I have to tell you, my heart sunk when Dr. Smith said, "looks like that will be May 13th. I'll write that down up front so we don't forget." You see, they've been saying Feburary for a while and I wanted to get the specific so I asked... Let me back up a bit.
Abby and I went down to the CHOA office to get the IgG therapy on Friday. It takes about 5 hours to do the whole thing so during my time with Dr. Smith I asked him when the exact date would be that Abby would be done. He said probably Feb. but that he would check. He looked at the protocol that she is on and it said that the kids are done 2 years from the start of Interm maintenance. He proceeded to look on back in the chart and said, "May 13th.", that is when my heart sank. I was thinking that they would tell me it was the end of Feb. or maybe even the beginning of March... but May? Ouch. That's like 90 more 6-MP pills and maybe even another spinal tap. That's 15-20 extra days of a grumpy, hungry steroid girl... That means that we wouldn't be done until after our celebration trip to Disney Land.
That's why my heart sank.
He left, and I started to think. I thought about all the things above and tried to gear my mind up for the new time frame. Then I started thinking... "That can't be right." I had to be wrong. I got out my trusty CHOA folder and the protocol that she is on and started reading it myself. In our book Interm Maintenance started April 19th, still not great but at least a month better, only 60 pills and probably no extra spinal tap. I thought that I might have to check the blog to see if our records where right, another good reason to keep a blog huh!?
Anyway, I finally talked to one of the nurses, and asked them to see if they could reconcile the differences in what I found vs. Dr. Smith. It turns out that April 19th is it.
So, a new end date but a firm one. April 19th. Still sounds a lot further away than Feburary. Oh well. I'm still a bit disappointed but I also want everything to be ok when she is done so an extra 2 months is probably good insurance.
Change your calendars! Now you get 2 more months of sporadic blogging! Yippee for you!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
I like the Night
I love the night times around our house. Everything is quiet and peaceful.
I have a little routine that I do every night whether I want to or not. Yep you guessed it, it has to do with Abby's meds. Every night after I make the coffee, I douse Abby's meds with chocolate syrup and set it on the sink in the bathroom. I then go into Abby's room and scoop up my daughter in my arms with her head on my shoulder. She is ussually pretty out still but yet she somehow manages to give me a couple little pats on the back as she settles her head onto my shoulder.... I love those little pats. I really have no clue why she does it, but for me it is a nice little comfort, especially on the nights that I don't really want to give her her meds; tonight is one of those nights. Methotrexate Monday. That's what I like to call it, actually I don't know if I really "like" to call it anything but none-the-less I do. Monday's are the nights that I get to tell her in her sleepy state to open up for the "big chocolate medicine". She then gets a chaser of Benadryl and some water to finish it all off. I'm sure it would actually be a pretty good tasting little dessert... well if it didn't have the chemo in it.
Know what? Methotrexate is now on the acceptable list of what you can be on and still be able to give blood. Hey, I just thought you should know. Now you do.
Anyway, like I was saying, I like the nights. What struck me tonight, while engaging in this compulsory routine, was the fact that she has changed a lot in the 21 months that we've been doing it. For one thing she is a lot heavier than she was, up in the 40 pound range now and tall too! But as tall as she gets she still fits just as well on my shoulder. She is more compliant in this whole process than she used to be too. I still pick her up very carefully under the arm pits, careful not to pull on the "tubie" (Broviac) that has been gone now for almost a year. Ah, I'm so glad that that thing is nothing but a small scar, in flesh and memory, now. It was a lot of work to keep it clean and not pull on it while playing. I could go on and on..
But I won't. Instead I'll enjoy this peace and cherish those little pats, a really good part of a hard routine. Maybe when all of this is done I'll get her up anyway and take her to the bathroom... just for that little Abby pat on my back.
Good night
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Only 6 treatments to go.
Hey all,
Abby took her last Dexamethasone of the week this morning. We celebrated. This week was a pretty sad week for Abby, she was very emotional and very hungry. She's almost eaten an entire box, a very big box I may add, of corn flakes this week! Last night she put down 1 large ear of corn, 2 chicken thighs, and a good helping of quinoa (did I spell that right?). When she was all done she asked if Anna was going to eat her other half of corn!
She's been going to bed early every night and constantly sucking her fingers with her blanket close by. Basically just not herself. Hopefully she'll be back to herself soon.
But like I said, only 6 more to go! Yippee! We talked about how she'll be done soon and what happens after that. She asked if she will still get "pokeys" I said, "yes, in your finger though because they'll take your port out when you're done." She said, " I don't like those kind of pokeys." I think it will be better than the port though!
So, as you can see things are going pretty good. I love the fall here in Colorado so that makes even weeks like this more than just bearable. Maybe we'll have to go check out the Scotish/Irish festival up in Estes Park today, or maybe we'll just all rest!
