crazycanuckj's Xanga

Day 331

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:16:27 GMT

Day 331

Eli had a great day yesterday! He was the Eli I've hardly seen over the last 11 months. He felt good for the most part, he had a good appetite and he was filled with smiles. We found out yesterday that an anonymous group heard about Eli's story and adopted his wish. We get to go to Disneyland! When he found out he had the biggest smile I've ever seen out of him. To the group who is making Eli's wish come true, if you're reading this, thank you! I haven't seen him so happy and excited in so long. When his oncologist says go we'll get to go for a few days. He had a relatively good night last night. He slept almost all of it. He was up around 2 sick to his stomach but he did feel better and he went back to sleep. He slept until just after 5 so that was pretty good for him. He's had a great morning so far today.

He had a great appetite

He got a Thomas book!

The face of a boy that just found out he gets to go to Disneyland

Love it when he laughs

Day 329

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:38:56 GMT

Day 329

Eli's doing well so far with his chemo. He has been getting sick despite Zofran. Other than the nausea and vomiting he has some energy and he's still showing a huge interest in watching Cars and colouring. I'll take those as good signs.

Tim's first hockey game was last night. He's playing on the same West-End team he played on last year, competitive Atom AAA. He's only 8 but he's playing with the 9-10 year olds again. Next year more likely than not he'll move up to competitive Peewee AA or AAA. They played another local team last night and won 6-0. It was a great game but the team as a whole has some work to do - mostly the defense. Tim took over 70 shots and did an amazing job stopping every one. The offense did pretty well, they scored almost every time they got the puck in their end but the other team had possession almost the whole game. I'm very proud of all the kids, they played hard and they're off to a great start.

goofy little girl makes me laugh

Tim getting ready for the shot

Brady coming to defend Tim

Tim making a big save

Day 328

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:06:32 GMT

Day 328

Eli's chemo was started about an hour ago. He's doing well so far, no fighting nurses or getting sick. Still hoping the rest of the day is easy for him.

Day 327

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:05:00 GMT

Day 327

Eli was admitted this morning for the pre-hydration and the sodium thiosulfate. He did great today. He behaved like a little man when his iv got started, no screaming or fighting or anything. Lunch just before his iv was started got pretty messy so we got a chance to toss him in the tub. He didn't get sick at all from the sodium thiosulfate like he has in the past. We spent the whole day (as always in the hospital) watching Cars. Hopefully tomorrow will go as well as today.

having fun playing in the bubbles

he's got that messy little boy face

Day 326

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:33:22 GMT

Day 326

Tomorrow we dive back into life with a child who has cancer. It's been an amazing 36 days with the warrior home but cancer waits for no one. He'll be admitted in the morning for prehydration and sodium thiosulfate (the drug that's supposed to reduce Cisplatin's long-term side effects). The chemo itself will start Saturday morning and last 5 days. No doubt he'll be right back to demanding the movie Cars all day and night until he comes home again.

As voted, the new link to Eli's page has been posted on the left bar.

Day 324

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:45:23 GMT

Day 324

Eli had a major meltdown yesterday morning when we went to have his port flushed. He had a lot more strength than he normally does during treatment and he put up quite the fight. He did eventually wear himself out so it was a little easier for the poor nurse. He's usually pretty good about having his port accessed but he just wanted no part of it. I had to work the rest of the day but Rose and Dana said he had a good rest of the day.

Dougie playing football with some kids from down the street

Lily & Bear

Eli on the way to his clinic visit yesterday morning

49 Long Hours

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:43:56 GMT

Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour tonight! I forgot. I took a second shift today to cover for a guy that's covered for me so I'm supposed to be working a 48 hour shift. Looks like it'll be 49 hours this time. The pup and I got to have some fun out in the yard yesterday. Halloween isn't any fun to work. It sucked having to miss out on taking the kids trick-or-treating but there's always next year. But I do have to say I enjoy trick-or-treating time while at work driving around handing out candy bars to the kids. Gordie's been slightly annoyed by the amount of calls we've had over the last 2 days that he didn't even get to come out of the car for. Have to love the paranoia Halloween weekend causes in people.

Gordie & I working with Rick & Jag and Mike

Vote

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:52:44 GMT

I decided to add a link here on the left tab to the page we keep for Eli. I set my wife and my sister to the challenge of making a tag for his page. Now it's your turn: I need votes for tag 1 or tag 2 to use as a link to Eli's page.

Tag 1 (Emily's) Tag 2 (Dana's)

Day 319

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:59:05 GMT

Day 319

Eli's next round of chemo is scheduled for November 7th. He seems to be doing pretty well right now. His counts are up at nearly normal. His next AFP reading will be after the next round. His last AFP level was at 109 on September 28th. We're hoping for a 1 this time! Since he's finished with treatment for his leukemia this round should be pretty different. It should only be 5 days instead of 7 and he'll have a 21 day cycle rather than 28. He's had all these drugs before and he's still in a clinical trial for a drug to combat the hearing loss side effect of the cisplatin.

For now he's happy to be back home with all of us and we're all thrilled to have him home again. We went to the park yesterday while the big kids were at school, he had a great time playing with just Bear and Lily and lots of one-on-one attention for all three of the babies.

Yesterday was Katie's first riding lesson at a local therapeutic riding barn. I was worried she would be so excited when she got there and terrified when she actually saw the horses. What an amazing little girl, she completely proved me wrong! She absolutely LOVED it! I wish I got more pictures than I did, unfortunately my camera battery decided to die on me. I got one picture of Katie riding a pony, I promise more for next week. Over the time we decide to keep on with the barn Katie will learn about caring for the needs of animals and she'll also learn how to ride. I didn't honestly think they would put her up on a horse her first time there but she was so good and so excited to they let her and even took her on a short ride. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger smile on that little girl's face. She did great, she was able to focus long enough to sit still on the pony and enjoy. I've never seen her sit for that long and focus so well on what she was doing. I really hope she's able to take the skills she learns there out into the rest of her life. She was so cute when she got home she went straight to the boys and said she's a REAL cowgirl now. That she certainly is.

Tim's first game is next Friday night. I've gotten to go to a few of his practices and watch him in the net. His team looks really good this season. A lot of the boys from last year stayed in the same age bracket - as Tim did - so they're all together with the same coach again. All the boys grew so much since I saw most of the at the end of last season. He's still playing on a team of 10-12 year olds... yes, my 8 year old is skating up with the big boys. I'm so proud of him. The best part is how much he really loves it. I always wanted him to play hockey and be a goalie so I could coach him but I never wanted to be the asshole parent that forces him to live my dreams. He's a little disappointed we're not in Edmonton or Thunder Bay this winter so no ice rink in the back yard.

Dougie isn't as much of a hockey nut as Tim and I are but he's my soccer star. He's playing indoor soccer this winter. Some of the boys that played on his spring team are playing indoor soccer this winter and he wanted to play too so we signed him up this week. I can't say I know much of anything about soccer other than what I've seen him play. Lots of pictures are to be expected.

I think I could use a couple extra hours in each day...

Eli & Momma at the park

Eli & Bear playing at the park

Katie's first riding lesson

Day 315

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:47:42 GMT

Day 315

Eli's coming home tomorrow! All of the kids' pox (and mine) are completely scabbed over and all of our fevers are gone and have been for 24 hours. We've all been cleaning the house all day making sure we got ever corner, crack, and crevice any speck of virus could be hiding. This place is cleaner than it was when we moved in. Connor, Tim and Dougie have all been huge helpers all morning. We're all pretty excited for our Eli to come home!