Be Kind

This week I instituted a weekly bible verse with Sam.  While eating dinner Sam pointed to where it's posted on the wall and tried to recite it!  So of course I had to take a video. ;)  

Now just to put it into practice. :) 

How About Some Photos?

Sam's "tie-duhed" face. 

 Um. I am not okay with how high he is swinging on the big boy swing. 

 Helping water his mosquito plant. 

 "Tickle Sam"

 Watching Nanaw drive the tractor to load some mulch at work. 

 Draggin' the hose around like a boss. 

What's the Plan, Stan?

Sam had clinic on Thursday.  He finally finished his last extra cycle off accutane and I was anxious to find out how we would proceed.

 The tumor board met a few days before his appointment and their consensus was that attempting to biopsy the remaining spots on his liver would be unnecessarily invasive.  The biopsy that they took from there during his big surgery was negative, and his PET scan was negative, so they're guessing (our doc says she believes) that those spots are just old matured stuff and that we're okay just keeping an eye on it for now.  She even said that she looked back and found a similar case, persistant liver lesions and everything, and that patient is still doing great years out from treatment.    

No more accutane!  (yippee!) He will continue to take bactrim for 3 more months and then he can stop that.  Monthly clinic visits and scans every three months.  

 So here we go.  We're out here without our safety net.  Living life in 3 month increments.  

 He can start receiving his vaccinations again.  He stopped receiving them at diagnosis and he'll have to repeat the ones he had up until then and catch up to where he should be.   

 We registered him for the Mother's Day Out preschool program at our church for this fall.  He'll only be attending two days a week but I'm kind of freaking out about it. 

 He's growing more independent.  He's getting brave.  We're headed in the right direction, even if my stomach is all tied in knots over the uncertainty of it all.

I guess this really is the end of a chapter.  The end of treatment for the foreseeable future.  Holy cow, that just hit me.  Praise God!  And thank you for your love, prayers, and support.  I'm not naive... I know that we'll never really be "done" with cancer.  The relapse rate is high.  There will be lots of looking over my shoulder.  But as of right now, in this moment, we're done with the ugly stuff, and I'm happy about that.

Please continue to pray that all of the cancer in his little body is dead, dead, dead.  Gone and never to return.  And this can go back to a happy little journal chronicling our lives, and not a "cancer blog." ♥♥♥

A New Addition to Our Family

Meet Fraggle. 

 Fraggle is an approximately 8 year old poodle-ish mix that we adopted from the Humane Society on Sunday.  

 We had been contemplating getting a dog for a while.  Once we made the decision I did a lot of research to figure out what we wanted out of a pet and what would make the best fit for our family.  We knew we wanted an older dog rather than a puppy so that its temperament would be pretty set.  We wanted a dog with a balanced personality, not too hyper, good with kids, and hypoallergenic.  Oh... and no breeders.  We wanted to adopt.  Honestly... we set the bar pretty high.

Then last week Alex heard about Fraggle on the Paws Report on WFPK.  He called me and told me to look him up.  Little did he know that I already had him on my favorites list.  Fate.  But Alex was heading out of town for work, so we couldn't just head right out and get him and we figured by the time Alex got back Fraggle would be adopted and settled into his new home.  

On Sunday we headed to the Humane Society just to check it out and as we walked past the older dogs, there was Fraggle!  The volunteer told us they had at least six people interested in him and tried to steer us toward a sweet little doxie, but someone had placed a hold on Fraggle which had just expired right before we got there.  It seemed our timing was perfect. They put us in the little room too meet him and when he walked in he nudged up against Alex and then rolled right over for him to pet his belly.  I think my heart melted right there and we asked for an application.

 As I handed the application to a girl at the desk a man walked in and told her he wanted to adopt Fraggle.  When she informed him that he we were taking him he started staring me down.  I think he was trying to incinerate me with his mind powers. 