Abby took her last Dexamethasone of the week this morning. We celebrated. This week was a pretty sad week for Abby, she was very emotional and very hungry. She's almost eaten an entire box, a very big box I may add, of corn flakes this week! Last night she put down 1 large ear of corn, 2 chicken thighs, and a good helping of quinoa (did I spell that right?). When she was all done she asked if Anna was going to eat her other half of corn!
She's been going to bed early every night and constantly sucking her fingers with her blanket close by. Basically just not herself. Hopefully she'll be back to herself soon.
But like I said, only 6 more to go! Yippee! We talked about how she'll be done soon and what happens after that. She asked if she will still get "pokeys" I said, "yes, in your finger though because they'll take your port out when you're done." She said, " I don't like those kind of pokeys." I think it will be better than the port though!
So, as you can see things are going pretty good. I love the fall here in Colorado so that makes even weeks like this more than just bearable. Maybe we'll have to go check out the Scotish/Irish festival up in Estes Park today, or maybe we'll just all rest!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Abby is pretty good
Just a quick post to let you all know that Abby is doing pretty good.
She still has some hard days, more often mornings, but overall she is much better since the IgG infusion.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
She still has some hard days, more often mornings, but overall she is much better since the IgG infusion.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
IgG Therapy
Abby is still sick.
She's been on one round of oral antibiotics and then they took her off of them since it was causing some tummy problems for her. Last week CHOA asked us to go get Abby checked out from our family doc her in town, Dr. Samuelson. He put her on Azithromycin to see how that would work. She has one more day of that prescription.
Yesterday Dr. Smith from CHOA, Abby's Oncologist, called to give us the results of another type of immunity test that they took blood for during the last time we were down there. She was fairly low on that one so they are recommending that we start her on IgG therapy once a month. Basically it is an infusion of gamma globulin and stuff that will boost her own immunity without increasing her white blood cell production. It is kind of like a blood transfusion and so it will take several hours to do. IgG is made from human plasma and has been used for some time now to treat people with low immunities that continue to get sick. You can read more about the therapy here or go to: http://www.iggamerica.com/patients/faq.html.
So we'll be off to Denver this coming Thursday, pray that it goes well. There are several common side-effects with this treatment but they all seem pretty minor and overall she will probably feel much better than being sick is making her feel.
I'll tell you all how it went next weekend.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Finishing up this round...
Hey all
Abby is right near the end of this pulse of chemo. She still has a nasty cough and bit of the left over cold. The doctor never called for a CAT scan of her sinuses, instead they just put her on a type of Amoxacillian for 21 days. She's been on it for about 11 now but it doesn't seem like she tolerates it very well so right after we refilled the prescription they took her off of it... Anybody need an expensive bottle of liquid antibiotics? Actually, don't answer that. I probably shouldn't be the antibiotic dealer for you all.
Abby's been up and down for this round. Some days are great and some are harder. She mostly has just been a little duckling of sorts, always wanting to follow up around and be held. She should finish up her Dexamethasone (steroid/hungry pill) tomorrow morning.
It was nice that this last time she didn't have to get a spinal tap. Actually she will only have about 3 more until she is done! I think she does a lot better these weeks when she hasn't had the spinal tap.
Other than that, things are relatively normal for our life. School is starting for me and the kids are back on Monday so that's been a little crazy. Anna has decided to carry over some of her "terrible twos" into the 3 year old realm, but not too bad. And Lily... well, she's just doing the baby thing. Finding out that she can control, somewhat control at least, her hands and smiling all the time. Tiffany is doing great being a mom of 3 and no hairs have turned grey as far as I can see. It definitely can be challenging but, for the most part, I think we do OK.
Till my next entry... bye!
PS, Erin & Rich H. I haven't been able to find any contact info for you guys. email me if you can.
schreiberm @
gmail.com
Abby is right near the end of this pulse of chemo. She still has a nasty cough and bit of the left over cold. The doctor never called for a CAT scan of her sinuses, instead they just put her on a type of Amoxacillian for 21 days. She's been on it for about 11 now but it doesn't seem like she tolerates it very well so right after we refilled the prescription they took her off of it... Anybody need an expensive bottle of liquid antibiotics? Actually, don't answer that. I probably shouldn't be the antibiotic dealer for you all.
Abby's been up and down for this round. Some days are great and some are harder. She mostly has just been a little duckling of sorts, always wanting to follow up around and be held. She should finish up her Dexamethasone (steroid/hungry pill) tomorrow morning.
It was nice that this last time she didn't have to get a spinal tap. Actually she will only have about 3 more until she is done! I think she does a lot better these weeks when she hasn't had the spinal tap.
