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Benjamin and Allyson had a great week and weekend. They loved having Gramps here. Allyson has developed a cough and we and hoping she is not getting sick since we are getting ready for another major round of chemo for Allyson. The next two weeks are going to be crazy. Allyson will have a procedure on Tuesday with chemo and then we have 4 more days of chemo at Dr. Rob’s office. We get Sunday and Monday off and then the schedule repeats.

We have new photos and movies so take a look when you have time.

Let it…snow?  Yes, it snowed today, and it’s almost mid-April.  Granted, there were only flurries here and there, but still - enough already!

Benjamin was greeted this morning by his big sister, Allyson.  We heard him in his room, playing in his bed.  We let Allyson go in and say good morning - he loves that.   (No, he really does love that!)  - Benjamin had a great day today.  His molar is still swollen and a little bloody, but the tip has popped through the gum now.  Thankfully, he wasn’t as crabby today as he was yesterday.  Hopefully that meant he wasn’t hurting as much.  The boy has a mouth full of teeth now…this one makes twelve!  -  Oh, he’s learned the sign for drink!  I showed him a while back and again yesterday, and he did it today on his own.  He’s so smart!

Allyson and Benjamin are really starting to play well together now.  It is really cute.  They chase each other around the house, giggling and laughing.  Both of them love to play ball, so they pass it to each other.  Most of the time, Benjamin ends up chasing it, but he loves it anyway!

Ally had a great day today as well.  She is just like the old Ally right now.  Her legs and not 100%,  but for the most part, she all good.  I’m sad to know that May will be difficult again, but for now, she can play her little heart out.  The coming week is another IV backpack week/weekend.  Those aren’t the best, but we’re getting used to them.

Sorry we missed posting yesterday…

Allyson had a great week at school this week.  Several of her teachers told us she had great days at school.  YIPPIE!  As we’ve said, we’ll take ‘em when we can get ‘em.

Ally has an easy day tomorrow at the docs.  All she has to do is give a blood sample (hopefully).  Brad is going to take her in late tomorrow morning.  Next week begins a stretch of more difficult treatments.  Next weekend is a backpack weekend.  The following week, she gets her first ECHO done on her heart.  They need to get a baseline because one of the chemo drugs she’ll get in May can “mess” with her heart.  She’ll need to get another ECHO later this summer, and then again each year for the next six years.

Benjamin ate a banana for dinner.  When I brought it to the table to cut up for him, he said, “banana!”  We had no idea he could say that word!  He sounds really cute when he says it.  Of course, we thought it was awesome, so he just kept repeating it :-).

We’re looking forward to the weekend.  Hopefully we can get some good family time in…if the weather cooperates!

Friday, that means a trip to the Cancer Center. These mornings are always crazy. We have to get Allyson up and going, feed her, and get all of the bags packed. Sounds simple but since Allyson can not have anything with milk proteins, we always have to make sure we have packed snacks and at least one meal.

Todays visit was actually very easy. Dr. Bob stopped in just to say hello and give Allyson a quick tickle. After that nurse Heather accessed Allyson, got the blood draws, and gave her the chemo. I think we were in the office for maybe a half hour. As a treat Allyson got to eat a bag of Wavy Lays on the way home (they are her favorites now). Once we got home and had lunch Allyson decided that she wanted to paint today. So, I put the easel in the kitchen, got her smock, and got the paints set up. Allyson painted two very nice and colorful paintings. After that we headed outside to do some “flying”. The weather we just nice enough to sneak that in.

Lisa and Benjamin got home around 4:30 and we all had dinner. Benjamin has a yucky cough again so it will probably be a tough night for him. Other than the cough he is all about playing, go figure.

Until tomorrow….

We all woke up and were moving around by 7:30 this morning. We had breakfast and packed everyone for the day. Benjamin stayed at Shawn and Jessica’s to play with the kids…Brad, Shawn, Allyson and I headed to Helen Fitzgerald’s for the St. Baldrick’s event. Allyson lasted all of about five minutes. We got in the doorway and it wayyy to loud for her (she cannot take amplified noise at all), and there were LOTS of people. She freaked out a bit, so Shawn was nice enough to take her back to the house and then come back to be with us for a while. — Six men from Rodgers Townsend (Brad’s work), shaved their head’s for Allyson. We got there just as the six of them went up to the stage to get shaved. It was so touching for me to know that these men were there to honor Allyson, and that so many of his co-workers there were there as well. We thank the men for their sacrifice;-) and for the almost $5,000 they helped raise for children’s cancer research. It was really cool to see all the people gathered there for the event. I believe the total amount raised for St. Baldrick’s at Helen’s alone was somewhere around $150,000. TOO COOL!  (Be sure to check out the pictures below…remember to click on each on to enlarge.)

Allyson and Benjamin had a great time playing with Ollie and Bella. Both kids were worn out by 6:30. I gave Benjamin a bath over there…we left around 7:00 and both were asleep by the time we got home.

Oh…Dex, the lovely drug that makes Allyson crazy does rear its ugly head throughout the day. For the most part, Allyson is pretty happy, but when she melts down, she melts all the way down…there’s no calming her until she’s finished. Two days down…five to go…