Cora riding Taylor the horse at the Shrode's barn. (She rode maybe 4 steps!)



Cade riding Taylor the horse at the Shrode's barn. He loved it!



Helmeted up and ready to ride!



Our Sunday best!



Cade with the world's sweetest cat, Bella.

Indiana, Oh Indiana!

So we are just about finished with a week of fun at Gran and Pop's house. The kids LOVE visiting here. It's all about them, as it always is with any of their grandparents! We've gone horse back riding, swimming, played with friends, eaten ice cream, and more swimming! Tomorrow we're going to the zoo and have another play date scheduled! They can't get enough! Then Friday it's life back to normal. Bummer!

Cora has done really well on her first week of maintenance chemo meds! She was really puny and didn't feel good the first 3 or 4 days after her LP last Tuesday, but around Friday she perked right up and has done great ever since. She just finished 5 days on steroids. Her appetite picked up a little, but it's a bit of a lower dose, so she wasn't as grouchy and hungry as before. (thank God!) She has to take a pill every night that doesn't seem to have too many side effects and on Tuesdays she has to take 5 pills at once and she just ate them in applesauce and did great! I think being here has been a great distraction for her.

Cade has learned to dive and Cora actually enjoys the pool (which is landslides better from last year!) Mommy has enjoyed having two other adults just DYING to do normal things for my kids like pour juice and help go potty! I could move in! I'll post pics when we get home!

MAINTENANCE!

Hooray! Yesterday we went to the clinc and Cora's counts were great! Sky high! So she went to Memorial today for her first maintenance round of chemo. She had a lumbar puncture and vincristine. Because the clinic is a little short staffed for anesthesia, we had to go to the hospital. Just being at a new place caused all sorts of drama for Cora, but we got through it! We will start all her new medication tonight including 5 days of the dreaded chocolate medicine (STEROID!), so I am sure in a few days our "steroid Cora" will be here. But no more chemo for a month! HOORAY! We go to the clinic in two weeks to check counts, but between now and then we are even going to go to Indiana to visit Gran and Pop for a few days! The kids are thrilled to go out of town! That is normal! We love normal!

On a sad note, I got a call from a girl that works at SCPS with me last night. Her next door neighbor who is 6 was diagnosed with AML (the other leukemia) on Saturday. Since Cora and I were at the hospital today we popped in to meet this sweet boy and his mom. He was in the same hospital room that Cora was in upon diagnosis and just walking in that room brought tears to my eyes. This little guy is precious. His name is Braden and he is really a sick little boy so please just keep him and his family in your prayers! They'd appreciate it!

Robotics

OK so Rob found a video on YouTube of a guy dancing robotics and Cade said, "oh I can do that!" Here it is!

Random Pics

Crutch!

Ok so I am pretty glad that we've reached the maintenance phase of chemo, because Cora has started using leukemia as a crutch, yes, that's right! And she's only 2! She had a friend over yesterday and they made a huge mess in her room.

Mama: ok guys let's clean up this mess.
(cora's friend, Marshall starts to clean up immediately, cora just stands there.)
Mama: Cora, let's see if you can help Marshall and I clean up.
Cora: Well, I just can't.
Mama: Yes you can, and you will!
Cora: I just can't.
Mama: Why not
Cora: Well, because I have a sickness and it's called leukemia!

Oh yes she did!...she said it! Needless to say, she found out very quickly that you can clean up even when you have leukemia. I sorta freaked out! This could be a problem! So now, Cora is going to be treated 100% like a normal kid and we're going to have to try to cut down on the cancer talk around here! Hopefully my only "medical" updates will be on chemo visits! She's really really feeling great! Lots of spunk, as you can see!

Movin on up!

Well, we just got Cora's counts today after her Monday visit. (The hospitals computers were down--talk about a problem!) And as I expected, they are creeping upward! Yay! ANC was around 700, not ready for the mall softplay, but good enough to get out a little. We begin "maintenance chemo" on Tuesday. She actually has to have a lumbar puncture and they are short on anesthesiologists at the clinic so we have to do it inpatient at the hospital. Yuck! Dr. Johnston went over maintenance chemo and it sounds like once we can get her ANC holding around 1500 we can only do clinic once a month! YAY! I love the clinic and all, but this sounds like a dream to me. We may have to go every other week just to get counts checked. She will be taking oral meds daily. He said her hair will begin to grow back soon, although it will look raggedy for awhile. As long as we can keep her well and fever free I think the worst is behind us! YAY again! He also told me she will finish chemo around January of 2011. That seems light years away. She will be 4.5, but at least there is light. Please continue to pray that her counts will stay up and that she will NEVER relapse! We NEVER want to repeat the last 6 months again! Overall, she feels great! In fact, the last few weeks this girl is spunkier than ever! In to everything! The girl requires less sleep than anyone else in the house! She TRULY wears me out! She's a mover, a shaker, a destroyer, and a fighter! I love it!