Other than that, things are relatively normal for our life. School is starting for me and the kids are back on Monday so that's been a little crazy. Anna has decided to carry over some of her "terrible twos" into the 3 year old realm, but not too bad. And Lily... well, she's just doing the baby thing. Finding out that she can control, somewhat control at least, her hands and smiling all the time. Tiffany is doing great being a mom of 3 and no hairs have turned grey as far as I can see. It definitely can be challenging but, for the most part, I think we do OK.
Till my next entry... bye!
PS, Erin & Rich H. I haven't been able to find any contact info for you guys. email me if you can.
schreiberm @
gmail.com
Monday, July 31, 2006
Door Prize of a Cold
So lately things have been tiring to say the least. Our whole family got sick with some summer cold except for Lily. We've been plugging away at life even with the colds and when we have time we rest a bit to try to get healthy.
To be honest, I'm not used to having so many people in our family sick! That is a rare occurrence around here. I think other than the chemo side-effects, nobody had a cold for about 10 months after Abby was diagnosed. I bet we've only had a couple colds all last winter too. Anyway, I guess this is normal, it just doesn't feel like it. I was a bit discouraged that the first time we took Abby out with out a mask she got this cold and then gave it to all of us. I know we should probably still have her wear a mask when she's around a bunch of kids but sometimes I just want her to feel like a normal little kid at a birthday party. It's kind of hard to eat cake with a mask on too!
So, I guess she got the normal experience... party, cake, snotty kids, lots of fun, and a little door prize of a cold for the way home. Who knows, maybe she got it the day before at the store, or just from one of our friends that she visited.... oh well she should be over it soon.
Next Monday the 7th will be her next pulse of chemo, I don't think she gets a spinal tap this time but I can't remember for sure. If she does get one it will be the last one for at least a couple months. I think she will do a lot better with out the taps every month. That seems to knock her on her back pretty quickly.
Well, there's the update. see ya.
To be honest, I'm not used to having so many people in our family sick! That is a rare occurrence around here. I think other than the chemo side-effects, nobody had a cold for about 10 months after Abby was diagnosed. I bet we've only had a couple colds all last winter too. Anyway, I guess this is normal, it just doesn't feel like it. I was a bit discouraged that the first time we took Abby out with out a mask she got this cold and then gave it to all of us. I know we should probably still have her wear a mask when she's around a bunch of kids but sometimes I just want her to feel like a normal little kid at a birthday party. It's kind of hard to eat cake with a mask on too!
So, I guess she got the normal experience... party, cake, snotty kids, lots of fun, and a little door prize of a cold for the way home. Who knows, maybe she got it the day before at the store, or just from one of our friends that she visited.... oh well she should be over it soon.
Next Monday the 7th will be her next pulse of chemo, I don't think she gets a spinal tap this time but I can't remember for sure. If she does get one it will be the last one for at least a couple months. I think she will do a lot better with out the taps every month. That seems to knock her on her back pretty quickly.
Well, there's the update. see ya.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
The count down in my mind.
So it starts, the count down in my mind.
It's always been there, ever since we started this journey but now I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm planning my curriculum for school right now, well I'm suppose to be, and as I've been looking over the calendar my eye keeps getting caught by the word February. I don't know if I can really explain it but as my eyes hit that spot on the calendar a million images flood through my head. Images of Abby in the Hospital... all of those images. Images of her bald head and puffy face, and the images of how Anna has changed and how a new baby has joined our family. Images of friends bringing more meals than I could ever count for almost a year. And those crazy images of Abby playing in the back yard with a backpack full of methotrexate. ---As you can image it is hard to plan my curriculum with all of these non technology related images flashing through my head.--- So here I am blogging.
February, I still don't remember if it is the end of Feb. or the beginning but that doesn't really matter. What matters is she will be done! And with that date in sight, the count down begins. Last night as I was picking up my sleeping daughter to take to the bathroom and give her 6MP I realized that she is a lot heavier that when I started doing this. Her hair is in full bloom and we actually had to give it a little trim just last week. Ahh the change. She'll be 5 here before we are done... 5! Crazy. Wasn't she just 2.5 yesterday? Crazy.
So, T - 7 months... what will we do with ourselves?! Well, I guess if I don't get my planning done then I'll be doing that when she is done... so, on that note, back to planning!
It's always been there, ever since we started this journey but now I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm planning my curriculum for school right now, well I'm suppose to be, and as I've been looking over the calendar my eye keeps getting caught by the word February. I don't know if I can really explain it but as my eyes hit that spot on the calendar a million images flood through my head. Images of Abby in the Hospital... all of those images. Images of her bald head and puffy face, and the images of how Anna has changed and how a new baby has joined our family. Images of friends bringing more meals than I could ever count for almost a year. And those crazy images of Abby playing in the back yard with a backpack full of methotrexate. ---As you can image it is hard to plan my curriculum with all of these non technology related images flashing through my head.--- So here I am blogging.
