What A Month

This week Colin received his monthly IV chemo of vincristine and started the five day stint of steroid. I think we say this every month but it is this one week per month that reminds us how serious 'cancer' is. Within minutes of Colin receiving the chemo he develops dark circles under his eyes. This month we barely made it home before his stomach turned which happens like clock work on these days. If that isn't enough, by mid afternoon the steroid has kicked in and he begins to eat us out of the house with a very whiny but demanding voice.

Two weeks ago Colin's counts were still on the high side (ANC 2,000) but they kept his meds as is. This week his counts haven't budged (ANC 2,100) so they increased one of his oral chemo drugs to 4 pills from 3. So the pill box now looks like this:

IV Vincristine - chemo (once per month)
6MP - oral chemo (one full pill 6x's per week and half a pill 1x per week - Wed)
Methotrexate - oral chemo (4 full pills 1 x per week - Wed)
12ml's Dapsone - pneumonia prevention (daily)
1.75 dex - steroid (2x's per day - 5 days per month)

It's been a whirlwind of a month. We enjoyed our summer to the fullest ... a few highlights are below!

Mike had the honor to become a godfather to our second cousin Ryan. As I watched him hold precious Ryan I saw a spark in his eye that said it all ... he is one proud godfather.

Family camp out in the basement due to Hurricane Irene. We were very fortunate as we did not lose power and had little damage in the neighborhood. We played it safe on Saturday night and made our basement home for the evening. Colin and Maddie were very excited to play in the tent and Colin brought in all the the essentials (flash light, box of books, two blankets, pillow, drink and of course his trust 'Teddy').

Maddie was a little under the weather last week with a 103 fever and no other symptoms. It came on very quick and luckily left pretty quick also. After speaking with the Dr. when the fever spiked we agreed to alternate Tylenol and Motrin (well not Motrin but whatever it's called now) and touch base in the morning. The Dr felt is was viral and we think Colin dodged it. As a cancer parent it's unsettling because we're headed to the ER for 100.4 temp with Colin however with Maddie 103 is no big whoop ... basically it's sit and wait to see what happens. Maddie is back to her chipper self running around here proving she's the princess of the house!

Well today starts childhood cancer month and as we sit hear and reflect on the words 'your child has cancer' ... words a parent never wants to hear ... we're determined to help spread the word. If you haven't already, please "like" the Colin's Crew facebook page as the team will be sharing some powerful information throughout the month.

Happy End of Summer
Happy Back to School

Colin received a package of school supplies from Friends of Karen:
Miss Maddison our princess ... oh so cute
All dressed up!

Proud Godfather!