Today, I am thankful for the dog!

Now if I could just teach her to do bathrooms!

WE ARE THANKFUL!

We have SOOOOO much to be thankful for this year! I can't even begin the list! It would take a year! But here are the kid's lists for this year.

Cade's List of Things he's thankful for:
1.Jesus
2. God
3. Mommy, Daddy, and Cora
4. my neighborhod friends
5. my regular friends
6. Leia, Rosie, and our baby
7. Gran, Pop, Abuela, and Abuelo and my WHOLE family

Cora's List of Things she's thankful for:
1. my sparkly golden shoes
2. my magic wand
3. my dorothy dress
4. my cinderella ball gown
5. Monkey Joe's (an indoor inflatible playground)
and THAT'S ALL!!!

So that right there sums up the difference in my two kids!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Clinic Visit Recap

We went to clinic yesterday. She did great! She was sweet, polite, and no tears! Yay, Cora! It was actually a BIG visit. Once every four months she has an injection of methotrexate (a chemo drug) into her spine. She has to have NO food or drink before this visit and gets put to sleep. She woke up, ate a snack, and was back to her normal self in minutes. We even walked out to the lobby with our friend, Morgan (who painted the mural featuring the kids) and took Cora's picture with the Cora on the wall. Morgan couldn't get over how quickly she bounces right back.

As always we have a few thigs to watch and worry about as usual, but I'm slowly trying to settle into daddy's calm attitude of one day at a time. Let's just worry about today. Dr. G looked at her rash on her face that we've seen multiple dermatologists for and she is convinced that it is medication related and will probably get better on it's own eventually. In the meantime, she says we need to keep it looking as good as we can with soap and creams and be sure Cora's hands are continually clean (which they are!) to prevent infection. The other new concern is Cora's lack of bladder control. A few weeks ago we thought she had a UTI but she didn't. She's having multiple accidents daily (something she never did before) and seriously goes potty so many times a day the number's in the double digits. She and her very pregnant momma are a pretty good team cause we both need lots of potty breaks! Dr. G checked her blood sugar levels to be sure that long term steroid use hasn't done any damage, and they were normal (praise God!). So we are unsure what's causing it, but hoping this too shall pass and that it's nothing serious. She started steroids yesterday, so she's puny and pale (which is also weird) but we can deal with Crabby Cora for 5 short days until she's back to her sassy self. That's probably way more than anyone cares to know, but all tests point to normal!!!

Who's Who?

I had to post this because I think the resembelance is uncanny! One of these pics is Cora at 2, the other is my friend, Stacey (with www.babyandmedesigns.com)'s little girl Ava who is now 2. How precious are they both and how much can 2 unrelated kids look alike!

Da Da dut duh, da da duh (hum the indiana jones theme song)

Here it is, the big 6 year old shin dig. It was wild and crazy, but they all had fun!

First we decorated

Then set up a huge Indiana Jones obstacle course that included
a snake pit with a rope swing over it, a balance beam leading to a zipline over a "river"


a trip into the castle's dungeon to retrieve the crystal skull aka a grey squishy halloween skull from the dollar store


all the while avoiding giant flying boulders like this one


a trip through a dark cave complete with rats and spiders


crawling under a giant spider web


walking across stepping stones in a river filled with alligators


climbing up the tree fort of doom to retrieve the holy grail aka a plastic goblet painted golden


Then we used Q tips, straws, and paint to blow darts at a poster of the bad guys


And last but not least, the snake cake!

Noteworthy

Saturday morning I left to run some errands (alone!). When daddy's in charge anything goes as far as clothes are concerned, which is fine. When I got home I found Cora playing in the yard wearing this self selected outfit which I thought at least deserved honorable mention. (I swear my kids do have cute clothes.)

Looking Back

Halloween 08
Look at her skin color and swollen belly and sad face. If we had read the symptoms of leukemia prior to diagnosis, hers were text book.


Halloween 09
Look at her rosy cheeks and big smile! That's our miracle!