February, I still don't remember if it is the end of Feb. or the beginning but that doesn't really matter. What matters is she will be done! And with that date in sight, the count down begins. Last night as I was picking up my sleeping daughter to take to the bathroom and give her 6MP I realized that she is a lot heavier that when I started doing this. Her hair is in full bloom and we actually had to give it a little trim just last week. Ahh the change. She'll be 5 here before we are done... 5! Crazy. Wasn't she just 2.5 yesterday? Crazy.
So, T - 7 months... what will we do with ourselves?! Well, I guess if I don't get my planning done then I'll be doing that when she is done... so, on that note, back to planning!
Friday, July 14, 2006
Amazing...
Doesn't this picture just say it all?
Yup Abby just got done with her steroid and chemo pulse and once again could eat a whole box of donut, maybe even a bakers dozen, by herself. The hunger effect is starting to wear-off now but lately it hasn't completely worn off until a couple days before we start it all over again!
Anyway, just a short post to show you that picture... but while I'm on the amazing point... you all are amazing and we appreciate all of your support, prayers and comments! So many amazing things! Maybe another post on that soon.
Yup Abby just got done with her steroid and chemo pulse and once again could eat a whole box of donut, maybe even a bakers dozen, by herself. The hunger effect is starting to wear-off now but lately it hasn't completely worn off until a couple days before we start it all over again!
Anyway, just a short post to show you that picture... but while I'm on the amazing point... you all are amazing and we appreciate all of your support, prayers and comments! So many amazing things! Maybe another post on that soon.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Low Key?
I don't blog much anymore because things are pretty low key. I guess that is a good thing. The funny part of that is that "low key" for me is probably a bit different than it is for other families. I guess I just don't know what is blog worthy anymore. I'll just write it all down anyway and you can all tell me it is good info or not.
See, Abby starts her monthly pulse tomorrow, Monday, again. This time will include the steroids for a week, the spinal tap with Methotrexate, and a shot of Vincristine. Abby hasn't been feeling very well with her tummy so this one might be a bit more difficult than normal. She just threw up this morning and is now resting in bed. Maybe we will have to put her back on the Zantac again.
Abby still has her rash on her face and sometimes it looks pretty good while other times it looks like teenage acne. We took her to our family doctor, the doctor that diagnosed her, and he said the rash is actually all over her body and only getting red on her face. When it gets really red it might be a secondary infection of the rash and we could get some stuff for that if it persists. We'll just have to talk to Dr. Smith again about it. It is probably from one of the chemo drugs so there really is nothing that we can do about it. We can't very well take her off of her chemo for a rash huh!?
Both Tiffany and I are just chronically tired. Usually it is not a problem but when Abby starts getting up often during the night, like last night, and Lily is up a lot to eat then it can get pretty rough.
See what else, oh, we took a trip to Idaho to visit the family... 3 kids + 1 Van + large quantities of coffee + stops for gas = a 12 hour drive (13 if you miss the turn off near Salt Lake... not that that would ever happen). Anyway, it was a good trip and girls had a blast.
So that is about it for now. We have some friends coming in on Monday, and my folks + my grandma in on Thursday and then I leave for 4 days on Sunday... like I said, pretty low key. :)
See, Abby starts her monthly pulse tomorrow, Monday, again. This time will include the steroids for a week, the spinal tap with Methotrexate, and a shot of Vincristine. Abby hasn't been feeling very well with her tummy so this one might be a bit more difficult than normal. She just threw up this morning and is now resting in bed. Maybe we will have to put her back on the Zantac again.
Abby still has her rash on her face and sometimes it looks pretty good while other times it looks like teenage acne. We took her to our family doctor, the doctor that diagnosed her, and he said the rash is actually all over her body and only getting red on her face. When it gets really red it might be a secondary infection of the rash and we could get some stuff for that if it persists. We'll just have to talk to Dr. Smith again about it. It is probably from one of the chemo drugs so there really is nothing that we can do about it. We can't very well take her off of her chemo for a rash huh!?
Both Tiffany and I are just chronically tired. Usually it is not a problem but when Abby starts getting up often during the night, like last night, and Lily is up a lot to eat then it can get pretty rough.
See what else, oh, we took a trip to Idaho to visit the family... 3 kids + 1 Van + large quantities of coffee + stops for gas = a 12 hour drive (13 if you miss the turn off near Salt Lake... not that that would ever happen). Anyway, it was a good trip and girls had a blast.
So that is about it for now. We have some friends coming in on Monday, and my folks + my grandma in on Thursday and then I leave for 4 days on Sunday... like I said, pretty low key. :)
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Living with a Celebrity
Well Abby's cute face is in the paper again from our involvement with relay for life.
