Pray for this Thursday...

Our appointment this Thursday is another big day.
Gabey has an LP, and vincristine. We'll probably be there all day. Pray that it goes smoothly. God has been so good. He's really given us a nice few weeks. He has kept Gabey healthy, and safe.

Thank you Lord.

You Make Me Happy

I just can't look at Gabey's fun faces, and not get happy! He makes me laugh so much! I don't know if I have ever laughed as much before he was born.

I was trying to get a picture of his haircut, it looks the same, but it's cut with clippers, which is a big step. :) He's a big boy!


I put this in my main blog, but wanted to put it in here, for anyone who doesn't visit my other site.

God is still taking care of us.

The antibiotic did a great job, and Thursday was his last day. The doctors looked at his toe, and said it looked great. I'm so thankful.

The visit went just wonderfully. We only had to do some blood tests, and get his counts. They also took more blood for the new study we're in.
His ANC count is down again, a little over 600. I'm learning not to be surprised or disappointed at these drops. It's just part of the process. The decadron was the only reason it was up at all last week.

We felt really blessed yesterday. We were talking to Dr. Kate, and she made a comment..."SO, is he ever going to lose his hair?" I took that as a HUGE blessing that he's kept his hair longer than usual. LOL. Even if he does lose it all the way for the delayed intensification, I'll know we had the blessing of his hair for the time we did.

Dr. Kate, and our NP, Denise, were teasing eachother how they both wanted him every visit. Denise said, "NO, we have to share."



I was so impressed by a little boy that came in. I watched while they accessed him. He was Gabey's age, and I was totally amazed! He didn't have the EMLA cream on, and I could tell it hurt when it went in, and he sat there cringing, and made not a PEEP! What a little toughie!! I had to talk to the dad, and compliment the little boy's strength. He said the boy is in his 2nd year now. He had been accessed earlier, but had pulled it out. I'm not sure why he didn't get more EMLA cream, and I'm so surprised by his reaction to the event.

Can't wait for the Pictures to come in!

Cleveland Clinic was hosting Flashes of Hope today, and we were able to get portraits done of Gabey, and also of us as a family. We had Gabey get pictures with all our favorite Dr.s too. They'll be done in about 6 weeks. They're black and white professional quality. We'll get some prints, and also the disk to make more copies. It was so nice.
Here is their website.
http://www.flashesofhope.org/flashesofhope/site/default.asp

The visit was good, just a check up really. They checked his counts which were up because of the decadron he took for the last week. Right now, it's 1300. I was talking to the doctor, she prescribed an antibiotic for him, after I had her check his one toe. It looks infected, and she doesn't want to take chances. She was glad I understand the way the counts can drop and rise. She was saying..."Even though his counts are good right now.." and I added..."Today." and she said.."Exactly." so we were glad we're doing the antibiotic.

Interim Maintenance

We had a nice, easy appointment today. Gabey's counts were just high enough to start on the next phase in his treatment. He's still neutropenic- 810.

This phase is called Interim Maintenance, and it's actually quite a break from the other phases. It will last for the next 2 months.

He had a treatment of Vincristine through his tubey today, and he'll be starting on an oral Methotrexate one day a week, and some more Decadron for a few days at a time. He'll still be taking his 6-MP, and other regular meds, but other than that there aren't any other treatments. He'll have one LP next month, and that's it. We'll still go in for checks on his blood, and height and weight, but it will be a lot more relaxed than the other phases.

Praise the Lord, for getting us to this phase. He is so good to us.

I just love all the doctors and nurses at CC. They all come into the "train room" and visit with him and play with him. Even on days that they aren't working with him, they'll still make a point to stop and talk to him. He's been so good. He goofs off with them, and makes me so proud to be his mom. They always are so shocked to hear him say his "may I" "no thank you" and other polite phrases. I LOVE it. He's a good boy, and I'm so glad that he's making a positive impact on the workers there.

The nurse said today..."You need to make 12 more of him." (shari's BEAMING!)

Gabey's been making crafts for the Dr.s and nurses!


Our good friend, Miss Jen, one of Gabey's nurses.


One of our awesome Doctors, Holly.

The Retreat

The retreat was awesome! I'm so thankful I got to go. Gabey did great the whole weekend, and was well taken care of by my mom in law, and jeffie. God has been so good to us.