another check-up...4 months off chemo!!!

We had a very long day at Primary's yesterday. All in all it was a good day though. The day started with Kaidan getting her labs done. She had to be fasting because we were checking her glucose, which was great. I'm not sure what is causing the continued cloudy vision, but it isn't diabetes, which is awesome! All her other labs look great, just a couple of liver function labs that are off, but only slightly, so it's really not a concern at this time. We also drew an iron and ferritin to see if those are normal. Her ferritin was extremely high in the past, but we haven't checked it for awhile. I haven't received those results yet. So, all in all, blood looks great. From a leukemia standpoint she is doing very well. She'll have another check up on April 6th.

We also had our long awaited visit with the GI doctor. Kaidan has struggled so much with her stomach problems since her diagnosis of leukemia and it hasn't gotten any better. We had hoped that as more and more time passed since her last chemo she would improve, but that isn't happening. This doctor was great! He took a good long look at Kaidan and asked her many, many questions. He also listened to me which is a plus. We had a test called a hydascan back in February. Clinic told me that this test came back with no abnormalities, but unfortunately they misled us. Her gallbladder didn't empty, which is an abnormality and can cause pain. We are also going to run more blood tests and stool tests to check for inflammation of her intestines, celiac, colitis, infection, etc. If those tests come back normal we will do an endoscopy to look at her intestinal tract, etc. If all of that is normal then we will remove the gallbladder. That is going to be our last resort, as we could go in and remove it now because there is some abnormality there, but it wouldn't necessarily stop her problems. The doctor felt like this was probably not the source of her problems, so we will only do that as a last resort.

It was a long day, but I was satisfied with our new plan (but very disappointed in the oncology clinic for not telling me that there was some abnormality a month ago). Kaidan deserves to live a normal life. Right now her stomach problems are interfering with this. I hope we can get it taken care of soon! Other than all of that she is doing well. She is going to play spring soccer and she absolutely cannot wait!! She is so excited.

Preslee is doing well, she will be playing with the same soccer team this spring and will also be doing lacrosse if the two schedules don't interfere with each other. She loves playing sports and is very good at it.

The boys are doing great too. They both just started an itty bitty lacrosse program that is just awesome. It is complete chaos, but so fun to watch. They are having a lot of fun and it's a good way to help with the spring fever we are experiencing. It seems like we have a couple of good days that they can play outside and then it's back to wet weather and they are couped up again. They absolutely love being outside...all of them do.

The dog....well, what can I say...he's a dog named Goose. He is insane. He still eats everything, not so much chewing, just completely consuming everything in his path. He's still wild as ever, and very easily excited, but hopefully next weeks neuter and a couple more months of puppyhood and we can get past that. Hopefully we'll have the funds to do some good training classes with him too. His damage to the house is getting repaired nicely. It's taking us a while because we are doing all the work ourselves with the help of our families, but it's looking good and we are making progress! I think we should have it all done in another month or so. Then, maybe, we can just sit and enjoy having a home of our own. We are looking forward to finally feeling settled.

I'll update more as we get results from Kaidan's stomach tests. Thank you all for the continued support and love. We really appreciate everyones continued concern for our family.

p.s. please visit www.crochetforcancer.blogspot.com and support my sister and childhood cancer!! she makes the cutest crocheted items and it would be great to start getting the word out about her website. childhood cancer is just awful. i read stories of other kids and it just breaks my heart. i wouldn't wish this life on anyone...it's horrible for all involved. if you are able, please support us. thank you

check up time...

Kaidan had her check-up with oncology yesterday. It went very well. I had a lot of concerns, and I can't say that I don't anymore, but I am relieved to see that her blood counts look good. They are actually completely normal! We are really grateful for that, It's good to know that her immune system is picking back up.

There are still so many things that are concerning. She is still experiencing a lot of stomach pain, occasional headaches that are quite intense, bone pain throughout her body, blurred vision, and occasional chest pain. Whether or not these things are related, or whether they are indicative of anything is still unknown. She has an appointment with the pediactric opthamologists up at Primary's the end of this month and an appointment with the GI doctors up there on the 9th of March, which is also her next clinic check-up. Hopefully we can get some answers.

I don't want to sound like I'm not pleased with her blood results, but I do have a lingering feeling that something isn't right. Along with all her current symptoms, which are all too similar to how she felt for 2 months leading up to her original diagnosis, her white blood count and ANC more than doubled in the last couple of weeks, but her hemoglobin and hematocrit went down, just slightly. Her platelets stayed the same. That isn't a bad thing, but I would have liked to see them all increase. As a cancer mom, I know all too well that the white count and ANC increase and everything else decreases when there is cancer. Obviously her counts are all still great, so nothing is going on now, but it's very, VERY hard to relax. I try really hard, but I'm constantly feeling her forehead for a fever, constantly checking her out for weird bruises when she's getting changed for bed, and just constantly worried about the future and the unknown. Am I insane? Or is this normal? I imagine it will get a little better with each passing month and with each positive check-up. It is all just so scary.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on. I'm very happy that her counts are great and her immune system seems to be recovering. She is doing well overall, and I'm glad for that.

On to more news, Carson, our good friend from Bluffdale finished his treatment yesterday I believe!! Way to go!! We are so happy for them.

