November 2007 and earlier

Monday, December 31, 2007

Mickey and I had a fabulous time at the Colts game last night.  We had such a great view and were surrounded by a decent group of people.  Mickey yelled and cheered till about the 4th quarter.  Then she started to wear down and chose to sit and watch.  

It's hard to believe 2007 is over.  What a year it has been!  We've had many highs and lows here with the highs definitely outnumbering the lows.  Mickey ended treatment and had her port taken out.  We joined  up with TNT and helped raise money for the Leukemia Society.  I finished the Mini Marathon!  We had a wonderful trip to Disney World.  Mickey was invited to meet Gary Brackett and let the rest of us go with her.  :) We had several blessings this Christmas season.  We also lost some of our friends from Riley.  Mickey spent almost all of September at Riley.  I had foot surgery.  But through it all, God was and always in control.  He has richly blessed our lives this year and we pray that He will bless your lives in the coming year.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

We had a great Christmas!  We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family.  We had so much fun visiting with everyone.  We missed you, Joel and family! The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.  We got home at 11:30 PM and had just enough time to open new pj's and get to bed before the man in red stopped by.  The kids came in our room at 1:00 AM and asked if we could open presents.  Mickey had the empty cookie plate and said Santa had been here.  We sent them back to bed.  They came in at 5:00 AM.  Again - back to bed.  Finally we got up with them at 6:00 AM.  Mickey loved all of her High School Musical 2 goodies.  Brad was blown away by his Nintendo DS.  He had no idea he was getting it.  Michael enjoyed his computer gadgets.  And I was thrilled with the Gary Brackett jersey Michael got me so I'll be properly attired for Sunday's game.  We had a very low-key day at home.  Michael's parents came up for lunch and a visit.  That was it aside from playing with new toys.  It was a great day.  Saturday we will be having Christmas with Michael's side of the family.  We're having a white elephant exchange between the adults.  Everything has to come from a truck stop and cost less than $5.  That should be fun!!

Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

WOW!  This morning was incredible.  Since we've been involved with Riley these past three years there has always been construction going on.  Right now they are in Phase V which involves building a patient tower located next to the outpatient clinic.  The people in charge of the construction felt it was important for the workers to meet a few Riley kids so they would be able to see firsthand why they need to follow certain stringent safety standards.  Mickey was chosen as one of two Riley kids to meet all the construction workers today for a coffee and donut break.  It turned out to be much more than coffee and donuts.  The workers, around 200 of them, had collected money to get toys for the hospital.  They also got toys for Mickey and Josh (the other Riley kid) and for Brad.  We were overwhelmed by the gifts they gave the kids.  Mickey got tons of Hannah Montana stuff along with some Barbie things, a sweat suit, and other wonderful gifts.  Brad got two big packs of Pokemon cards and a giant remote control pick up truck.  Michael said he can't wait to play with that!  They also gave us gift cards to Marsh and Meijer in case we need to get anything for our Christmas dinners or any last minute gifts.  Then the best part of all came.  Natalie, the wonderful lady in charge, said that typically they offer Colts tickets in a drawing for workers who have met certain safety standards.  This year it was decided to give those tickets to the kids instead.  So Mickey and Josh each got a pair of tickets to the Dec. 30 Colts vs. Titans game!!  They were both so excited!  I am excited because I am going with Mickey!  Our seats are 20 rows up in the end zone.  It's the last regular season game to ever be played in the RCA Dome, so that makes it even more special.  Once the kids were done opening gifts, they were each given hard hats signed by the workers.  Then several of the workers asked the kids to sign their hats.  It was so cool to see Mickey with these big construction workers waiting in line for her autograph.  She loved every minute of it!!  What a wonderful blessing today was.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

For several years Michael and I have had a tradition of going to see "A Christmas Carol" at the Indiana Reparatory Theater.  This year we decided the kids were old enough to enjoy it so we took them with us tonight.  It was wonderful!  Our seats were on the front row so the kids had a great view of everything.  We even had some interaction with a few of the actors at various points.  Mickey loves to give a "thumbs up" to people as they are performing to let them know they are doing well.  She was doing this as the actors were coming in singing at the beginning of the 2nd act.  The last one up the steps to the stage smiled at her and gave her a "thumbs up".  One of the actors was smiling and nodding at Brad as he was walking off the stage.  I think he may have felt sorry for Brad since the actor had noticed my singing along with the previous song, but I'm not sure.  Both kids loved the performance so much that they want to go back again - this year!  We told them they'll have to wait till next year, though.

