First Hit of the Season!

His first game was last week, but I am just now posting this. It's not a grand slam by any means, but here's Cade's first hit of the season with loud mouth mommy in the background!

Baby Parker

Cora is feeling better. It's taken awhile, but the leg pain has subsided and she has a bit more energy. So I think we're OK, until Monday. The hair is a disaster. It is shedding and falling out to the touch and I am just not sure what to do with it. So if you see my little girl looking fairly pretty raddgedy, please know we're doing our best! On a much more fun note, for the last two days Cora and I have had the PRIVILEDGE to babysit our 10 week old neighbor, baby Parker. Cora LOVES him! She wants to take care of him all by herself! He's such a perfect and cute lil guy! We've had a ball with him and the sandbox in his backyard!

If You Can't Say Something Nice, Don't Say Anything At All

I've been avoiding blogging in an effort to stay positive. The truth is, it wasn't a positive week. Cora has been in pretty bad shape this week. Poor thing feels miserable. She's been totally sick to her stomach which had her very dehydrated again around Wednesday so we had an unplanned clinic visit. Fluids helped some, but the truth is this Delayed Intensification is just destroying her little body. She is starting to really puff back up from the steroids, her hair is shedding like crazy, and she walks around all day crying that she doesn't feel good. Her legs are so sore that walking is hard and today she was complaing of low back pain on her right side. I know this is part of the treatment and it will pass, but it STINKS SO BAD! I hate watching my baby suffer and not being able to do one darn thing about it! All we do all day and night is try to comfort her, and I can't even tell you the amount of guilt I feel over this whole thing. I am not sure why I feel guilty???? But it seems to be my way of dealing, passing the heartache off as guilt. Being positive has been hard this week. In fact, when I read Cora Cinderella at bedtime tonight, it was probably the most cynical version ever told. Well, I didn't actually change the story, but I sorta felt like saying, "Cora sweetie, this is a fairy tale, it isn't real life. Happily ever after doesn't always exist!" That's just the kind of week it's been. I am hoping, this week the silver lining will shine through! We are DONE with chocolate medicine (steroid) as of today for awhile! Sorry for the "half empty" attitude I am experiencing today! The one thing that keeps us going is the huge number of people praying and encouraging us! We love you!

SCPS Photo Shoot

Two adorable and awesome photographers from Ohio came to SCPS a few weeks ago to do a photo shoot. They are incredible! Cade and Cora both got to take part along with some good friends of ours! What a sweet slide show. Makes me want to go to school there!!! Click on the title above to view the slideshow.

Sweetness

This is what made me cry today.

It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen in my life. The director of Cora's former school called and said that she had something for Cora. I picked it up today. It was an envelope from a little girl who we don't know and she doesn't know us. Her name is Raiyan. She is six (I think). She doesn't even go to SCPS, but her little sister does and they have been following Cora's blog since diagnosis. They pray for Cora. Raiyan had a birthday party and decided that she didn't need any presents. In lieu of gifts her friends gave her checks to Cora's Medical Fund. She made Cora a card and there was a card from this precious family as well. I am in awe of this little girl's generosity. What kid gives up birthday gifts to help someone else??? This speaks volumes of the kind of family she comes from. I pray that one day Cora will have a heart that is this generous. I feel so guilty taking these checks. We are going to try to find a special way to show this little girl how grateful we are. Raiyan, we will be sure that your birthday money gets put to work. Our prayer is that we won't need to use it and can bless another family with it the way you have blessed us! Thank you so much!

No Tears Clinic Visit

Yesterday (Monday) Cora visited the clinic. This visit was monumental because she did NOT cry! She didn't even sit on my lap when her port was "clicked." They access it with a tiny needle hooked to the tubing. She did make some yucky faces, but who wouldn't. She was such a big girl. The PA even made the comment, "Wow, she's really come a long way!" She has! Her counts were still good. Her ANC was 2351, down from 6000 last week, but still OK. She got the same two chemo drugs she's gotten the past few weeks, and we went home! She is back on the steroids this week so she is feeling pretty yucky. We don't go back for two weeks, but when we do it will be a doozy! She will have to have a lumbar puncture (chemo in the spine), a new drug called Cyclophosphamide, and begin a new oral medication, and a new (at home) subQ injection. That will be fun! I'm pretty nervous anytime she gets new meds. When you read the list of possible side effects it is scary! Here are some of the rare, but possible side effects of Cyclophosphamide:
- heart muscle damage
- damage and scarring of lung tissue
- A new cancer or leukemia resulting from this treatment
- damage or scarring of urinary bladder tissue
- severe allergic reaction that can be life threatening
- infertility

Nice, huh? I think anyone would be scared about giving that to their child. I just wanna skip that day, but she has to have it! Dr. J also told me that after the meds coming up soon we can probably kiss the hair goodbye. Which makes me crazy since we are so close to maintenance phase. This nasty treatment just makes me want to do everything in my power to help improve cancer research so these little ones don't have to go through all of this. On the other hand, I am SOOOOOOO thankful for these nasty drugs that kill an even nastier disease! It's a very weird thing. Pray for our visit in 2 weeks!

