[DADA POSTING]
As promised, here is a recap of our weekend with pictures below. Evy is still doing well, and isn't yet feeling all the effects of this round of chemo, which should kick in within the next day or two...
On Saturday, Growing Hope, which is a charity that was started by one of the Child Life specialists at the clinic, Margy (pronounced "Monkey" by Evy...) and several parents of kids in treatment, held their annual charity walk. It is run in conjunction with the Optimists' Club of Vienna, who, true to form, were a very upbeat group. It was in an area of Vienna right next to the W&OD trail, which is used by lots of bikers, walkers, runners, etc., and it was next to a park where there is a red caboose. There was also a farmers' market going on next door at the same time, and it was a sunny morning, so there were tons of people out and about.
There was face painting, and Stella and Anna (big sis to Sadie, who went finished treatment earlier this year) both got butterflies on their faces. Stella just sat there kinda stunned as the lady painted her, not completely sure what to do. Maybe because the lady just paints right over their eyes, which I thought might cause trouble but didn't. Evy was not having it, and so just got a flower and butterfly on her arm, just like dad (although mine wore off pretty quickly). There was also a dunk tank, which mesmerized the girls, a moonbounce, which the girls were able to get on after it closed so the other kids weren't in there to trample Evy, and some different musicians and story-tellers.
So the event was a success, and raised lots of money for a great group. Near the end, our friends Matilda (from protons in Boston), Anna, and Amelia joined us. We played on the caboose for a while (waiting for it to open, which never happened), then we terrorized Whole Foods for a while, before heading over to the park to let the girls run crazy for a while. We all had a great time, and the girls were exhausted when we got in the car.
On Sunday, another charity group, DC Candlelighters, were sponsoring a day out for families at Cox Farms, which is a giant pumpkin patch farm, complete with food, music, games, slides, etc. It was amazing! We were a little worried it would be closed due to weather, but we went anyway, meeting up with Jade (treatment pal) and her sister Hailey. The weather kept getting better and better, and it was sunny and hot by days end. Again, the girls were going non-stop all day. We went down the giant slides, we crawled through the hay bale maze, we danced, we got all hopped up on kettle corn, and we went through the corn maze. The best part was a section called "Farm Chores," which sounds pretty painful, but the girls loved. Of course, they don't do "Home Chores" but we'll work on that. One of the features of this section was a conveyor belt that you dumped corn on, then ran around and caught the corn in buckets, then went and refilled the hopper, etc. Stella was in full work mode, and spent a solid hour shuttling buckets of corn back and forth. It was impressive. Naturally, Evy thought it was way more fun to chuck corn everywhere and dump in on her and others' heads. There was also a fake cow filled with water that you could "milk," (see pics...) and a water pumping section. Maybe if we install a toy conveyor belt, the girls would be more into cleaning up. The girls were once again totally wiped at the end of the day. They love playing with other kids, especially older girls who they can watch in awe and chase after, so it was a perfect weekend for them.. Then monday brought us back to normality with chemo.
So, here are some pics. Enjoy!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Weekend Pics I
Stella getting 'flied.
Anna compares their paint.
Amelia and Stella hopping off the train.
Matilda, sporting her cute post-chemo bob.
Stella climbs a tree.
Weekend Pics II
This was the closest I got to getting all 5 girls together for a pic. Stella is running through the frame, and Amelia is off playing with a worm she found. Oh well, still cute (Matilda is on the left and Anna is on the right).
Jade and Stella.
Mini Me! Which, as an aside, it what I wanted to dress Evy up as for Halloween, with me as Dr. Evil, but Jill thought it would be less fun for her than for me.
And Jill thinks nursing twins is hard...These are 10 day old piglets.
Stella was enthralled by the pig show.
Weekend Pics III
Evy is infamous.
Stella, after hitting the bottle (pictured) at the "Bottoms Up Saloon".
Evy can never stop smiling long enough to play asleep. Which reminds that lately, one of her favorite games is to hide, then have people come look for her. A couple flaws in her hiding skills: 1) She hides mostly in plain sight, 2) She will often keep hiding in the same spot over and over, and 3) as you look for her, and say things like "is she in the cupboard?", she'll say "nooooo," not realizing that sort of gives away her position. Of course, she smiles wildly and laughs the whole time, and doesn't tire of the game at all. Adorable.
