Got the Sickies

gabey's sick. he's got a sinus thing going on, and yesterday he had a fever, so we had to take him into the doctor's....

praise the Lord, his counts were high enough that he didn't have to be admitted. it's the rule for fevers that if their counts are below 1000, they get admitted for 2 days automatically. phew, his counts were wonderful. so they just gave him an antibiotic, and we were able to go home. they did a culture with his blood, and will let us know if we need to bring him in again for a different antibiotic.

he is just really under the weather poor thing. draining and runny nose like crazy (clear though, thankfully) and he's coughing from all the draining. his lymph nodes are swollen, and he's got fluid in his ears.
i've been giving him benedryl, and tylonol, and he has been sleeping really well. we have the humidifier fish tank next to him here in the living room, and we have him sleeping in our chez, so he can be elevated.


this is the new fish tank humidifier we just got him. it was a great price at Walmart, and it has bubbles and lights with little fish floating around in the front. it's adorable.

Medicine KING!

Medicine is old hat now. I'm so thankful!
Gabey actually takes his own medicine. He either sucks it from a little straw in a medicine cup, or pushes the medicine syringe into his own mouth!!
It's been a long road, hasn't it? I'm glad this turn in the bend is here.

Decadron Days

Every month, we have 5 days of steroid.
It makes him not want to sleep, and makes him wet the bed no matter what we do to help.

Last night, Gideon wouldn't sleep, and I had him in the bed with me for a while and we both finally fell asleep. He got restless at 3am, and so i went to get a bottle. Jeff was up still, because he couldn't sleep. We're both dealing with some sinus junk. He helped me get a bottle, and then Gabey woke up, and came out, chipper, WET and wanting to watch Herbie. (I took the sheets off his bed, and just put a bed pad on, so I wouldn't waste more sheets.)
What a night. I got the baby to sleep, and put him in his bed, and since Jeffie was awake already, I let him stay with Gabey. I'm not sure what time he came back into the room, but I think Gabey woke up one more time after that too. This morning, poor Jeff had to get to work by 7:30, and Gideon woke up around that time, and then Gabey followed closely after that. Now, it's 9:30am and Gideon's asleep, and Gabey's awake. Then, later, if Gabey takes a nap, Gideon will be awake, lol.

We had a fantastic appointment. Gabey's counts are in the range they want to keep him at, so they didn't adjust any of his meds. His counts are ANC 1500, and his platelets are great. They're working to keep it between 1000-2000 for the next three years. It's so nice not to have him be neutropenic, and stuck in the house.

It's funny how much I miss seeing my nurse and doctor friends. I got used to seeing them every week, and now it's once a month. It's a fantastic blessing, but also sad not to be able to chat with them. My one friend, Linda, had her baby while we were out, and our other friend, Regan (I always spell that wrong) is having her baby any day now. I got to see my Jen, and my Denise. I adore them both. I couldn't have handpicked anyone better to take care of my Gabey.

Cleveland Clinic Party on the News

Mother Holds Annual Christmas Party for Sick Children in Honor of Late Son

cleveland clinic christmas party
Cleveland, OH - Every year a remarkable woman puts on a big bash at the Cleveland Clinic for sick children - in honor of her son who died from cancer at the age of four.19 Action News Anchor Catherine Bosley has details.
You'll need a version of Windows Media Player 7 or higher to view the video. If you need to download it, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/default.asp. The video player is supported by Microsoft IE 5.0 and above.

Christmas at the Cleveland Clinic

This was so nice of the cool people at the Cleveland Clinic to put together this party for the kids. The place was packed, and all the children looked so happy, and excited. They were getting amazing presents, and seeing their friends, the nurses and doctors. I wasn't there with Gabey when he sat on Santa's lap, so I didn't get to take a picture, wah. He had a good time, and just played with his toys, and with Daddy. I had a field day, running around, giving presents to Gabey's doctors and nurses. I gave some of my photography. I forgot a few people, so I'm going to try to bring in some more for them when we go for our appointment on Thursday.

And Now We Maintain!!

It's finally here!
Gabey's ANC counts were up to 950, and his platelet counts were fine too, so we were able to go ahead with the first treatment of Maintenance!!

Gabey got his Lumbar Puncture with interthecal Methotrexate (chemo injected into his spinal fluid), and his Vincristine push treatment(chemo just injected into his tube).

For the entire 3 years, he'll have a Vincristine push every month, and the LP with IT MTX every 3 months.

His home meds will be...
Decadron- 2X daily 5 days a month
MTX oral- 1x a week (chemo)
6-MP- 1x a day (chemo)

Here are some pics for you!

s20 waiting room with cool fish


in dr. office, waiting to be canulated (have his tubey put in)


cute baby


daddy and Gideon in dr. room


playing in OR waiting room with his herbie and hummer


my first time going back into the OR with gabey!! jeff always got to go back before because the anesthesia wasn't good for me when i was pregnant.


back in the "train room" s20 family room, waiting for VCR push


hello electric car!!


we're on our way HOME!! (running down the tunnel to the parking garage)


cool picture of the cranes at CC- so many cool changes to the place, it's looking great!

Hopefully last week

I was really shocked. I was expecting to go ahead with treatment yesterday. I was positive that his counts would be over 1000, but they were only 490! The doctor said that maybe his body had to fight something over the week, wah. Well, so another week off. We'll be going on wed, next week, because thanksgiving is on thursday.

here are some pics for you....