Wednesday, December 30, 2009
4th Week Postponed ... Sigh of Relief
Monday, December 28, 2009
Merry Christmas!
That evening Daddy read Colin 'the night before Christmas' while Santa and his helpers worked all night on the big pile of gifts under the tree.
Christmas morning Colin walked into the living room with this frightful look on his face because he thought Santa was still here. It wasn't until Daddy told him Santa had gone home to the North Pole when he began to enjoy himself.
Let's open presents Daddy!
After a morning visit from Gigi, Papa and Uncle Jack Colin and Maddie took an early nap so we could continue the celebration at Aunt Liesl's house later Christmas afternoon...
More stories with Grandpa!
Off to Gigi and Papa's on Saturday for the Greening celebration!
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Third Week Postponed
Our normal Thursday routine started a day earlier this week due to Christmas. When Gigi arrived, Colin knew it was treatment day and got into serious mode. Once again he told the nurse what arm he wanted her to draw the blood from and the order of the vital signs. Because his counts weren't ready last week they had us wait for the results. It seemed like the never ending morning as we waited .. clinic was very busy because of the holiday so it took nearly two and a half hours to get the results. Again, Colin's counts were not high enough for treatment. While his hemoglobin count has increased his ANC level is extremely low (170). The ANC level must be at 750 for him to proceed with treatment. Colin's favorite new Dr (Dr. Joe) reassured us that this happens from time to time and he is not too concerned. He also stressed how Colin should not be in public places or around anyone who is sick because his immune system is very low. Should Colin's counts continue to be low next week he will have a bone marrow aspirate to to test the marrow. However, the Dr's and Nurse's are confident that the results will be negative for cancer cells but is required under protocol. A benefit of this test is that it may stimulate his marrow to boost production of blood cells and give us peace of mind that he remains in remission.
Despite a very long wait for the blood count results, we managed to keep Colin entertained with books and more books. He also enjoyed playing Santa while handing out gifts and cards (compliments of Aunt Ginny) to all his Doctor and Nurse friends.
Mike and I have taken this news pretty hard since we had convinced ourselves he was ready this week but today is a new day and while we have this on our minds we have decided we need to put it aside and make this a truly special and Merry Christmas holiday for our family.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Comment Section
This week we pray Colin's counts have rebounded enough to begin his next phase of treatment scheduled for Wednesday.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Postponed Again
Next treatment is scheduled for Wednesday.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Postponed
Friday night Daddy and Grandpa held down the fort while Mommy and Grandma went to the third annual Greening Girl's cookie swap. The attendance grows each year as does the variety of cookies we all get to take home!
Saturday Colin spent the day with his Aunt Liesl and cousin Frankie while mommy and daddy started and almost completed their Christmas shopping! He had lots of fun! He also worked up an appetite and had a full bowl of Mac N Cheese for dinner (this appears to be his new favorite food..Kraft only though!)
Today was the holiday party in West Haven sponsored by the Tommy Fund and the Yale Children's Oncology Group. It was a fun day and included a visit from Santa! Colin wanted no part of Santa, but Maddie loved him, even tugging on his beard and giggling. Colin flirted with his new friend Hannah while Mommy and Daddy exchanged stories with her parents. It was also comforting to be surrounded by others and seeing family's at various stages in recovery. While we've been in touch with other family's who have previously been through this journey it's important for us to have a support system of family's currently going through this process as well.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Lots of Firsts
We've made our first ALL friend, Hannah, who is 18 months old and has the same diagnosis as Colin. She is four weeks behind Colin and hopes to come home from the hospital tomorrow. Hopefully Colin will get a chance to meet her soon but in the mean time Mommy and Daddy look forward to sharing stories as we progress through this journey.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Blood Count Education
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Dr. Day
Colin had his last treatment of this phase today. His treatment consisted of two injections. Once again he did great and Colin and Daddy went to visit the owls we spotted outside the ER. Now it has become part of the hospital routine. Colin's counts have decreased so we'll be watching him closely. Next treatment is next Thursday.
Maddie had her four month check up today and the results are in:
Height - 25" (75%)
Weight - 16lbs 2.5 oz (95%)
Head Circumference - 43cm (50%)
She received two vaccines today so Colin will be able to take her band-aids off tonight.
After both Dr. visits we made a quick visit at Brenda's house so Colin could play with the kids since it was 65 out today. It was great to see him doing laps around the house with Ryan, Jess and Liam. We also covered Brenda's driveway with chalk drawings during our visit.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Holiday Weekend
We had a great holiday weekend starting on Wednesday evening with a Xeller/Greening family reunion. The reunion was at Gigi and Papa's house where 6 out of 7 Xeller kids and their families took over the house. This was the first time Gigi and Papa had 10 young kids running around the house and we should have planned this event much sooner because we finally broke the bird clock (lol). Gigi pulled off a fabulous sit down dinner for 28 adults and children and it was a good time by all. Hopefully this will turn into an annual event.
Turkey Day was again at Gigi and Papa's house where we had another great dinner which consisted of Turkey, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, bread dressing, turkey potatoes and a ton of deserts. We were able to spend quality time with Gigi, Papa, Auntie Courtney, Uncle Mike, Uncle Jack, Uncle Ron, Aunt Kerrie, Cousin Morgan, Cousin Rachel, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Liesl, Uncle Joe and Cousin Frankie. At dinner this year, Gigi had everyone at the table pick someones name and we had to tell them why we were thankful to have them in our life. After dinner we chose our secret santa names in record time since no one picked themselves the second go around. As a group we decided to change things up this year and we incorporated a theme.... green. We can use our own definition of green so please post ideas for us!
On Saturday we helped Aunt Liesl, Uncle Joe and Cousin Frankie make a dent in their left overs. Grandma and Grandpa came for dinner too and worked up an appetite keeping up with Colin. Cousin Frankie taught Colin some songs on the piano and read lots of books! Colin's dinner was the filling from an apple pie ... he was up very late that night!