Also, my sister has her blog up and running. It's still in the beginning stages, but check it out! www.crochetforcancer.blogspot.com

Everyone else seems to be happy and healthy in our house. We are glad for that.

I'll update again after Kaidan's appointments over the next few weeks. Thank you all for your continued concern and support.

long time no updates...

So, we've had A LOT going on, but I want to start with a few things non-Sudbury.

First, tomorrow (Sunday the 24th) on Nickelodeon at 6:00 (mountain time) there is going to be a special on childhood cancer. I really, really hope everyone who reads this will watch.

Second, my sister started a blog to help support research for childhood cancer. She makes the cutest crocheted headbands and hats and she is going to sell them and donate a portion of the money to CureSearch. I hope you all will go to her blog just to check it out, and buy a headband or two if you like, or just donate if you can. The address is www.crochetforcancer.blogspot.com. It's just in the beginning stages, so check it out now and again in a few more days!

Now, on to Sudbury-ness. I am hoping to do better at updating because I'm no good at keeping a journal and I really wish I did, so I'm hoping this will be more like that for me.

We've had a busy couple of months. December is always busy, of course, but we did have a great Christmas. We moved into our new house, and we got a dog. Those were the two major events of December along with Kaidan's birthday and our 10th wedding anniversary. Well...we had the dog and the house all of 4 weeks and he chewed through a pipe in our bathroom when we weren't home and flooded our house! So, our house is torn apart and we are now in the process of replacing and remodeling most of our upstairs and our garage. (That is a very un-dramatic way for me to put it all. There is a whole lot of nonsense associated with all of this:)

So, the flood started January for us. Since then we have lost our bird, Chewy. He is (or was?)a beautiful sun conure. He loved to sit on our shoulders and did it so often that you could easily forget that he was there and that's exactly what happened. Nate walked outside with the bird on his shoulder and something scared him so he flew up to a tree. We were unable to get him down and to make a long story short he ended up flying South and we haven't seen him since. Bummer.

As far as the family, we are all healthy and doing well. I changed the girls' schools after we moved and it proved to be a much more difficult transition than we planned for. So for now we are trying some homeschooling to finish out this year and hopefully I can figure something out for next year that will work better for them.

Kaidan is doing okay, not great, but it could be worse. She is struggling so much with stomach issues that it really has started interfering with her normal daily routines. She had some scans done this week and they all came back normal, so I'm not sure where we go from here. Her blood counts on Tuesday were good, but her white blood count and ANC are very low. This surprised me because she's been off chemo for so long and they are lower than they have been since last July. Along with this she seems to be more tired than usual and has been running a low grade fever off and on for a week or so. I am more than worried, to say the least. Her next scheduled appointment is February 9th.

I'll keep you posted on Kaidan and everything else Sudbury. Please try to watch that Nickelodeon special and definitely go to the new blog. www.crochetforcancer.blogspot.com (If you've got a website, we'd love you to put a link to Crochet for Cancer)

Thanks!!

check-up time...

Kaidan had her oncology check-up today. It is a strange and new emotion for me to feel such anxiety about getting her labs done. I didn't fully realize how stressful it would be as each appointment gets closer.

Everything looked great! Her blood counts are good. They are in the normal range, but still on the low-normal end. That should just keep getting better and better. She has managed to gain a little weight, even with the stomach issues, so that is awesome. We are going to have her seen by a pediatric gastro intestinal doctor just to check things out. Hopefully we can figure out what it is that is causing her so much grief. We are also going to be watching her blood sugar levels to see if that is possibly what is causing a bit of blurriness in her eyesight. Other than that she is in great shape. It's so nice to see her growing and doing things that all the other kids can do. She is regaining her strength nicely.

The rest of us are doing well too. We are recovering from the holidays and getting back into a new school routine. We bought a house in December and we are settling in. The girls just started the new school today and I know they will do well. I'm struggling because it's such a different experience than school they have gone to for so long....so, so different. (Mrs. Westover or Mrs. Winkleman, if you are reading this, please email me.)

Other than that there isn't much new going on. Kaidan's next appointment is in February so I'll update again closer to then unless something new comes up.

Happy New Year!

Kaidan's check-up...

Kaidan had her check-up with oncology yesterday and everything went well. We will do it again next month. I had a lot of anxiety, more than I thought I would, but it went really well. All her counts are great and we are going to try an antacid to see if that will help her tummy issues. I'll keep you posted, but Merry Christmas!

Well, tomorrow Kaidan turns 8!! She is so excited. She is doing well for the most part. She's having a bit of trouble with her legs (ankles and knees) and she often has stomach problems, but she's going to school regularly and feeling pretty great!

I don't even know what to say about her upcoming birthday. I can't believe that she is turning 8! She's growing up too fast. We are lucky to be her parents and we love having her spunky attitude in our home (most of the time)! She is a good girl and we love her very, very much. We are so thankful that we are celebrating another birthday with her and we hope she has the best year ever!!

She has an appointment next Tuesday, the 8th, to have her blood counts checked and to see the oncologist. She will have monthly appointments for a year.

In other news, we are buying a house!! We are really excited and hope to close mid-December. It will be an unorganized Christmas this year, but we are so, so excited! I'll keep you posted.

I will update again after Kaidan's appointment.