The Broken Elbow

He wanted Addilyn to be the very first person to sign his cast.

We have ran full speed to meeting our medical deductible. And I mean, SPRINTING towards it. As I previously mentioned, Carter managed to fall off our kitchen table bench on Saturday, breaking his ulna at his elbow. Yep. Broken elbow. As my brother so rightly put it, "It's about time he has a normal little boy experiance." Yup. Agreed.

When Carter takes his monthly steroids his bones weaken. The steroids make his bone marrow release all of their white bood cells into the blood stream so they kinda start over empty creating new ones. (I'm not a doctor- shocked, right?- but if I understand it correctly, that's what happens.) Hence the weak bones. The pediatric orthopedic sergeon said it certainly isn't out of the question for Carter to break another bone before he's done with treatment. Awesome. Just what a parent wants to hear.

The good news is he only has the cast on for three weeks.

The even better news? IT GLOWS IN THE DARK! True story. Carter couldn't decide between the green (which nearly glows all on it's own) and the glow in the dark. So, the tech suggested he do green with a glow int he dark candy cane stripe. JACKPOT! So, on our way we were sent with the coolest cast around. And, in case you're wondering on weather or not it really does glow, the answer is YES. Quite well, in fact. Like, I hope it doesn't keep him up at night. But, he's a happy camper and headed to school with three different colored sharpies in hand for all his friends and teachers to sign it.

Because this has taken up a nice chunk of my week, I decided to make this my Glimpses 52 project for the week on Chic Critique Forum. Next week, I am vowing to NO Carter in my Glimpses project. He's getting the boot. That kid just needs to stay out of trouble long enough for me to take pictures of his sisters!

Clearly I did NOT take this picture (I'm good but not THAT good. :)). However, I did add the green writing so you can see where he broke it... even though you can't really see the break on here.

What a Week!!

It was quite the week over here as far as the kids are concerned (and as far as our bank account is concerned).

On Monday Carter went in and had his counts checked. His blood counts were really high (which is great!) but so was his liver count. Not so great. They held his chemo again this week. It's been nice in the sense that he can eat after dinner if he wants and we don't have to start a timer every time he's done eating. We don't have to wake him up to take his meds. We don't have to stress about remembering it. But we both worry that this may change how good his chances are with the cancer coming back. Something we don't know yet. It's on our ever growing list of questions for the doctor. He goes back in tomorrow for counts again. They are also going to test him for some immune disorder that would be a result of the chemo (meaning it would go away in a few years when treatment's over). The test will show if he is moresusceptible to catch anything and everything. I don't think he has it. He's been pretty healthy outside of the last 5 weeks of having cold after cold... after cold... after cold.

Tuesday, Bryan and I had to divide and conquer with doctor appointments. The pediatricianreferred Addilyn to an ENT because she has sleep apnea. They think it's because her tonsils are so big (something the pediatrician has mentioned on occasion before) so when she lays down they kinda slip into her throat causing her to snore and not be able to breath very well. This could also be why she gets head aches constantly. (I REALLY hope it's because of this and not hereditary... I have daily head aches.)

Meanwhile, I took Carter to the pediatrician to have his ears cleaned out. That kid had the nerve to FAIL his hearing test at school. Yep. Big. Fat. F. Seriously!?!? Good news is that they got out all kinds of crap. Bad news is that they found he had an ear infection. The oncologist couldn't see it the day before because there was so much wax in the way. (She told me she couldn't see past it.) Thank you Christensen side of the family for that one. :) They also looked in his nose and noticed he has a sinus infection. Seriously?! Wow.

The next few days were MUCH better. We transitioned Preslee to her big girl bed or her "gi-gil" bed. She LOOOOVES it and (here's the best part) STAYS IN IT!!! WOOT WOOT!!! I don't know how long that'll last but right now she's doing great. As soon as she can get herself on and off the toilet and get her pants on and off by herself, bye bye sleeping diapers!

