By ahudson88 on October 16, 2011
I’m excited to announce the first annual Reese’s Groovy Gala!
You may recall over the past couple years my great friend Tracy and I have been running to raise money for neuroblastoma research. We finally smartened up and, with our friend Nicole, found a way to raise money AND drink wine with friends. So this year we are hosting a fun-filled family event on Sunday, November 6 at The Drake Hotel. Proceeds will go to The James Fund for neuroblastoma research.
Unfortunately research for childhood cancer, particularly neuroblastoma, is greatly under-funded. Big organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society and big “adult” cancers get all the bucks. So it’s up to organizations like The James Fund to raise money to support research that truly helps save the lives of kids with NB (which has one of the WORST survival rates of childhood cancer).
So come join us! It’s going to be a ton of fun, with great food, a magician, a dance party and more. Plus The Drake Hotel has been PHENOMINAL – they’ve been so generous and so helpful. Thanks to them this is guaranteed to be a great party!
For more details and to purchase tickets please visit the event website: www.groovygala.ca
If you’re unable to make it but would like to support this great cause we are also excepting donations. Click here to DONATE NOW
Thanks and hope to see you there!
Posted in Reese's Therapy
By ahudson88 on October 16, 2011
As always in cancerland, no news is good news. So if you don’t see a lot of updates here it means all is goooooood! I looked back at the last update an it was in May. MAY!!!! Thing is I’ve taken to updating on Facebook. You know, all the cool kids seem to use it so I figured I should too. And I’m all over this maximum # of characters thing Facebook has. Forcing me to be succinct is a time saver. For everyone. So most folks know the latest, but I’ll give a quick updates on what’s been happenin’ lately. Back in August Reese had her 1 year post treatment scans. And she freakin’ aced them! If you look back at previous updates you’ll see mention of this funny little spot that remained in Reese’s chest. Picked up by the MIBG, but not the CT or PET scans. Well damned if that little spot was gone from the MIBG! We flipped out of course. When Denise our Nurse Practioner called to tell me the news I think I broke her ear drum. At minimum gave her a good case of tinnitus for the weekend. So we feel a sense of closure. That said (there’s always a “that said”) we’re fully aware that spot could appear again on the next scan which is slated for December. Doesn’t mean it’s back, just means it really wasn’t gone. I.e. the scans aren’t always reliable. And we feel like we’re in the hot zone for relapse. Every single little change in Reese kicks off internal panic. From feeling tired, to saying her leg hurts (that’ll happen if you spend an entire day hopping around like a bunny rabbit) to not wanting to finish dinner. Normal things cause rapid onset panic. We stay vigilant but don’t let that shit it ruin our fun! Reese started JK in Sept and LOVES it. We were concerned about her being so young – she’s not 4 until December and she’s in a mixed class with SK kids. Some of the kids are almost 6! But she loves her teacher (so do I), has learned a ton already and has made some good friends. So far so good. All the other life-stuff is fantastic too. We’re just having a great time living life. Reese is so hyped up over Halloween she can barely contain herself. Kids are awesome.
That’s the update. Yeah, updates here will be a bit less frequent (god willing I won’t need to post too often). But thanks for checking in anyway!
Posted in Reese's Therapy
By ahudson88 on May 9, 2011
The scan results are good! Same as last time: the CT scan is 100% clear. The MIBG scan still shows that small spot in Reese’s chest. But it’s not getting any bigger.
We…are…thrilled!!!
And we are breathing a little easier once again.
THANK YOU everyone for your calls to the universe – it continues to work and for that we are ever grateful. XOXOXOX!!!!!
Posted in Reese's Therapy
By ahudson88 on May 6, 2011
Just a quick update because there are chocolate covered peanut butter ball-things screaming my name. And a glass of sauvignon blanc. Yeah baby. Things went really well the last 2 days. On Thursday we arrived at clinic at about 10 and saw our fab Nurse Practitioner Denise. Reese has gained a full kilo and has grown 3 cm in the past 3 months! We then headed to the IV room so they could put an IV line into Reese’s hand to a). draw blood, b). give her an injection for the MIBG scan and c). contrast for the CT scan. As expected it hurt like a sonofabitch. But once the needle was in and things taped up all was fine. Then we went down to Nuclear Medicine, only 5 minutes late, to get the injection of the radioactive isotope for the MIBG scan. This one really hits Reese hard. She can’t explain how it tastes but as soon as the stuff is put in the line in her hand she FREAKS out. Screaming, crying, heaving. It’s like the taste causes a physical reaction, almost pain. It was the worst part of the past 2 days. But it doesn’t last long at all. Then the amazing team there were able to bump Reese’s CT scan to an hour earlier. Love that! We went in and Reese was a rock star. Last time she wasn’t at all happy with “the big machine” but this time she was all, whatevs, this ain’t nothing but a g thang.
