Chase Potty Training

And here is the other reason why I have not posted for so long.  We have been a little busy with the potty training.  I decided that is was time because these next two weeks are the only weeks in the next three years (as long as his counts don't drop to low, but that is not planned) that he will not have chemo in his system.  We have had to wear gloves every time we change his diaper and I was not going to have TOXIC pee all over my house while trying to potty train.  So it was now or never!!!  Chase decided now was good.  He started yesterday and had three accidents in the morning.  By the forth he had the hang of it and we have not had another accident since.  He went all day today dry....even nap time!  He gets a prize from the dollar store every time and I think he can pee on demand now because he asks to go potty just so he can get a prize, but it is working.  We will for sure be out of prizes by tomorrow so I hope he keeps going even without a reward.  Maybe we will just get a fruit snack or something every time.  Who knows, maybe he wont even care anymore.  I am just so proud of him.  Here is a glimpse of our last couple days.

While he was still trying to get all the chemo out of his system we got him geared up for the potty.  Abby found his underwear for him and he then carried it around with him in his buzz scooter bag.  One day he wanted to bring them all with him in the car while taking Abby to dance.  I said no and then then he very nicely said he would put them in a basket to carry them.  So he packed up his underwear and hopped in the car.  And as you can see in the picture below he also had to sleep with them.  He saw the Buzz pull ups on TV so I got some while I was making my once a week visit to the store.  He was pumped.  So needless to say we were ready and just waiting for the chemo to be gone.  All the prep work paid off because so far it has been super easy.  (I may tell you different next week)

 He was so excited about this prize so he could shoot the bad guys.  We laughed because it is from the dollar store and broke after about 5 minutes.

 Sportin' his new undies.

He was entertaining me while "waiting for the poop to come out."

Princess Leia and Some Blood

I have been a slacker.  I have lots to make up and hopefully I don't miss anything so here's to another long post. 
First, Abby had a friends birthday party to go to.  It was a Star Wars party and she kept telling me that she wanted to be Yoda.  I asked her what Yoda looked like because she has never seen Star Wars.  She told me that she needed to have some white clothes and big buns that cover her ears.  I laughed, and then told her Yoda is short, green, with pointy ears.  She wanted to be Princess Leia and had no idea what her name was.  She had a blast and who wouldn't at a Weir party.  They always know how to throw a party.  Tiago and his dad (Darth) even had a little show down and Tiago killed his dad......Always a party at their house I am sure!!!

