Adam and I aren't pet people. I always feel the need to wash my hands after touching an animal or being touched by one and I don't like pet hair on my clothes or furniture or food. The older I get, the more I dislike being around animals. However, my kids don't feel the same. …
The Joys of Radiation
Today we got to meet the radiation oncologist. I just don't know what else to say. It's a necessary part of Eli's treatment which we'll start later in January and it will continue for about 5-6 weeks. Every weekday, except holidays. That will be thrilling-oh joy of commuting to Salt Lake City every day.The upsides: …
Candy
Thanks to one of Adam's coworkers, Eli has a regular supply of candy, some of which he brought to his clinic appointment today (notice the boxes on his head and hands). When the nurse let Eli send his labs, Eli decided to share his candy with the people in the lab. He also wrote them …
Life 1, Mom 29, Adam 3 or 32
Saturday was the one month anniversary of the official diagnosis of alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma. Eli started chemo treatments November 2nd, so I've been doing all the things I'm supposed to do to give Eli a fighting chance. I give myself a point for every day I gave him his meds, checked his temperature, took him to …
Eli 5, Rhabdo 1
Don't let his smile fool you. Eli is holding a syringe to dispense oral meds, which is how he took last week's chemo. He hates liquid oral meds, so we practiced with orange juice, so he could figure out the best way to take the very bitter chemo with as little tasting as possible. It …
Silver lining, maybe
Someone posted this article yesterday in a Facebook group I am in. The gist of it is that there is a medication used to treat breast cancer by turning off the PAX3:FOXO1 genes, which also cause cancer in some kids with alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma. On Monday, the doctor said Eli is FOXO1 positive. When I asked …
The good, the bad, and the meeting?
Today was treatment day and, since I was out of town for the last treatment, I had lots of questions about his MRI reports, paperwork for a study he'll be in, and his future radiation treatments, among other things. The good: Eli's WBC count was up since last time, yay! His platelets were closer to …
I am grateful for…
Family and Friends. This week is an example of what it has been like since the day in the ER. You may notice that I haven't used many names to identify people, partly to respect privacy and partly so people don't feel like I don't appreciate the service they've given to our family. I was …
Picture perfect
With the developing bald spots, I decided yesterday morning to reschedule the photo shoot I had planned. My friend was going to trim Eli's hair this weekend, but that was looking like it wouldn't be soon enough. So, I trimmed it myself and scheduled the photo shoot for 1pm in the afternoon. It looks like …
Eli The Boss 