Health – Page 6 – xangelle.com

How Low Can You Go

Jon and Geli went in to BC Children’s Hospital today for her last dose of chemo in this intensive phase of treatment.

Let’s pause for a moment and celebrate………WOO HOO! This is an amazing thing. It’s been such a very long tough year and although we are not quite finished this phase yet….we are so SO close!

Siah playing with the hose at my parents place!

Alrighty, now back to the matter at hand….in the normal fashion, they did blood work on Angelica and it came back…..well it came back not so good.

Her White Blood Count was at a .3
Her Hemoglobin was 79
Her Platelets were at a 44

This means that the infection fighting cells are almost non-existent. YIKES! And so at this exact moment, we are asking for prayer that Angelica would not pick up ANY bacteria and that she would remain fever free. Yesterday was the nadir from the last ARA-C dose and while we had hoped that she’d not drop any lower than she was last Friday, it looks as if she has….even if by just a point.

Sometimes that hose shoots out faster than you are expecting

We are praying that her counts are now heading up.

We are desperately hoping to avoid a hospital stay this time around.

Geli’s appointment today was scheduled for this afternoon and as a result it was almost to late for her to get a unit of red blood before the clinic closed. Seeing as her hemoglobin was borderline, we are happy to have her not get the red because getting the red almost guarantees her a fever when her counts are this low.

So, we wait for Thursday, when her counts “should” be heading back up, and we will do another blood test then.

So Much Fun!

Please pray that she would stay healthy and not pick up any bugs.
Please pray for her counts to come up rapidly.
Please pray for the entire family to be at peace. We are hanging in there, but just barely. Everyone is feeling the strain of this past year and we are extremely ready for some down time.

No Clue What We Were Up Against

Sometimes it’s easy to post and sometimes it’s really difficult.

I’ve been finding it quite difficult recently. There are things I want to say, thoughts that I want to share and yet when I go to unravel the mess inside my brain….it’s more difficult than I thought it would be.

Xandra just got back from 3 days away at Camp Jubilee as part of her Grade Seven Grad Trip.

She was so excited to go and while I was thrilled for her, there was a part of me that felt unsettled and uneasy.

She spent about 3 days before the trip packing and preparing and it reminded me so much of last year when we were doing the exact same thing for Geli.

The difference was that Angelica was not feeling one hundred percent.

Obviously, there is a good reason for that now, but back then, we didn’t know. We had no clue what we were up against. I was so pregnant and so looking forward to having Judah. Geli’s complaints of feeling tired were easily explained away by the fact that she was a teenager, and the rash that she had on her legs was probably from some reaction to soap or most likely a virus.

We sent her off to the Camp and when she got home…she was obviously quite ill. Sick enough (and I was pregnant enough) that a trip to the Dr. was very important. I am so thankful that we didn’t wait longer. I’m not one to take my kids to the Dr for every cough or sore throat and there is a good chance that were I not going to have a baby any day and the fact that if it might be Strep Throat….I didn’t want to deal with a highly contagious illness with a newborn in the house…..that we would have waited even longer to take her in. I don’t even let myself think about how much worse she would have/could have gotten had we not gone in to see our family Dr and gotten blood work.

We had no clue what we were up against.

Xandra made it off to the camping trip and I have spent the last few days alternating between worrying and telling myself not to worry. Xandra is well. Xandra is healthy. Xandra is amazing! Yes, this has been a tough year on her (as it’s been on all of us) but we are making our way through this….through the good times and the bad times. We will survive. We will overcome this.

She came home today and we drove to the school to pick her up. As we drove up to the front of the school, every muscle in my body was tense and I kept looking…searching for some sign that she might not be feeling well. I waited until she opened the van door, praying that I wouldn’t hear the scratchy voice of a cough or the nasal voice of a stuffed nose……and at the same time, I’d already prepped myself that she’d been in close contact with a whole bunch of other kids, who had ingested a ton of crap food with very little sleep…..an illness would not be out of the ordinary.

Her eyes looked bright and cheerful. Her skin was sun kissed and bight. She had a skip in her step and a song in her voice as she greeted us and the breath that I’d been holding so very tight let out…….a little.

It’s a hard thing to deal with; having your child be diagnosed with a life threatening illness and then trying to carry on with life. It s not an easy thing and too many times I’ve had nightmares of something horrible happening my other children. Too many times I’ve worried or stressed about things that have never come to pass.

