Thursday, February 1, 2007

January 1 to 30 POSTS

January 30, 2007 - Tuesday

Nice slow week for once!!! The boys went skiing again last Thursday and Chris and I took advantage to go out to a really nice restuarant not far from our house called Mealey's. It's in the town that we moved up to about 15 years ago. Check it out here. The weather was really cold outside and the fireplace was on making it very cozy.

We spent Sunday taking the boys to various places in Baltimore looking for some new lacrosse equipment. The season starts in a few weeks and we didn't want to wait too long.

Alex is doing well at school and has called often to keep us updated. Practice is going well, although it is a tad bit chilly out there!!!

Dinner was provided to us yesterday by Michelle who works for Chris. And last week Vicki who also works with Chris made us a wonderful meal as well.

We are enjoying this week as next week is treatment week. Long day on Thursday but I tell you we now have the routine worked out and to be honest it doesn't really bother us. We know that we must do whatever it takes, and that includes not only Dr's, tests, medicine and treatments, but also waiting and driving. It's nice because we are spending time together.

January 23, 2007 - Tuesday

Well the boys had today and yesterday off from school. Tyler went skiing to day with some friends and Chrissy's dad came over and took Michael out this afternoon. They like hanging out together!

I took Tyler and a friend skiing on Sunday. Chris stayed home with Michael who was nursing a badly bruised leg from Saturday's indoor lacrosse game. We all went to the game and then went out for burgers and fries at 5-Guys! The boys love it.

This Thursday is Ski Club Night again. Last Thursday was the 1'st week. Tyler and Michael both went and had a good time. It's finally cold enough for the resort to make snow. www.skiliberty.com is where they go. They have some cool webcams too.

Dr. Emens office called yesterday and made some changes to the coming months visits. Next week Chris will have treatment on Thursday. Then we wait another couple of weeks and then she has a CT scan, bloodwork, and a bone scan on March 7. We meet with the Dr.around 1pm to discuss the results and to see where we head next. There is a good chance Chris can make the clinical trial and the bone scan has something to do with that. She had one awhile back when she was first diagnosed so I'm sure the results need to be updated.

Thanks to Rachael lasweek for making dinner for us. Thai Basil Chicken, very yummy and the boys loved it! Tonight Chris is bringing home dinner from Vicki at COMSTAR.

Things are going well. veryone is sort of in a routine and that makes a huge difference. Wish us luck in our upcoming treatment and tests, we are really looking forward to some more good results.

I am sorry for not updating the website as often as I would like. It has been busy around here and I'm now very involved in the boys lacrosse club. I'm actually maintaining their website too and that's taking up some time www.spireslacrosse.com.

I'll do my best to keep you all posted. Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

January 19, 2007 - Friday

Everything is pretty normal around here. Chris is feeling pretty well. The boys went skiing last night with the middle school ski club, so we were without kids last night! Our good friends Ray and Cheryl who live across the street from us also had the night off as their kids were on the trip as well. We all went out to dinner to our favorite restaurant in Frederick, LaPaz. Some of you know it well, others do not. There's a link somewhere in this about it.

As you can see I've made a little change to the website. I hope it's easier to get around. I welcome any and all comments. You can email me or just Sign the Guestbook! We really enjoy seeing entries in there.

January 17, 2007 - Wednesday

Today was the day we met with Dr. Emens. It was a late morning visit so we were not rushed to get there. In fact we go to Baltimore about 45 minutes early and went to Fells Point and found a nice little coffee shop to have some breakfast. The weather has finally turned to winter here and it was cold that morning but the coffee shop was just right!

We arrived and waited a little while and then saw the Dr. We first talked about her exciting trip to the top of the mountain on her trip to Ecuador. She made it to the top and said the trip was very successful. Here's the link again to see new pictures of the team.

Dr. Emens went over lots of things and asked Chrissy how she was feeling. All-in-all things are going pretty well. Chris looks really good and is feeling pretty well. She has a CT scan scheduled for Feb 7'th and a chemo treatment the day after that. The CT will show how much the liver tumors have reduced in size. Reduction is a good thing. We are all very optimistic about the upcoming scan. The last one in November showed promising results.

