I'm A Survivor

My uncle Kevin and family came to visit from central Calfornia this week. My uncle has battle Multiple Myeloma and beat it (it is an incurable cancer but he is now in remission). My beautiful cousin Becky was diagnosed after Spencer with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and beat it. And then there is my brave tough boy. Three generations of cancer survivors all within two years! My Grandpa died of a brain tumor that was metastatic disease from his malignant Melanoma, and Becky's brother Stephen died of an unidentified type of brain tumor, a few years ago. There was no cancer in our family until my Grandpa 6 years ago and now it has unleashed it evil doings on our family. All from the same side. How lucky we are to be in the presence of these three super heroes!


Uncle Kevin took the kids to lunch at Weinerschnitzel and they pigged out. Both of my children, this includes my teeny tiny daughter, ate a bacon wrapped chili dog, a corn dog and an ice cream cone! Wow. Gross. They decided it would be a great idea to take a walk afterwards to burn off an 1/8th of the calories! My Grandma lives in a beautiful suburban neighborhood surrounded by farms on the outskirts. Her home rests at the bottom of the mountain and I took the opportunity to photo the beautiful day.




Gavs and Evelyn looking cool in their "rides"
The kids held uncle Kevin's hands for almost the whole walk!






We found this beautiful old bridge.



She knows how to pose! I love this girl!


She picked wildflowers along the way.
You know the show Everybody Loves Raymond? It really should be Everybody Loves Hillary. She is EVERYONE'S favorite!





Geez! This marshmallow is almost as big as his face!
Oh my little rockstar.
Cousin Roger captured Aida and Gavs.
Belle found this leaf and tried to sneak it into my purse along with her rocks and sticks she collected. I told her no leaves in my purse but that I would take a picture of it. She like the designs that were eaten out of it.
We had such a fabulous day with our family. It was so nice to enjoy the beautiful day and such great company.

Physical Therapy (PT)

Please excuse the quality of these pictures. They did not turn out great at all. Spence has been going to physical therapy. Vincristine, one of his chemos, can cause the muscles in your feet to tighten causing foot drop and weakness in his leg and foot muscles. He flops his feet when he walks and does not have a complete dorsiflexion. His toes curl up because the muscles are so tight. He was on Vincristine the whole time, full dose, from week one to week 54, so we could only expect some type of side effect. Megan, who is the best PT ever, has been helping Spence meet all of his PT "goals". His dorsiflexion is greater, his gait is a little better, and his muscles are becoming stronger. Spencer is so happy when he gets to go to physical therapy. I have to say the first time since diagnosis that I saw real happiness on his face was here. We were originally going 3 times a week and are now down to our last weekly visits.

The Final Chemo

I feel so guilty for not getting this post done long ago. March 24, 2011 marked the day of Spencer's last chemo in his road map of 54 long weeks of chemo treatment. I am not going to do a lot of journaling in this post. I will mostly let the pictures do the talking. These pictures were taken by the wonderful Amelia of Brightsides Photography.


Waiting (a long while) for the final chemo, Spence spent his time on his iPod Touch.






They know he loves cereal and ALWAYS give him a big huge box when he comes. He loves it.
He ALWAYS makes sure he hits up the snack room and loads up on treats.
His cool shark Vans.












We {heart} Dr. Fluchel (pronounced flu-shell)




BEST. NURSE. EVER.






My beautiful Ally necklace.


Tough as nails this one!



They brought in a huge load of presents for his last chemo.










Our beloved oncologists, Dr. Fluchel and Dr. Verma.




Caitlyn was one of our favorite nurses.

Enjoying the last rootbeer popsicle.
THE END.