S&E catch some corn. Which sounds like a weird euphemism, but isn't.
Stella hard at work.
Weekend Pics IV
Jade works on her milking skills.
Evy. Being cute.
Evy. Hurling corn at her father.
Evy rolls in her John Deere.
Hailey helping Evy work the utter.
Weekend Pics V
Refilling the water in the "cow", AKA learning where "milk" come from. That's why we're vegan!
Evy, when she was actually playing how you're supposed to.
Jade and Stella cruise in their tractor.
Evy shows Hailey how the water pumps work.
Stella trying to figure how she can simultaneously pump the water and put her hands in it.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
9.29.10
Our little sweetheart finished getting her 15th round of chemo meds today. Now we'll just deal with the aftermath and push on for just two more after this. Can't believe we are so close- time has been flying and now that we are so close I feel like it is just inching along again... soon enough this little girl will be able to just be a little girl.
The Make A Wish people are coming soon to ask Evy what she wants for her wish... we have talked about them creating a huge playroom for the girls in the second story of our detached garage. Last night when Brian went in to the bedroom to go to sleep Evy was stirring from a dream and said, "Wish! Playroom!" She is just so excited. I love that this charity exists to put something really happy at the end of treatment. Whenever she hears the word "wish" she freaks out. You can tell how out of touch I am with normal people that I was recently talking with a friend about Make A Wish and I was saying how I wondered how they stayed afloat because everyone I know is getting a wish. Um, gee, Jill, not everyone's kid has a really serious illness. Took me a second to remember that!
The Make A Wish people are coming soon to ask Evy what she wants for her wish... we have talked about them creating a huge playroom for the girls in the second story of our detached garage. Last night when Brian went in to the bedroom to go to sleep Evy was stirring from a dream and said, "Wish! Playroom!" She is just so excited. I love that this charity exists to put something really happy at the end of treatment. Whenever she hears the word "wish" she freaks out. You can tell how out of touch I am with normal people that I was recently talking with a friend about Make A Wish and I was saying how I wondered how they stayed afloat because everyone I know is getting a wish. Um, gee, Jill, not everyone's kid has a really serious illness. Took me a second to remember that!
Monday, September 27, 2010
9.27.10
Round 15 of chemo began today with a spinal tap/lumbar puncture to fill her spine and brain with noxious chemicals. Lovely, right? With each round of chemo my distaste for it grows. It's obviously a love/hate relationship. Thank you, chemo, for destroying cancer cells. Screw you, chemo, for being quite so bad ass.
This past weekend we decided to pack as much fun in as possible before chemo began. I'll have Brian post pics of the merriment soon.
This past weekend we decided to pack as much fun in as possible before chemo began. I'll have Brian post pics of the merriment soon.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
9.23.10--MRI & OT Party
[DADA POSTING]
This morning started off with some fun, as Evy had an OT appointment, which also helped to take her mind off of the fact that she couldn't eat. Our OT specialist, Emily, brought over various party supplies, so we played dress-up (those are Emily's former dance costumes) and had a great time.
Then, Evy and I headed off to the hospital for her MRI. We had a bit of wait, but then went right in when they took us back. When she woke up, they did a quick EKG and echocardiogram to make sure everything was good before her next round of chemo. She was a bit cranky during this, but made it through, and then we were on our way home. All in all, she did great, and although we haven't heard any official word, we always take it as a good sign that they send us home right away (figuring that if they saw a giant tumor or something they would have us stay and call in our doctors).
After a bit of nausea, Evy was back in action and we're looking forward to the weekend!
This morning started off with some fun, as Evy had an OT appointment, which also helped to take her mind off of the fact that she couldn't eat. Our OT specialist, Emily, brought over various party supplies, so we played dress-up (those are Emily's former dance costumes) and had a great time.