Saturday, Bryan called me while I was picking Addilyn up from a birthday party. I couldn't answer so he texted me. This is VERY unlike Bryan so I knew something was wrong. Sure enough, Carter was trying to turn around on our kitchen bench and slipped off. He tried to catch himself with his arm and fractured his ulna. That's the bone that runs up the pinky side of your arm. It's fractured up near the elbow. They put it in a sling and a temporary cast. This week we are going to go to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon and she'll take a look and decide if it needs to be casted or not. It's a very minor fracture and he's doing much better already. While HE wants a cast ("Mom, people can NOT sign my sling!") we are hoping he doesn't.

So, that's our super duper exciting week in a nutshell. :) Needless to say, medical deductible? Met.

Isn't she so darn cute in her bed?!?!

Getting all bandaged up.

Update on the Family

Bryan's family has a private blog that each family posts to weekly (insert "should" into that sentence.) Here's ours from this week.

I know what you're thinking! "Jen! You are such a slacker!" But I have a good excuse. I can't tell it to you because then I'd have to kill you, but it's a GOOD one. (Before anyone starts thinking that I'm pregnant I will tell you two things:)

1. I'm not. Never will be again unless the Lord forces my hand.... no, both hands... and feet.

2. The excuse is that I'm forgetful. And tired. I need to stay more on top of my blog. I know this.

Things here are great. Work's great for Bryan. We've all set our goals for this year and are skipping along joyfully working on them.

Addilyn is learning SO much at preschool. We have her all registered for Kindergarten (GASP!) and are hoping and praying she gets Carter's teacher from last year. We are only putting her in 1/2 day. I've become one of those mom's who doesn't want to let go. She's SO easy and so much fun! And Pres is going to be crazy lonely without her. Oh- and 'm cheap. It's almost $200 a month here. NEGATIVE! Even if it were free though, I'd have her in 1/2 day.

Preslee is talking up a storm. Her favorite thing right now is to tell you she's cute. "Mommy tired?" (me) "Yes, Mommy's tired." (Pres) "Oh. Mommy tired and I cute." She even told Bryan that she's a pretty princess. She seems really bright. (What? Nope. Not biased at all...) Only time will tell though. :)

Carter's doing well. He had chemo last Monday. Normal meds but for some reason his body had a really hard time with them this time. A few days after chemo he got sick, major diarrhea, a rash head to toe (VERY itchy), couldn't sleep, and stomach cramping.... I just felt so bad for him. On top of that we've all been fighting a super nasty cold. Carter has gotten it the worst. It's hanging onto him for dear life. The doctors told us this is how it's going to be with his immune system the way it is. We've managed to stay out of the hospital (knock on wood) but it's just not getting better. On top of THAT, his liver isn't a happy little thing. His counts are still so high that his doctor called Monday night and asked us to not give him his nightly chemo this week. He's having an unusual reaction... most kids' livers freak a little bit but not like this. She wants us back in there tomorrow for a blood draw. If things don't correct themselves they'll have to change up his chemo. Not good for a few reasons. 1. Whatever they give him instead won't be as effective (obviously or they'd give it to him now) and 2. The med they'd give him causes hair loss. Booo.... So, only time will tell. She also explained to me that cancer treatment in someone as young as Carter is very different than in someone, say, in their 50's because they have to be more careful with the organs. The organs of a 50 year old need to last a max of 40 more years. Carter's need to last another 80 or so. So, they really have to make sure they don't stress out his liver or heart or anything else too much. The doctor also suggested we put Carter in some physical therapy. His legs and hips have taken such a beating from all the drugs. He literally cannot run. Can. Not. We put him in karate which he has loved so far but it really puts into perspective HOW weak he is. It's seriously amazing. I don't have a doubt in my mind that Preslee could beat him in a foot race. Breaks my heart because he WANTS to play sports... he just can't. He's not strong enough. And it doesn't look like he'll get that way until treatment's done. More info than you wanted, huh?

I'm just doing my thang. Editing pictures from our trip, taking everyone to school/doctors/etc., trying to get all set up for Valentine's (my house was so lonely once I took down my Christmas decor), going to the gym, and trying to lose some lbs. :)

That's pretty much everything that's been going on since we got home from San Diego. I posted about a gazillion pics on the next post. Enjoy!