On the health front, Mickey is doing pretty well.  Her cough is much better.  She's only needing cough medicine 2-3 times a day now.  So the combination of Prednisone, Zithromax and Albuterol is working.  I'm very happy to say we're not seeing any nasty side effects of the Prednisone like we did when she was on steroids during treatment.  Thank you, Lord!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Today was one of those magical days that don't come around more than once in a lifetime.  Mickey and Brad were invited to go on a United Airlines Holiday Flight of Fantasy to the North Pole.  The "flight" was full of Riley kids and their families.  We met at the International Arrivals Building at the Indianapolis airport at 8:30 where we were given our boarding passes.  A bus took us over to the terminal.  Once there, we went through security just like normal.  Then we waited at gate D8 for our plane to be ready.  Once everyone boarded and found our seats, we were greeted by none other than Cowboy Bob, the beloved cartoon show host from Michael's and my youth.  His wife, Mrs. Cowboy Bob, is a captain for United so she was taking us on our flight.  While we were being pushed back from the gate, the lead flight attendant did all the safety instructions in poem form similar to "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  It was so funny!  Michael and Brad were in the very back of the plane and Brad was asked to help demonstrate the oxygen mask and the floatation device.  He had a great time!  We taxied for a bit and then everyone had to close their window blinds so we wouldn't see the route to the North Pole.  Captain Gail, aka Mrs. Cowboy Bob, sped down the runway.  Our very smooth, no turbulence "flight" lasted about 15 minutes, just long enough to have some apples, apple pie and milk from McDonalds. Cowboy Bob sang for us during our flight.  Then we were ready to land at the North Pole.  As we landed we were allowed to open our window blinds.  Santa was standing there directing the plane to the building (which look amazingly like the International Arrivals Building).  There were probably 50 people to greet us as we descended the steps and went inside.  Elmo, Batman and Spiderman all made an appearance.  There was cookie decorating, face painting, balloon animals, pictures with Santa and a lunch of hot dogs, chips and cookies.  There was a dance troupe with girls from about age 4 up to teenagers who performed for us.  Mickey and a couple of other passengers got up to dance with them for the last two numbers.  Mickey was doing great following all the moves to the Peppermint Twist.  When it was almost time to go, the elves gathered all the kids around and handed gifts out to all of them.  It was so much fun watching all these kids tear into their presents.  Then it was time to leave the North Pole.  We walked out a magic door and were immediately back at the International Arrivals Building where we had originally met.  We all had a wonderful time.  Many thanks to the people at United Airlines for giving us all a wonderful escape for a few hours.

Left to right: Waiting for our flight; Michael and Brad all buckled in; Mickey ready to camcorder the flight; Michael and Mickey balloon talking; Brad with Cowboy Bob, Captain Gail, Sapphire and Rusty. (click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Friday, December 14, 2007

Mickey and I just got back from the doctor.  Her cough from two weeks ago was back in force and getting worse.  She started the cough one week after finishing her last round of Zithromax, very similar to what happened when she had pneumonia in September.  So I took her in today.  Her sats were anywhere from 92-99.  Even though her lungs sounded clear, the doctor sent us for chest x-rays based on the sound of her cough and the low sats.  Thankfully x-rays came back clear.  She's on a 10-day course of Zithro, a 5-day course of Prednisone and Albuterol inhaler as needed.  So she should be right as rain for Christmas.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

We got our tree yesterday.  The tree farm we chose was not the same one as three years ago, but it's also one we won't go back to.  It just wasn't as fun as Ratliff's.  We have had great experiences at Ratliff's tree farm and will be going back there from now on.  But anyway, the tree is up and beautiful.  We had a great time decorating it and then watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  It was a great day.

