teamsam.com Blog

« | Home | »

VMA: 4.4 HVA 10.5

By Margot | January 10, 2008

  The VMA is down from 4.6 – I was wrong last week when I said it was 6 point something -that’s what I get for doing an update without the numbers handy.  The HVA up from 9.5.  We are more concerned with the VMA as the HVA can be due to different things in the diet.  So, would I like to see numbers like we had in the summer in the twos and fours?  Yes, yes, yes but as Sam is feeling good and in good spirits, I’ll take these numbers as  a monitor closely sign.  We don’t have scans again until February.  We also measured C-reactive protein which was less than .3 (good), Vitamin D=3.1, Interluken 6=3.1, IGFBP=3.7, Tumor necrosis factor= 2.6 (normal), Vitamin B25 Hydrox less than 4, D3 is 44, Total D= 44, Fibrinogen 221, D Dimer= 582  For a thorough explanation of what all of those numbers may or may not mean, please see Neil.   I do know that most of them are good.

Sam is in school today and I’m about to drop Andy off.  Charlie is downstairs playing with Elizabeth and the vrmm, vrmms.  He says “fell” when he falls down now – usually because he is running so fast he can’t keep up with himself and he loves to yell out, “I’m done!” when he’s done and “Mom” at the top of his lungs we he wants to show me something or wants something.  

We went out to  our family restaurant, Soup Plantation, for dinner last night.  It was packed and a woman came up to me and told me how well behaved my children are (don’t laugh Colleen) and she said it was obviously because I stayed right on top of their behavior (again stop laughing) as she saw me jump up when one of them wasn’t doing what I asked him.   It happened to be Charlie who was standing up in his chair and I was afraid he was going to fall and bonk his head but I was right on top of it.  I told Neil when he got back from the frozen yogurt and we laughed and thought we’d better mark the date on our calendars and interrupt our cancer update to report it on the website.  I think it helped that we were two tables away from a bunch of screaming, banging, running around kids, but no matter, our kids were angels.  Mark the date.

We have basketball practice today.  When I told Andy at 6:03 this morning he said, “We have practice today?  What are we doing sleeping?”  Neil and I are still laughing about Sam in the first scrimmage.  He dribbled the ball down the court, chucked it up there from pretty far out and it went in.  He had the most surprised look on his face which he covered up with a “I knew that would happen” look and put his hands up in a victory sign and turned around slowly in a 360. You might have had to have been there but it was funny.   I don’t want to say he’s a ball hog but in our two on two drill, Sam’s partner didn’t actually touch the ball. He looks good on the court though.  His ankles seem to do fine during practice but he walks gingerly afterwards.  When I ask if he’d like to take a break, he says no.  We should have the custom braces some time next week. Andy is a great dribbler but gets very frustrated because though they lowered the basket some, they didn’t lower it all that much and it’s a job for the littler guys to even get it up there.   Our first game is tomorrow. 

We are counting the days until Andy’s birthday.  It’s on January 29th.  He’s been telling everyone that he is now four and 11/12 .  It’s very funny.  I was on the ball enough to get the invitations out three weeks ahead of time but apparently I sent out several blank invitations. So if any of you San Diegans with five year-olds are wondering who the Pump it Up Party invitation you got in the mail is for, it’s Andy. 

Yesterday as I was playing charades with Sam and Andy (Deb gave us a board game version for Christmas)  and Charlie was jumping on the board and trying to steal the cards, the boys and I were laughing so hard we were practically crying.  I was hopping on one leg to act out “hopping on one leg” and Andy yelled out “Pig!”  because he had cheated but he happened to look at the wrong card.  Sam and I laughed so hard we cried. In the middle of our game the phone rang.  I was waiting for the numbers from Jayne at the hospital.  As soon as I saw the caller ID my heart began to pound and my throat got dry.  I said “time out” to the boys and picked up the phone.  Jayne is pretty good, she doesn’t muck around with too much small talk for me and goes straight to the numbers.  I wrote them all down, took a deep breath, relieved they hadn’t really gone up and went back to charades and laughter.   Such is the life of cancer parents and right now we are the very lucky cancer parents.

Please think good thoughts for Austin Melgar.  He is a little boy who loves soccer just like Sam    and is turning seven this year.  He’s having major leg and eye pain and his blood and urine markers are not looking good:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/austinmelgar  His scans are in a couple of weeks.  As much as I try to compartmentalize things and move forward in a fun and positive manner for the kids, it just floors me every time I read a website or hear about a child not doing well.  It’s very odd to feel like I know these kids from reading their websites and yet have never actually met them. I push it all to the back of my brain when I’m with my kids and it all resurfaces in  the middle of the night and I am devastated by the weight of Neuroblastoma.

Sorry not to end on a more positive note, just what’s on my mind today.

More soon.

Margot

Topics: Progress Reports | Comments Off on VMA: 4.4 HVA 10.5

Comments are closed.