So much of this journey is “too much”…..I know that I have a lot to “heal” from. There are times where I’ve felt traumatized by what has happened and yet I carry on. I must! But the effects of what we’ve been though have left their mark and I’m not yet in a position of strength.

I will be. Every day, I grow stronger and some days I feel like I’ve healed….and then something like these past few days happens and I see that I’m not quite there yet.

It will come. I believe. It must!

Strawberry Shakes and Pictures

Angelica’s counts came back too low and she’s scored herself some blood. So, her and Jon are in for a LONG and boring day at the hospital today.

I have more to update on how Geli is doing and what’s up in our world, but time is tight right now…so, I’ll just send you over to RED HANDED PHOTOGRAPHY to see the Family Photo‘s that Tania took of us a few weeks ago.

They are AMAZING!

Tania, BABE!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

We are so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.

Radiation – The Good and the Bad

Well, when Geli was diagnosed with Leukemia, we were given a schedule of the chemo that she would receive for the first month. After the first month was finished, we were given the schedule for the remainder of the treatment period. As I read through the material, I got to the section that talked about cranial radiation.

I wondered what all that entailed, but there was SO MUCH information coming at us and it was almost impossible to absorb it all. I’ll admit that I was nervous and concerned about the radiation, but I quickly brushed it off as we were looking at almost a year down the road before we’d have to deal with it. And so we carried on.

Back in January, I started to think about the Radiation again. I started to look into what exactly was going to happen. It was pretty scarey. And once I realized that I was scared just thinking and reading about it, I started trying to figure out a way to explain it to Angelica and the kids that would make it seem less scarey.

When the kids were little and we’d watch a Disney Movie….as soon as the villain came out as being overtly scarey and evil, my kids would be done with the movie. They’d run from the room, yelling and carrying on about how they didn’t like that movie….the worst one was The Little Mermaid Movie. I didn’t want my kids to be scared of something as stupid as a movie and I didn’t want them to give up on every movie that we watched just because there was a part that seemed scarey as first. I wanted them to see that often when we carry on through the “tough” times, there is a good chance that in the end, we will win or triumph over the situation.

And so I’d go and get them, I’d talk about the villain and how nasty they were and then I’d give away the ending. I’d talk about exactly what was going to happen and then I’d make them come and sit on the couch with me and I’d TOTALLY WRECK the rest of the movie. Scene by scene, I’d tell them what was about to happen and we’d finish the movie off that way. As soon as it was over, they’d be asking to watch it over again and over and over and over again….it was no longer scarey because I’d taken away the element of surprise. Knowledge is power and I decided to use that same approach with the radiation.

I explained about how she would need to go in before the radiation treatments to get a mask made. How they would lay her down on a hospital table and drape this material over her head and face. That it was kind of a breathable mesh, and that it would be pliable but would harden into the perfect shape of her head and face. That it would take about an hour to make this mask thingy. When it was time to get the radiation on her brain, that she would go into the room, lie down on the table and they would attach this mask onto the table so that she could not move. Because when you are dealing with radiation, you don’t want to make any mistakes and end up with the radiation going somewhere where it shouldn’t go….

It would take about 5-10 mins for her radiation treatment and during this time, she would be in a room strapped to the table and the radiation machine would move slowly around her sending waves of radiation into her brain to make sure that there were no stray cancer cells in her brain.

If she happened to have any hair left at this point, she would lose it and it was possible that she’d end up feeling like she had a sunburn on her scalp.

I explained this all trying very hard to not frighten the kids, but to make it all very matter of fact and yet, I was nervous. I just kept thinking….do we have to go through with this? She’s never shown any indication that her brain was involved and she’s had the chemo injected into her spinal fluid? Isn’t there something else that can be done?

Now, I had read a lot of material at this point and some of it confused me. There was conflicting information on whether or not cranial radiation was necessary or even beneficial in kids who had never had cancer show up in their brains. There was information about how in the States children with Leukemia who showed no signs of cancer cells in their brains didn’t need to have the radiation treatment. It seemed like the long term side effects of the radiation were actually worse than the possibility of a chance that you might end up with cancer cells in the brain.

