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Once Every Two Weeks
By Margot | October 7, 2008
We are moving our blood checks from once a week after school to once every two weeks. Since we are currently on low dose temodar with some other things mixed in, Sam’s ANC, Red blood and Platelets have been fine. His VMA last week was 7.8!!! and HVA 10.1.  We are keeping weekly VMA/HVA checks. Charlie and I just dropped off Sam’s urine after we dropped the boys off to school. Charlie likes to comment on all of the trucks along the way to the hospital and then I let him drive out of the parking lot and give the lady the parking ticket and then pop him in his seat.Â
The boys are gearing up for Halloween. They are all three going to be football players. I tried to get Charlie to be Thomas the Tank Engine and even bought him the costume but he was having none of it. I had to take Thomas back.  Sam and Charlie are going to be LaDanian Tomlinson and Andy is going to be Tom Brady. I was trying to get him to be Tom on crutches but he said “no way.” He’s Tom Brady before he blew out his knee. The boys and I went out to dinner last night after we went looking for shoulder pads for their costumes and the Andy was wearing his Tom Brady jersey and the waiter kept referring to him as “Mr. Brady.” Andy loved it. “Can I get you anything else Mr. Brady?” It was funny. Neil and I are going to be referees which is a pretty good reflection of life as we know it.
Neil is in Vermont meeting with Pat Lacey and Dr. Sholler and was in Philly yesterday for the pediatric cancer foundation seminar set up by the amazing Liz and Jay Scott, parents of Alex Scott and founders of Alex’s Lemonade Stand. I’ll report on theat when he gets back. Â
Sam has been feeling good. I go to school twice a day to give him meds and he is always engaged and happy.  They have set up such a great sound system for him in his classroom.  Diane Levy, our hearing specialist is so so good. She really advocates for Sam and she “gets him” and likes him - which I love.  I don’t tell her how much we appreciate her enough, so Diane, if you are reading this, we love you! Sam’s homework and schoolwork coming home looks really good. 100%s, Five out of fives, etc. and his writing and reading are really coming along.   I think vision therapy has made a huge difference. Tomorrow is back to school night it’ll be the first time we have two classrooms to visit so Neil and I will switch off. Sam and Andy and I have been reading Hank the Cowdog books before bed and we’ve been laughing at Hank and Drover (the two main dogs in the story). Sam thinks Drover is so funny. In the last book we read Hank fell in love with a Collie dog and I started teasing the boys when I tucked them in saying “Go to sleep and dream about girls.” They laugh so hard every time I say it thinking it’s the funniest thing ever. “As if, Mom.”  I know some day it’ll be true but it’s fun to tease them about it now.
I know this is sort of a “la la la” ostrich type update but things are good and I’ll take it. We’ve had good numbers and Sam has been having a normal boy life. His team won in soccer last week and he was so happy. He played goalie for a while and did great. His coach told him he had a “shut out” which was very cute because though Sam ran and got the ball when it was in his vicinity, there weren’t any actual shots on the goal.
More soon.
MargotÂ
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Topics: Progress Reports | 4 Comments »
October 7th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I love reading reports like this!
October 7th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
My favorite Hank book is Number 7: Curse of the Incredible Priceless Corncob. If you have never listened to these as audio books, check out you local library and see if they have some for check out. John Erickson reads them himself and does all the voices. Too Texan, but perfect Hank and Drover.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Good news should always be shared. It puts a smile on everyone’s face:)
October 8th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Dude, your costumes sound awesome! 😀 I loved the “Hank the Cowdog” books too. Good news with the numbers, too. ^^
-Mimi