November 13th.
I remember November 13th of 2008 with perfect clarity.
I remember it more clearly than I remember my wedding day or the births of either of my children.
I remember it for an entirely different reason.
I remember waking up and getting dressed in black pants, a turquoise shirt, and black flats.
I remember dressing my kids and taking them to SCPS just as we'd done every morning since August.
I remember what they were both wearing.
I remeber peeking in on my 2 year old who was "recovering from an ear infection" at lunch time to find her sleeping.
I remeber picking her up and chatting with her teacher about her "continued fussiness and crying."
I remember feeling guilty about the number of school days I had already missed this year.
I remember thinking that I may need to go ahead and get lesson plans ready for the next day.
I remember Cora's melt down on the way to the car about how the way I was carrying her was "hurting her hiney."
I remember having this wave of realization rush over me thinking, "All this child's needs are being met, why is she so fussy?"
I remember canceling my dinner plans with friends and calling Rob.
I remember crying on the phone as I explained to him that I felt like I needed to take her back to the doctor because she was still not right.
I remember making the call to the nurse and nearly breaking down on the phone with her as I told her that I wanted to bring Cora in for the 4th time that month and I wanted tubes in her ears if they were still infected after the 2nd round of antibiotics.
I. thought. she. needed. tubes. in. her. ears!
I remember meeting Rob at the peditrician's office for the last appointment of the day.
I remember our visit with the doctor and his comment on her pale coloring and swollen belly.
I remember him saying, "Her spleen is enlarged. I hope it's mono. I've seen some of that lately."
I remember when he left the room with a sample of her blood.
I remember discussing dinner plans with Rob and Cade.
I remember Cade voting to order sushi.
I remember the nurse coming back in to get "just a little more blood to run one more test."
I remember the doctor's face when he came back into the room.
I remember the tears in his eyes as he told us "you have a very sick little girl."
I remember him telling us "It may be leukemia."
From there I don't remember anything else he said.
I only remember me.
I only remember screaming and feeling like I was dreaming.
I remember that I wasn't crying.
I felt like I should cry, but I wasn't.
I was frantic.
I was screaming and pacing and hugging my crying baby thinking that this could not possibly be happening.
I remember the nurse hugging me and taking Cora from me.
I remember Rob and Dr. Stone talking, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.
I remember trying to make a few frantic phone calls to iron out plans for Cade.
I remember that the people I was calling couldn't really understand me on the phone.
I remember Cade jumping up and down that he got to spend the night with a friend on a school night and then crying as he drove away with his Aunt Lauren from the Peditrician's parking lot.
I remember getting in the car with Rob and Cora.
I remember following our sweet peditrician to the hospital.
That's where it stops.
I remember nothing from there.
I don't remember going into the hospital, being admitted, meeting the oncologist on duty, being taken to a room, nothing.
I think my brain has forgotten to spare me the pain.
It was an AWFUL day.
The worst day of my life.
The pain is something I never want to experience again.
I remember deciding the next morning that I couldn't handle this on my own and begging God to save my baby.

But when I look back at the last year, I remember bringing Cora home after that initial hospital stay.
I remember being so relieved to find out she had ALL the good kind of leukemia.
I remember being even more relieved to find out that she had LOW RISK ALL with a bit of an easier treatment regimen.
I remember crying tears of joy when on day 14 of treatment the doctor called very surprised with news of early remission.
He called her a "rapid early responder!"
I remember being so surrounded by family and friends and food and phone calls that I barely had time to cry until I got into bed at night.
I remember feeling like God truly was showering us with little blessings throughout every step of our nightmare.
It's been such a hard year.
The first few months I nearly drove myself crazy with questions of how and why.
It's so hard to see your baby suffer through painful things even if they are to make her better.
It's lonely and you feel completely out of control of the situation.
I'd go back and change her diagnosis in a heartbeat if I could.
But I can't.

If it weren't for November 13, 2008 I wouldn't have the appreciation for my precious kids and family that I do.
I wouldn't have gotten to meet the fabulous nurses and doctors that spend their lives working to improve treatment for kids like Cora.
I wouldn't have seen love in action the way I did from my dear sweet friends. I've never seen people care so much and act so selflessly.
I wouldn't have ever gotten involved with CURE, LLS, Make A Wish, or Give Kids The World.
I wouldn't realize how important it is to continue to strive for a cure.
I wouldn't have gotten to follow along with the stories of all our other cancer friends we've made along the way.
I feel like we love more deeply, cherish the small moments more, trust more completely, and count our blessings daily.
I am thankful for November 13, 2008, but I am even more thankful for the difference a year can make.

We're not out of the woods yet.
We've got 14 more months of chemo, but we'll get there one day at a time.
Please keep Cora in your prayers.
Thank you for checking on us and praying for us throughout this year.
We love you!