Interesting Weekend

Two weeks ago, Jon woke up about 4:30am not feeling well and ended up having an "episode" that he's had 2 times before.  His blood pressure was 69/29 and he couldn't stay conscience.  The last time this happened, he stopped breathing briefly twice, but, luckily, that didn't happen this time.  I called 911 and we went to the ER in the ambulance.  They got his blood pressure back up but, again, had no idea what caused it.  He was admitted to the hospital and spend the weekend being tested and monitored.  All tests were normal. We've been told by 3 doctors that we should take him to the Mayo clinic for evaluations. He's going to have some follow-up testing done here first.

On the same day Jon was in the hospital, Joey got a fever.  It was still hanging around at night, so we were told to have him checked out at the ER. He was staying with his grandma & grandpa, so they brought him to the hospital and I met them in ER.  For the second time in the same day, I had a family member in the ER - I had to laugh. 

Joey had blood drawn from his line and from his arm, so he had to get poked and he wasn't happy about it. They have him "special cream" and he didn't feel a thing.  Luckily his labs were high enough that he didn't have to be admitted to the hospital. However, we learned 2 days later that he has an infection in both his blood and his central line.  There is no way to know where it was first.  He had just been off his antibiotic for his sinus infection for about a week and a half, so I was sort of surprised.  He is now getting a very large dose of antibiotic each day through his line.

It has to be injected very slowly, but it must not have been slow enough on the 3rd day.  We were at the doctor's office and he almost passed out as we tried to leave.  We let him rest a little while and then I carried him to the car. An hour later, he was fine.

Here he is giving himself his medicine.

Lake with Friends

For the first time, we took friends with us to the lake house. The kids had a lot of fun together and it was a nice get-away. 

Our New Family Member

Jon as always wanted a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, but they've always been too expensive. About a month ago, one sort of fell into our lap and, even though we already had 2 dogs (and 2 cats), we couldn't turn it down.  Because he's an African dog, Jon wanted him to have an African name and named him Asante, which means 'thank you'.

It's been interesting to have a puppy around again, but he's so cute and he's very sweet, even though he has some learning to do. 

T-Ball Season 2011

For the second summer, Joey played t-ball at the Y. His dad was the assistant coach. He missed a few games because it was just too hot, but I think he liked it overall.



Camp Quality 2011

Joey got to spend a week at Camp Quality in July.  It's an awesome camp that makes it possible for cancer kids to spend a full week away at camp. Each kid has his own companion that stays with them the entire week. Joey's companion was, Tobey.  She took very good care of him. Joey had some of this friends there and he became really good friends with a boy named JC.

It was really hard for me to be away from him for so long (Sun - Fri), and I watched everyday for pictures on Facebook.  It was strange to not be taking care of him, but he was very well taken care of there.  I was SO happy for him to come home!

Joey and JC

He camp home with 3 trash bags of balloons

Joey and Tobey

I'm glad he got to go, but I was VERY happy for him to come home.



After the holiday weekend, we all went back to work and daycare.  I was at work for about 30 minutes when I got a call that Joey had starting vomiting.  I picked him up and he spent the day with his dad.  The next day, we spent some time visiting with the pediatrician and then went to see Dr. Rosen.  He got his Vincristine and spinal tap.  He was determined to be a big boy for the spinal and he was.  He didn't fight and he was really proud that he didn't shed a single tear even though it hurt.

On the way home, he fell asleep, so I put him in bed and let him sleep a few hours.  I checked on him and he felt really warm, so I checked his temp and it was 104.2.  He said his whole body hurt and he could barely keep his eyes open.  I paged Dr. Rosen who said that it can be a reaction to either the spinal or the chemo.  By the end of the night, his fever was gone and he felt better.  It turned out to be nothing much, but it scared me at the time.

This last week, Joey went to Camp Quality, a camp for cancer kids.  I just picked him up today, he was there from Sunday to today (Friday).  He had a complete blast.  He also became really close to another boy that we had met a few times before.  They were inseparable.  I have some pictures but will get more, and I'll post some later.

Katherine also got to go to camp this week, but she only stayed one night.  She went to a Girl Scout camp that she paid for with her cookie money.  She had a lot of fun, but I didn't get muc information from her and I didn't have a way to get pictures.

Independence Day 2011

Joey had been doing really well and not getting sick but then the week before the 4th of July weekend, we started having fevers.  On that Monday, it got up to over 103.  His new pediatrician and I didn't see eye to eye.  I wanted some tests and she wanted to wait it out, so that's what we did.  I told her that the last time he had a fever, it was a sinus infection, but she didn't want to x-ray him for that b/c she didn't see other signs.  By Tuesday the fever went went away but he didn't seem to feel well all week.  He was scheduled for a spinal, Vincristine, and steroids, but they were delayed due to the fever.

By Friday, we were packed up and ready to go to the lake for the weekend.  He had a double-header t-ball game, so we went, but he didn't feel like playing.  I decided to take him to Immediate Care and get the x-ray that I had wanted on Monday.  We got there, and he had a fever, a high heart rate, and moderately low oxygen.  They did the x-ray and his sinuses were full, which indicated an infection.  Because of the fever, Joey couldn't leave town, so he and I stayed home for the long weekend, just the 2 of us. 

I felt really bad for him to have to miss the trip, but we got to have some good one-on-one time together. We spent a lot of time at home, but also got to have some fun with friends and go swimming at the Y water park.

Jon and Katherine had a lot of fun with the family at the lake. Katherine rode on a ski trainer and Jon jumped off a 30-foot cliff.

 Jesse, Gentry, and Joey - All 3 are Leukemia fighters

 Swimming at the Y

Katherine at the lake on the EZ Ski