Jon went in at the start of this last stage and our Dr and nurse talked to him and explained some about the radiation and how it seems in Angelica’s case that the radiation was unnecessary, but that we’d have to actually meet with the radiation dr. to discuss the whole scenario. An appointment was made for a week later and we started talking about the whole situation between ourselves. We weighed the pros and cons and in the end we decided to opt out of the radiation treatment.

Jon was fully prepared to stand for our decision to the Dr and yet when he got there, she explained all the benefits and ALL of the side effects and in the end, there was no need to “stand”……the decision was just made, in Angelica’s best interests, to not go forward with the radiation.

In Geli’s case, the slight possible benefits to having the radiation are grossly overwhelmed by the negative side effects and as of right now we see no need to put Angelica into that kind of a position.

We have such a peace about having this portion of her treatment cancelled. We were willing to go ahead with it, if it was absolutely necessary, but I was not excited about it. To get to this stage and to have that worry or concern removed from our lives is such a HUGE blessing.

And so TODAY we start the last 4 weeks of treatment……we are counting down and we are so excited about it.

28 days…….

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I feel better when I don’t eat flour. I love the things that I can make with flour and yet, when I eat too much flour….I just end up feeling bloated and gross.

Last week, my sister and I decided to support each other in our healthy food eating habits. We were feeling a bit off and knew that if we were accountable to someone that we’d have a greater chance of eating responsibly as opposed to just popping whatever was in front of ourselves into our mouths. So far it’s working. I am less bloated, feel more energy, feeling less sugar cravings and well, I’m just feeling better all around.

Basically we are eating 3 meals a day – no snacking in between. We are eating no sugar, no flour, no dairy – just sticking to whole foods. I think that we might shake it up this next week and do 2 smaller meals, 2 snacks and one larger meal. Neither of us are loving feeling like we need to stuff ourselves at each meal so that we’re not hungry in between meals. I’d rather just plan to eat some veggies or fruit in between meals instead of fighting the hunger.

I had made up our weekly meal plan before I agreed to start this with Debbie and PIZZA was on the menu for Friday night. I could have just had something different, but I remembered that I had heard of a Vegetable Pizza Crust somewhere before and so I went searching.

I found this recipe and with a few variations, I decided to try it.

I used 1 cup of grated cauliflower, 1 egg and 1/2 cup of goat mozzarella, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of oregano and 1 tsp of basil.

You mix all of the ingredients together and mix really well. You end up with something that looks kinda like this…..

I got a piece of parchment paper and spread the mixture in a pizza shape (otherwise known as a circle).

I used my fingers and a rubber spatula to spread it all out. Mine was about a quarter of an inch thick. I popped it into a pre-heated oven that was set at 450 degrees Farenheit and waited for about 20 minutes or so….until it looked like this….

It needs to be cooked until the edges have browned. If you cook it just enough, then the crust will hold together and you can pick it up and eat it with your hands just like a pizza. If you under cook it, then it will be a bit sloppier and less easier to handle. (Just a friendly, helpful little tip)

I had found some Organic Chorizo sausage at Organic World out in Maple Ridge. Lots of the regular pressed meats have chemicals and wheat in them and as I’m trying to avoid those ingredients, I was happy to have found a spicy, healthy and very tasty option.

I put a thin layer of tomato paste, topped it with the Chorizo Sausage, some Goat Feta, Red Peppers, Kalamata Olives and finally some Goat Mozzarella. Just before I put it in the oven, this is what it looked like….

This is what it looked like after it had cooked at 375 degree Farenheit for a few minutes until the cheese had melted….

Doesn’t that just look delicious?

The kids had been commenting about how good the house smelled…kinda like Parmesean Cheese toast and while it did smell and look pretty darn amazing – I will admit that I was slightly concerned that it would taste less amazing than it looked.

I needn’t have worried. It was DELICIOUS! SO Yummy! I will definitely be making this pizza again and again and again.

I had used a whole head of cauliflower, 3 eggs and 1 brick of goat mozzarella and it made 3 large pizza crusts. We ate 2 of the crusts on Friday and I cooked up the third crust and let it cool. I put the cooled crust into a large freezer ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. I pulled it out of the freezer on Saturday afternoon and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes. It was only slightly frozen when I piled a bunch of topping on it and threw it in the oven. After the cheese had melted, I pulled it out and served it for lunch. The only difference that I could tell was that it had a slight cauliflower taste, but overall I liked it and so I think that the next time I make pizza, I’ll probably make enough so that I can freeze a few crusts to be able to pull out and whip together a pizza when I need a quick easy meal.

