Meals - Day 7

Our neighbor told us about foodtidings.com which is a website that helps schedule meals for families who need help during tough times. We set up a schedule and sent out the following email to a few folks:

You've been invited to participate in helping with meals for Charlie Hooper Leukemia Phase 1. Feel free to invite someone you know who wants to help.

You can pick a day by clicking on the link below.

http://www.foodtidings.com/SignUp.aspx?ScheduleGuid=43a5b481-51da-47a3-b181-a7f8681fbcb3

Thank you so much for helping with meals!

Chad has class on Tuesday evenings and Charlie's Chemotherapy is on Wednesday, so those are the main days that we will need the extra help.

Any meals are welcome, we have a big freezer so I added Sundays for a little back stock. We also eat leftovers all of the time for lunch.

One of us will be home with Charlie all of the time so drop off is flexible.

**Please Call before you come. The Leukemia can make Charlie very vulnerable to infection, so if you have a cold or worse we may meet you at the door :) We may do another schedule after the new baby...

Again thank you so much for your generosity!
Chad, Angela, Charlie and "New Baby"

Homecoming - Day 5

Day 5 started off with Charlie sleeping till past 8am. Tell me why he cant do that at home on a regular basis...oh yeah the drugs....

Later in the morning, Cody, the education lady, taught Charlie about how to care for his IV port and how it is not scary and that it doesn't hurt. She had a neat doll that she demonstrated on called "Dakota." Dakota's chest had multiple layers of "skin" that she peeled back to show the port and how it connected into the heart. Charlie got his big scary chemo shot, one in each upper thigh around 11am and after an hour of observation, and a quiz on how to administer all of his meds, we were discharged. I am convinced that all of the families look like gypsies while they are moving out of Children's . We had bags and bags of just toys and games and books that visitors and the hospital staff showered upon Charlie. It took many trips to unload the Tahoe.

We arrived home to our favorite cul-de-sac birds courtesy of John and Tonia Wilson. (Thanks Guys!)



Charlie ate a big lunch and did his normal chatter at the table. He took a 2.5 hour nap in his own bed which I am sure felt great. He did tire out pretty quickly when playing with Abby from next door, and with granddaddy on the swing. I expect him to have less energy now given the loss of red blood cells, he's also getting more pale....

He was pretty upset about taking his meds after dinner and it took Me (Mom)15 mins just to get every dose measured out and ready for intake. Learning to take meds again peacefully is going to be a process.

We head back to the hospital on Wednesday for our first clinic appointment which should include a spinal tap, and IV chemo. For now we are going to stock up on hand sanitizer and try to settle into a new routine.

So happy to be home... now comes the hard parts......

Days 3 & 4

Well, day three was pretty busy around here. Charlie had a lot of visitors, which was great. We have a lot of great friends and appreciate all the well wishes. Day three was also full of a lot of education. We learned a little about what life is going to look like for the next year. Just when we thought we had heard about all the drugs, we learned of a new one that we only take on Saturdays and Sundays . . . how strange! Throughout the day, Charlie was in pretty good spirits. He got to play in the toy room and make some trips around the hospital in his wagon.

Day 4 was a different story. We had fewer visitors, which turned out to be a good thing because the effects of the medicine started to set in. Grumpy was the word for the day, though Aunt Lisa was able to coax out a few giggles with "Little Man". Thank you to Cousin Sam for sharing your visit from Aunt Lisa.

The prognosis is still great and it was confirmed today that we will be heading home tomorrow as long as Charlie reacts well to his PEG shot. This was welcome news, but we're a little nervous knowing that we can't rely on the nurses to administer all the medications.

The Bionic Boy - Day 2

Today Charlie became bionic. He received the partly metal port in his chest that will facilitate of all of the IV chemo therapy. He officially started chemo today at 6pm and will finish in 3+ years!

As you can see from this picture snapped mid afternoon, all of the thoughts and prayers are working to keep Charlie in relatively upbeat spirits. Mom and Dad are pretty happy too because it was confirmed that Charlie has the best type of ALL to treat with is type "B."

Now that the operation part and the first chemo is behind us, we would love to have some visitors to pass the days before we can head back to the comforts of our house. Please let me know if you would like to stop by and we will work on scrubbing the orange surgery residue off the kid to make him presentable.

Charlie's Leukemia Day 1

Thought I would take this opportunity to first thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts.

Today we went into Children's Hospital here in Denver for a follow up on Charlie's "Broken Ankle," and through routine blood work, found out that he actually has a rare but very treatable cancer called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL for short.

ALL has a 85% curable rate for children with his factors, being under 10 years old and having a low white blood cell count (less than 50k), meaning we caught it pretty early.

Charlie is going to have a ton of tests over the next few days to further classify his type of leukemia for a tailored treatment. As soon as we know when things are going to happen we can start having limited visitors.

Chad and I are staying in the hospital with Charlie for probably the next week, with family and friends watching the house and providing support.

The doctors anticipate a three-year treatment process including chemo but are VERY optimistic.

I'll try to keep up with the blog as much as I can so folks can stay in the loop

We love you all and thank your for your continued prayers.

Chad and Angela