follow up on Rhen

The doctor said about stop breathing was that is was a thicker consistancy of milk so when it came back up from his reflux it most likely stopped in the airways since it was thicker and that is what made him not be able to breath. Well I didn't think of that and that makes sense and we are not doing that anymore. Hopefully meds will be on the way tommorow.

learry scary!

Last night I was reading on the internet about reflux and it tells you that if you mix a tablespoon of rice cereal in the milk or formula it will thicken it up so it sits in the tummy better and they won't throw up as much. So I decided to try that since I ran out of the prevacid medicine. Well I found out the scary way that he is allergic to it. Right after he drank it I was holding him and went to get his binky. I bend down to get it in his car seat and look at him and one eye was going one way and the other was going the other way, and he was not breathing! ahhhhhh!! I didn't know what to do he was just limp I kind of patted him and was about to call 911 when he came to. So every 2 seconds I was checking to see if he was breathing. I was shaking and scared. A few minutes later he got a small rash on his cheeks. I looked on the internet about allergic reactions, and babies can stop breathing and do get rashes. So no more rice cereal for him. It was crazy cause I only gave him a small teaspoon with his milk. I am still checking on him every half hour or so. Man scary stuff!

ps Elsie says learry for really so we have added that word to our vocabulary!

guess what I saw Jake...

Chloe has always been our galloper. She loves to gallop like a horse around the house or anywhere really. But when she relapsed she felt horrible and her legs were weak, so she never did. Around November when she was off all her antibiotics I was down stairs and Jake was upstairs, and Chloe started galloping around downstairs. It made me so happy. I knew she was feeling good if she was doing that so I went up stairs and I said to Jake, "guess what I saw chloe do?" So I proceeded to gallop like chloe, and I guess that looked pretty funny, being 8 months pregnant and all, so jake said back to me, "guess what I just saw? A pregnant lady galloping."

So Jake, guess what I saw chloe do yesterday? Chloe galloped! The best she could and it was cute. Her legs are really weak from being confined to a bedand it doesn't help that when her sisters were here she rolled her ankle and got a massive bruise and now can't walk straight. She walks like she is sick. So it was good to see her gallop again! She was proud yesterday as well that she could walk straight yesterday.

She also tries to run everytime she can in the apt, it isn't a normal run but she is proud of it. She ran yesterday just to the kitchen and she said, Mom I am running! It was pretty cute! It was an accomplishing day.

She took a picture of herself as well as many items in the apt like a marker, the baby swing, a toy and a few other ramdom items.

needing a break

Next week me and Jake will be trading. Rhen needs his doctors apt and I want to be home for a couple of days, just to lift my spirit a little bit. We are excited to see Jake and Addie and Elsie this weekend! It has been a long time since I have seen my other girls.
Chloe is doing really well her counts are great! Her levels they check with the drugs she has been taken are always all over the place so we are always adjusting her doses. They have to be at a certain level and when they are not we adjust accordingly. We had to go to the mall to get a few things yesterday and we got to hang out with Kelly, Dylan and Dawson! That was fun. It lifts both our spirits to have company! Chloe got a pretty dress to wear on sunday. She is excited to wear it. At the hospital they have a half hour service so she wants to wear it there. Not many people go and she wears her mask, so we go. She enjoys being able to go to church, and wants to wear her tights and tappy shoes! she just beams when she wears a dress and tights and tappy shoes.
Right now she is happily watching the sound of music. She loves that show, all three hours of it!

vs.

daddy being with Rhen vs. daddy not being with Rhen

Sleeps a full 6 hours at night - with dad not here he doesn't

takes great 4 hour naps - with daddy not here, doesn't

can go to sleep by himself - with dad not here he struggles

cries less - with dad not here he cries a little more

The results: there is no contest, we both want dad here with us.