Grocery Store Chat

Clinic was fine today. Cora's ANC is sky high (which is great) and she got her vincristine and doxyrubin through her port. We like uneventful visits!

My highlight of today was the chat we had as we were checking out in the grocery store line. This is what I love most about having kids. It went something like this...

Cora: I love that pink balloon. I want Aunt Lauren to buy me that pink balloon for my birthday.

Mommy: OK, we will tell Aunt Lauren to buy you that pink balloon on July 10th.

Cora: Can I have a cell phone?

Mommy: WHAT? No way, you can't have a cell phone until you can pay for it yourself!

Cora: When I grow up can I drive a car?

Mommy: Sure you can, you need to tell your daddy that you want him to buy you a car when you grow up.

Cora: I will tell him I want a hot pink car!

Mommy: That will be pretty!

Cora: Can I be a cowgirl when I grow up?

Mommy: Sure, baby, you can be anything you want. You can be a cowgirl, a ballerina, a princess, a nurse, a doctor, a teacher, whatever you want.

Cora: I just want to be a cowgirl and a houselady.

Mommy: What does a houselady do?

Cora: She just cleans stuff and folds stuff and cooks stuff.

Mommy: Is mommy a houselady?

Cora: (emphatically, as if to say duh) YES, you are a houselady and daddy is a houseboy. Houseboys cut down trees.

:)

Easter

Cora liked the candy more than the eggs! Steroids + Easter Candy = a disaster!A picture of our picture with the mall bunny. I paid like $25.00 for a mediocre 5x7 just cause I haven't missed one in six years.

Cade searching high and low.

Leia even got in on the egg dying action.

Cade with a mouth full of boiled egg and Cora and their lovely eggs!

We were able to make it to the Church Easter Egg Hunt yesterday. I was sorta germaphobic and scared to take Cora, but her counts are really high and she was dying to see Easter Bunny! We got there 10 minutes early so she could be the first one to see Easter Bunny before he got all germed up by other kids. She loves "Easter Bunny." They're on a first name basis. So that was fun. But she just isn't ready for the one on one contact of the church 2 year old Sunday School class (well, nervous mama doesn't think she's ready) so the plan was to go to an IOH sunrise service at the Marina. It didn't pan out. Cora had a sick tummy all night and Cade was up way late Saturday night. I can't believe I didn't go to church on Easter. I think it's the first time in my life. It was weird. We will make up for it next year. But, it was a good day. We took a long walk, hunted lots of eggs, ate ham, and planted 90 bulbs in the yard. Cora's belly is still a little sick. We go back to clinic tomorrow. Hopefully in addition to chemo they will load her up on fluids if she needs them! Happy Easter!

Anne Hart Article from the Savannah Morning News

Our famous little cancer fighting machine once again made the news! We love Anne Hart and so appreciated her writing her column on us. It was perfect! We hope it will encourage lots of people to register for Cora's run to help raise lots of money for her fund and more importantly for us to donate to CURE. The only thing we wish we could have added to the article is #1 to brag on and name each one of her doctors Dr. Stone, Dr. Whittle, Dr. Gonzolas, and Dr. Johnston. #2 To thank everyone who's reached out to us by name, but I suppose that would take up the entire paper, so thanks again everyone! Just in case you aren't local, click the title of this post to be linked to Anne's column.

Smile, You're On Candid Camera!