If you are trying to avoid wheat and dont want to buy the guten free crusts…I’d offer this as a delicious alternative. Let me know if you do try it and what you think? Does it sound appealing to you or just plain disgusting?

New York, New York

I would LOVE to go to New York. I’d love to be able to see the sights and eat the food and shop the shops….it sounds like such an AMAZING experience! Have you been? Was it AMAZING? What was your favorite thing to do or place to be or food to eat or thing to see or hear or experience?

This picture of Judah has nothing to do with this post…he’s just cute! It’s his “Cheese” face!

Jon came home from one of Geli chemo appointments a few weeks ago and announced that Geli had been chosen to go/offered a trip to New York.

Each year 4 teens from the BCCH Oncology Department joins together with teens from other hospitals and they all get together to “do” New York. They choose 2 boys and 2 girls from each hospital and Geli was one of the girls chosen from BCCH.

Jon and I were a little nervous at first, because…..well…..she’s been with us almost 24/7 for the past year. I mean, she’s gone to school some times, and for 2 or 3 hours to the teen group; but aside from that she’s been basically glued to our sides. And this is not just some over-nighter into Vancouver…..this is a whole week away…..far, FAR away!

The group does go with one of the clinic nurses and so Geli will be SO well taken care of. And they wouldn’t offer it to her, if they didn’t feel that it was safe. We also feel that Angelica is such a responsible young lady and that this is a great opportunity for her and so……..after much deliberation…….

ANGELICA IS GOING TO NEW YORK IN JULY!!!!

Now here is the thing….

Angelica is scheduled to start the last 4 weeks of this chemotherapy on Tuesday May 31st which would mean that she’d be finished on June 27th. She would then have 3 weeks to recover and then to go on the trip.

In order to start the chemo, her counts have to be at a certain level. If they are under that level, the chemotherapy is delayed for a week. We’ve had delays before, but we are hoping and praying for no delays this time as a delay might impact her ability to go on the trip.

We are also doing everything in our power to keep her healthy and to hopefully create a situation where she does not get an infection. Again, this round can make her counts go WAY down (like non-existent) and we are trying with everything in our power to keep her healthy and strong so that we avoid any hospital stays…..but especially any infections!

She is so excited! It’s an amazing opportunity and something to look forward to as the last 4 weeks of treatment crawl by.

It’s amazing what a dream, a hope, a goal can do for your emotional well being! We are so excited for Angelica. This is truly an experience of a lifetime!

On a Scale From 1 to 10….

It’s been rough around here this weekend.

Angelica finished her last dose of the steroid that she was on on Thursday night. She woke up Friday morning a bit achy and I kept praying and hoping that she would somehow miraculously escape the brutal joint pain that she experienced that last time that we went through this round.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks and we are just trying to keep focused on the fact that end is so close. She has one more “set” of chemo to go through and then she is on Maintenance.

Maintenance is the long term chemotherapy designed to destroy any lingering cancer cells that may possibly be hiding in the body so that it completely eradicates any presence of the disease in the body. It is less intense that the previous chemotherapy and usually lasts about 2 to 3 years.

The steroid is a pretty brutal drug. It has it’s benefits, but some of the side effects are pretty tough to deal with. The few side effects that Geli struggles with the most are:

– a diabetic state
– insomnia
– wicked joint pain

These past 3 weeks have been tough because we’ve been attempting to control her blood sugars by food and exercise and she’s done really well. The biggest problem is that it’s something that requires actual effort and a discipline on her part to not just eat whatever she wants. The hassle of having to deal with it wears on her after a while. Especially because the steroid causes an increase in her appetite and what she wants to eat are carbs, but they are also what cause her blood sugar to rise. Typically after 2-3 days of being on the steroid, her body seems to recognize that it needs to produce extra insulin and she can relax a bit on being so tight on carb control. This last dose was a bit tougher than that…..I think her body is tired. I think that emotionally, she’s tired and that mentally, she’s exhausted. It took until the last day on the steroid for her body to catch up and stabilize…..not cool or fun!