January 12, 2007 - Friday

Well yesterday was another very long day. It seems that no matter what time we go to John's Hopkins for treatment it ends up taking all day. We left home at 6:45 yesterday morning and got back at 5. Arrived at 7:50 waited 30 minutes for blood to be drawn from Chris's port. This is much easier with a port than having to get an IV each time! Then it took about 1.5 hours for the labs to come back. The labs showed that all her blood counts were good for treatment. Her Red counts however were trending lower. We have drugs left from the summer that the nurse said to use this time. After the counts came back they ordered the chemo. That takes about 1 hour for the drugs to come. The can't do it before in case her counts are too low. The chemo is mixed just for her.

So we went in around 11 or so. She was able to get one of the daybeds that are right next to the windows. Small little cubby with a curtain. They started the line and gave her something that makes her very sleepy. She was out almost immediately. I left and went down to a coffee shop in Fells Point that had internet access. I was able to check in on things and relax. I got back around 2pm and she was still out!!!

We left around 4 pm. When we got home Chris's parents were at the house with the boys. They had started dinner already. It was nice to have them there when we got home. They stayed for awhile and chatted some. Chris finally went to bed around 11.

She got up this morning and went right to work. She's feeling a little tired, mainly from the low RBCs. That should hopefully bounce back after her injection! I get to play Dr. and give her 2 shots this weekend!

Stay tuned!!!!

January 10, 2007 - Wednesday

Chris has treatment tomorrow so to get prepared for it she helped Michael with getting in project completed that is due tomorrow!!!! It was a timeline of his life with pictures and all that. Anyway it's done and we're waiting for the next one!

Gita from COMSTAR made us dinner tonight. It was Indian flair. At first the boys gave the typical response, but then they tried it and gobbled it up like they were on Survivor!!! Thanks Gita for helping out. Perfect timing the night before treatment too!

January 8, 2007 - Monday

This past weekend was nice. Quiet and somewhat back to normal. Alex left to go back to Lycoming on Sunday morning. She was riding back with a friend from there so we did not have to take her back. When she got there she went right to the bookstore to get her books for this semester. Classes started today for her!

Tyler and Michael had an indoor lacrosse game on Sunday and aside from that we kept a low profile all weekend. Chris and I had coffee Saturday morning at our favorite place in downtown Frederick.

The weather her has been crazy!!! 73 degrees one day! The cherry tree in the back yard is in bloom already and other flowers are budding. Chris worked in the back yard Saturday cutting down some things from her flower beds. She really enjoys that and it was a beautiful day.

Chris has treatment early this Thursday. She's been feeling great and looking great! Her hair is trying to make a start at coming back in! It's tough, because she still has treatments going on so that tends to know it back down.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH to everyone who has signed up to make meals for us! They come in very helpful to us especially during the weeks that Chris has treatment. Lisa at COMSTAR has done a wonderful job at scheduling these for us. If you want to signup click the link at the left and she will give you some dates to choose from.

*** Oh yeah, if you haven't noticed yet I added a guest book to the website. Nothing fancy, just a place where you can post a message to Chris that can be viewed by everyone. There's a link on the top left of this page and one on the main page. Click here to try it out!!!

Sign my Guestbook from Bravenet.com

January 3, 2007 - Wednesday

Well things are finally back to "normal" around here. The boys are back in school, Chris is at work, Alex is working and it's just me and Chloe working from home!!!

We had a very nice holiday and spent time with many friends and family. We went out near Annapolis to spend New Years Eve with our good friends that live out there. We didn't get home until late and it took a day or 2 to catch up on our sleep.

Alex had her boyfriend from college come over for a few days too. He got introduced to everyone and had a good time.

The Christmas decorations are down and next week will be another treatment week for Chris. She is doing well and very optimistic about the new year. She spoke with the nurse that oversees Dr. Emens clinical trial last week. After Chris finishes up with treatment in February she may be eligible for the clinical trial that is being done there. It's very exciting work and Chris is anxious to give it a try. You can read about the trial and about Dr. Emens by clicking here.

We also found out on the same day about a group of people that are climbing a mountaing in Ecuador and raising money for Dr. Emens research!!! It is a group called Climb for Hope! Read about them here or click the logo.

They were featured on the local news too: Channel 13 Baltimore

Chris later found out that Dr. Emens herself was going on the trip to climb! We a meeting set up with her on the 17'th so we should hear all about it then.

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