We finished up our IV chemo at home last Sunday.  It was so nice to be done and get all the poison out of our house.  I hated having it in my fridge and I hated the yellow box full of all the waist and they are both GONE!  Another two weeks behind us.  At our last clinic apt they told us that we should expect to have to get a transfusion at some point in the next couple weeks.  When Chase started his second round of Ara-C (at home IV chemo) some of his blood counts were low.  Platelets were still good, but ANC had dropped to 500 and his Hct was at 25%.  The nurse at Primary's told me that they will transfuse at 24%.  So we were just above the magic number, but we still had four days of IV chemo and a week of oral chemo to go.  I was pretty sure we would be getting some blood.  Last Sunday we did his last dose of Ara-c and I didn't take his line out.  I decided to leave it in until morning and call primary's to come do a CBC because he was set up to do one on Thursday but he was so pale I didn't feel comfortable waiting and it would be having to have him re-accessed again and he HATES it.  So taking even one access out of the millions he has had and will have in the future was huge to me and I am sure he would have said the same if he could tell me.  So the nurse came out on Monday and did a CBC.  Sure enough his Hct was 21% with an ANC holding steady at 500 again.  His platelets still looked great so they called our nurse to come back out and do a type and screen.  This is to get Chase's blood type.  YES, I know we should know his blood type and we do, but they have told us that with blood transfusions the more you have the more likely that your blood type will change....didn't even know that was possible!  So after she did that, which saved us sitting in a hospital room for two hours waiting for the type and screen to come back and then prepare the blood, we just hung out waiting for them to call.  I took Abby to music class and got back in time to get a few things packed up.  Ashton walked in the door and just after my phone rang.  Chase and I were off to the hospital.  So great that we didn't have to drive 5 hours up and 5 hours back just to get blood.  I love DRMC!  The nurses up there are so sweet and treat Chase like he is the coolest EVER!  Once we got there they brought in his pre-med.  Because he had and allergic reaction to platelets then every time he gets any blood they pre-med him with Tylenol and Benedryl.  I am happy about this because the last thing I want is a fever while getting blood and then have to stay for 48 hours.  That happened once while getting platelets and he had even taken pre med too :(  I had my mind on blood all afternoon and didn't even think about the pre-med.  We got there and they had SYRINGES of both ready to go.  I didn't want to complain and wait for tablets from the pharm because sometimes it takes forever to get it.  So Chase said he would try (seriously he is the best kid ever).  He got down two syringes and then the throw up look came to his eyes.  The nurse ran for a bucket (why didn't we already have one.....again I was not thinking).  After he threw back up what we just gave him and all over his clothes we got a tablet of Tylenol and did the benedryl IV.  Much better!!!  Then the blood started flowing.  It takes at least 2 1/2 hours for the blood and then they have to watch them for 30 min and monitor vitals and all that fun stuff.  Chase was out of it and so tired when we started.  That is what happens when you have no blood, but once he got about 30 min. behind him he was up and ready to play again.  He ordered some food, got his cars out, and watched Lightening McQueen.  He was loving it!  He has had a scratch on his head for a few days and he has to have a band aid on it.  Well, I took it off before going to the hospital so he wouldn't have a big band aid in the middle of his forehead.  He reached up and felt that there was no band aid and said to me, "it is still broken! I need a band aid!"  He was in the right place.  The nurse had one on his head before he could even ask again.  So after five hours in the hospital Chase and I got home about 10:30 to sleep in our own beds.  We were successful in not getting a fever.  YAY!

Chase now has more energy than I can handle, but at least he feels better.  Gotta love that kid.

Go Check out the Stretchy Pants

I know I posted about the Christmas show Santa's Elves that was done by Pickleville Playhouse up to USU in Logan.  Well, now they are doing three encore performances of their AWESOMELY AWESOME "Bandito rides again." It is coming up quick on Feb. 5th and 7th.  I have not seen this show.  I had tickets to it and instead we ended up at Primary Children's Hospital and were being told that our two year old had Leukemia.  Not the way I had hoped to spend my vacation, but we are doing good so I will not complain.  I KNOW that is show will not disappoint.  My daughter was able to go with Grandma while we stayed at the hospital with Chase and she loved it.  They have some video clips on their facebook page.  Go check them out.  They are only the beginning of how funny this show is.  Click here to see the videos.  If you want to go see this show head over to their website here for tickets and show times.  It is worth a drive to Logan if you do not live there....I promise!!

Sunday Box

Last week at church our lesson was on the Sabbath Day.  One of the sisters shared an idea that I instantly knew I was going to use.  That very next day we made our Sunday Box for FHE and my kids were so excited to open it yesterday and use the stuff we had put inside.  It was a hit.  The box has to be hid during the week so that it is special and only comes out on Sunday.  It was almost like Christmas morning when they opened the box to see what was inside.  This was good for our family because Chase doesn't even get to go to church and I feel like he has no idea what Sunday even is.  It is just another day to him and it was starting to feel that way for me on the days that I was the one staying home with him.  We also recorded Music and the Spoken Word to watch and my kids actually sat and watched it.  Abby really enjoyed the music and Chase loved all the pictures they showed.

