Prayer Request

Our next door neighbor from 5200 was an adorable little boy named Shawn. I know I've mentioned him before on the blog. Shawn has acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He was diagnosed when he was 10 months old. He received his transplant at Duke the day before Olivia did. Today Shawn's family learned that his leukemia is back, that there are no more treatment options. My heart is just breaking for his family tonight. I'm really struggling to try and make sense of this tonight. Shawn's family has been through so much.....his initial diagnosis and treatment at the University of Virgina, his transplant at Duke, the 11 months post transplant. Please keep Shawn an his family in your prayers. Here's the info that Shawn's grandma posted on their blog this evening.

To all our friends and family.

I am writing this update with no real idea how to write it. Please forgive me if I ramble or get off topic.

Shawn had a clinic visit on Monday it did not go well, his platelet count was 22, normal is 150. Many of his other numbers were low and he has been bruising really badly for a couple of weeks now. On Monday they scheduled him to come back today for a Bone Marrow Biopsy.

We took him to clinic this morning, he was given a platelet transfusion, his count was 16 this morning. He had his biopsy around noon today and we received a phone call that we prayed his transplant would eliminate us ever getting. It was not to be so.

Shawn has relapsed. He has maxxed out on all treatment options for Infant ALL and there is nothing more that can be done. His Dr.'s at UVA have talked to his Dr.'s at Duke and they concur, there is not more treatment.
Shawn is not a candidate for a second transplant, he did not reach the 1 post transplant mark, in addition to that there has been little to no success with 2nd transplants in Infant ALL.

The Dr. has given Shawn 6-12 months.

Right now we are not sure what we do next. We are just trying to absorb all of this and figure out our next step, beyond keeping Shawn comfortable and treating his symptoms. WE are going to love him, and try to let him live more like a normal little boy.

With a very heavy heart
hugs to all
A

Good Bye Baby Curls

Peter was long overdue for a haircut. Mike had Monday off so he was available to help wrangle the kids at the salon.
To be honest I hate his haircut. I miss the baby curls. My little baby boy is gone forever, he's been replaced by a bright and busy big boy. I will readily admit that since our trip to the salon on Monday I've cried over the loss of those precious curls, not once but several times. In fact I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it!


The before.....

Peter was excited to ride in the tractor.

He started to get a little bored, it seemed to take forever.

Sure I'm smiling in the picture but I'm not coping well. Peter is oblivious to my emotional breakdown.

Look at my expression. I wanted to scoop him up out of the chair and run.

Olivia was happy that she wasn't the one getting the trim.

He looks years older already!

Literary Aspirations

Peter and I had so much fun at the library last week that we decided to make a repeat trip on Sunday with the entire family. This time Peter discovered a new friend in the Children's section. He even gave his new friend a kiss goodbye.

H-O-T

It has been hot around here lately! The temp yesterday got up to 101 on Sunday! We're not complaining around here though. After years of the pacific northwest we're ready for some heat! Of course it is only June, I'm sure we'll be dying by August. We headed to our neighborhood pool to beat the heat. Peter has been a little confused ever since his big bubble bath experience last month (the original bubbles post can be found here). Now whenever he sees a large body of water he says "Bubbles". It can be a lake, a puddle, a pool, the waves in the ocean (although to be fair the waves did look a little bit like bubbles), to Peter it's only "bubbles". We're trying to correct him but he stubbornly insists on referring to all water as bubbles. Peter and Olivia both enjoyed the pool.