Doesn't Get Any Better....

Now that the snow and ice have forced Motorcycle Jeff, Motorcycle Bill

and Byron into hiatus, this has become the favorite substitute.

And oh, it never, ever gets old.

A Pregnancy

Nine months ladies and gentlemen.

Nine months.

The time it takes to bring a baby full term into this world

is the same amount

of time we have left for Kean's Chemo.

We are getting there, aren't we!

I also had to show you something special that came in the mail.

Kean got his first "Joy Jar".

A little girl by the name of Jessie Joy Rees died of cancer at age 12.

Her family keeps her memory alive and continues her legacy of love

by sending little packages of encouragement

to other children fighting cancer.

 Kean's was filled with a puzzle, cards, a slinky, toys and a hat and socks

that say NEGU-- never, ever give up!

They asked for the ages and sex of Kean's siblings as well.

I have a feeling we might see more of these little

pick me up Joy Jars in the mail in the future.

Back To Work

Don't know about anyone else but it was rough getting

back into the swing of things after having a few weeks off

to play and party (oh yeah, and to be sick).

Kean made it to his little therapy school and was just okay--

not great but not wanting to work much either.

I think it will take a while for each of us to get

out of the play all the time mode.

Back On Track

My computer is in the shop

but I did want to update that Kean is doing much better!

So much better, that I did get to cancel his trip on Friday to

the hospital.

Lucky me, I did get to go by myself to drop by a stool sample

for the boy but that was admittedly much better than

spending the day there for tests and IV fluids.

 The girls have been wonderful at helping me keep him

entertained.

He got this train for Christmas last year.

He was pretty content to watch it go round and round

a few times--

but decided it was much more fun to whack it off the tracks!

Aye, yai, yai, boys!

Night and Day

Oh am I ever happy to announce Kean is definitely doing better.

He looks better, is eating some, drinking some

and playing some.

He only threw up once today-- and that was his regular

"chuck up" from the nasty Chemo he takes one time a week.

I hope I don't jinx myself by saying I think we may even

be able to cancel tomorrow's hospital appointment to get more

fluids and see the doc.

Thanks for those prayers and good wishes.

They sure are working.

And yes, we are off to a better start for 2015.

Goodbye and Good Riddance!

I am so glad 2014 is in the rear view mirror in a matter of moments!

Kean sure knows how to end the year with a bang.

We spent the last day of 2014 at the hospital.

He woke up this morning and was limp, lethargic

and just a hair this side of comatose.

Guess I shouldn't be surprised.

We've had a heck of a time getting Kean to eat and drink

much over the past several days.

Add that with the fact he's had the runs and did vomit--

and it was pretty much expected we'd have another

one of his scary episodes.

We took him in today for what we thought would be a 

relatively quick trip to the hospital for some IV fluids

and blood counts.

 Our quick trip turned into a marathon and quite the ordeal for this cute boy.

 First off, once the nurses accessed his port, they couldn't get

any blood out -- and not for the lack of trying.

That meant, an order was sent off to the pharmacy for some TPA

to try and thin the clots.

Which really means a ton of waiting-- waiting for the med to be made

and then waiting forever for it to work its magic.

In the meantime, we met with the doc-- you'd think Kean was

being tortured by the amount of screaming he did.

His left ear has signs of an infection-- lots of gunk.

By the time she cleaned that out, oh, man, was he ever steamed.

It took three of us to hold him down-- and the really bad news is

he somehow dislodged the needle in his chest/port and some of the

fluids went into his skin instead of his port-- which meant a lot of 

swelling around his port.

Argggghhhhhh.

They then had to pull out his needle, let the swelling go down

and start all over again.

This time it HURT him and there was lots of blood.

It was awful-- not only a long day for our guy but a traumatic one too.

 The good news is, the second time worked perfectly-

we got his blood (his counts are safe) and gave him lots of fluid

to help with the dehydration.

We had our sweet little Reese along (for what I thought would be

an easy, quick trip).

Hope we didn't further traumatize the child!!!

She was so helpful and cute.

We are scheduled to go back Friday to check him

and get more fluids.

Hoping, oh so hoping, that won't be necessary.

Wouldn't it be nice to kick 2015 off nice, quiet and BORING?!?!?

Birthday Blessings

Yawn.

A lot has happened since I wrote last night.

Kean was up-- quite miserable -- from 1:30 to 6 a.m.

Which means I was up with him.

Poor little guy was still feverish but not high enough to earn a trip to the hospital.

He did earn a bath and mom and dad getting to wash bedding and his clothes

in the middle of the night (ick) but by morning he was starving

(good sign) and the fever was all but gone.

The way I look at it is what a gift.

We didn't end up in the Emergency Room-- so that gives

us much to be thankful for.

Especially Reese.  When he started throwing up last night,

she burst into tears, ran and hid in her room.

My sensitive girl lives in fear of us leaving her for the hospital again.

Even though Kean is not feeling great, I had a wonderful day.

My friend, Calene kidnapped me for lunch where we joined

8 of our friends for a long, leisurely lunch.

Three of us were celebrating birthdays.

Then this evening, the Bodily's offered to watch Kean

and Byron's mom took all of us out for dinner.

Yum-- ribs! 

 Byron's mom leaves us tomorrow to head back to Montana.

What a treat it has been to have her here for the holidays.

Thank you for all of your prayers for Kean

and birthday wishes for me.

It means so much.