Bowling Blast

My good friend Laura once again planned a perfect morning for our family. She talked to a local bowling alley owner about our situation, and he agreed to open the bowling alley an hour early so our family could come in a bowl. Alexis can't be around the many germs, so it isn't possible for us to do this activity right now. That didn't stop my friend Laura, though. When you have a big heart and a creative mind, anything is possible!

So, we headed there with her kids and our family this morning. The kids had a blast bowling. Gavin got his first experience at the game, and he loved it. Surprisingly, he also did a really good job waiting his turn for his age. Brian had a blast as well, as he almost broke 200 for the second time in his life bowling a 197. Although neither Laura can confirm if he received any help from the bumpers, he claimed that was all on his own. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

As an added bonus, when we tried to pay at the end of the game, the owner asked, "Did she have fun?" I said, "Of course. She had a blast!!" He replied, "Then, this is on me." Wow. We were speechless. There are truly great people out there.

We are so thankful for our friend Laura who seems to have made it her mission to get us out of the house and doing "normal" activities. One of the hardest parts about this is not getting to do regular activities that most people take for granted. Things as simple as running into Target to grab something or go bowling as a family has to take a back seat. It is totally worth it for her health, but nice to be able to do something like this every once in a while.

As  you can see, the seizures are already becoming a distant thought again and something we won't have to think about again for a couple weeks hopefully. She's slowly gaining back her strength from this last round. Such an inspiration and fighter!

Getting in the Spirit

We had a big Thursday. The day started with Conner's fall party at school, which he has been looking forward to since the other kids got a Halloween party. It paid off. He had a blast and loved that mom made it (so did I...never know these days what you are or aren't going to get to do with what life if throwing at us!). They made apple trees, had a Turkey egg hunt, tossed bean bags, and ate pizza and doughnuts. A great morning for him. 

We ended the day by going down to Brian's work for their lighting of the holiday lights. They did a countdown and then flipped on the lights, which all the kids thought was awesome! We then walked down and saw all the lights and even bought them popcorn. It was a tad cold, but we had them bundled really well, so don't think they minded, and it was nice to get out a little and break the routine! Conner definitely didn't mind. He loved every moment, esp the Lime-A-Rita display where they had real sand. He really thought we had given him Christmas lights and the beach in one night!

Accept

Alexis had her next round of chemo already today. She got pegaspargase. This chemo sometimes can cause drastic allergic reactions that require an epi pen and oxygen and maybe reviving of the child. Yeah, no problem...I'll just take that in stride. As the nurse started explaining all this, I got more and more nervous. Of course I was crying. Who could hear those side effects and not freak out at the anticipation? However, her doctor who walked up nicely put it, "she has cancer. We need to use the effective medication even if that means side effects. We can take care of those. We need to focus on kicking this cancer." Nothing like a little perspective to cure anticipation. Alexis did great and didn't show any respiratory signs. Of course it helped that her favorite teacher came to work with her during the chemo session today, as it kept her distracted from both the chemo and her crazy mom!

We also talked to her neurologist about her seizures she had over the weekend. We both agreed that Alexis has an apparent lower threshold for seizures and that the spinal chemo is going to set those off for a few days after. We discussed our goal was to minimize them without putting her on any drastic medication that can introduce additional side effects.We also don't want to change the protocol we know works. So, we are keeping her at the same level and hoping her body regulates the chemo after a few days. Since the seizures are so short and not doing damage, the thought is this approach is ok. 

So, we are now in a game of trying to minimize and eliminate side effects of the necessary drugs to save her life. We will focus on this as a necessary evil to getting to the end game. We hope at the end of this, we don't have to think of cancer or side effects but instead dance classes and swim lessons and a love of reading. We have to accept the process to get our outcome. 

Snow Fun

We got the unexpected surprise (probably because our lives are so crazy and we never have time to check things like the weather) of snow today. The kids were so excited! So, we bundled up and headed out.

Alexis didn't last long, as this round seems to be making her tired. She also had four seizures this weekend. So, we pretty much layed low. Snow fun was the highlight, and the kids had a blast. So grateful to get to seize these opportunities and enjoy. Making our snow ferry was a blast and throwing snowballs with dad was probably even more fun. 

We finished by warming up with some hot chocolate and a brief nap for Alexis. Such a great day!