Walking on Corn Starch

walking on cornstarch

Congrats to my friend Sara!

I am going to a baby shower tonight for a friend of mine who is having a girl. After years of not being able to get pregnant, they were able to adopt twin boys! Then recently, at Christmas, one of her 4 year old boys told her that the only thing he wanted for Christmas was a baby sister and toys. What do you know, they get pregnant and are having a girl! How awesome it must be for her to be able to experience something that she never thought possible. Then this morning as I was blog surfing, I came by another site of a woman not able to get pregnant after many failed IUI (intrauterine insemination) attempts. Well, 1 adoption later, she got pregnant. On her blog was this video. Maybe a little sappy for some, but I loved it. I was just talking yesterday with my older sister, Emily, who has adopted 1 boy and is now patiently waiting for another baby.(Link to website she started to help families in Utah find the right resources.) She conveyed to me her feelings about adoption with regards to the birth mother. How she doesn't really have the right to "know" if and when they are the right parents. That the experience really belongs to the mother and her feeling who is right. She also went on to say that any time a child is adopted, that it really is a small miracle that a woman would be willing to give up her child, knowing that it could have a better life with a family who, otherwise, would not be able to experience the joy that a child can bring. I thought this video depicted that beautifully.

Good days and not so good days...

Life is going along here and not much is new or has happened. Simon has a fat lip, Marshall is getting ready for a spelling bee (that isn't for another 6 weeks) and Max had another WinRho treatment today. Yesterday was his follow up appointment, last one being when his counts actually went up! Not the case again. Platelets were back down to 26. Unfortunatley they didn't have the WinRho in the office. Someone else used it since the last one was ordered. So, we went back in this morning at 9am. Jeff was out and about and was able to stop in while Max got his IV in (he prefers his dad to cover his eyes if at all possible). That was a nice surprize,and it all continued on as planned. They first gave him Zophran, to help with the nausea. Then, instead of Benadryl, they gave him something else (he HATES Benadryl and always gets really sick from it). Finally came the WinRho. 10 minutes after, Max was a wreck! Crying, sick, shaking, just not feeling his best. It went on for about 20 more minutes and then the doctor ordered some Ativan/Valium. Within minutes Max was able to calm down. "Why do I see 2 of you" he asked. His pupils were as big as the blue in his eyes. He was fully wacked out. He could hardly talk, and when he did, it didn't make much sense. By 12:45 we were leaving the office and by 1:30 he was resting up on my bed. At one point I heard him calling my name. I go upstairs and find Max on the floor. "What are you doing?" "I tried to walk but couldn't and now I can't get back on the bed." What a mess he was. Now, 5pm, and he is back to his spunky self, out playing with the neighborhood kids. As hard as it is for him to go through all this, I still feel so lucky that we aren't dealing with something worse. And that it was 11 weeks since his last treatment. Hopefully we are on a good streak that will continue.

Simon's Birthday Calendar

Simon kept asking when his birthday was. I was getting frustrated at having to answer it EVERY SINGLE DAY. So we made his Birthday Calendar. 72 Days until his birthday, from the day we started it. We also put in other holidays and family birthdays. I hope this will help the time go by faster for Simon. He is so excited about his birthday and wanted me to know that every person is invited to his party! We will see about that. I doubt everyone enjoys taking their children to the germ infested Chuck E. Cheeses.

Great Day

What a great day. We went back to Dr. Bernsteins office for a recheck of Max's platelets and possibly a WinRho treatment. 76 today! What great news! The same as last week. Max is so happy. Congrats Max!

New Odyssey Bumper

For future knowledge, Odyssey bumpers and brick walls: like oil and water, fire and ice, Iraq and WMD, hair gel and bald heads, owning an Odyssey and having money to fix the bumper.

Jeff

The Deal is Done!

