Winter Wonderland

SNOW!!!!!

FUN!!!!

 The second my little monkey's eyes popped open they were throwing on winter gear and heading out into the snow.  We got a few inches of snow overnight and they could hardly wait to enjoy it.

 One of the benefits to living on a dead end street... no cars had marred the perfect power of the road.

"HO HO HO"

5 minutes after this photo was taken...

BOO HOO!

A Doctorless Week

The past week has been full of fun and laughter, but not a doctor's visit!  : )  Logan will head back for another checkup on Monday, but they gave us a 10 day break and we sure didn't miss that office.

Sunday the girls headed to the Nutcracker.  Logan and Eric were very happy to have an excuse to stay home as the ballet is not their "thing."

Amanda is my pretty girl and loves any excuse to dress up.

Our elf Elmer has been keeping us hopping as he plays hide and seek every evening.  Some days he is quite hard to find.  Other days he gets into mischief.  This day he was found swinging on the holiday "chandelier" that Amanda made in school.

Logan and I thought it was funny that Dad was sleeping on the couch with a Tinkerbell blanket.  : )

This is how Logan attends school for now.  His class calls him several times a day so he can participate in the lesson, or in this case, the fun!  : )

A Little Early

Logan had another checkup yesterday.  His doctor feels like Logan has responded so well to the transplant that they are ready to start decreasing his anti-rejection medicine early.  They will slowly taper the medicine over the next 12 weeks.  If he has any autoimmune problems it will delay the process but as of right now he is schedule to be finished with the anti-rejection drug mid-March.  Once his immune system is no longer being suppressed by the drug Logan can enjoy a more normal life.  He won't be fully recovered for another year, but he will be able to go outside without a mask, attend school, and visit family.

Logan also had a bone marrow biopsy last week to check for leukemia.  No cancer was found!  I'm sure he will have several of these over his lifetime as a biopsy is the only definitive test to detect the leukemic cells, however his prognosis is very good for a full recovery.

Merry Christmas to me... a little early.

Lights, Gingerbread, and Snow

Logan is still doing good;  Great in fact!  We are doing our best to keep him healthy and out of the hospital.  Last week Amanda fell ill with a stomach bug, but she was kind enough to not share her germs with her brother.  Good job, Amanda!  We celebrated this weekend with a trip to Christmas In The Park.  The dogs were very excited to be included.  :)

Then on Sunday we made a gingerbread village.

 

Then Amanda had to play in the snow.  HAD TO!!!

 It didn't matter that it was only a dusting.

 The puppies were very sad to be left out of the snow fun.

 It took some doing, but Amanda convinced her brother to go play in the snow with her... I think the fact that he has to wear a mask outside worked in his favor this time.  IT WAS COLD!!!

Logan made us some soup to warm our cold bones...

And Amanda helped me do a little Christmas shopping.... but I think those binoculars are a little big, Honey.

Giving Thanks

This Thanksgiving we have many things to be thankful for.

Here are a few...

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream with EXTRA big spoons!

 Silliness That Makes Us Laugh

Too Many Cooks In My Kitchen

Having Our Family Back Together

Family Traditions

 Family as Friends

Crazy Shenanigans

Sharing Hobbies

Perseverance

Smiles

Love

Every. Single. Day

A Rash and A Fox

This week we have been unpacking and settling into our new home.  On Thursday morning Logan gave us a bit of a scare when he discovered a rash on his feet, hands, chest, and ears.  We have been warned by his physician to watch for a rash as it could be the beginning of Graft vs Host Disease (GVH).  Now that we are successfully through the transplant, GVH is our main concern.  If you are not familiar with GVH, it's the clinical term used to describe the newly transplanted bone marrow recognizing Logan's body as foreign and attaching his organs.   There are different levels of severity and they are watching him closely to monitor his organ function.  The good news is that his rash only covers 25% of his body and is not severe so we were able to go back home with medication.  If his rash worsens he will have to be readmitted to the hospital.  Before you worry too much, a little Graft vs Host Disease is a good thing in bone marrow transplants.  The battle being waged in Logan's body will help to eradicate any remaining leukemic cells that the chemo didn't catch.  

While visiting with the doctor, we discovered that Logan's genetic testing results came back.  They are testing his blood to determine if the cells being created are from his own bone marrow or the donor's. If the results showed Logan's genetics, that would mean the chemo didn't do it's job.  If the results showed the donors genetics that would mean that the transplant was successful and the donors cells have made a home in Logan's bones.

And the results are...  

100% donor cells!!!!

The Monkey house is doing a happy dance tonight in spite of all the drama.  On a side note, the rental house we found has a wonderful creek behind it and the kids and I have been enjoying some wildlife viewing.  The other day Logan and I saw this cute little fox.  The video is not the greatest, but if you use a little imagination (or just trust my word) you can identify the little fella.

I tired to capture a picture from the video...This is the best shot I had since I was a little slow getting the camera up and focused.