Click here or go to:
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060611/NEWS01/606110328&SearchID=73247352768480
The Luminaria ceremony was very nice again, emotional but nice. I do want to say "thank you" to everyone who bought a Luminaria! Abby had a whole 40 feet of bags with her name on them! Thank you for honoring her that way and especially thank you for your support of the American Cancer Society by buying one of these.
Well, I'm pretty worn out still so I'll write more about the experiance later.
See ya.
Mark
Click here or go to:
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060611/NEWS01/606110328&SearchID=73247352768480
The Luminaria ceremony was very nice again, emotional but nice. I do want to say "thank you" to everyone who bought a Luminaria! Abby had a whole 40 feet of bags with her name on them! Thank you for honoring her that way and especially thank you for your support of the American Cancer Society by buying one of these.
Well, I'm pretty worn out still so I'll write more about the experiance later.
See ya.
Mark
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Celebrity Daughter
Quiet. Not something that I'm used to lately. With 3 little girls now these moments are few and far between, unless I want to get up super early.
Abby is back on chemo again this week and to be honest I'm not looking forward to it. You would think by this point I would be fine with these weeks, and usually I am, but for some reason this week is different. Maybe it is all the attention that Abby has been getting lately. The picture and article in the paper, the Team in Training weekend stuff and the upcoming Relay for Life event this weekend. Now don't get me wrong, it all been great stuff but it has also unpacked a lot of things that I think I had forgot about.
I got to speak this weekend, with Abby of course, at the Team in Training event. In the email they asked if I'd get up and say a few things about how the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society had helped up out and I said sure. I imagined that it would be a big long table with a handful of runners there and I would just stand up at the table with Abby and say something. Instead it was a big conference room with a stage and podium that I got to speak from... That's ok, I'm flexible. Abby and I went up there and she leaned into the mic and said, "I'm Abby and I have Leukemia." Just encase some of them didn't know. I guess I just wasn't ready for how those words would bring back so many emotions. To say it myself is one thing, but to hear it from the lips of my daughter is a whole different thing... a very uncomfortable sentence really.
And though the reason that we were there was hard it really was a great weekend for our family and Abby. The girls got gifts, we were put up in a very nice hotel room with a great view, the pasta dinner event was fun and Abby loved talking to all the runners. She was especially great at handing out candy and pretzels to the runners at mile 25! Tiffany got to get up early with Lily and got to get a Starbuck's in the lobby (yes they had one in the lobby of the hotel!) and just reflect on life in the quiet of the morning.
So, even though it brought back some memories and emotions that I would rather not ponder on, it also brought joy and hope to a lot of the people that were involved with last weeks event. I'm sure her little speech and chubby-cheeked smile will do the same for the people this weekend at Relay for Life... how can anyone not smile back at that little face!
Off we go into the decadron week, pray that it will be a good one.
Abby is back on chemo again this week and to be honest I'm not looking forward to it. You would think by this point I would be fine with these weeks, and usually I am, but for some reason this week is different. Maybe it is all the attention that Abby has been getting lately. The picture and article in the paper, the Team in Training weekend stuff and the upcoming Relay for Life event this weekend. Now don't get me wrong, it all been great stuff but it has also unpacked a lot of things that I think I had forgot about.
I got to speak this weekend, with Abby of course, at the Team in Training event. In the email they asked if I'd get up and say a few things about how the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society had helped up out and I said sure. I imagined that it would be a big long table with a handful of runners there and I would just stand up at the table with Abby and say something. Instead it was a big conference room with a stage and podium that I got to speak from... That's ok, I'm flexible. Abby and I went up there and she leaned into the mic and said, "I'm Abby and I have Leukemia." Just encase some of them didn't know. I guess I just wasn't ready for how those words would bring back so many emotions. To say it myself is one thing, but to hear it from the lips of my daughter is a whole different thing... a very uncomfortable sentence really.
And though the reason that we were there was hard it really was a great weekend for our family and Abby. The girls got gifts, we were put up in a very nice hotel room with a great view, the pasta dinner event was fun and Abby loved talking to all the runners. She was especially great at handing out candy and pretzels to the runners at mile 25! Tiffany got to get up early with Lily and got to get a Starbuck's in the lobby (yes they had one in the lobby of the hotel!) and just reflect on life in the quiet of the morning.
So, even though it brought back some memories and emotions that I would rather not ponder on, it also brought joy and hope to a lot of the people that were involved with last weeks event. I'm sure her little speech and chubby-cheeked smile will do the same for the people this weekend at Relay for Life... how can anyone not smile back at that little face!
Off we go into the decadron week, pray that it will be a good one.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Cancer Kid with a Cause
Cancer Kid with a Cause
Photo by V. Richard Haro,
of the Fort Collins Coloradoan
To buy the image from them click
here
This picture is from the Coloradoan and appeared in today's paper. Check out the full article here here or at the coloradoan.com site under the lifestyle section for June 2nd.
