Daniel has Arrived

This morning at 8:04 our new family addition arrived, Daniel James Hooper. He came in at a healthy 7 lbs 15 oz and 19.75 inches long. Both he and mom are doing fantastic. First impressions are that you can really tell that he is Charlie's brother. Even Charlie looked at a picture and said "It's Baby Charlie."

Daniel is now about 10 hours old and so far he has been great. No fussing, great sleeper and pretty communicative. Let's hope that keeps up for the next 18 years. Yeah, right.

Mom and Daniel will be spending the few days at the hospital recovering from the busy day and should be home by the end of the week. Daniel is looking forward to meeting all of his new friends and family.

Charlie Watching Toy Story

Mom, Dad, Nana and Charlie met our friends Kevin and Marie to watch Toy Story 3. Charlie was completely mesmerized by the movie and this time he actually got to watch it "in focus". If you remember, we went to see Shrek and found out it was only in 3D and they had no kid sized glasses, so Charlie watched a very blurry Shrek.

Charlie's First Hike

After Charlie's treatment on Friday, his numbers looked so good and his energy level was still so high, that he and dad went for a hike. Charlie was super excited since he had been asking all week to go to the mountains.

After a short drive out to O'Fallon Park, Charlie was doused in sunscreen and the hike began. Charlie had a great time looking at all the water and birds. He even spotted a black squirrel. As mountain bikers passed us by, Charlie cheerfully greeted them bringing smiles to their faces.

Charlie pooped out about half way through and dad got a little bit of an extra workout playing sherpa. Nonetheless, it was a great morning and after a good nap at the house Charlie was ready to go again. Dad? Not so much. At least not until next weekend. Click below to see the web album.

Charlie's First Hike

Phase 3 Round 2

Charlie had his second round of chemo in phase 3, Interim Maintenance, on Friday. The picture shows oncology nurse Amy flushing out his mediport. Charlie had a huge developmental step forward and even pushed the syringe with her. He is usually screaming his head off whenever anyone touches his "tubies" or his body for that matter so we were very pleased. During this phase we go into clinic and Charlie has his blood levels checked. If his ANC is 750 or greater then they increase his chemo dosage from the week before. If it is 500-749 then they give him the same amount of chemo as the week before. If he is less than 500 then he doesn't get any medicine and we have to wait 4 days and try again. The medicine takes about 30 minuets to drip into his IV, during that time he can take his IV pole and go to the playroom, watch movies or do art projects with the facilitators on staff. It is a much more enjoyable experience for him then the previous phases where he was put under general anesthesia to administer his treatment.

Charlie's ANC (immunity level) was 1658 this week which is excellent! and he can continue going to pre-school two days a week. He is more prone to catching colds and general viruses while at school, but the benefits far outweigh those risks. They do fun things at school like piano lessons, water day and Movie day during the summer session. Charlie has so much energy even on the chemo that the two days a week help to burn off the extra hyperness. The teachers stress good hand washing to help keep the germs at bay. When he drops to 750 or below we may not send him class, it depends.

Any Day Now

The C-Section for the baby Hooper is planned for Tuesday, June 29th at 7:00am. Being 9 months pregnant I sincerely hope I manage to go into labor before that point, you never know it could happen. Here are a few pregnant Angela shots to capture the moment.

huzzah!

The Three Year Treatment

Thought I would add a note that in 3 years from today Charlie will be finished with Chemo therapy. That is providing everything goes to plan and his body reacts to the drugs as anticipated which so far has been the case. The doctors told us in April that the treatment takes 3 years. What they later told us was that the three years begins on the first day of the third phase. Reminds me of the way OBGYNs "count" the months in pregnancy. Note that I am 9.25 months pregnant and still 3 weeks from the official due date.

Phase Three

Charlie starts the third phase of chemo tomorrow called Interim Maintenance. This next phase he has a shot in his port and an IV drip for 30 mins, more like traditional chemo. We went to the hospital this morning to have his blood counts checked to see if he was strong enough to start this next phase. Luckily Charlie's favorite baby sitter and our neighbor Abby came to the hospital with us this morning to help out a very pregnant Mommy. His ANC is 1200, less than the cut off, so we have to be a bit more careful about him being exposed to illness. We are thinking that with this new medicine we will have a whole new round of side effects and he will continue to be more vulnerable to infection. This new drug,over 8 weeks time will most likely cause more hair loss as well. we are happy to have had the past 4 weeks of "normal" Charlie. He is walking like a champ, and most of the steroid weight is gone. Even the testy three-year-old disposition is in full swing. Be that good or bad :)