 So! Fraggle came home with us and it's like he has always been a part of the family.  He fits in so well.  He's housebroken, he sleeps in his crate, he stays off the furniture, he doesn't lick and he doesn't really jump or bark.  He's actually a much older dog than we would have thought of adopting originally, but the vet said other than the desperate need for a teeth cleaning and a cyst removed from his tail he's in good health for an old guy.  He can be pretty frisky but when he's done, he's done.  He was snoozing earlier today and Sam kept yelling, "Wake up Jeff!" (from the Wiggles) and he just kept snoozing away.  

He's super tolerant of Sam and Sam is really starting to love him.  I already love him, too.  :)

Our week-ish in iPhone photos

Oh, hey! Remember those iPhone weekly recaps?  That was fun, huh?  Here's a little bit of a recap of our great week and super weekend.

On Monday we spent the day on a mini road-trip with "Dedin" and "Baby Z." Sam was stoked about it. 

 We got our loot in the mail that we won in our pal Mendy's St. Baldrick's fundraiser auction. Sam got this adorable hat and a beautiful blanket.  Mendy's event has passed, but it's not too late to donate! Just click here. 

 We took Sam to the Kentucky Railway Museum.  In this picture he was sad because he didn't want to leave.

 But he was happy again when we got to wander around outside to look at the big trains. :) 

 We visited my mom at work and spent time running and exploring the nursery.  

On Saturday afternoon Sam and I attended his buddy Ezra's 3rd birthday party at Build-a-Bear Workshop. (Happy Birthday, Ezzy!)  Sam was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd but was really into picking out and creating his new stuffed friend.  He picked a Puppy and named him Toby.  I felt kind of bad because his first choice was the pinkest girliest bear they had and I admittedly steered him away from that. But he did choose Toby Dog on his own and they're now inseparable.

 On Saturday night Alex's band held their album release party at the Hard Rock Cafe.  We had an absolute blast and the bands all sounded fantastic. You can download the album on itunes or amazon.  It's good stuff. 

After a super late night of rocking out with Field of Kings we still made it to church this morning and I'm so glad we did.  Sam did fantastic in Sunday school!  He cried a bit at drop off but was quickly consoled.  He stayed in the room the entire time, talked to his teachers, played with his friends, and painted this awesome sun. :) 

While we enjoyed our week going about our non-cancer-related business, we remember that there are those who are still going through a living hell, their worst nightmares realized.  Please pray for Brennan and his family.  You can read about Brennan on caringbridge or get updates on facebook.
 

Easter 2012

On Saturday night we dyed eggs.  I learned this little wisk trick on pinterest.  It worked great for Sam.  He actually got to participate without making a huge mess. 

He started crying as soon as we pulled into the church parking on Sunday morning.  He's getting better, though and I'm so incredibly grateful for his Sunday School teacher Ms. Adelyn.  That woman... man she is a blessing.

After church we went to lunch with some sweet friends. By the time we got home I had to put Sam down for a nap straight away. We hadn't had time to give him his Easter basket all morning so we had it waiting for him when he woke up. 

 After he had a little bit of time to look through his loot we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house. Sam was pumped about the egg hunt. 

Once he was thoroughly buzzing off of m&ms he wanted to play "daketball" for.ev.er.  We have to get him a little basketball goal.  He keeps talking about "daketball" at Aunt Connie's.  

The sugar combined with the excitement of the day kept him up until ELEVEN o'clock.  We sang songs and cuddled and nursed and I didn't think he was ever going to sleep.  But it was such a fantastic day.  Praise God.   

Photo Bomb

Lets get caught up on photos from the past couple of weeks.
(Click the collages to enlarge them.)

We had some really warm weather.  Sam discovered the awesomeness of peeing in the grass.

 We saw Sesame Street Live.  He loved it.  But he totally is like his daddy when it comes to taking in shows.  He just sat there and soaked it in.  There was one section with butterflies and black lights and I swear he loved it so much he was the first one to clap in the theater when it was finished.  He seriously jumped up and applauded. It was awesome.  By the end he started getting into the music and grooving. 

 We've done lots of hard playing and gotten a few boo-boos along the way. 

Love it.