We put a bunch of church movies in and all our church books.  I also went to Seagull book to find a few things.  We found a Go Fish Book of Mormon game that has not only go fish, but crazy 8, old maid (who is the gadianton robber), and matching game.  There was also a 5 foot puzzle that does a time line of the BofM.  It is done by the author of the Who's your Hero books (I love these books).   I put in notebooks that I knew each of my kids would like (toy story and tinkerbell)  They are just plain paper to write letters to missionaries or family far away.  I hope that we can keep the box exciting and it will be a fun thing every Sunday.  Here are some of the other ideas that she gave me....(this is an email her daughter sent to her so she could share all the ideas she had gathered over the years)

*File Folder Games:  This link has some cute ones - http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp  There are also a lot of other file folder games out there if you google “file folder games”.  I’ve also made some of my own using old Friend magazines.  I’ve laminated all mine and they’ve lasted really well.

*Church VHS and DVDs:  Lorenzo, animated scripture stories, etc.

*Church books:  mostly board books we’ve acquired from deseret book and other church bookstores

*Coloring pages from Friend that I’ve printed out.  Here are some links with a bunch of coloring pages:

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=1cf8ee626ed0b110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=21bc9fbee98db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

http://ldscoloringpages.net/

*Craft Pages from the Friend :  I’ve found puppets, flannel board stories to color, and other crafts in old issues of the friend.  They can all be printed from online.

*I have a bunch of your old books in there: “The Sunday Activity Book”, “Favorite Sunday Activites”, “Fun for Family Night”, etc. that Noah likes to go through now and pick out activities

*Lacing cards – someone gave us some Book of Mormon lacing cards that are really cute

*Homemade puzzles – I have a bunch of “puzzles” in envelopes that YOU made for primary once.  They are church pictures that have been cut into puzzle shapes and laminated!  Also, I made some of my own puzzles using an old TEMPLE calendar.  The kids put together the temples and church pictures.  They like those a lot.

*Crafty things- I have a bunch of old things you made from those “primary partner” books.  They are cute and I didn’t want to throw them away!

*Pictures of the prophet and apostles, temple pictures, other church pictures

*Articles of Faith cards, games

*I used to have a bunch of old Ensign magazines and scissors and glue for them to make collages (ie. temple collages, joseph smith collages, etc!)

*I always thought it would be fun to have some of those Book of Mormon Action figures, but I never got any!

*I have a bunch of your flannel board church art envelopes

*I also like to use the new nursery manual for ideas http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,8184-1-4470-1,00.html  There are good coloring pages in it!

*I think I’ve also had stickers and paper in there, playdoh, etc.

Clinic 1/13/11

If you don't want all the details you may just want to scan through the pictures because this is a long one......

Chase had to make counts to go to clinic this last week.  He didn't make them the week before to go on Jan. 6th.  His ANC was only 300 which is super low.  We don't really go anywhere anyway, but we made sure that we were super careful washing hands and such.  So he had to be 750 and in the past he has come up maybe 100 in one week so I thought there was no way we would be going this last week either.  So it is the first time that I did not pack.  Of coarse I get the phone call saying that he made counts and his ANC was 1200!  That one of the highest he has ever had and after being super low the last week I almost made them check twice.  So we QUICKLY packed because I had nothing done, and we got on the road by 1:00.  Record time packing because I didn't find out until 11am that we were going.  Two hours and I was ready.  I have to say I am getting quite good though because when you do something almost every week how can you not be good at it right?
Chase's apt was at 12 noon with and RTU to be sedated and get a Lumbar Puncture at 1:30.  This means he gets no food until probably close to 2:30 and maybe even 3 depending on the medical world that is always behind.  I hate doing this to Chase because even though the steroids have worn off I am pretty sure he is in the middle of a growth spurt.  He eats all day long.  I didn't know how I was going to hold him off that long.  I called the clinic hoping for a better time and that someone had canceled.  She put me on hold and came right back to say there was an opening at 10am and she would see us in the clinic at 8:30am.  This made may day!
We were pulling into SLC around 6pm when I got a phone call from RTU.  They always call to ask questions about Chase and to tell me diet instructions.  When she said that he could have clear liquids until 10:30 I stopped her.  "NO, his apt is at 10." I said.
"I am sorry miss, but I just printed the final schedule and he is at 1:30"
I was not too upset with her because it was not her fault, but who didn't call me to tell me this?  I now have a clinic apt at 8:30am and don't have to be to RTU until 1:30.  What do I do to stall him and distract him from eating for that long?  The nurse from RTU said we could just hand around the hospital.  Okay, thanks lady but that is the last thing I want to do.  I am scared to death of germs and you want me to hang out for 5 hours at the place people come when they have germs.  I don't think so.  The problem was that clinic was closed and there was no way to change my 8:30am so I had to go at that time.  I still had him fasting for a morning apt. just hoping there was a mix up somewhere.

