A sure sign of spring

Christa is once again training hard for the Winnipeg Police Service Half Marathon in Hayden's honour (benefits the Canadian Cancer Society). Pretty impressive, huh? I should add that she also has a full-time career and is a full-time wife and mom...and a great friend. And she's already surpassed last year's fundraising efforts and is on her way to raising the bar, once again. Go Christa!

If you'd like to sponsor Christa, you can make a tax-deductible donation here:
https://www.runningroom.com/dashboard/donations/index.php?raceId=4980&eventId=16577&memberId=VTVXYQ5iVjhWOQQwAz0%3D&item=8&guest=1.

Good luck with your training, Christa! Hope the wind's at your back.

Here's a pic from last year's marathon...remember this kid?

Well, look at him now...

Hayden with Olympic fever


Looking forward to spring break this week and no appointments...hope Grandma's ready for the steroid boy (heheheh).

Blood, chess, and years

Busy times...it started with an 8:30 a.m. blood test at the CancerCare Clinic, followed by an appointment with Dr. Stoffman. Hayden's neutrophil count is still on the low side at .77 but, seeing as it's slowly climbing, we're staying the course on his chemo doses.

From there we blasted over to St. George school where Hayden slid into a seat just in time for the first chess game. There was a row of local celebrities - he played a cop and lost. After that, he went on to win 12 games. I gotta say, it's very cool to see a gym packed with that many elementary-school-aged kids...sitting...quietly...thinking. Whoa.

Tomorrow is Hayden's monthly spinal, followed by 5 days of steroids. It's also the day of his belt test for tae kwon do. And one other thing...tomorrow he is exactly 2 years away from being chemo free. March 24, 2012. That's it. We're done.

Hello? Is this thing on?

Hello-lo-lo-lo. Anyone out there? It's been a while...

Some were subtle, others less so, but I got the hints. Sorry for the lapse in updates. I do appreciate that you're interested and supportive of Hayden's battle so I apologize. Part of the reason is that...there's so damn much, I don't know where to start.

California was a blast! We started in Palm Desert (near Palm Springs), where we mostly just hung out poolside for 4 days. It was also a US long weekend so there were lots of families at the resort - Hayden played with new-found friends and mom and dad drank margaritas. Very relaxing. Unlike H's wish trip, where we stayed at a resort for kids fighting life-threatening illnesses, no one here knew about, talked about, or even thought about cancer. Hayden looked like any other carefree child. In fact, we forgot about it too...until Hayden barthed and spiked a fever (doh!). No worries, though, a quick call to an oncologist back home put our fears to rest and we all carried on. There was one other episode when an older girl asked Hayden about the round lump in his chest (Iron Man port)...he casually replied it was for cancer medicine and swam on while her fully-open mouth collected pool water.


Hayden and his friends in the pool (Palm Desert).


Hayden coming down the water slide (Palm Desert).

Then, we drove to La Jolla (near San Diego) where I attended a conference and the boys played tourist. The very first order of business, though, was LegoLand. Hayden is a big Star Wars lego fan so he really enjoyed this day. It is pretty amazing what they can do with lego!


Hayden and Lego Chewie



Bionicle blade


Oh yes they did do Indiana Jones in lego


Batman and Hayden (Robin who?)


The Las LegoLand strip


More stuff to pack

You can't tell from these pics but, man, does this boy have curls now. Even people who didn't know he had straight hair at one time will comment on his locks. I must say, he looks very healthy with a full head of hair, a bit of meat on his bones, and a tan.

We also hit the San Diego Zoo and the boys drove up to Knott's Berry Farm to get their coaster fix. Hayden was feeling well through nearly all of it, but he got sick again in the Denver airport on the way home. For most kids, this would be a traumatic experience, but it ain't his first rodeo. We just quietly left the restaurant and slipped around a pillar where there was a garbage can. Ten minutes later he was eating lunch and playing DS. No problem.

We returned on a Sunday and got right back to business with a blood test and dr. appointment on Tuesday and a spinal on Wednesday. Plus he started his monthly 5-day pulse of steroids. Welcome home! One of his chemo meds was increased to 75% so we're keeping an eye on those counts. His neutrophils were at .62 last week. It's low but he had a bit of a cold so we'll see what happens next Tuesday.

And, in closing, a Hayden story:
I was making his lunch one morning - just finished cutting the green tops off the strawberries. I didn't even notice that he was shooting imaginary lasers at me from the other side of the island (pi-choo, pi-choo). I turned to put something away and he ducked, as though I was coming at him. As he cautiously peered over the top of the counter he said, 'I thought you were going to hit me with those crackers'. I grabbed the first thing I saw and replied, 'No, but I could get you with this strawberry'. 'Oh yeah', says my little boy, 'then I'll get the whoopin' cream!'

Now, I've been taking this he-looks-just-like-his-dad crap for 8 years so when he clearly displays traits from his mama...well, I just gotta laugh.

1.17

Woo hoo! Hayden's neutrophil count hit the optimal range. Good timing too because we are preparing for a trip to sunny California. Legoland here we come!

Get a haircut

First cut for the fresh-from-the-brain hair is this week. Wonder if those crazy curls will stick around?

No clinic today. Hayden's blood counts are likely up, due to the 5-day pulse of steroids he just finished, so it wouldn't be a true test. We'll give it another week and see where he's at.

Hayden's keeping busy with tae-kwon-do twice a week, archery on Saturdays (1 class left), and we usually do public skating on Sundays. He's been out on the snow scoot a few times and loves it. Good times, indeed.

No patience

I'm not a patient person. It's just not my thing...but I feel that I've been pretty good during almost 14 months of neutropenia. OK, not good, but not horrible. Well, that's over. I'm sick of it. I WANT SOME DAMN NEUTROPHILS!!!!

Seriously! What does it take to get some white blood cells around here?! UGHHHH!

Ya know...I knew this would happen. Hayden smiled yesterday and I noticed his gums were bright pink and inflamed. Yep, that's a sure sign of neutropenia on him. So I wasn't surprised when today's blood test revealed that he's at 0.55. Why? Why? Why? Because he's fighting a cold or something? Who knows....so done.

mreh.

I'm thinking of a #...

...between 1 and 1.5.

That's the ideal neutrophil range for Hayden. He's at 1.4. Yay! Awesome because: 1) he has an immune system; 2) we don't have to adjust his chemo doses; and 3) we don't have to go to clinic next week.

Hayden went to tae-kwon-do class on Monday. It must be a day to hit the restart button because it was exactly a year ago that he returned to grade 2. I know that because I went back and read old blogs - yikes. People used to say, 'I don't know how you do it' and I remember thinking how the complete lack of choice rendered the remark absolutely pointless. But, looking back...I don't know how we did it. It was a nightmare for all of us - many of you readers and certainly all of Hayden's family. I'm not going to say that we're out of the woods yet, but there's no denying that things are immeasurably better than a year ago.

And now the young lad wants to play hockey. Maybe his buddy Dane can can give him some pointers. Dane was diagnosed with leukemia shortly after Hayden and he's playing 8A1 hockey...most impressive. So, we got Hayden new skates and we've been out at St. Vital arena with Jesse and family once so far (also friends through CancerCare) and we're hitting the rink again this Sunday. Hayden didn't skate at all last year so he's got some catching up to do. But I'd say his mobility is at about 90% so the rest will likely come with a little work. And he's still in archery.

As the archer dudes (and Grandpa) say...until next time, tight lines and straight shooting.

PS: my sincerest apologies to all of the snowmobilers (which now includes my son) for wishing for warm weather...who knew? Even deeper apologies for loving this heat wave.