That's what I wish someone would pop out and say to me right now. The Garola's have never been a sickly bunch, just an occasional ear infection or cold. 2009 has not been good. This morning around 1:30 am Cora appears in our bedroom. She says, "I don't feel good." and then throws up all over the floor. I thought, OK too much medicine, too much chemo, nausea. Took her back to bed and laid with her. In the next hour she threw up 4 times and I put her in the bathtub at 2:30. After a sheet change and pj change, she fell back asleep and I fell asleep on her floor. At 3:30 I am awoken by cries from Cade's room. He is sitting in his bed and has thrown up all over the place. He was assigned to daddy just in case his sickness was different from Cora (to keep her from getting his) and this throwing up continued for both of them until about 7am. By morning, Cora was totally dehydrated and could not keep down a drop of water. She was lethargic and had huge bags under her eyes, so...Yep, you guessed it, I called the clinic at 8. Of course they wanted to see her. The good news was that no one had a fever. Cade slowly recovered and I took Cora in. They gave her Zofran through her port along with giant amounts of fluid. 4 hours later, I left with a happy, smiling girl! This dehydration thing is becoming a real issue. I jokingly asked Dr. Whittle if I could take an infusion machine home with me and just give her fluid. He seriously said, "if it becomes a continual problem." So once again, it could be worse. My fear was being admitted to the hospital for the weekend. But we are home. Just pray that the girl will eat and drink and keep it down! I hope not to see the doctors again before Monday! That was either a very quick little bug or bad fruit smoothies yesterday (that's the only thing the same that they ate). Oh, BTW, daddy had his follow up appointment after two weeks of heart monitoring and it's really nothing. He has a mild arrhythmia. It's called something atrial or something like that, but the good news is it is super common and not dangerous at all. It's not even a precursor to anything dangerous. Phew! Now I am off to continue washing everything! I hope to post something positive next! I am starting to feel like a drama queen!

AHHHHHHH!

If you live in the 912 area code and you heard screaming last night around 8 pm, it was us from the ER! I mean we are a disaster! Cora started her steroid again on Monday along with a couple of preventative meds. She has felt awful ever since. She just constantly says ,"mama I don't feel good." She has no energy and sometimes just acts like she is drugged. She'll be walking and just lie down on the floor in the middle of the kitchen, yesterday she insisted that her eyes were bleeding (which they weren't), she's extremely tired, and then the icing on the cake was when she begged me to go to be at 6pm last night after only being awake from her nap for an hour. Then I picked her up, she threw up everywhere and started falling asleep and waking up on and off in my arms. It was almost like she was passing out. SO...I called the doc on call who thinking I could confirm dosages on the meds with him and he would reassure me that it was the drugs. Wrong! He said,"get her to the ER immediately, how fast can you be there?, I will call and tell them you are on the way." Those are not words you say to an already crazy mommy! Daddy was at a baseball game and Cade and Cora were already pj'd up for bed. I start yelling for Cade to get in the car and he hollers something about shoes. To which I replied, "forget the shoes!" So we run into the ER and Cade is freaking out that he has no shoes on! I am trying to keep Cora awake in the meantime. To make a long story short...(well, its already not short, but shorter) Aunt Lauren comes for Cade, Daddy arrives, poor Cora gets blood tests, x-rays, and everything else you can imagine to find that it's nothing but a little dehydration. Everything checked out fine, they put some fluids in her, and she seemed a little better this morning. We had to go back to the clinic for an injection of chemo in the thigh. Poor Cora! She's like a pin cushion. My heart was breaking for her last night. Poor Cade, spring break is spent being dragged from one appointment to the next. But we are so thankful it wasn't anything too serious. We are not scheduled for clinic again until Monday, so we are tentatively planning some fun for the next few days.

A Special Visit

Abuela and Abuelo came all the way from PA just for Cora's game last Saturday. They even brought special things with them.







Abuela seems to think the remedy to daddy's panicky/heart beat issues is hot tea, so she toted along some of that!




Abuelo nearly bought up all of the raffle tickets and won us some Atlanta Braves stuff, lunch in Hilton Head, and a family portrait!

Check out our new shoes!!! They brought these to us, too! We are ready for summer!

Thanks for a special visit, Abuela and Abuelo!

Things I Don't Like.....by mommy

1. chocolate medicine - that's the steroids that make my little girl mean and bloated that she had to start taking again today.

2. temper tantrums like the one Cora threw at the clinic today.

3. shots - like the ones Cora has to get this Thursday at the clinic

4. strong medicines that can weaken your heart and make your hair fall out and color you pee pee pink. Cora had a new one of these for the first time today.