I know that Jon and I are noticing that as we get closer and closer to the end of this intensive stage that we are getting more and more tired. We know the end is coming and it’s like the past year is gaining on us and we are feeling like we are being swept under. We’ve fought the exhaustion for so long and we just need to stay strong for a little bit, but it’s harder and harder to keep on.

If we’re feeling like this, I cannot even fathom what she’s feeling like.

Anyway, she’s slept so poorly over the past 3 weeks and has pretty much slept about 10 hours in the past 3 days. Even with medicine….and the lack of sleep is just compounding everything. She has said that the pain is at a 4 out of 10 and it’s mostly just in her knees although her shoulders and wrists and lower back hurt. Last time around, she indicated that the pain reached a 6 or 7 out of 10 and she had more joints that ached. So, if the pain is less intense and fewer joints are involved then she is just worn down and less able to “handle” it all. And that sucks!

We’ve gone the medication route to just try to wait the time out.

And even that only helps to take the edge off, it doesn’t remove the pain completely.

She did sleep from midnight to 4:30 last night but then has been up since then. Sometimes walking and moving the joints can help and this morning from 4:30am until 8:30am, she paced the floor while watching two movies. And at that point, she was just exhausted and asked for more meds and went up to take a bath until they kicked in and right now she’s sleeping.

We looked at her journal from last time around and if this time follows the same timeline as last time, then yesterday and last night should have been her worst times…..today should be less intense with tonight being better than last and then every day should get better from here on out.

The second half of this round is supposed to start on Monday or Tuesday May 30 or 31. We are just going to be upfront and beg for your prayers over the second half of this stage. At the end of this stage that we are coming up on, Geli has ended up in the hospital every time. It’s a pretty intensive chemo treatment and knocks her counts down to nothing, which puts her at risk of infection. It would be amazing if she managed to stay out of the hospital this time around. That is what we want. We want for Geli to make it through this next round of chemo and to not pick up any bacteria at all.

She has an amazing summer planned and we are wanting to just move forward smoothly onto the next stage of our lives.

I want to thank you for all that you’ve done. I know that I’ve not posted as often and really, things have been a bit crazy around here. There is so much more going on that I’ve not had time or energy to share. Just know that in all my busy, crazy, down, frustrated times…..the things you’ve done, the words you’ve sent, the prayers you’ve offered….they come back to my mind and give me strength and encouragement and make me smile.

Thank you for walking this journey with us. You have NO IDEA how much we’ve needed you and are thankful for you and appreciate you!

Keeping On

I dropped Geli off at school this morning just before 9:30am and I just picked her up…..just after 10:30am. 1 hour…yee haw!

She called and said that she had a headache and was seeing spots and that the room was shifting and spinning….sounds like fun. Migraine, anyone?

This is her week “on” the steroid and she’s definitely “off”.

Her blood sugar levels have been a bit harder to control this week as opposed to two weeks ago and while she is doing a good job…..it’s been a lot of work and is not fun at all.

You know what it’s like when you cant have something and it’s all you can focus on…..yah, her and her carbs…..they are quite the pair this week. It’s like when you are dieting and all you can think about are the high calorie, high sugar crap; and salads and fruits and lean cuts of meat just don’t quite cut it….yah! It sucks!

She was awake this morning at 6am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Apparently she came down to our room and got Judah when he woke up at 6:30am. I say apparently, because I didn’t hear him wake up or her come to get him. Nice! Jon knew though….so there’s that. She brought him back down at 7am and so we got to sleep in for an extra half an hour this morning. How nice is that?

After the kids went to school, Geli lay down on the couch and drifted off to sleep. She didn’t have a class for first block this morning and so I just let her sleep. I woke her up just before 9:30am because that’s when her next class was.

It’s so hard to know what to do. Do I just let her sleep or do I wake her up and make her go to class. On one hand it’s good for her to sleep and rest and heal, on the other hand, I want to try to keep to a “typical” schedule as much as possible.

We keep encouraging her (and all the other kids) to plan to do things as normal as possible. Plan to get up in the morning. Plan to get ready for the day. Plan to go to school. Plan to stay awake in the daytime and to sleep in the night time. Plan to be independent and responsible for yourself. Plan to be happy and healthy.

I want her to be able to be as normal or typical, as possible. Then, when there are the times when she just can’t do things for herself or if she need to sleep or stay home from school – then it’s okay! I want her to try her hardest to LIVE! And then to ask for help when she needs it. I don’t want her to learn to be dependent on us for everything.

