Yellow Belt

Here is Little Mister sporting his new yellow stripe belt.  To earn it, he had to recite the student creed from memory to an instructor.  He was all confidence about doing it, but the rest of us weren't so sure since "chemo/radiation brain" sometimes rears its ugly head around here.  Also, the student creed isn't short - I had trouble memorizing it too and I don't even have "chemo brain" as an excuse.

"To build true confidence through strength in my body, honesty in my heart and knowledge in my mind.  To keep friendship with one another and to build a strong and happy community.  Never fight to achieve selfish ends, but to develop Might for Right!"

Showing off the new belt, complete with Karate Kid look - a headband.  The funny thing is that this is the headband portion for one of those LED lights that you wear on your forehead! 

We are scheduled to another maintenance cycle on Monday.  That means a long day of chemo, antibiotics and a spinal tap.  We might find some time to practice some Tae Kwon Do moves while hanging out at the clinic and the hospital - the orange strip belt awaits!

Just One More Photo

Just one more quick photo of the entire family at the Believe in Tomorrow Gala!

Hootin and Hollerin at Ocean City

Documentation.

Most of you who see us on a regular basis, or are friends of ours of Facebook, already know about our recent weekend at Ocean City, but I promised a blog anyway. It is important to document that this weekend actually happened, in case there are police or congressional investigations on down the road.

But before that, a quick update on the patients. Both Carson and I are fine. Carson has stayed well and out of the clinic. We are not scheduled to go back until April 30, and knock, knock, we hope to make it. I had a 1 week post op appointment on April 12th. The doctor said I was healing just fine and then gave the OK for us to head to OC. Actually, I did not tell my doc about OC, I decided that "healing just fine" could be translated as "go ahead and travel 3.5 hours away for an awesome party, the beach and lots of fun."

So, on Friday we headed to Ocean City. The dogs were with Nona (who is visiting and helping), car was packed - packed with the usual beach stuff and some fancy duds. We were heading to the Gala by the Sea for Believe in Tomorrow. This time, the pressure was on though. Yours truly had been asked to speak to the audience.
I had to earn that steak and shrimp dinner this year.

My fears and nervousness melted away though as soon as we sat down at table number 8, and I noticed that indeed, the chocolate fountain was back! No, seriously, after the chocolate fountain, we met our table mates for the evening. Jason and Janine and shortly thereafter, Angie, Matt, Jenny and JJ. They were the reason my fears melted away.

It turns out that they are THE NICEST group of people you could ever hope to meet. It also turns out that Jason, Matt, their mother and dad and Jenny all are involved with the operations and management of the two (soon to be three) Hooters locations in Ocean City. They are a great.....and fun, fun, fun bunch of people.

We all hit it off immediately.

Carson took up with Jason like he was a long lost big brother. He moved his seat to the other side of the table to sit by Jason, he wandered all over the banquet hall to follow Jason to the silent auctions, he sat on his lap. Whatever Jason did, that's what Carson did. Now, you have to understand, Jason is probably 6'5" and weighs over 200 pounds. He used to play football, and when you see him, that is not hard to imagine. It was quite a sight to see our little Mr. up next to him, talking to him like he's known him all his life.

We all ate dinner, then watched the live auction with amazement as the Ocean City community came out in full support of the Believe in Tomorrow cause. Carson was busy with Jason trying to jack up the prices and goading people into bidding more. Carson was high five-ing people, laughing his little head off, taunting people with his stage whispers, like "Hey, jack it up"; and once he found out Jason was the general manager - he got busy telling people they were fired. It was hilarious and at one point, Carson put his hand on his forehead, laughing and shaking his head back and forth, like he couldn't believe how much fun he was having. The boy was giddy. Paul, Francesca and I spent the evening laughing too, amazed at what was playing out before us.

By the way, I did do my speech, Carson was at my side, and the crowd was kind enough to give Carson a standing ovation at the end, with the loudest cheers from his new found friends at table 8.

