Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. This is a link to a video created by parents of children with cancer. It makes reference to www.curesearch.org. This is a search engine that gives the best information on childhood cancer and is the home of the Children's Oncology Group. They are the sponsor of the clinical trial that Grant is involved in.

If you visit curesearch.org, you can click on a link to send your state representatives a letter urging them to pass the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act. It is a very simple process, and if you chose you can use a form letter and simply sign your name.

Thanks for helping.

Homework!

Hi, everyone! We are back and home and enjoying life as normal at the moment. Our trip to the clinic was a rough one last week. Grant evidently is a hard kid to get "under" without full sedation! He had as much Fentanyl as possible, but still never went to sleep. So, we did the procedure awake!!! AAAHHHGGG! He actually did great - not nearly as bad as Eden at the dentist!

Unfortunately, the Fentanyl left him "hung over" for several days, so it was a long weekend. Finally, on Sunday, he took a 5 hour nap, and still went to bed at 10 pm, so he felt a lot better on Monday!

This picture was taken Monday afternoon while doing homework. Grant was teaching his classroom pet, Care Cat how to color! They had a great time!

We will visit the clinic again next Tuesday for our last visit in Interim Maintenance. Delayed Intensification is our next hurdle! The steroids will return for a while - as will a preoccupation with tacos and grilled cheese sandwiches, I'm afraid! A small price to pay, I guess!

Please remember our friend Michael McKinney this week. He is finishing radiation and beginning another round of chemotherapy. Michael is really sick right now. Please pray for him and his family. They will be having a fundraiser on October 20th and are currently selling t-shirts to help with hospital expenses. Click on Michael's link on our page for more information. I will post more as the fundraiser gets closer!

The coolest news of the week is that Mother Teresa and her benefactor (aka my ma and pa) purchased me a ticket to fly to San Diego for my friend Kelly's wedding in October! I will be flying out with another friend, Nina, and am just so excited!!!! We will only be gone for a couple of days, but I am looking forward to a little vacation! Kelly is a faithful watcher of Grant's blog and one of my and Kevin's very best friends, so I am thrilled to be with her on her very special day! I will be sure to post pictures!

That's about all for tonight! I'll post again soon!

Is it already Thursday?

Wow! Life is passing by "speedy quick" these days! I can't believe that it is already time for another UNC trip. We will leave this evening after I finish piano lessons. Grant will do a spinal and bone marrow in clinic tomorrow morning, and then we will head back home!

Grant has had a good week at school. He has stayed for the whole day several times, and is beginning to get into the routine of things! He is at home today so we can do his blood work and get counts before clinic. Grandma is going to Chapel Hill with us this week and he is looking forward to some quality time with his personal Santa Clause!

Jacob has had an ear infection this week. He doesn't seem to mind, however. It hasn't slowed him down very much by any means!

Eden is looking forward to cheerleading today! They are learning their dance routine this week and she is all excited about being a hip-hop dancer! She cracks me up!

I will post more after our trip! We should get our calendar for Delayed Intensification tomorrow. The end (of the weekly trips) is in sight...........

Home at last!

Hello from Otway!

We are glad to be home. These trips seem to grow longer with each passing week! Luckily, we are beginning to see an end in sight. Grant will continue this weekly schedule until sometime around Thanksgiving. And tonight, with fall in the air, Thanksgiving seems much closer than last week!

I was reflecting a little today. It was 6 years ago today that we found out that we were pregnant with Grant. It was the day after 9/11. We had been trying for another baby for over a year and were starting to get a little anxious! So, on September 12th I woke up from a night of long and weird dreams. I, like everyone else, had spent the previous day in shock and awe, glued to the TV. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much and when I did sleep, I mostly had nightmares. But - amid all of the nightmares I had a dream about my Uncle Mike.

My Uncle Mike was like my 2nd daddy! He was my special uncle who always made me feel special too! Uncle Mike had 2 girls of his own, and I was his youngest adopted neice/daughter - a position that I was glad to hold! Uncle Mike was killed in a tragic car accident when I was in college, just a few weeks after he had surprised me by coming to my senior vocal recital at ECU. That visit was the last time I ever saw him. I had often wished to dream of him and talk with him. So - on the night of September 11th, I had my most vivid Uncle Mike dream ever. He approached me in a crowded room. I looked around in shock to see if everyone else could see him, but I was the only one. He was carrying a dark little baby boy in his rough and work-worn hands. As he approached me he said, "You are! Doesn't he look a lot like me?" Then he held this beautiful, fat, dark-haired baby boy up close to his face and smiled. That was all.

I felt like Uncle Mike had sent me a message, so early on the morning of Septmeber 12th, I took an at-home test, and indeed, I was expecting. Nine months later, Uncle Mike's dark-haired boy became my baby boy, Grant.

Who could have guessed the path that Grant's life would take. Maybe Uncle Mike already knew about all of this. Could he have told me? Would it have mattered, anyway?

Too many questions for tonight.

At the moment, Grant and his brother and sister are sleeping soundly. Life seems wonderfully normal. That's what matters the most right now. And that's the way I like it.

Hello from the Hampton!

We're in Chapel Hill this evening, staying at our home away from home, The Hampton Inn. Grant is already asleep, hopefully for the night (it's 7:45pm)! He had a great morning and was quite a fun kid to be around until late this afternoon he realized that we were staying the night, and staying the night means only one thing, PEG shots! After this realization occurred, he basically became possessed! What an afternoon!

We will do the PEG shots tomorrow morning, and then head home. Jacob has had a fever today, so we are anxious to get home to help Grandma with the sick baby! Eden is enjoying her stay at Grandma's and is at cheerleading practice this evening with her favorite neighbor-friend-cousin, Chloe!

We visited with the McKinney's for little while today. They are still playing the waiting game for Michael's transplant. Please remember them in your prayers.

The best part of the day was that Grant was assigned a Pal! UNC assigns students to help with the pediatric patients during their visits to the clinic. Grant's Pal is a sweet girl named Jane Lee from Roanoke Rapids. She is a junior, and is studying to become a Physicians Assistant. She kept Grant occupied and happy during our whole clinic visit. WOW!!!! She colored with him and read books and ate Cheetos! Too much fun!!!! Jane will be paired with Grant for the rest of the semester, at least, so we are excited to welcome her to Team Super Grant!

That's all from the Hampton tonight. We will post again soon!

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Grant's first full day of Kindergarten. He was very excited to be at school and was looking forward to a very fun day!

Eden wasn't so excited about having to take yet another picture!

Grant will also begin art classes at Crystal Coast School of the Arts today. So, after school I will shuttle Jacy to 3:30 dance class, Eden to 4:30 dance class, Grant to 4:00 art lessons, and I will teach a full afternoon of voice and piano! What a fun afternoon!

Jake has been a good boy today and allowed me to get my house a little more in order. I see an end in sight! I will never again try to organize closets in both of the kids rooms at the same time!

No clinic this week. We will be back in Chapel Hill on Monday night and do clinic on Tuesday and Wednesday. Kevin will go along for this trip and Jake will hang out with Grandma. We are looking forward to this little getaway!

I will try to get pictures of art class to post later! Until then.....