He also misses his sisters. One time he woudn't stay asleep so I found a video of Elsie singing it put him right to sleep.

clinic

Everything went well at the apt today. She took awhile to come out of anethesia, probably cause she was tired. She had a Lumbard puntcure and they do put methotrexate chemo in her back as a precauction or to mop up and blast that could remain. I guess in the central nervous system ,and her leukemia is considered high risk now, it is hard to kill the blasts that may hiding in there so research shows that if they give low doses in the spine and then a pill to give after 24 hours and then every six hours for 2 days to get the chemo out of the system they have better results. She will have those every other week for I don't know how long maybe until day+100. The results of the bone marrow asperation came back as 10 to 20% donor cells. She said that is to be expected this early and there was no sign of the disease. Jake said that he was worried about that but if the doctors say it is normal then we shouldn't worry. It is hard when I am there by myself and ask questions and then I tell Jake about the answers and he has other questions for me that I didn't ask the doctors and I have no idea. I just take that the doctors aren't concerned. They also said that if something were abnormal we would have gotten the test back sooner.
We had a visit from Aunt Kinsey last night which was really fun! She is nice and golden from her relaxing vacation! Chloe loooved to have her come!

suprise!!!

Jake showed up at the apt last night! Spence and Tal watched the girls (thank you very much). I was caught off guard and started crying!! It is so nice to have him here to hang out with. Rhen and chloe love it too.
I miss my other girls though.

Today we went up to the hospital for the half hour church meeting there, then chloe wanted to go give the ICS som of her favorite hats (given to her by Kriten Longhurt and sister) she was pretty proud of that and the nurses thought they were sooo very cute. She feels better wearing them because of them and all the comments she got wearing them, she wanted to share that with other little girls.

The little things

Jake reminded me that the lumbard puncture, although they can put chemo in the spine ,they also pull spinal fliud and check for any remaining leukemia blasts. So that is what they will be doing just making sure no cancer cells are there.

Today is an emotional day for me. I have never been one to covet others lifes, but during this circumstace in my like I can't help but disobey this commandment a little. Just the simple covet of a husband coming home from work and you are there to greet him with dinner or a kiss. Getting all the kids ready for bed together and having that quiet time , brushing your teeth together and laying down at night with the one you love. Taking a trip to grandma and granpa's. To hug ALL of your kids everyday. Spending saturdays together cleaning and sunday together at church, and after setting the table, being able to have prayer and then eating family dinner together.
To ride in the car all together just to get something to eat or go shopping. Seeing how happy your childs face is when they get a excellent parent teacher conference report. To have a second set of hands when the baby is crying and the other child needs your help, or when your new born baby smiles for the first time to say, hurry honey come and see what your boy just did. There are many things I had taken for granted, a smile missed, daily hugs, hello from your kids getting home from school, even when one child won't stop asking to wear your lip stick over and over and over again. This has been one of the harderst things I have ever had to do and today, I apologized is a very emotional day.

a smile at his daddy's voice

Rhen is a pretty happy boy. He loves to smile. It was really cute yesterday, I was talking to Jake on the phone and I told him to say hi to Rhen so I put the phone to Rhen's ear and Jake started talking to him and he instantly smiled. He doesn't get to see him very much but he remembers his voice. I am glad he remembers. I get a little sad to think he won't remember home. I hate to complain but I sure miss my other half of my family. I try to live day by day, but it is hard not to look to the future when we come home.

Chloe has to take a liquid medicine that is very nasty, it smells like furniture polish. I mix it with grape flavoring but it doesn't seem to help. She is now fighting taking her medicine. On monday she starts her lumbard puntures again, where they put chemo in her spine. Now I will have to ask the docs, but I have no idea why she needs chemo in her spine. Maybe it is just a precaution.

Addie's awesome.

Not bragging, just giving credit where credit is due.

Addie has always been a great student. We were a bit worried that all the traveling, sleeping at different places, shuffling from one house to another, dealing with stressed parents and even the emotions of having her little sister in the hospital so much might effect her schoolwork. I just went to parent teacher conference and her teacher had nothing but great things to say about her and she is excelling in most everything. She has been really good at keeping track of what she needs to do and getting it done without Stacie or me having to remind her too much. I know it's been tough on her too over the last 6 months but she has held it together and done a great job. I need to learn how she does it 'cause if I've excelled at anything lately, it's mediocrity. Actually, i made an extremely good bowl of cereal the other day. The milk was just deep enough, but not too deep. Cereal was crispy from start to finish. Nice, very nice.

Since Elsie was still getting over sickness and we couldn't visit Stac, Rehn and Chlo, we drove up to Boise to Zach and Mal's. Their new bakery is really nice and the finished remodel on the old one looks great too. They've been hard at it this last year. Crazy busy. They could use a break i think.