Carson and Jason take a moment for a photo. This photo is also proof that Carson
did look presentable at at least one point in the evening.

We continued to laugh throughout the next part of the Gala, an absolutely awesome magic show by John George. Lots of interaction between audience and performer particularly from the tables in and around where we were seated. Carson even got to help with some of the tricks............... then he fired Mr. George.

Good thing he wasn't taken seriously, the show was terrific!

Francesca, Carson and John George after the show. Carson sans vest and tie after a busy evening!
Francesca remained looking presentable the entire evening!

John George, Carson and JJ - along with non Dallas Cowboy memorabilia that JJ won in the silent auction.

All good things must come to and end, or do they?

The evening ended, but not before we were invited to breakfast at Hooters the following morning. From there, the fun just kept continuing. Not only did we get a delicious breakfast (I highly recommend Wings and Waffles), but Carson got a key ring, a cash register card, keys, a hat, a general manager name tag, a tour of the kitchen, the office, the entire restaurant. Plus, he got to fire as many people as he could! I think before it was all over, he was firing people who were walking down the street.

Francesca even got her very own Hooters hoodie! Would you have expected anything else?

So, how do you top that? You don't. In Carson's world, you just keep on truckin' at break neck speed....
A round of mini golf times two, a visit to the beach to dig in the sand and collect shells, dinner at Mancini's.

That was just Saturday.

Sunday

Paul and Francesca went out for a training run of 10 miles. The door had just shut behind them when Carson woke me up so that, according to him, "he could get to his job at Hooters". So, we went, played games, helped with orders, and agreed to come back later with Paul and Francesca in tow too.

Carson, sending in an order on the zip line, gets a little help from Lindsey.

Playing "Headbands" with manager Jenny and the Hooters Girls. Carson still cheats at games....

At noon, Round Three at Hooters found Carson surrounded by Hooters girls (also the nicest people you'll ever meet) and presented with his very own Hooters shirt signed by all the girls he'd met. He was in heaven, but still proceeded to "fire" them all!

Carson goes to Hooters for THE WINGS, yes, THE WINGS!

Thanks again to everyone for yet another wonderful weekend. When we were leaving Ocean City, I asked Paul, "How do we just keep having these terrific weekends?" Unbelievable.

When I spoke at the Gala, I talked a little bit about how Believe in Tomorrow and the people who support it are gifts from God. Most of these gifts have been in the form of tender, quiet mercies we've been shown. But this was different - they were loud, boisterous, happy, loving gifts that truly touched us and were completely unexpected. I shouldn't be surprised though, this is the exactly the way God works too!

-Jennifer

Post Op Post

Day 2 after reconstruction surgery and I feel pretty good. I am sore and swollen, but it is manageable. Surgery took about 4 hours, so it was a long day for everyone. Glad to have it behind me.

Happy Easter everyone!!

Clinic Monday

Monday at the clinic was just about like any other clinic day for us, only there were a lot more patients than usual. We decided to order pizza for everyone and handed out chocolate eggs in between art projects.

Carsons counts are a bit elevated so the oral chemo will increase slightly. Other than that, it is the usual, begin the round of steroids, continue methotrexate, etc. etc.

Our day was a bit shorter than planned as we found out Carson's IGg level was actually just a few points under what is considered a "transfusable level". Once deciding not to do the infusion, we just had a quick chemo push and the pentamadine. We essentially cut 2-3 hours out of our visit with one fell swoop.

Of course, then we couldn't get Carson to leave, but that is another story. (We should have never started zinging that rolling chair back and forth across the infusion area - that is better than an amusement park ride for a 6 year old boy.)

We arrived home just a few minutes before Francesca called for us to pick her and friends up at the metro. They had been at the National Zoo most of the day, along with the rest of Northern Virginia kids on Spring Break.

The weather here is beautiful this morning. I just got back from spinning class and Francesca, Paul and the dogs are heading out for a run. Enjoy your day everyone!