It’s so easy when your child is sick for a long period of time to start to cater to them. It’s easy to get in the mind set that they are just a “poor baby” who is so hard done by. It’s easy to treat them as if they deserve to have everything done for them in an effort to “make up” for all the hard, tough things that they are dealing with.

It’s a fine line to walk between caring for, pandering to and continuing to train your child.

We’ve been at this for almost a year and while I realize that one year out of a life time is not that long of a time….there are things that are important to me. Continuing to train Angelica (and our other children) in appropriate ways for the circumstances is really important to me. Life is full of ups and downs and learning to carry on in the middle of it is so important.

We encourage Geli that if she can do something for herself – that she should. Get up and get yourself a glass of water if you want one. Get up and that book that you wanted or a snack for yourself. If you can’t get up and get yourself one, then by all means ask…or explain that you probably could, but that it would require more effort than you feel that you currently have to give, and ask for help. This also allows us to gauge where she’s at physically, mentally and emotionally. She may just feel too exhausted to try and that’s okay. That’s a part of this whole process. There are good days, excellent days, tough days and really REALLY tough days.

But, that is also life!

In life, there are good days and excellent days and hard days and really, REALLY bad days. I think it’s important to live and enjoy your good days and to plow through some of the tough days and to learn to admit when you need the help and….. to ask for the help.

We are here to help Geli. We are here to encourage her. We are her family and we love her. We can see when she’s actively choosing to participate in life and to be responsible for herself and even giving out of herself. On the flip side, when she is struggling, we are right there to help and encourage and love and to give back into her.

These are some of the life lessons that I feel are so important. I feel that it’s important to not see her as a “poor baby”. I feel its especially important for her to not see herself as a “poor baby”. I feel that it’s important to recognize that she has had (and is having) a tough year. I feel that it’s important to validate when she is struggling. I feel that it’s important to encourage her to keep on, keeping on. I feel it’s important to teach her that this is her life. She can recognize that this is a part of her journey (just a small part…) and accept it for what it is OR….she can feel that she’s been given an unfair lot in life and be consumed with how much better everyone else’s life seems or appears. If she can learn to accept that this is her journey, she will be able to find happiness within herself as she carries on. If she focuses on how bad she has it and how good others have it, she will be oh, SO miserable.

For the most part, she “gets” this. She is an amazing young lady and I’m so proud of her. This is not an easy portion of her life’s journey, but she is walking this road with courage and grace. I’m thrilled to be able to walk along side her, encouraging her, cheering her on……loving her!

ps. Geli has no more chemo until Monday May 30th…..this is wonderful and yet at the same time, the 3 doses of chemo that she has just had will be hitting their high points of effectiveness within the next week and a bit.

Here are some prayer requests for the next week or so:

– No joint pain when she goes off the steroid this time

– No infections of any kind

– No Headaches (she’s currently dealing with this and it sucks)

– For Health…that Geli would really be able to enjoy the next 2 weeks.

– For Rest for all of us…..

Thank you so much! We have been so encouraged by your love and prayers and are grateful for YOU!

Verbal Diarrhea

I’m not sure what the deal is, but today…….I’M TIRED!

I would give just about anything to be able to crawl back in bed right now, but that’s not an option and so instead of feeling sorry for myself – I’ve got to somehow give myself a shake and carry on with my day.

There is so much that I really should be doing and none of it that I really want to do….how’s that for incentive for ya?

Jon and Judah up at Harrison Hot Springs! Love his hair!

Geli had her second dose of Chemo for this round this past Friday and she seemed to handle it a bit better than the week before. It could have something to do with how we’ve managed the meds/nausea, but she felt less sick that the previous week. This is the first “off of the steroid” week and while she didn’t feel as nauseated, she was in quite a bit of pain.

I mentioned before that when she is coming off of the steroid, that her joints can end up hurting quite badly. She didn’t feel bad enough to want to take the codeine or morphine but the constant pain is wearing…..She felt that the pain level reached a 4 out of ten, on the pain scale level. Which I think is enough to have taken something, but she didn’t want to, and so she didn’t.

