Last IV chemo and Fun with Grandkids

This is Rowan and Biscuit and I. Biscuit had been lost for almost a year. Rowan accidentally left him here last time they visited from India. We have been looking for him since then. Whenever we talked to them Rowan would say, "Nana, Papa, have you found Biscuit yet?" We searched everywhere, in the toy box, in the kitchen cupboards, in the shower in the little bathroom, etc. Kirsten was reading Shel Silverstein's poems to the kids in the guest bedroom one night. All of a sudden, Rowan looked up and spied him on one of the shelves with other treasures. She squealed, jumped up grabbed him and said, " Nana, Papa, I found Biscuit! I knew he was here somewhere. She took care of him for the rest of the time they were here. He even got his own doghouse and Rowan completed her first sewing project and made him a wall to wall pillow (so he wouldn't roll off).
Here is Biscuit sitting in the red hand. You can see his wonderful doghouse with balloons over the door. He is very happy to be back with his friend Rowan!
Jules fascinated with her cousin Dilly. Dylan is so funny, one time he was rubbing his eyes. He said, "I'm polishing my eyes!"
One of the boys took this picture. I like the angle, Jules and I and the tree against the late afternoon sky.

Here we are having afternoon tea. Kirs, Rob and the kids feel right at home having afternoon tea with milk and biscuits since they lived for 2 years in India.
My Mom all in pink. She rode her bike over to join us for afternoon tea that day. Then Kirs and Rob took the kids for a ride in the basket of her 3 wheel bike.
Faye my beautiful daughter with her daughter Jules
Picture of Rob, Rowan and Kirs taken by Dilly. The kids take great pictures. I always make sure that the strap is around their neck and let them go.
The weather was great so we got to eat outside

Rowan and Dilly were just thrilled to get to play with, "my cousins the boys". They love the fun, wrestling play. Nathan, Niko and Maceo are very happy to oblige them playing playing, swinging, roughhousing.
Niko being attacked by Rowan and Dilly

Look at that smile. She does new things every day. She is crawling and just today Faye said that they looked into her room and she was standing up in her crib for the first time ever! Javier said that when he first stood up in his crib (that was a couple years ago), he landed on his head and was knocked unconscious. His Mom had to call the paramedics! They covered her floor with padded matting so she can crawl and play. This is good since Faye tended to climb and fall and hit her head off and on throughout her childhood also. I wish my floor was padded also. Jules was sitting on the couch between Rowan and Dilly, I was standing right there a small step from the couch because I know how she crawls on Jules and I when we are on the couch. Well, even though I was right there, she fell and hit her forehead on the floor. I felt terrible. She had a bruise and very slight swelling, but no symptoms of a concussion. However, I felt a failure as a Grandmother and certainly learned how quick she is.
Jules getting to play with her cousins Rowan and Dilly.
Getting to know you!
This is Julian's award for completing IV chemo which I talk about below.


We didn't think we would see this day come last Fall, but Julian had his last scheduled IV chemo treatment Feb 17! It had to be put off by one week due to low WBC counts which is a fairly usual chemo side effect. Everything went smoothly. We walked in to smiles and nurses saying, "So, this is your last chemo!" They must feel fairly comfortable after the cancer free PET scan to say that. At the end of the day all the nurses gathered around sang to him, threw confetti
in the air and gave him a "Purple Heart Award" certificate saying that he has successfully completed chemotherapy. I especially had looked forward to this little ceremony after seeing others reaching this point. Even with the bad news in the Fall of the cancer showing up in the lymph nodes, that little ceremony gave me hope. The music is to "On with the Show" which is the bugs bunny theme song.
The words they sing are:
This is it, Today's the day
Your final chemo, you're on your way
We hope you enjoyed the show
On with your life you can go!
No more waiting, no more sick
No more sighing, no more sticks
We'll miss you as you know
But may God bless you as you go!