Here it is, the newest member of our family. After two weeks of deliberation and emails and phone calls to dealers, Jeff and I drove away (acutally I drove away in it and Jeff drove away in our old van) in our new 2008 Honda Odyssey! We are so excited, but nothing compares to how the boys feel. DVD player...can't even put a price on the peacefulness we can now experience when traveling. Worth every penny! Yeah!

Great news1

Max and I went back to Dr. Bernsteins office on Friday for his WinRho treatment. We got there and they checked his counts. 74! Unbelievable! It actually went up. We don't want to get false hopes but this is a really good sign. Max was thrilled not to have a treatment and I was thrilled not to have to sit there for 4 hours. We go back next Thursday. Cross your fingers!

Movie Time

We just got back from "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." What a great movie. I know sometimes I am easy to entertain, but we all totally enjoyed it. Simon couldn't stay put in his seat for the whole 2 1/2 hours, but says "it was super cool!" It was nice that we were the only ones in the theater, aside from one lonely man. It was like a special preview, just for our family. I didn't care when Simon was climbing back and forth because there was nobody to bother. Great movie! Highly recommend it!

Tuesday, May 20th

Happy Birthday Bond! Max's trip to the doctor today went well. His count was at 46, still good enough to put off WinRho, but only until Friday. Good day though. Any day Max doesn't have to have a treatment is a good one. It is much easier on both of us when we can actually plan for it. The other 2 yea-hoos went to Zelma's to play. Sometimes I think my children would rather live somewhere else that at their own home. They had a great time. Thanks Zelma, for all your help! That's it for now. Love and miss you all!

Max's Update

Really fast...I only have 2 minutes before the other girls get here to run...Max's appointment yesterday was great! His count was 77!!!!! YIPEE! That means in a week it went down less than 20! We are so excited. It doesn't mean he is cured, yet, but it means the Rituxan is working and that eventually we hope his number to increase. 7 weeks sine his last WinRho, we are all so excited, but noone more than Max, of course. Have a good one!

Weekend Update

Thursday night was a long one for me. Up all night with the "Double Dragon" sickness. Not fun puking up meatloaf and salad and then tasting the remains mixed with bile. I stayed in bed all day Friday, while a friend dropped off and picked up Marshall from school, and kept Simon all day. Saturday was a little better. I was only in bed for 1/2 the day. Sunday was pretty much back to normal and we went over to Greg and Whitney's house for a mothers day dinner that the guys cooked for us. It was fantastic! Jeff got me a membership to Las Vegas Athletic Club, which I am so excited about. I really wanted to get one, so it was the best surprize ever! We stayed up to watch the survivor finale, which I was very mad about. I HATE Parvarti and was so annoyed that she won. I woke up bright and early to get back into my daily running regimen. Ran 4 miles then worked out with a client. I had a few minutes so I thought I would give a little update. Marshall is on track break for the next 2 1/2 weeks so hopefully we can do some fun stuff. It is nice to not have to run around crazy in the mornings to get him off to school. Oh, also, at Greg's house last night we found out that William and Tabatha are engaged! Congrats! They are so cute together and are planning on a September wedding, as of now. We are all so excited for them! Thats about it. Lovely weather here today and we are gearing up for a possible treatment for Max tomorrow. If his counts are above 30, we wait another week. For Max's sake we always have to plan for the worse. Hope all is well out in blogger land! Love you all! Rachelle

Dr. Update

Max went back to the Dr.s office today. His platelet count was at 98, after 6 weeks! Yeah! Last week when he went in it was 130. It is definately taking longer for them to go down. After his previous treatment it was back to 30 by 6 weeks so we have gained a week. The Dr. was really encouraged by this and want to see him back next week, where he will most likely have another winrho treatment. Thanks again to everyone for their care and concearn. I'm feeling better about things, even though I know we aren't out of the woods yet.

Time Flies

Man, it has been a while so I thought i would update with some cute pictures from our "rehersal dinner" for Amy and Chris. I know there was one of Kate and Zach kissing but it must not have been flattering because she sent me this one.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Dad! We love and miss you!