Then, Evy and I headed off to the hospital for her MRI. We had a bit of wait, but then went right in when they took us back. When she woke up, they did a quick EKG and echocardiogram to make sure everything was good before her next round of chemo. She was a bit cranky during this, but made it through, and then we were on our way home. All in all, she did great, and although we haven't heard any official word, we always take it as a good sign that they send us home right away (figuring that if they saw a giant tumor or something they would have us stay and call in our doctors).
After a bit of nausea, Evy was back in action and we're looking forward to the weekend!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
9.22.10
Yesterday we went to the clinic. Evy's counts were back up so on the way home we stopped for lunch at Whole Foods. Evy was very excited to be in a store and to get pizza for lunch, but of course she didn't eat a bite of it!
The girls and I just got home from the park near our house. The girls loved it. So nice to see them doing something normal.
Tomorrow we have an MRI. Let's hope it is NED.
The girls and I just got home from the park near our house. The girls loved it. So nice to see them doing something normal.
Tomorrow we have an MRI. Let's hope it is NED.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
9.15.10
Just a quick update: Evy had a nauseous day today and barely kept any food down. Her counts should be bottoming out any minute now. Despite it all, she still has her sweet smile on her face and loves to play with Stella. She got platelets yesterday and is due for hemoglobin on Friday. Week 43! 10 more weeks! 3 more rounds!
Kicking cancer in the bummy!
If anyone wants to know what it feels like to win the lotto, email me. (:
Kicking cancer in the bummy!
If anyone wants to know what it feels like to win the lotto, email me. (:
Saturday, September 11, 2010
9.11.10
[DADA POSTING]
Today was the last day of chemo for week 42, which we had to do in the hospital since we got pushed back a day with the holiday on Monday. We were technically admitted, but we just played for a few hours while they got the chemo ready. This week has gone pretty smoothly, with just a bit of nausea (and a blown out tire on Friday while Mama and the girls we en route to chemo...). Hopefully Evy won't feel too bad as her counts drop next week.
I've posted a bunch of pictures below. As Jill had mentioned, we got to go to Kings Dominion last weekend, and the girls loved it. You can see from the pics that Stella did a great job driving her little red convertible, and then the girls drove the Jeep together (although it was just a little too big for them. And yes, they are in the Jeep in that second shot). They also got to meet Snoopy, and they were in complete awe of all the people dressed up as the Peanuts gang. Stella especially wasn't quite sure what to make of them. We also got to spend some time there with our friends Anna and Sadie, and as you can see Anna and Stella had a great time playing together. The other pics are the girls modeling the shirts and bag that the gals at work made for the bake sale. They came out great and the girls loved them. Evy liked hers so much that she ended up sleeping in hers on top of her other shirt, and we had to rip it off her this morning in order to change her.
Monday will be week 43! It should bring the usual round of dropping counts, possible blood and platelet transfusions, keeping fingers crossed for no fevers, etc. But it will also mean one week less until the end of treatment...
Today was the last day of chemo for week 42, which we had to do in the hospital since we got pushed back a day with the holiday on Monday. We were technically admitted, but we just played for a few hours while they got the chemo ready. This week has gone pretty smoothly, with just a bit of nausea (and a blown out tire on Friday while Mama and the girls we en route to chemo...). Hopefully Evy won't feel too bad as her counts drop next week.
I've posted a bunch of pictures below. As Jill had mentioned, we got to go to Kings Dominion last weekend, and the girls loved it. You can see from the pics that Stella did a great job driving her little red convertible, and then the girls drove the Jeep together (although it was just a little too big for them. And yes, they are in the Jeep in that second shot). They also got to meet Snoopy, and they were in complete awe of all the people dressed up as the Peanuts gang. Stella especially wasn't quite sure what to make of them. We also got to spend some time there with our friends Anna and Sadie, and as you can see Anna and Stella had a great time playing together. The other pics are the girls modeling the shirts and bag that the gals at work made for the bake sale. They came out great and the girls loved them. Evy liked hers so much that she ended up sleeping in hers on top of her other shirt, and we had to rip it off her this morning in order to change her.
Monday will be week 43! It should bring the usual round of dropping counts, possible blood and platelet transfusions, keeping fingers crossed for no fevers, etc. But it will also mean one week less until the end of treatment...
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