Pink Eye

This isnt the best picture of Charlie's goopy pink eye, but I think it accurately coveys Mom's reaction after the doctors confirmed the dx. I took Charlie up to the hospital today after nap time just to be sure. If they even hear the phrase pink eye they do not mess around! When we got upstairs the lady doing the health checks before you get in shuttled us off to the side and called the nurses. We took the super secret side entrance and were quickly ushered into a special room for the 10 min exam. Charlie is now on antibiotic eyedrops for the next few days which puts a damper on Grandmommy and Grandaddy's visit this weekend. We'll have to be extra diligent hand washers and hope the infection does not spread to his ears and cause a fever. His ANC was pretty high last week so I think we will be fine.

Baby Batman

Daniel and Batman hanging out on the hospital bed at Childrens during Charlie's last chemo session. We sent this on to Uncle Brad immediately. It also spurred mom on to look for the other three "Brave Buddies," in the toy line. Robin, Green Lantern and Aquaman will arrive from Ebay soon for Danny to cuddle up to.

Last Day of Interim Maintenance

One of Charlie's favorite things to do at clinic is stand on the window sills and look out of his perch on the 7th floor at all of the construction across the street and the cars passing by. Chad snapped the picture after his last chemo treatment during the Interim Maintenance Phase. His ANC was fantastic so he was given 180mg of Methotrexate up from 30mg when we started. The visit was more of a learning experience for Charlie. We worked with Tommi, the Child Life Specialist to help prepare him for having his port accessed. Tommi uses a doll to step through the process with Charlie in hopes that it will calm his fears when it is his turn. We are going to try a few different things moving forward with his port accesses. We ask him "Are you scared? or does it Hurt?" this way he can get over the scariness and become a brave guy. The other things we are going to do is only have Nurse Sally access his port for some continuity, give him warning by counting to three and giving him choices like "Do you want to sit in Mommy's lap or Daddy's?" to give him a little more control over what is happening to him. With practice, I think these techniques and working with Tommi will help make port accesses less stressful for him.

For now we have a 10 day break from treatments and begin the highly anticipated Delayed Intensification Phase. Charlie will go back to weekly visits (if not more) and will have a few new medicines added to the list. I'll post more about this next phase after the first treatment on August 2nd.

Daniel's announcement

This will go out in the mail soon, but I thought I would post a sneak peek. A special thanks to Olivia Hooper Photography for the beautiful picture of Daniel at 6 days old!

New food tidings meal schedule

Our previous Food tidings meal schedule has expired. Many thanks to out wonderful friends who sent food cards and dropped off meals. I never knew how much it helps to have a meal made for you during stressful times.

With the arrival of Daniel, me recovering from surgery, Chad back at work and Charlie entering the most intense phase of chemo, I admit I need help. So I have started a new meal schedule found here.

http://foodtidings.com/SignUp.aspx?ScheduleGuid=290ddf5a-4032-41d4-9c1f-936062862081

I designated Sundays and Wednesdays mainly because Charlie will have Chemo on Weds. which makes for a long day, and Sundays are convenient for people to stop by and drop off frozen meals. But we are open to Saturdays as well if that works out better for people.

We would also loved if you stayed for dinner... It's nice to have company.

Again thanks to everyone who took the time to contribute to our last meal schedule!