Well as you know from the last blog entry Abby has a full agenda this month in the journey of not only fighting her own cancer but also helping others join in being part of her journey and a future cure!
Tomorrow we drive up to Steamboat Springs to help cheer on all of the Team in Training participants (the Leukemia and Lymphoma fundraising and awareness event). Abby is the Honoree and will just sit there and give them all that look at the pasta party to get them motivated! I think it might just work! Actually we are honored and excited to be a part of this year's event. It has been a great opprotunity to get to know people from all walks of life that just really want to help out with raising money for Cancer research, Leukemia and Lymphoma in particular. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) has been a great resource to us and even gave us some money to offset the cost of all of our expenses last year. Really great organization.
Next weekend Abby is going to be one of the opening ceremony's guest speakers... I'll probably do most of the talking for her but who knows maybe I can work on getting her to say a sentence in the microphone or two even! That is part of the reason that she was featured in the story today. Diane, the second picture down in the article, is the event chair for Relay for Life and she called up a few weeks ago to see if Abby would do this. Diane fell in love with Abby last year at the event... as did a lot of people I may add. I think it is that little cubby cheeked smile. Anyway, we are excited to be apart of it again this year and help the American Cancer Society raise money and provide awareness too.
To do our part in raising money and awareness we are trying to get as many people to buy a luminaries as possible for Abby. They set these bags out at the beginning of the ceremony in honor or memory of people who have or have had cancer. When it gets dark they light them up. Some are decorated with pictures, others just a name... the whole track is lined up with them, pretty amazing, pretty surreal too. So many people are affected. I just never knew.
Anyway if you want to be part of this event and can't make it or just want a way to help out go to this link and purchase a luminaries, by clicking on the "light the way to a cure", in honor of that little girl up there in the picture or someone else that you know that has had cancer.
Thanks everyone for checking in!
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Time to Blog..
Wow, with 3 girls now how will I ever find the time to blog? Even if I have the time I might have used up all of my word by that time with all of the relating that will have to go on now! :) Anyway let me tell you about a few of the things that are going on in our life right now.
Abby is going really good. She still has some hard days during her chemo pulse every month but even with that she seems to be doing a lot better. She gets another spinal tap in a couple weeks and decadron too but it should be a short time. She actually started her chemo pulse the day before Tiffany gave birth to Lily and even with all of that craziness she did really good. We just sent her off to our friends house with a box of cheerios before we went to the hospital. That was pretty funny.
See... Abby is going to be a celebrity for the next couple weeks. Most of you know that she is an honoree for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training (TNT) race program. We have had a few social events to meet the participants during this season and now the race day has come! Abby, and the family too of course, will be trekking up to Steamboat Springs to cheer on the racers to finish the marathon or 1/2 marathon. We are excited!
Also, the weekend after Abby is the child guest speaker for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event in Fort Collins. I'm going to try to get her to say something but we'll have to see how that goes... I may have to do most of the speaking. I'll write more about this event in another post. Abby will be on chemo that weekend so pray that she is up for doing this! It is a great program and so I'm excited to help out with it and Abby truly loves being part of it. Last year she just kept asking to go back over and over again.
Well that's all for now!
Abby is going really good. She still has some hard days during her chemo pulse every month but even with that she seems to be doing a lot better. She gets another spinal tap in a couple weeks and decadron too but it should be a short time. She actually started her chemo pulse the day before Tiffany gave birth to Lily and even with all of that craziness she did really good. We just sent her off to our friends house with a box of cheerios before we went to the hospital. That was pretty funny.
See... Abby is going to be a celebrity for the next couple weeks. Most of you know that she is an honoree for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training (TNT) race program. We have had a few social events to meet the participants during this season and now the race day has come! Abby, and the family too of course, will be trekking up to Steamboat Springs to cheer on the racers to finish the marathon or 1/2 marathon. We are excited!
Also, the weekend after Abby is the child guest speaker for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event in Fort Collins. I'm going to try to get her to say something but we'll have to see how that goes... I may have to do most of the speaking. I'll write more about this event in another post. Abby will be on chemo that weekend so pray that she is up for doing this! It is a great program and so I'm excited to help out with it and Abby truly loves being part of it. Last year she just kept asking to go back over and over again.
Well that's all for now!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Vincristine from a Flower...