Doing crafts in the waiting room!

When we got to clinic Sandy (the lady up front) apologized before I could even say anything because she knew how upset I was going to be.  I asked about the sedation suite.  This is a little room upstairs by the clinic.  They don't totally knock the little kids out.  They give them Versed (Midazolam is given to children before medical procedures or before anesthesia for surgery to cause drowsiness, relieve anxiety, and prevent any memory of the event. Midazolam is in a class of medications called benzodiazepines. It works by slowing activity in the brain to allow relaxation and sleep).  They also gave him Ketamine (Ketamine has a wide range of effects in humans, including analgesia, anesthesia, hallucinations, elevated blood pressure, and bronchodilation. Ketamine is primarily used for the induction and maintenance of general anesthesia, usually in combination with a sedative).
They told me that he would not be all the way out and his eyes would stay open but bounce back and forth a little.  This they did, but one nice thing about it was I got to stay in the room with him.  In the RTU they make me leave him there and it always makes me so sad.  I was holding him and he was crying when they started giving him the meds.  Once he got a little in his system the crying instantly stopped.  I think the hallucination part kicked in because he looked up at me (with just his eyes, his head and neck did not move) and he just giggled.  He was feeling pretty good at this point.  They tried to poke him once and he flinched and then reached back for the needle in his back.  That is when they knew he needed a little more drugs.  They gave him a little more and tried again.  This time he flinched but never cried or moved his arms.  I got right down by him and held his little hands and talked to him.  He was so cute because I would tell him he was AWESOME and he would say in his sweet little voice, "ah-hu!"  He knows he is awesome.  The doc told me that when I talked to him he seemed to relax and he could get the spinal fluid.  When I was not talking he would tense up and nothing would come out.  I liked knowing that I was there to comfort him even though he would not remember any of it.  He is my little trooper and I love him.

After the LP and while he was waking up I ran down to the pharmacy to have them show me how big the new oral chemo was that he was going to be taking for the next two weeks.  I was a little worried when they showed me.  It was about the size of an adult tylenol, but I knew he was great at swallowing them and would rather do that than have some nasty syrup so I opted for the tablet.  I told them I was going to fill in in St. George though so I wouldn't have to wait for them to fill it there.  I headed back up to my little boy who was still groggy and hanging out with the nurse.
After he was a little more with it we headed back over to infusion to get the dreaded and much needed chemo.  He had a new one today that had to be infused over an hour so we still had lots of time.  Chase wanted food of coarse so we ordered him a cheese pizza, grapes, and some teddy grahams.  He was loving it.  Nothing like some good pizza when you have been starved to death.  He did great and after eating was up and playing with the little kitchen that the cutest little girl next to us had out and he couldn't just sit there and watch.

Still kinda out of it.

 Lovin' his pizza.