Today we had the MIBG scan. It’s a long one, about an hour and 20 minutes and requires the patient to lie very still. The last 20 minutes is one picture, and if you stop in the middle you have to start over again – take notes, this is crucial to the story I’m about to tell. So before we go to the room I take Reese for a final pee. Then I said to the nurse and the technician, let’s just go through, no breaks, because once Reese is settled in she’s good. If you take her out in the middle and she gets a taste of freedom she won’t want to go back in. Okay, cool. Reese was doing SO WELL. Totally chill, happy, relaxed for the 1st hour. Only 20 minutes to go. Those golden minutes where you can’t stop the images. Remember I said to the tech that we will NOT take a break. So before we started the continuous image stage he pipes up and says let’s give Reese a pee break. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I was all, really dude? Did you have to say that? Reese of course was super excited over this prospect. So off to the bathroom we went where of course Reese did not need to pee. Flash forward 2 minutes and Reese is strapped back in and the machine is fired up. While it was whirring away Reese was formulating a plan on how to get the hell out of the machine again. She was very quiet, very calm. The kid was scheming. So with only 9 minutes left she pipes up in her little voice…I have to poo. We were all REALLY? NOW? Can you hold it for 9 minutes? Please? Let’s just finish? I’m begging and pleading because I didn’t want to start this phase over again. But Reese was getting increasingly agitated. And since she’s only been potty trained for 6 months I’m not quite sure of her limit. So the machine was stopped and Reese and I trotted off to the bathroom again. 10 seconds into it Reese gets a big grin in her face and says “heeheehee, there’s no poops mommy.” WTF?!?! ARE…YOU…SERIOUS?!?!?! You have got to be shittin’ me sister! So we had a little chat about telling lies / stories. We went back in and I had her tell the nurse and technician that she was telling a story and that she was sorry. She did this with a “I’m pretty damn proud of myself for screwing with the 3 of you” smile on her cute little face. GAWD! So we started again and it ended without another incident. As mad as I was I was pretty impressed with her craftiness. Now I know I need to intensify my BS radar.!
We find out the results on Monday – NED NED NED!!!!
Posted in Reese's Therapy
By ahudson88 on May 3, 2011
Has it been forever or what! There’s a show on TV right now called How Clean is Your House and they are scrubbing the nastiest toilets known to man and I’m dry heaving. This thing, in some one’s HOUSE, looks worse than the Port-a-Potties at 3:00am after a Van Halen concert at Molson Park. What is wrong with people? And did I just age myself?
Yes, it’s that time again; the next set of 3 month scans. After each set of scans you hit a nice lull for 2.75 months. Then the week before nerves become frayed again. I call it the pilot light of fear: it’s always there, quietly burning in the background and every so often if flares up. Like now. Sigh. But the mantra in my head every time that little shit pipes up is IbelieveIbelieveIbelieveIbelieve.
Reese has been doing so well! She’s growing taller. Not sure where she’s topping out, we’ll find out on Thursday when we’re at clinic for a check up, but her clothes are definitely shorter. Her energy is great. She’s running, hopping, jumping, doing flying belly flops on the floor without thinking first to put a pillow down, you know, kid stuff (the “ooof” sound she breathes out and the stunned look on her face is priceless). 6 months ago she had to hold my hand to step off even the lowest of curbs and now she takes a flying leap off them. And she takes stairs without holding on to the railing. I think it’s a combo of stronger muscles as well as a significant increase in her confidence. We had another osteopath appointment last Friday, just for her tri-annual tune up and she liked what she was seeing in terms of Reese’s development. Her hips were a bit out of line, one being slightly higher than the other. And that’s clearly from Reese favouring her left leg when she’s climbing and taking stairs. But with a small adjustment and extra work on her right leg we’ll get it all fixed up. Reese is having a ball on play dates, her cooking and art classes, going to the Science Centre, the library and doing just fun kid stuff. It’s all good!
I’ll update how the clinic visit and scans go at the end of this week and then of course the results on Monday. Eeeeek. Down flame, IbeliveIbelieveIbelieve, down! In the meantime if you wouldn’t mind shouting out the occasional NED!!! to the universe I’d really appreciate it. For example, at the drive through, when the person hands you your little brown bag holler NED! and then hand them your $3.99. Or when a telemarketer calls yell NED! before slamming down the phone. Or if your husband asks you what’s for dinner honey instead of what I can do to help make dinner honey scream NED! in his face. You know, that sort of thing! Thanks!
Posted in Reese's Therapy
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