So I'm in DC this week for the Milken Educator Awards and since Tiffany was not able to come I took my friend Chris. Today, while I was learning all about the Milken Family Foundation and what all of these cool teachers do, Chris was tromping around our nations capital... He went to the Botanical Graden near the Capital Building and on his tour saw this flower.... The Madagascar Periwinkle. What you are looking at here in this picture is most likely the reason Abby, and so many other Leukemia kids are still with us! Vincristine is made from this flower. The even crazier part of this is that Chris learned from the guide that Vincristine can't be synthesized. It can only be extracted from this plant! Crazy!Here is a little blurb from a site I found on the web talking about this flower and it's cancer fighting compounds, "...more recently, 2 alkaloids in Madagascar Periwinkle leaves, vinblastine and vincristine, were identified as active anti-cancer agents that could be used in chemotherapy. Vinblastine is used for patients with Hodgkin’s disease and vincristine is used for children with leukemia. With the introduction of vincristine, the survival rate for children with leukemia jumped from 20 to 80 percent." From 2o... to 80 percent... Wow! You can read more about it here.
So anyway, there is your fact for the day. Don't just be looking at pretty flowers anymore, they might just be one the you could fix your aching back with... or at least your kid with A.L.L.!!!
Well, back to the conferance... you can check out more about the conference and how the week is going on the conference blog found at this site.
Buh bye!!
Friday, May 12, 2006
Pictures of a Lily
Hey all,
I put together a little website for Lily's pictures that we have so far.
I hope you enjoy them all!
Click here or go to:
http://www.i-netconsulting.net/Lillian/
I'm going to go sleep some more!
:)
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Abby has a new little sister!
Hey all,
Abby and Anna have a new baby sister.
Lillian Christine Schreiber, 6lbs 4oz, 18.5 long, almost 3 weeks early! 11:51am May 10th, 2006
We just started Abby on her monthly chemo pulse yesterday so pray that we get some sleep this week! I was going to title this blog, "Chemo, Contractions, and Christine... Lily Christine" But I figured just to post it out their as it is!
I'll try to get some pics up soon. Long labor, Tiffany started some stuff a couple days ago and then really got going last night. We went in from 11pm until 2am then the they kicked us out and said it was probably just her body getting ready.... not too much sleep later, and a bunch of crazy big contractions, we decided to go get checked at the clinic and they said to go to the hospital!
2 hours later, Lily was born.
Have a great day, off to take more pictures!
Abby and Anna have a new baby sister.
Lillian Christine Schreiber, 6lbs 4oz, 18.5 long, almost 3 weeks early! 11:51am May 10th, 2006
We just started Abby on her monthly chemo pulse yesterday so pray that we get some sleep this week! I was going to title this blog, "Chemo, Contractions, and Christine... Lily Christine" But I figured just to post it out their as it is!
I'll try to get some pics up soon. Long labor, Tiffany started some stuff a couple days ago and then really got going last night. We went in from 11pm until 2am then the they kicked us out and said it was probably just her body getting ready.... not too much sleep later, and a bunch of crazy big contractions, we decided to go get checked at the clinic and they said to go to the hospital!
2 hours later, Lily was born.
Have a great day, off to take more pictures!
Monday, April 17, 2006
Ohhh the Big blog blood drive
Well, I've been hinting at it for a while now and now we are going to pull the trigger. Here's the deal, give blood, get a limited edition, hand drawn, refirgerator worthy, signed... well kinda signed picture from Abby and Anna.
Now you may be thinking, "will I really get a limited edition, hand drawn, ya da ya da ya... Picture from Abby?" Well, the answer would be a big stinkin' YUP! one of a kind I may add.
Now you also might ask, "How could I get one of these limited edition...ya da ya da.. pics from Abby?" Well, once again I'm glad you asked and I also may add that I'm glad that you are so concise.... Well, here's how it works. You go to your local blood bank, ( just check the yellow pages, call your hospital, doctor, or just Google it), and then give blood. Once you are done and you aren't feeling light headed anymore, come back to this site and post a comment on this blog entry. When we see your name, we'll look up your address, if we don't have your address please post it or an email. We will then get Abby to draw you something nice, personal, and using a lot of red colors to remind you of this event that you took part in!
We would like to have people give at least as much as Abby has used since this whole thing started. I'll have to calculate but I bet it's up in the teens- 20's. While you are at the blood bank you might want to have them see if you are a good canidate to give platlettes, Abby used a ton of those too! Maybe you could become a monthly donor! That would be really cool! We'd have lots of pictures coming your way in that case.
Here's an added bonus... no, not ginsu knifes... but close... if you really want to help people and get a color picture of Abby, signed I may add... go give blood like the rest of us, and then check into this http://www.marrow.org/HELP/join_the_registry.html . This is the national bone marrow registry. Pray that Abby never needs a bone marrow transplant, but lots of people do. Leukemia, Lymphomoa, and lots of other diseases can be cured by a bone marrow transplant. If you really are willing to give bone marrow to anyone that needs it, then get on this list. If you do, please comment on this blog and we will send you not only a drawing, but also a signed picture of Abby! Talk about a deal huh!