I was feeling pretty good about the day because we didn't have to do the 1:30 RTU and got out of there close to 1:30 instead of 3:30.  We were just getting on the 215 when I got a phone call from the St. George Pharmacy at Harmons and she told me they didn't have the oral chemo that we needed.  I had this gut feeling when I told them I wanted it called in down here that that was going to happen.  I should have went with my gut and got it at PCMC.  Oh well, lesson learned.  So I told them to call PCMC pharm and get it started there.  I went out to Holladay to get Ashton's mom who was at the place we stay hanging out with Mason (BTW - she is awesome if I haven't already told you that.  With out her and my mom there is no way I would have mad it through these last 6 months).  We got all packed up, went and grabbed some lunch and headed back up to PCMC.  Yes, we did a lot of back tracking but that is what you do when you have to have the drugs!
Chase did great the whole way home.  They just kept telling me that this one REALLY  makes you nauseous, and I just kept thinking "not Chase!"  But at the same time really hoping that I was right.  Well, we are now on day four of the chemo and he has not thrown up once.
They sent us home with a RX for 6TG which is an oral chemo and left Chase accessed (he still has the tube coming out of his chest).  I have to give him chemo at home for the next three days.  They will come again on Thurs and access him again and I will do it again for the next four days.  I am loving it though because that means I do not have to drive up to PCMC again for another month or even longer.  This was good news to me because I thought we were going to have to go every week this month.  Our next apt will be the beginning of Maintenance which is a phase that last for three years.  Although he still has to have chemo those three years it is usually more stable and they keep his counts up higher so he can live a somewhat normal life. So as you can see we feel like we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It is a long tunnel, but one that I am expecting to be more normal and straight instead of crazy and unplanned.
So the at home chemo is going well.  It is crazy how much stuff is needed to give one little med.  It is scary how it is treated like it is poison because that is exactly what it is.  They brought me out the gown, chemo gloves, spill kit, and the big yellow CAUTION CHEMOTHERAPY box to put the waste in when we are done giving it.  I have always had a love hate relationship with the stuff, but it is different when it is brought into my house.  Abby was just touching the yellow box and I found myself yelling at her to get away.  I felt bad afterward and had to explain why I yelled, and then she immediately went to the bathroom to wash her hands.  She was then concerned also, I just had to take the time to tell her why.  It also makes me nervous to handle the stuff and then right after pick up Mason because he screamed the whole time I was giving Chase his meds.  I feel like I am contaminating him even though there is no way because I am suited up head to toe when I am doing it.

 This is the "fun" package I got from home health.

 The "poison" that I have to give my son.

 The bag the chemo comes in.

 Chase is giving himself his own medicine. (This is just saline.  There is no way I would let him do the chemo).  I had turned to get the zofran (anti-nausea) and when I looked back he was finished with the saline and was pulling back on the syringe like the nurse does to get blood.  He said, "hey look, red juice mom!" My child just drew his own blood....AHHHH! 

 We can't do smiling faces we always have to do crazy faces.

 I said, "let's smile this time." And this is what he did.

 Today was our last day of chemo at home until thurs. so I had to de-access him (Chase would say take out his tubey).  He hates this because the dressing is super sticky and pulling out the needle must hurt a little because he HATES it.  He did so good today all except when I pulled it out.

Chase's counts this week were:
White - 3.8 (this is high for Chase)
Hct - 32.8
Platelets - 293
ANC - 1200 (also high for Chase)
They told us to expect these numbers to hit rock bottom this month.  We will probably be in the hospital for blood transfusions and such, but that can all be done down here at Dixie so I was pleased about that.
Here are the meds that he has these next two weeks:
Thioguanine (6-TG which is an oral chemo)
The side effects of this are Mild Nausea and low blood counts with less common mouth sores and abnormal liver function tests.
Cyclophosphamide (cytoxan this is an IV chemo that was given for 1 hr at the clinic)
The side effects are Nausea/vomiting, loss of appetite, hair loss, low blood counts 1 to 2 weeks after treatment.  Less common is blood in urine (bladder irritation....they told me to have him drink a lot and change his diaper a lot.  They also gave him a full bag of fluids to help flush it through his kidneys faster).     Metal taste in the mouth, hormonal changes, and heart damage with high doses.
Cytarabine (Ara-c is and IV chemo that he got at clinic and we give him at home)
The side effects are Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, low blood counts 1 to 3 weeks after treatment, mouth sores.  Less common is hair loss, abnormal liver function tests, irritation to the eyes with higher doses, flu-like symptoms (fever, aches, fatigue).  The nurse said the fever can get up quite high and we still have to go to the ER and get fluids, antibiotic, and cultures even though it may be from the chemo.  We are always so paranoid and already carry the thermometer with us everywhere we go.  This week poor Chase has had it stuck in his ear more times than I am sure he would have liked us to.  But he is still happy and wants to know what his numbers are after it beeps.  He amazes me every day!