5. cancer- it stinks for little girls like Cora, for sweet men like the one we met today at the pharmacy who has it in his throat, and for precious young mommies like our friend Dianne who had a bone marrow transplant yesterday

6. Delayed Intensification- our current chemo phase that includes LOTS of medicines and trips to the clinic!!!!

THINGS I DO LIKE

1. Ms. Theresa and Ms. Melissa, the world's two best oncology nurses

2. The research that has figured out the tricky and complicated combo of drugs that can heal very sick little girls.

3. Nice doctors that are very thorough!

4. The fact that we are 50 days from Maintanence chemo!!! Hooray!!!

5. Helpful friends.

6. A God that hears our prayers!

Cora's Day at the Warriors Field

As you know, the Warriors booster club did a game for Cora. And boy did they out do themselves! Pink balloons everywhere, signs for Cora, raffles throughout the game, hotdogs and burgers on the grill! It was such a fun day! Cora was the star for sure! She threw the first pitch (of course Cade had to throw one too!) and she was on the news on Fox and WJCL last night! She LOVED IT! Here are just a few highlights!!! Oh ya, they raised almost $5000 for her Medical Fund, just from a high school baseball game! We so appreciate all they did for us!

Article from Savannah Morning News

This was in the sports section this morning. It's so cute to me because it is totally a "daddy quoted, sports article about Cora." Go Warriors. Pictures of the game to come! Click the title above to see the original article!


Games double as fundraiser for coach's sick daughter
Rich McGowan | Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 12:30 am

Cora Garola (Photo: Savannah Morning News)




Contextual linking provided by Topix
Cora Garola has bad guys in her blood.

At least that's what her parents, Rob and Amanda, tell her to explain why she has to go to the hospital for tests and treatments.

Last November, 2 1/2-year-old Cora was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells - the cells in the body that normally fight infections.

Today the Jenkins Baseball Booster Club is holding a fundraiser for Cora as the Warriors (12-1l) host Calvary Day (11-3). The doubleheader begins with the junior varsity game at 11 a.m., and the varsity starts at approximately 1 p.m. Rob Garola is the Warriors' pitching coach and a math teacher at Jenkins.

Though Cora's illness is currently in remission, she still has to go through treatments of chemotherapy and countless blood tests.

"She knows there's something wrong," Rob Garola said. "At first, she was wondering why we kept taking her to the hospital and we told her, 'You have bad guys in your blood and we have to get rid of them.' And she's like, 'OK. Did you get rid of the bad guys?'

"She had an idea, but I don't think she understands how severe the problem is."

Though she must go through grueling chemotherapy treatments, the silver lining is children respond better to chemo than adults. Children can withstand a higher dosage compared to their body weight than adults can and have an about 85 percent survival rate, according to the National Cancer Institute. And though Rob Garola said Cora is "low risk" for her cancer to return, she will still be receiving chemotherapy treatments for another two years.

"She still has the nausea and she doesn't want to do it," Rob said of her treatments. "And she has a port in her chest, and she always has to get poked and have blood drawn and she doesn't like that."

Before she was diagnosed, Rob said Cora suffered from numerous ear infections and an occasional fever, "just like any child would have a fever and you'd think they would have a cold."

But after another ear infection, the Garola's were told the news that their daughter had leukemia.

"At first when you hear the word cancer, you think the worst," Rob said. "But now that we've learned a little bit about it and we know she can live with it, hopefully she can cure herself ... It's looking real good."

But caring for Cora hasn't been easy. Her mother, Amanda, left her job as a first-grade teacher at Savannah Christian. It's also meant Cora's 5-year-old brother, Cade, has had to sacrifice some of his parents' attention.

"He's a good brother and he's done a lot to help her out," Rob said. "He knows the situation. He made a couple comments early on like, 'Is she going to die?' So he knows the severity and he's been really good."

All proceeds from today's games from the admission gate, concession sales and raffles, money that ordinarily would go to the booster club's fund, will go to Cora's family to help offset her medical costs.

"It helps teach the boys that there are some things more important than baseball," said booster club president Jeff Carey. "We got a great group of kids and parents and it's turning out to be a real good day for us."

A large number of raffle items include several gift certificates to local restaurants, restaurants in Hilton Head, including Sea Pines Resort, and a pass for four for a round of golf at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Carey said the raffle items will drawn between innings of the varsity game.

"The whole community has been outstanding. Everybody has pitched in," Rob Garola said. "I know (Calvary's) people have sent e-mails around the school. It's everywhere and it's amazing."


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IF YOU GO

What: Cora Garola Day, a benefit to raise money for 2 ?-year-old Cora Garola, battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Where: Jenkins baseball field during JV/varsity doubleheader between Jenkins and Calvary Day.

When: Today, junior varsity game at 11 a.m.; varsity at 1 p.m.