Logan's Updates

03/29/2010: Logan had a small set-back today, his blood counts were too low for Chemo and we have had to move our schedule back one week. With any luck the ‘double-double’ transfusion he had today will have his blood ready for next Monday. We really can’t understand how this boy that has felt so wonderful for the last two weeks can have such low blood levels, but none of this seems logical or ordered. So, we have called his home-bound teacher and (sadly for him ;)), she was available to put him back in her schedule for this week, he was imagining a full week off to work on his new video games. I am putting up two birthday party pictures; the first is his friend August flipping into the pit. The second was taken at the end of the party when the parents were called into the pit for WAR! -The parents lost.

03/28/2010: Today was a wonderful day for Logan! He had his long awaited birthday party at a local gymnastics gym. He and his friends ran and jumped and swung from rings and high bars. And best of all they bounced on trampolines and flipped into a huge foam block pit. The first picture I’m posting tonight isn’t clear, but it shows his high flying fun into the foam pit. The second picture shows him swinging on the rings. And the last one shows him happily waiting for the birthday song to end so that he could get into his cake. It was the most active he has been in over a year, but he had rested up for this big event and really enjoyed being able to go full speed in a well padded place where he felt safe from injury. It was a great day, tonight he is telling us that everything is sore from his nose down, but during the party he was on cloud nine. Tomorrow holds the start of Chemo week 11 (out of 12), so it is nice that he is going into that with happy memories of today.

03/21/2010: Logan is having another great week! Yesterday was his 9th birthday and he has happily celebrated all weekend. He started his birthday weekend with a Cub Scout Campout inside the Virginia Aquarium. He was among several other packs of Scouts, and really enjoyed having other little boys as far as the eye could see. We did a night-time nature hike, worked on some projects to earn badges and belt loops and then…..camped out for the night in front of the sea turtle aquarium. It was big stuff let me tell you! He played and rumbled with the pack and really enjoyed being in a ‘normal boy’ buzz of activity. He has had good energy and was happily able to keep up with the others most of the time. He was very unhappy about getting up the next morning to clear out of the aquarium at 7am but he put on a brave face and I was very proud of him. Saturday morning he told me that although we had agreed to celebrate his birthday this coming weekend when his dad could be home, he was going to need a little “birthday cake and attention”. So, I surprised him with a couple of balloons, a small cake and a few neighbors to sing the happy birthday song and he was thrilled. He really is a sweet boy.
This week I will post some pictures of him at the aquarium, this picture was taken last night with Emily dressed in 1970’s attire ready to go out for a class-mates Sweet 16th Groovy 70s Dance Party. She thought the clothes and hair were toooo much (groan!) but she had a great time once she got here. She will be 16 on Tuesday and is also waiting to celebrate on a weekend when dad will be home. She is hoping to take her girlfriends out to the paint-ball range to celebrate Emily-style. I’m sure there will be no make-up or tall hair in sight

03/16/2010: Logan is having a great week, he has had good energy and is enjoying the warmer weather. This past week he and our friend Gail decorated her new Jeep and joined the local St. Patrick’s Parade. Logan made the flowers himself (Gail made everything else) and really enjoyed being a part of the festivities. It was wet and raining that day but the clouds parted for a little while and they got this great picture. As you can see their spirits were high and with Aaron driving a great time was had by all.

03/11/2010: Logan is in really good shape for a Chemo Thursday! His spirits are high and he has tried very hard and managed to eat and keep his energy up this week. He even had enough energy for a short play date this evening. That is a first for Chemo week. ;)

This cruise picture was taken on Aaron's birthday.

03/08/2010: Logan had a good day today and is feeling okay. He says for a Chemo day this one wasn’t bad at all, and that is great. Let’s hope he can keep this up, the doctor said today that we are down to two week-long sessions of Chemo after this one. That isn’t what we were expecting, but we hope that is the case. ;)
This picture was taken in front of the ‘Davy Jones’ ship in the cay at Disney Island.

03/06/2010: While we were in the Bahamas it was very breezy and in the mid to low 70s, we thought this was very nice, but a little cooler than we had expected. Still, it wasn’t snowing and we were outside playing, sunscreen was even needed—life was good. The Bahamians considered this a winter storm and were wearing parkas and had locked up their shops and gone home, literally. Disney Island closed the sting ray feeding area, the snorkel zone, the boating areas and reluctantly allowed only the bike rental shop to open. So we went biking around the island. It was a beautiful place. In this picture Logan is holding a coconut that had fallen beside the trail, he was very impressed. He wanted to fashion a sling from the jacket around his waist and smuggle it home.

03/04/2010: Whew, it’s been an eventful week+ since my last update. The good news is…We are just getting in the door from a wonderful four day Disney Cruise. It has been Logan’s fondest wish to take a Disney Cruise since he has been sick. It was his first request for the Make-A-Wish trip but he just wasn’t well enough to go at that time. So, a few weeks ago an opportunity fell in our laps to take him during Emily’s spring-break, so we weighed it all out and with his doctors approval we went for it. He had an outstanding trip! We had a very shaky start to the trip, we went to the hospital for a last minute ‘counts’ check on the day we were supposed to fly out. Counts were low and he needed platelets and blood, so we spent the whole day in the hospital and finished with just enough time to get home, grab Emily and run to the airport. We got to the airport and noticed that the place was packed with travelers stuck due to weather and their problems became ours when we couldn’t get a flight out that evening. So, we came home tired and a little depressed and formulated Plan…B.
Plan B was hard to manage because the day before when I sat down to my computer to post an update my computer locked up and died. So, with the knowledge that all of the weekend Southwest Airlines flights were sold out and a complete lack of typing ability on Emily’s small laptop. I (slowly and painfully) booked a flight to FL the next day, that would get us there just under our deadline. We met Aaron in FL, also re-routed and on plan B or C, picked up our rental car and headed to our port. We got there with time to spare and we couldn’t believe the size and grandeur of this ship. It was impressive! We were shocked to find the FL weather cold and windy, it wasn’t much warmer there than here. We boarded the Disney Wonder and headed to Nassau and Castaway Cay (Disney’s private Bahama). It was wonderful, Logan played and swam and had a great time with the kids and crew, it was perfect for him. He told me that it was better than he ever imagined it could be, and he imagined it often. When he was first diagnosed the red Disney Ship was in dry dock near his hospital and he talked about getting on it for some fun every time we drove by the dock. Our four days went by quickly, this morning we left the ship just after 7am, drove straight to the airport and Southwest had us in Norfolk ahead of schedule. The adventure ended at our house just after noon. Wheeeh!
I haven’t managed to get into my camera card, but I am attaching a cell phone snapshot from the Disney Island. I took tons of pictures (it’s what I do) and as soon as my computer is up and running again I will start to post them. I’m sorry to have gone so long without an update; it has been a rough few weeks. We believe the Chemo is doing its’ job and that’s why it’s been so hard for Logan the last couple of treatments. It hurts me to type the words but Monday will bring Chemo week again, it seems like the time he is feeling good between the treatments gets shorter each session. The good news is there aren’t many left on the schedule for this round. ;)

  Logan's Updates for January    Logan's Updates for February    Logan's Updates for April    Logan's Updates for May    Logan's Updates for June    Logan's Updates for July    Logan's Updates for August    Logan's Updates for September    Logan's Updates for October    Logan's Updates for November    Logan's Updates for December