All that playing can catch up to you in a hurry.  Especially when your body is being killed by chemo at the same time.

 He didn't wake up so happy either.  But after a while he is up and running again!

Mason's First Haircut/4 months old

Beware, there is a blogging overload coming.  I have been so busy this last week I have not been able to sit down and post anything.
So Mason was starting to look a little scary.  He had a mohawk with a mullet.  Not quite my style so we thought we would give him a little trim.  Put him up in the bumbo on the counter and he loved every minute of it.  Well, almost!  When I got him in the bath and back out with his clothes on he was ready to eat and I wanted an after picture.  That is when he lost it.  He was being so patient and wanted to eat and then I put him back in his bumbo.  That is when he knew I wasn't feeding him so he was a little mad.

Before his hair cut.  Look at that mop!!

 Here is the nice mullet!

 He was all smiles the whole time.

 Just wants to eat.  No more of this hair cutting stuff!  But doesn't he look handsome.

He has been growing so fast.  Well, I guess he hasn't been growing as fast as he did the first two months of life.  At his two month check he was 13 lbs.  He gained 6 lbs in two months and was in the high 70% I believe.  We just had his two month check and he weighed 14.8 lbs.  Didn't gain much the last two months, and is now in the 50%.  I have never had a baby be that low on percentile.  My kids are always huge so I was worried.  Dr. Thompson said he wasn't worried and told me it was okay and that one of my kids could be just average.  I guess he is right, but I love little chubby babies.  And Mason has been eating like a champ.  He not only nurses, but will then eat another 5 oz. from the bottle.  If he doesn't nurse first sometimes he eats 7 or 8 oz.  He is only 4 months old.  He is a little piggy and is just like his dad...never gains weight!!!
Last night I went in to check on him a couple times.  We have started letting him just cry at night and he has whimpered a few times for about 5 min. and is back to sleep so we are currently going from a feeding at night around 7:30pm to 7:30-8am without a feeding and sleeping almost the whole time.  He is doing great.  Anyway, I went in to check on him the times he was crying just to make sure he was okay.  I am a bad mom and he sleeps on his tummy because he sleeps so much better.  He had rolled to his back both times I went to check on him.  He also did it once on the floor while having his tummy time.  I swear he was just born and we are going to start rolling.  They grow up way to fast.  We are having a lot of fun with him though.  Abby loves him and she is for sure his favorite.  If she is in the room he just stares at her.  If she will even just look his way he smiles and talks.  When she is talking to him he has the biggest grin ever and he is laughing.  He loves his sister for sure.  I can get him to smile, but I have to try.  It is effortless for her.  He thinks she is the coolest thing since sliced bread.  We are so glad to have him a part of our family and even though he gets a little neglected when I am dealing with Chase or helping Abby, I don't think it is anymore than a third child would usually be neglected.  Hopefully I am dividing my time between all three that they don't all think Chase is getting all the attention.
Mason has started it HATE the drive to Salt Lake though.  Hopefully he will have one of his last soon and he can just stay home from now on.  He is getting old enough and not eating all night that I think it may be time to leave him here.  We will see on the next trip up how he does.
We sure do love him and he has brought a happy spot into our family in the midst of our cancer journey!

BIGGEST LOSER CANCELED

THE BIGGEST LOSER BOOT CAMP HAS BEEN CANCELED!  Filipe just called me and felt very bad that he was not going to be able to make it.  A very close friend of his died this last weekend and he is speaking at the funeral that is this sat. So as you can see he can not be in two places at the same time.  
I would show up and lead you all in some work outs if you would like me to.  However, I am sure you do not want to see me up there shaking my post baby booty!  I am so sorry that I have to cancel this again, because as most of you know this is not the first time the date has changed.  I want you to all know that we feel ALL OF YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT whether through a fundraiser or not.  There is no need to have a fundraiser for us to feel the love from all of you.  I feel that if anything, I would rather us all get together just to work out for fun to support Chase with no money what so ever involved.  The one and only thing I was looking forward to was just to see all the many faces wanting to show their support.  To see everyone cheering little chaser on.  Just a big day of friends and family coming together in a big fight against this nasty cancer.  Working the hardest we have ever worked, just to show cancer who is boss.....CHASE!!!  