We're looking at a busy week coming up.  So don't be alarmed if there aren't updates for a while. 

Friday, December 7, 2007

Today marks 3 years of cancer survivorship for Mickey.  Three years ago this evening we were in the ER at Riley being told that our daughter had leukemia.  It felt like our world had turned upside down.  However, God has been so faithful through these years and has brought Mickey and the rest of us through.  Thank you to all of the faithful prayer warriors who have continually lifted us up before the throne of God.  We have felt your prayers and seen the results of them so many times.  We have all changed over the course of the last 3 years.  We are more patient, more appreciative, more empathetic and don't take people for granted.  

Tomorrow we are going to resume a well-loved Christmas tradition - cutting down a tree.  While Mickey was on chemo we couldn't have a live tree in the house so we've had artificial for the last 3 years.  We had gotten our tree two days before Mickey's diagnosis in 2004.  Michael and I vividly remember that day and how awful Mickey was feeling.  She refused to walk, smile or even look at the camera while I was taking pictures.  We disciplined her because we thought she was being lazy and grumpy.  We felt awful when we found out how sick she was.  We don't remember the name of the tree farm we went to that year, so we're hoping we don't inadvertently return there tomorrow.  We have chosen a tree farm in Greenfield that we are pretty sure is new to us.  However, if we get there and discover it's the same one as before, we'll go to one further away that we *know* is not the same one.  We don't want anything to ruin our fun tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from Brad's awards last night:

Left to right: Action shot - roundhouse kick; smiling even doing military push-ups; Dad helping with the new belt; Brad and Mr. Rick; one proud brown belt!

December 6, 2007

Well, we now have a brown belt living in our house.  Brad advanced from senior purple to brown belt tonight.  We are very proud of how hard he's been working on his karate this semester.  He's going to keep practicing between semesters so when they start up again in March, he'll be ready to go.  Mickey said she wants to do karate next semester.  So we'd have a white belt to go along with the brown.  We're going to start working with her so she'll be a bit ahead when the new semester starts.

As excited as Brad was to get his brown belt, I think he was more excited to see Michael walk into the gym before class.  Michael had been in Chicago all week for a class and didn't expect to get home in time for karate.  But he got out of class early and made good time coming home so he was able to surprise Brad.  Brad had really missed his dad this week and frequently told me how many days it was till he'd be home.  The look on his face when Michael came up beside him was priceless!!

December 4, 2007

On the way to clinic today Mickey said, "Mom, I will remain calm today."  She was talking about her blood draw.  She normally fights the blood draw with all she has, refusing to go in the room nicely, not wanting to sit in the chair, yelling, kicking, pulling her arm away...you get the idea.  Well today she walked right in the room, asked to sit on my lap and only tried to pull her arm away a couple of times.  I was so proud of her!!  Her counts were fantastic!  Her AGC was over 3700!  WOOHOO!  All other numbers were in the normal range.  Gotta love that!  We were in and out in an hour.  That allowed us just enough time to get her to school to leave with her class for a field trip to a planetarium.  

I went to the podiatrist yesterday for a follow-up on my foot.  The x-ray shows that the bone is not healing as quickly as the doctor thought it would.  I am only restricted by pain, but she can't release me till the bone is healed.  So I'm still exercising it and working on my range of motion.  I go back after Christmas for another x-ray.  Hopefully it's looking and feeling better by then.

December 1, 2007

Well it's time for a change.  The whole site will be renovated over the next few weeks.  Everything you have seen is still here.  Click the link to the left to go back through the story.  We will be archiving more often so the dial-up users will have a more pleasant experience.  So as usual, poke around, have fun, and donate blood and blood products.