He's Back!

Greetings All!

Sorry I took most of the last month off blogging.  I wasn't in a good head space to do it, and figured that it was better to not post than to post some angry/whiny/annoyed post. But playing a bunch of video games, chilling out, and being geeky has been good for my head, apparently.  Or at least I'm good at faking it right now.  :)

So today starts the next 6 months of treatment for Amie.  We've just settled into our room on 7-East, and we're scheduled to be here for the next 5 nights.

We met with Dr. Robertson a few minutes ago, and she was able to show us the images from the most recent MRI.  She lined up the images from the late May MRI where we knew that the tumor was growing aggressively, and then the MRI from just after we got back from Hawai'i.  

They had told us that the change was substantive, but it was more than that.  I'd say that it has significantly decreased, possibly by as much as 30-40%.  Let me tell you, that's quite cool to see.

Anecdote #1:  Amelie loves the hospital.  LOVES.  She's been talking about how excited she is for her "sleepover" at the hospital for the last few weeks.  She was originally scheduled to go inpatient a week ago, and her blood numbers were not high enough (platelets, specifically).  She was devastated.  I don't know if it's the number of shows she gets to watch, the attention from staff, the 1-on-1 time with me and Shel...but whatever it is, she loves it.  The picture above is her waiting today in clinic.

Summer has been great for the girls thus far.  We've been doing our best to make it as special as possible, knowing that the next 6 months is going to have a LOT of hospital time.  A LOT.

One of the things that I wanted to do last summer was to do a movie night on the ceiling.  It was a smashing success!

I projected the movie on the ceiling, and the girls nestled in their snuggly blankets (we cranked up the AC to make it movie theatre-like), and watched the movie.  Mommy's special popcorn, of course, was delivered mid-way through the movie.

The above is Amie's latest and greatest artwork.  Anya has been teaching her how to draw things, and this is her Lion.

Anya's instruction is the best, and I don't have a copy of her directions...she draws out each step, just like the books she uses.  Step 1:  Draw a circle.  Step 2....  Great stuff.

Anya's artwork continues to amaze me though.  The level of detail that she includes just stuns me.  She is drawing with more detail, more patience, and more skill than nearly all my students last year.  

Cool, eh?

Anya is at Special Days camp right now, for the 2nd year.  No hesitation at all to leave us for a week.  None.  She's fearless to leave...  makes me proud.  :)

Special days camp posts pictures each day, and this is one from yesterday.  

She looks miserable, don't you agree?

Another thing we were introduced to through Mott was an organization called Peach's Neet Feet.  They give away hand painted canvas shoes to children in situations like Amie.  You send in a questionnaire, and a while later, voila!  Here are the shots of the super-special shoes she received.  

I realize that I need to do a full blog post about the Teen Mom fundraiser, as well as the Make-A-Wish experience.  I'm going to do those this week.  

I figure 3 long blog posts are better than 1 GIGANTIC one...

One last thing!

As many of you know, I teach in Belleville, and was at the HS for 8 years.  During that time, I had the pleasure to work with Rachel and Ryan Dybicki, as well as Sara Watson.  They were all amazing kids, who constantly worked hard and were awesome to have in class.  Top notch kids. 

Tim Watson is Sara's older brother, and Rachel and Ryan's uncle...and he died of brain cancer in 2006.  The family started the Tim Watson Memorial Golf outing as a charity to help out families suffering from cancer diagnoses.  They have chosen us to be one of the families who are the beneficiaries of the charity this year, once again showing the amazing generosity of people in our communities.

If you want to be part of this, click here to email Kim, or to get more information.

More tomorrow.  I don't want to wear out my welcome now that I'm back!

Hope all is well with each of you.