I would love to thank each of you individually for everything that has been done for us.  If I did this I would spend way more time that I have in a day, week, or even a month because of how much support we have been shown.  We have had more meals that I can even count come into our home.  We have had phone calls just to see if we were doing okay.  Neighbors who send a text every time they go to the store just to see if we need something.  So much help with my little girl Abby, knowing that she is also going through a tough time being a sibling of cancer.  Our journey has not been the easiest, but I would not change a single day of it.  The blessings we have received from our Heavenly Father, through you, have been countless.  Even the simplicity of a little prayer we have felt beyond comprehension.   Please know that every little act of service you have shown toward us has been noted not only by us but by our Heavenly Father.  He knows how much love has been shown toward us, and he will bless all of you beyond what my "thank you" can do.  Although, I do want you to know that we are very grateful for all that has been done for us.  We love you all and are so glad that we are apart of such an AMAZING support system!

St. George Snow

This is how we spent our morning in ST. GEORGE!!!  My kids loved it.  Being from up north I used to think everyone was weird down here when it snowed and they acted like it was the coolest thing ever.  They were all outside in jackets and jeans.  Well, we became part of this group because I searched for things that my kids could wear outside because they were dying to play in the snow. 

 Chase very willingly let the snowman borrow his gloves and hat.  He HATES wearing his hat!

 After playing outside Abby set up a little story time and even told Chase where he had to sit.  I was surprised how well he cooperated.  The effects of the steroids are definitely gone.  YAY!  She loves her stuffed animals and they were all invited to story time.  Chase had to bring his buddy along...BUZZ!

Hair Cut for Chase (kinda)

So Chase started a new chemo just over three weeks ago that we were told would make his hair fall out again.  This time they told us it would for sure fall out.   Last time they just said some kids lose it others don't so I kept thinking he would keep it.  When it fell out I had a little bit harder time with it because I wasn't prepared.  This time I welcomed it and was actually looking forward to the day.  Am I twisted???  I LOVE his bald head.  I am sad that when it grows back this time it will probably be the last time we see his head that bald (at least we hope).
I have also been told that he might lose his eyelashes and eyebrows this time.  I will then have a hard time.  I love his eyelashes and have loved them since the day he was born.  They are so long and I will probably cry if they fall out.  So far we are good, but his hair just fell out today so we will keep hoping.
His hair had come back pretty good, but he didn't have a ton.  I shaved a little of what was there, but we mostly just ran over it with a lint roller while he watched a movie and he was our cute little bald guy by the time the movie was over.  I SERIOUSLY love that bald head!!!

BEFORE THE LINT ROLLER HAIR CUT.

 Mom giving Chase his "hair cut."

 I couldn't get the camera to focus very well, but we went through the whole lint roller.

 All the sheets we used.

 Abby thought it looked like fun and wanted to try.  Chase even rolled his own head for a while but his arm got tired pretty quick.

 That is one cute little bald head.  He even has little chubby cheeks because he just finished steroids.