Fortunately, the pain from her joints has mostly subsided and aside from the random wave of nausea and the odd headache, she is doing quite well. She was at school part of yesterday and has gone again today. Our Doctor figured that she may be able to attend quite a bit of this month, which is a nice bonus as we figured that her counts would be quite low for most of this round….but hey, we’ll take the higher counts as it means more protection from her immune system – YAH for that!

I’m extremely frustrated with Judah….he is the WORST day time napper that I’ve ever had. He might go down for al of 10 minutes and then he’ll wake up crying and screaming. I know that he’s not ready to wake up and yet…..he doesn’t want to settle again and ARGH…..A cranky, crying, overtired baby is not fun!

Neither is a cranky, crying, overtired mom…..

We have a meeting tomorrow at Jeremy’s school to talk about him, and really – there is a lot to that part of the story and I don’t have the time or the energy to get into it….and so, I’ll just say that we are still moving forward with Jeremy and that it’s a tough journey at times, but man, if he isn’t just a lovely little boy with such a gentle spirit. I sure love him!

For the most part, Xandra is doing AMAZINGLY WELL. We took her to the pediatrician about a month ago, I think? and he is treating her for ADD/ADHD and the difference in her is UNBELIEVABLE! She is looking and acting and producing work a lot more like the Xandra from years gone by…….It’s frustrating that this all came about at the same time as Geli’s diagnosis and treatment and I wish that we’d been more on top of things because I believe she went too far down a road that she never needed to go on. We could have caught things sooner. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but ADDD presents itself differently in girls than in boys. Typically, girls are diagnosed around 12 years of age when organization is a bit more complicated (as in when Grade 7 teachers start to train the kids to be able to handle the High School organization structure). For us, we were not sure if Xani was just stressed about the Cancer stuff or the family stuff or school stuff or how much of all of the different things played into her stress levels, but to give her some medicine so that at the very least, she can organize and structure her life better……it has made a HUGE difference. Xandra is a very bright little girl and has always done extremely well in school. This year, she has not shown even a part of how capable and intelligent she is and we just wrote it off to the chaos and stress (which I’m sure are contributors) but in the past couple of weeks since putting her on the meds…..her marks have come up drastically and she is better able to plan out her work load….it’s made a drastic difference in both her schoolwork AND in her stress levels. And we are SO thrilled that she is doing better.

The Teen Oncology Group is having another function tomorrow night and they are probably going to Theater Sports. So, Jon and I (and Judah) are headed into town for Wednesday evening. I’m not sure what Jon and I are going to do……any suggestions? We are looking at being there probably around 5pm and having to pick Angelica up around 8:00pm.

If you are local or know Vancouver, what is your favorite thing to do?

When you wish upon a star….

Guess what came in the mail on Monday?

Can you guess?

It’s probably pretty difficult without any clues, isn’t it?

Well, here is a hint….actually it’s not a hint…it’s just what came in the mail on Monday!

Children who have a life threatening illness are granted a wish.

Angelica, unfortunately, is eligible to receive a wish. I wish for all the wishes in the world that she were not eligible (as in, she was not dealing with cancer and the resulting chemotherapy) and yet she is. And so she gets to wish….

She has been referred to the Children’s Wish Foundation and on Monday the application came in the mail.

The different Wish Foundations are amazing.

If you have an opportunity to give to a Children’s Wish Foundation, please do……think about us. Think about all that we’ve gone through on this crazy journey and all that we have yet to go through. It’s personal. There are so many kids going through life threatening situations and to have a “wish” to give you hope, to brighten your day, to encourage you to keep going when things are tough, to put a smile on your face when you least feel like smiling…..it’s a powerful thing.

I never look at opportunities to give to BC Children’s Hospital or the Miracle Network, or Balding for Dollars or any of the Wish Foundations, the same way that I used to. It’s real! It’s personal.

They have given so much to us, to our family…….to Angelica!

If you have the opportunity, please give. There is a Balding for Dollars Event coming up at BC CHildren’s Hospital on May 7th, and if you are interested, you can go to their website and give….

This is not just some nebulous foundation that does some random nice things one in a while. We have personally benefited from the Balding for Dollars Foundation and want to be able to see them, help others.

Angelica contributed to the Kourageous Kids Calendar and although it’s already partially through the year, you can still purchase a calendar and have a piece of Geli’s Artwork.

We imagine all the people who have given to allow Geli to have a wish and we are so thankful for each and everyone…….

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