great opportunity for Dustin and Lori to catch the vision of

what the concert is all about.

 We had no bumps in the road today with the procedure... Kean

did great.  He's just still extremely tired.

This new phase should be interesting- much easier than what we've been through

but still interesting.

He likely will only have Chemo at the hospital once a month -- whoo hoo!

But he's back on Steroids (yuck, they make his evil twin come out) for a week out

of each month, he's on an oral Chemo drug each night (6 MP) and then an oral

dose of Methotrexate (another Chemo drug) just once a week.

Let's hope he continues to be a rock star.

Duct Duct Goose

Am I the only one with kids obsessed with duct tape?

Greer made a wallet last night and then came up with this Abe Lincoln look.

She's crazy fun, that one.

 As for Keanut, he seemed awfully tired today.

About half an hour after he got up this morning, he was signing that he wanted to go to sleep.

However, he did find enough energy to clean out my cupboards.

 He goes in tomorrow for Chemo.

If his counts are high enough he's scheduled for another one of those dang Spinal Taps...

where they put Chemo into his brain and spine.

He seemed so low energy today, it makes me think he won't make counts.

But clearly.. I know nothing.  In the past, when he's been full of energy, I have been

shocked when he's failed to make counts.

We'll see tomorrow if we have a very long day or a very short day.