Sunday, February 24, 2008

Our trip to Chapel Hill

Hi, everyone!

We are home from our monthly trip to Chapel Hill, and done with day 5 of our monthly steroids. Grant had a very quick visit at the clinic. He did Vincristine and his monthly blood work. His counts still seem to be low to be in Maintenance - simply put, his medicines are working a little too well! We will do labs again in 2 weeks and possibly lower his dosage of his daily chemo. His ANC was .9, which means that he is pretty susceptible to infection and needs to steer clear of "sick people", not such an easy task when you are in Kindergarten!

This round of Dex was our easiest yet. Grant has actually been more hyper than sad this time. I can live with hyper! The crying for 5 days straight was a little too much - but I can do hyper! (After all, have you met Jacob! He does hyper all the time!) Grant has developed a fondness for meatball subs during this round. He even had one before church this morning! Gross and disgusting....... but he was happy, so what do you do?

We had a very fine trip this week! After the clinic we visited with our new friend Susan, Grant's Make-a-Wish coordinator. We had a fun lunch at Applebee's and Grant got to make his wish! He has decided that he would like to visit Disney World and learn to draw cartoons with the Disney cartoon artists. Cool, huh? Many thanks to Susan for her awesome gift and for her help in making Grant's wish come true!

After lunch, we saw Aunt Leah and her sweet boys and then headed to Greenville to visit Uncle Joel and Uncle Mike. We hung out with the Hancock men at the bachelor pad and visited with my friend Wendi and her adorable kids! Many thanks for the gifts, Wendi. Grant took his Spiderman bag to school for show and tell on Thursday! The other kids were also very impressed that you remembered them! Jacob is sporting Spiderman tatoos today!

We are looking forward to a calm week this week. I am hoping to paint my bedroom and get some things done around the house. I love to paint, and would redo my whole house every season, if possible! I painted the living room and dining room a couple of weeks ago and am in love with my new red wall! I haven't done my room in a good 2 years, and have been waiting just about as long to change it! I finally broke bad and bought the paint on Saturday. Grant had a good time running around Ace Hardware doing his best Spiderman impersonation while we waited for the paint. This was nearly as much fun as his Spiderman impersonation at Food Lion while I got groceries!!!

I will post pics when I'm done! I'm going from dark green to a lighter eucalyptus color with a dark brown accent wall! Yeah! I'm very excited! It doesn't take much......

Until then....

6 comments:

Wendi said...

Yea for Grant and wishes! May they all come true!!!

We enjoyed seeing you all even if it was a very "brief" visit. Let's get the kids together one weekend soon!

Wow Emily...so much energy! Please come paint at my house when you are done. Sure wish I "loved" to paint like you! I just "love" it when someone else paints for me! *hint *hint

Anonymous said...

You guys are going to LOVE the Make-a-Wish trip. The place where you stay is awesome & the kids get to go straight to the front of the lines. It was absolutely our best trip ever! (Now I'm just trying to figure out how to take my kids back & explain they don't always get the "royal treatment").

I'm glad this round of meds went smoother. Keeping all of you in our prayers -

Carrie Stroud

Susan Hancock said...

It was a fine day in Chapel Hill. The clinic visit was I think the easiest and fastest since Grant has started his treatments.

It was a happy/sad occasion meeting Susan, the Make-A-Wish coordinator for Grant. She is a very sweet young lady. She is the mother of a little girl who died two years ago of a brain tumor- she was only 7. Her daughter looked alot like Leah as a child... beautiful little goldilocks and a tender smile.

Since that time, her husband has "left the scene" leaving her no longer functioning as a mother or wife. So, she is volunteering with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help keep her sanity. Bless her heart, just when you think your basket of problems is heavy, you meet someone with a much heavier basket. I really appreciate all the time she took with Grant finding out the things he likes, and how she can plan a trip that he and the family will enjoy.

Thanks for all of our dear friends who keep checking on Grant. You're the best.

stephanie howard said...

Meatball subs are something I have never tried. However if it makes Grant happy I might have to try it on one of my sad days and see if it work. I can't imagine painting every year, wow! You must have more time, energy, or money then me. Although I would love to change things in our home, I don't get to do it very often. To say the least we stick with traditional decor, so it won't go out of style so fast. Now Wendi wasn't lying, she would change paint every six months if Chad would do it. It is always fun to see the difference a coat of paint can make!

Anonymous said...

Alright Grant! I'm so glad it is getting easier for him. He certainly has something to look forward to with that FABULOUS trip coming up!

Em - I can't wait to see pics of interior design project. From the sounds of this website, looks like it could be a side job (with all the extra time you have - HA!)

Rylee Corradini said...

So great to hear that Grant is feeling so much better these days... and his wish sounds like a ton of fun. All our best from Utah. :)