Let's start with last weekend's dragon boat races. Our long-time friend Trent (notice I didn't say old) took team fund raising to the extreme. To encourage people to dig deep, he promised to shave body parts when they hit their targets. And it worked - they raised more than $12K for cancer research! First went a full head of hair, then a more-than-full mustache. And because I'm never above saying 'I told ya so', I have to point out that I practically begged him to loose the facial hair about 20 years ago. He looks great! BTW - their 3-year total is well over $34K!!! They is good folk!
In a strange twist of fate, Pirates of Plastic (Trent works at Melet Platics) picked up Auntie Nadeen as a spare. We came out on Sunday to cheer them on for the final race! Not to be outdone, Auntie Mel learned to suck in her nostrils in an MJ pose (see pics below).
Hayden started grade 3 with no problems. He has a great group of friends and cousin Chandler is in his class, so he feels good about it. He's in a 2/3 split this year - seeing as most of the kids were not in his class last year, we co-presented an 'About Childhood Leukemia' talk to address some of the questions that kids ask...and, more importantly, the ones they don't. Hayden was very comfortable in front of the class so it went really well.
Last Sunday, we finally hosted Hayden's re-scheduled birthday party. We had a family affair back in July but had to delay the party with school buddies because he was neutropenic at that time. He had a blast.
Now that the 5-day pulse of steroids is over (prednasone this time), Hayden has returned to normal. And I don't mean sick-kid normal, I mean good-ole-Hayden normal. I can't tell you what it's like to see him break into an unprovoked smile or even just goof off. He was a real trooper through the tough times - we could almost always get a smile from him. But now he smiles because he's happy, he feels better, and he's Hayden again. Super Nurse Cathy says that even older kids have a hard time describing how they feel when they hit maintenance...it's like a cloud is lifted. All I can say is, 'Hello sunshine'.
Today, Tom took H to the clinic today for a blood test...no dr. appointment, no chemo...just a test. Huh! He was in class by noon. Huh!! Super Nurse Cathy called tonite with his counts - they are border-line so we'll go back next Tuesday for more tests and to see if his meds need to be adjusted. Right now, he's at 100% of the maintenance chemo but it's too early to know if we need to lower it to keep his counts at the optimum level. I'm happy that he's still being closely monitored. You'd think we'd want to run screaming from the clinic but cancer is a tricky foe so it's comforting to keep on top of things.
On a final note, you may see us at Saturday's Bomber game. Hayden is Captain Kid! If all goes well and he doesn't get cold feet, he'll take the field with Buzz and Boomer before the kick-off, then watch on the sidelines at the team comes out. If he does chicken out, you may see Tom sheepishly hold hands with the mascots and wave to the crowd. Either way, it'll be something to see!
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