He will still have to take oral chemo, one week on and one week off for 3 months. They will repeat the PET scan in about 3 weeks (every 3 months for awhile). We had a scare last week. He didn't feel well, was having breathing trouble, GI upset and gained 4-5 pounds in a couple days. These symptoms were so like when he had fluid in his abdomen last Fall that he and I were afraid it was happening again. Well, he had an ultra sound and had little to no fluid. We were greatly relieved.
Thank you all for your prayers and positive thoughts. We ask for continued prayers that the oral chemo will kill any remaining cancer cells and that Jules will continue gaining weight and get his strength back. God is good and has watched over us, giving us all we need. Blessings

Christmas, family and snow

Christmas is almost over and it is now 2011! We had a wonderful Christmas filled with wonder. I was actually nervous about Christmas this year because I didn't know what was going to be happening in our cancer journey. It is hard to plan things, but everything worked out. We had a great Christmas extending over quite a few days. It was a whorl wind of dinners and family fun.

The day before Christmas Eve we took the boys to see a 3D version of the most recent Narnia movie. We looked great in our funny glasses and watched the whole thing including the credits. We then had dinner together with Faye and family.

I sang in both the 8pm and 10pm Christmas Eve service at church. Both services were candlelight and during the 10pm service the moon was rising in the large windows behind the balcony. We in the choir were mesmerized by the magical moment, celebrating the birth of Christ in candle light with the rising moon outside. Christmas day was delightful. We mostly made gifts for each other this year as money is tight for everyone. I have to say that it was the most memorable Christmas in a long time. It reminded me of the Christmas when I was growing up when we gave each other gifts of promises written on paper that we then put in a jar to complete later. It touched me in a way no other Christmas did during my childhood. We were opening gifts this year, Mum had knitted me a tea cozy, I knitted fancy dish clothes and grew snow peas for Faye, Jules gave me some slippers and a promise of a watercolor to come, Faye and Javier made cookies and gave a framed picture of baby Jules with her own art work in the background, also Christmas tree ornaments with pictures of the kids,etc. Geoff and Annie our cousins in Australia had sent a package with totally unique Australia cut out cards and Aussie books for the Grandchildren. It was so great having a bit of Australia showing up at the perfect time.

Kirsten, Rob, Rowan and Dylan came on the day after Boxing Day and just left a week later. We really enjoyed their visit. The kids loved having a back yard to play in and spent many hours out there. Dilly is almost 4 and Rowan is 5 1/2. They enjoyed the Australia books which they requested we read many times.

This was taken Christmas day, It was nice to have Nick and May join us. We've been spending more time together now that we share a Grandchild. Nick brought his guitar and we sang Christmas songs around the piano. We sang a lot together as a family when Nick and I were married.

The high points of Christmas for me were playing and singing Christmas carols with family, singing in the choir at church (seeing the moon rise in the large east windows during the 10pm service), playing with grandchildren and most of all remembering the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

I put this picture in of Jules eating smashed blueberries just because it is so cute. It reminds me of when Ryan was starting to eat solids. He couldn't quite figure out how to swallow food, so he would stick his thumb in his mouth between each bite, then he would put his hand on his head while I gave him the next bite. HE became a carrot top with orange hair when I fed him carrots!

Jules just finished his 3^rd chemo treatment on December 30. They premedicated with benadryl IV, etc to avoid the severe symptoms he had last time. He still had numbing symptoms starting about 20 minutes after chemo was over and the reaction to cold was worse. However, he didn't have to have an ambulance ride to the hospital because we now know that he isn't having a stroke. We got to go home and have dinner with Kirsten and the kids.

We took a drive on Saturday (Kirsten left on Friday) to see the snow on Four Peaks, northeast of Phoenix. We had almost 2 inches of rain here and snow as low as 2000 feet around the valley. Here are some pictures I took on that drive. We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking Saguaro Lake. It was a great few hours and really nice to do something together not connected to our cancer journey. They talk about a "new normal" when someone is fighting cancer. We have missed going up to Flagstaff this winter (cold and the chemo meds Julian is on don't mix). So this little trip was great to take our mind off that and get out and enjoy nature.