Well really, if you want to help, go give blood. Give it on Abby's behalf if you want and know that what you are giving is saving someones life just like someone elses donation helped save Abby. Remember the retinal hemorrage? Donate some platlettes... Remember how Abby was short of breath and couldn't walk very well? Donate packed red blood cells.
There you have it the Big, Blog, Blood drive. Drawings and pictures will be sent out as soon as someone jumps on this one.... PS... I already got my picture 2 weeks ago when I donated... Wait... I get them all the time... Anyway, the gauntlet has been thrown down.
Now you may be thinking, "will I really get a limited edition, hand drawn, ya da ya da ya... Picture from Abby?" Well, the answer would be a big stinkin' YUP! one of a kind I may add.
Now you also might ask, "How could I get one of these limited edition...ya da ya da.. pics from Abby?" Well, once again I'm glad you asked and I also may add that I'm glad that you are so concise.... Well, here's how it works. You go to your local blood bank, ( just check the yellow pages, call your hospital, doctor, or just Google it), and then give blood. Once you are done and you aren't feeling light headed anymore, come back to this site and post a comment on this blog entry. When we see your name, we'll look up your address, if we don't have your address please post it or an email. We will then get Abby to draw you something nice, personal, and using a lot of red colors to remind you of this event that you took part in!
We would like to have people give at least as much as Abby has used since this whole thing started. I'll have to calculate but I bet it's up in the teens- 20's. While you are at the blood bank you might want to have them see if you are a good canidate to give platlettes, Abby used a ton of those too! Maybe you could become a monthly donor! That would be really cool! We'd have lots of pictures coming your way in that case.
Here's an added bonus... no, not ginsu knifes... but close... if you really want to help people and get a color picture of Abby, signed I may add... go give blood like the rest of us, and then check into this http://www.marrow.org/HELP/join_the_registry.html . This is the national bone marrow registry. Pray that Abby never needs a bone marrow transplant, but lots of people do. Leukemia, Lymphomoa, and lots of other diseases can be cured by a bone marrow transplant. If you really are willing to give bone marrow to anyone that needs it, then get on this list. If you do, please comment on this blog and we will send you not only a drawing, but also a signed picture of Abby! Talk about a deal huh!
Well really, if you want to help, go give blood. Give it on Abby's behalf if you want and know that what you are giving is saving someones life just like someone elses donation helped save Abby. Remember the retinal hemorrage? Donate some platlettes... Remember how Abby was short of breath and couldn't walk very well? Donate packed red blood cells.
There you have it the Big, Blog, Blood drive. Drawings and pictures will be sent out as soon as someone jumps on this one.... PS... I already got my picture 2 weeks ago when I donated... Wait... I get them all the time... Anyway, the gauntlet has been thrown down.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
A Good Wed, Thurs & A Good Friday
Happy easter all!
This chemo week has been really good. Before it started I kept hearing the good weather forecast and considering how much I've used that analogy in the past I was hopeful that since it would be a sunny week, that maybe Abby would do good... My hopes and prayers paid off and aside for a few gusts of wind, outside and in, all has been relatively calm here.
We dyed some easter eggs this week and the girls have been eating them all up! Abby eats about 3 a day! I guess that is better than a bunny mac and cheese craving! As for the steroids and cravings... she really has done great. Lots of wanting to be held, and lots of resting but not a ton of requests for food constantly as has been the norm in the past.
See, we've bumped Abby up to a 3/4 dose of 6MP and 1/2 of the oral Methotrexate. We'll check her counts again in a week and see where they want to set the medicine back to. Abby's been trying to chew up her Decadron instead of swallowing it up... she says it taste "yucky". She used to swallow it on the first try, good for a 4 year old, but of late she's decided to chew it instead. We'll have to work on that.
Well, only 3 more Decadron pills to go! We will be done this round on Easter morning.
This chemo week has been really good. Before it started I kept hearing the good weather forecast and considering how much I've used that analogy in the past I was hopeful that since it would be a sunny week, that maybe Abby would do good... My hopes and prayers paid off and aside for a few gusts of wind, outside and in, all has been relatively calm here.
We dyed some easter eggs this week and the girls have been eating them all up! Abby eats about 3 a day! I guess that is better than a bunny mac and cheese craving! As for the steroids and cravings... she really has done great. Lots of wanting to be held, and lots of resting but not a ton of requests for food constantly as has been the norm in the past.
See, we've bumped Abby up to a 3/4 dose of 6MP and 1/2 of the oral Methotrexate. We'll check her counts again in a week and see where they want to set the medicine back to. Abby's been trying to chew up her Decadron instead of swallowing it up... she says it taste "yucky". She used to swallow it on the first try, good for a 4 year old, but of late she's decided to chew it instead. We'll have to work on that.
Well, only 3 more Decadron pills to go! We will be done this round on Easter morning.
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