New Years Eve (a day late)

It is so nice to have kids young enough that they don't know the calendar (well Abby does, but we just told her to pretend for Chase).  We were all ready to celebrate the new year and about 12:00 noon Chase was not doing so well.  He started having leg pain so bad that he was screaming and shaking a long with some pretty good sweating.  He sweats when he does pretty much anything more than sitting.  We change his shirt half way through the day sometimes because it is soaked. (I think this is a side effect of meds, but he has also been know to sweat pretty good pre-cancer).  So we broke the seal on our oxycodone that he has not had to take once since being diagnosed.  We thought we were doing pretty good and were going to bypass having to use the oxy.  One of the main reasons we use it is that it doesn't have a fever reducer.  We don't want to mask any type of a fever because if we missed one and didn't get to the hospital for antibiotics it could be life threatening to him.  So we gave him the dose that the bottle from the pharmacy had on it.  After 3 more hours of him screaming and us rubbing his legs, and putting heat or cold on them I called the on call oncologist.  She first told me that his oxy dose could be doubled and that the bottle has the minimum dose on it.  I am so glad I called her because that could have been a really long night of screaming.  She then told me that his pain is either from coming off of the steroids or Avascular Necrosis (which is basically a heart attack in the bones).  I was hoping for the first for obvious reasons, but was thinking there was no way this could be the reason because he had only been off the steroids for less than 4 hours.  Could it really hit that fast???  We gave him oxy every three hours the rest of the day and he laid miserably on the couch.  He was no longer crying, but wouldn't move mostly out of fear that it would hurt (at least that is what I think).  We continued to give him oxy every three hours through the night and let it wear off the next morning.  He did great!!!  I think I can safely say his pain was from coming off of the steroids, but wow that hit fast.  I guess in his small little body the drugs move through quickly.  I guess I just thought since he was still eating me out of house and home, and grumpy that he still had steroids in his system, but the leg pain would prove me wrong.  So since we spent our New Years Eve taking care of his poor little legs we planned a party the next night.  Chase wouldn't have cared if we did anything, but Abby had cleaned her room so that we could have a party and was heart broken when we didn't do anything.  So Abby and I went shopping and planned a little party on the night of New Years Day.  I am so glad we did because Abby had worked so hard on her room and it lifted Chase's spirits to have a little fun after having such a crappy night.  Here are some of the events from the night.

What little kid doesn't love a pinata?

 They had a blast, but didn't make dent in the thing so I had to help out!

 We have been overloaded on candy from Christmas so we filled it with a few dollar store prizes.  Gotta love dollar tree!

 Happy New Years!

 We played another game.  Toss the golf ball in a bucket.  That was dad's creation, and they loved it.  So simple so sweet.  They got yet again....dollar store prizes for getting the ball in the bucket.  Chase got two new Lightening McQueen bouncy balls.

 And Abby's favorite.....something to color!  She was with me shopping and picked it out herself so she was even more excited to win her prize.

 And Mason's surprise of the night was first time for cereal.   He didn't like his surprise as much as the other kids did!

Even though our 2011 started out kinda crappy I know that is is only going to get better.  We are really hoping our 2011 will bring a little more good luck than 2010 did.  Chase will especially be hoping for a better year.  He started off 2010 by breaking his arm right during the holiday when there are no doctors working.  After breaking his arm at only 1 1/2 years old we thought we had the worst behind us.  Little did we know that six months later he would give us a good run for our money.  We handled the broken arm okay so he thought why not try cancer.  I can think of a million better ways to spend a year, but I can also think of a million worse ways to spend our year.  Chase is here with us today because of the wonderful treatment he gets at PCMC, because of all the prayers, and because his Heavenly Father knows he is special and strong.  He knows that Chase is a fighter and he can handle this.  We are so lucky to have a happy family and a huge support system.  Although it wasn't the best year we will ever have, it could certainly have beeen worse and I know that it is a year that I will never forget.  My testimony has grown, my love for my family has grown, and I know that my love for others has grown.  I have always been so blessed.  I have always felt like my life was pretty easy and that the Lord was really blessing me with a great life.  I felt lucky.  I now feel even more blessed.  Since Chase was diagnosed I have felt the Lord in my life even more than before.  It is like he knows that I was getting a little too independent and he needed to give me a trial in my life to make be turn back to him.
I have many resolutions, but overall I hope that I can be more like all of you.  You have shown us so much support and I hope that I can follow the example that I have been shown by you.  We love you all and hope that you all have a great 2011!