Bitter Sweet

Sorry for the lack of updates this week.  We've been a busy little bee hive buzzing here and there.  Logan had another checkup on Monday and he is doing great.  In fact, his doctor said he only needs to see him once a week now which is amazing.  We were told to expect twice a week appointments for two months so this was surprising to us.  The first 6 weeks after transplant is when they watch him closely for rejection or graft vs host disease.  So far so good, so keep up the good work Logan!

What is keeping our house buzzing is our GREAT MOVE on the horizon.  Now that we have more room in this rental house we are missing the comforts of home... the comforts that are in Wichita.  With Logan in isolation and Amanda in school we have had to divide and conquer.  I went down for a fast and furious packing visit Tuesday to Wednesday.  I was only in town in 24 hours, but I was amazed at how much boxing I was able to accomplish.  There is still much to do, but now it's Eric turn.  He needs to travel to Wichita for business anyway so he'll be heading down there today and staying through Saturday to finish boxing and packing a truck.  By Sunday we could be reunited with all our possessions.  It seems foolish to miss something as inconsequential as "things", but sleeping on a mattress on the floor is wearing thin and the kids have little entertainment here other than television.

As I drove into town after being gone for 4 months I was reflecting on the events leading up to this moment.  I have declared before that I am not a prairie girl.  Living in the flat lands of Kansas for the past 5 years has not come easy.  We have made friends, started a business, put down roots... but it was never home.  I have a sign hanging by my front door that sums it up.  "Home is were your story begins"  Our story begins in Lee's Summit.  This will always be home.  So while I am happy to finely make the move back home, it is bitter sweet.  I wish that there was some other, any other, life changing event that had led up to this move.

Check Up

Logan had a check up yesterday and everything was wonderful.  His blood counts are continuing to rise, and he now has the ability to fight off a bacterial infection, however his immune system is still suppressed against virus, fungus, and mold.  We have taken extra precautions in our new home to limit the amount to dirt we let let in.  Bleach and Lysol has become our best friends in our war on germs.  We were told that Logan's new bone marrow has lost it's memory for fighting infections and doesn't recognize foreigners in his body.  He will have to be re-vaccinated as if he were a newborn baby but his body can't handle the vaccinations for another year or so. 

We are continuing his education here at home.  He has to wear a mask when outside and when around groups of people.  He can't go into the basement because of the potential of mold.  Has a restricted diet to prevent food born illness, and still needs to make twice weekly trips to the doctors office.  

Even though his freedom here at home is limited, he'll take this over the hospital any day.

Home to a New Home

A Good Chance

Logan has been circling the hallways looking for the doctor this morning.  He cornered him about 20 minutes ago and was told that if Logan keeps eating and drinking, there was a GOOD chance he can go home this afternoon!

ANC 490

This morning's blood count put Logan's ANC at 490.  We haven't seen the doctor yet to ask him if that's good enough for dismissal.  We'll keep you updated as we know more.

Moving Day!!!

Anticipating Logan being released from the hospital soon, Eric and I decided that our temporary 2 bedroom apartment would not be adequate.  We want to minimize the exposure Logan has to germs, and sharing a bedroom with his sister would not be wise.  We started searching for larger accommodations and we were lucky to stumble upon a 4 bedroom house for rent in the kids' current school district.  This landlord has been wonderful in accommodating our unique situation.  He's agreed to a short-term lease so if we find a house we want to purchase we are able to move.  He's approved of bringing our dogs to live with us (a HUGE stress reliever).  He has also added a hepa filter to the furnace to help us keep Logan healthy.  I feel like we hit the jackpot!

Since I moved us into our apartment while Eric was at the hospital with Logan, we thought it would be fitting to have Eric move us out while I hang here.  : )  

Logan is doing great today.  He's had no nausea or pain at all and is eating like a champ.  The doctors took him off two medicines   yesterday and I think one of those was causing all his vomiting.  His ANC today is down a little to 240, but they found many monocytes that should mature tomorrow into active white blood cells and boost his ANC number.  I'm a very happy Momma to see my boy up and around and feeling good.

Hospital Halloween

 Even though we had to spend Halloween in the hospital  we tried to make the best of it.  As you have probably notice in previous posts, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween and we like to go all out each year.  If the kids will agree, we try to have a family costume theme.  This year the kids agreed to be characters from the Munsters.

Logan was Eddy Munster, Eric was Herman, Amanda was the beautiful Lilly, and I was Grandpa.

Logan was not feeling real great for the floor's tick or treating stations...

... He had to wear a mask so the other kids wouldn't give him germs, and we gave him a wheel chair, but he felt too bad to complete the trick or treating.  : (

So back to bed for our little werewolf. (this is his "angry" face)

 After school let out, Amanda came up to the hosptial for a visit.
Our family has never been apart on Halloween and I wasn't going let cancer stop us now.

 Logan was feeling better.

 We had a lot of fun with the photos... then we had the staff reverse trick or treat our room.  They would knock with the candy bowl and the kids would open the door and shout TRICK OR TREAT!  What a hoot!

Today's lab results showed that his white blood cells tripled  and his ANC is up to 290.  We are still on track for a Monday dismissal if everything continues to go according to plan. 

Keep up the good work, Logan!