California Through the Eyes of my iPhone

We headed for sunny San Diego on Christmas night. It was awesome because the airport was DESERTED! There were zero people there which was super great. The kids were a dream on the flight, especially consiering we didn't get to my parents until 11:30pm our time. The only one that didn't fall asleep, of course, was Preslee. Those who know her well just mumbled "of course" to themselves while reading this.

While we were there we went and did EVERYTHING. Seriously. Ran my poor kids ragged. It was great. We probably won't get out there for another 18 months (unless something falls out of the sky) and we haven't been there for about that long so we needed to make the most of it.

That being said, here are exactly a million and one pictures from the trip. They are all from my phone so they are small and just kinda crappy. I have a million and one MORE pictures on my camera which I am slowly going through.

Heading out! Addilyn got a suitcase from Santa and while Bryan and I tried our hardest to get her to leave it at home she would hear nothing of it. So, it came with us... completely empty. :)

1. Disneyland. It was Awe.Some. Because of Carter we got to go on the fast lane on every ride. It worked out well because I have never in my life been to Disneyland on such a psychotic day. January 2nd. Don't ever do it. The stroller barely fit. The kids couldn't let go of our hands. And Pres? Well, she peed her pants TWO times because she was scared of the self flushing toilets which flushed while she was sitting on it once. (Finally a nice stranger gave me a diaper.)

If you look really closely you can see my dad in the upper left hand corner being a total goofball. We did space mountain with the two older ones and they both LOVED it. Addi laughed the entire time (reminded me of her Gigi) complete with arms in the air and screaming in sheer joy.

Carter was chosen to be a Jedi Master and got to fight Darth Vader. It was the highlight of his day. Correction: It was the highlight of his life.

My cousin Lisa (Neal's wife) met us at Disneyland with her kids. This is us on the carousal.
What kids don't love Toy Story? Pres LOOOOOOVES "Yeehaw". She know every word to "You've got a Friend in Me." Not kidding. She really does. When she saw Jessi I thought she was going to pee her pants in excitement. (She didn't... that was NOT one of the TWO times that day she peed in her pants.)

Carter and Addi getting ready to ride Star Tours. They've changed it and it's now all 3D. So cool.
We also got to spend a lot of time with my Grandma. She is seriously one of the most amazing women I know and her positive outlook on life has really helped me through the past 10 months. I have countless memories of her from my childhood (from Space Mountain to perms, to shopping, to learning to gamble) and I'm so grateful my kids are getting to know her. Because they have two Gigi's (one is Gigi Meacham and one is GG Christensen) they refer to this one as Granky and Gigi. Granky is what they called my Grandpa. Man, I miss him. But, we had a BLAST visiting with her on a few different occasions.




We also went to the beach a few times. We spent an evening there roasting hot dogs and s'mores. We also went once during the day. Silly me; I was thinking that since it was chilly my kids would only run from the waves and not get in deeper than their ankles. I should have known better. They all got SOAKED (Preslee's hair was even drenched) and drove home in underwear and sweatshirts. Note to self: ALWAYS wear bathing suits under clothes... even if it's cold outside. My kids are tourists. How embarrassing.
This picture just makes me happy. I love Pres's hair blowing in the wind. I love how one pant leg is up and one is down. I love how her little crack is hanging out. I love how she's heading for that water with zero intention of stopping.


S'mores!

Sea World! My kids love Sea World. Addilyn has had a life long love affair with Shamu. Not real sure what sparked it but she adores the silly whale. I couldn't begin to tell you how many stuffed Shamus we have hanging around our house. No less than 20 I'm sure. From bath toys to ones that are bigger than Addilyn. It's quite ridiculous.

Mmmmm... cookies....

This beluga whale came right up to the glass and pushed his nose against it, right up to our kids! He was there long enough for me to get my phone out of my pocket, open up my camera app and take a picture. It was so neat! Literally pressing his nose against the glass watching the kids.

We all touched the starfish.

Pictures with Shamu. (My kids and the Ladies.)

My parents have recently purchased a little cabin about an hour from their house in Julian. We went up there to check it out (they hadn't closed yet) and went and got some apple pie afterwards. Here's Carter with Gig and my Uncle Craig and Aunt Susan. They got such a kick out of Carter. And he loved them, too!

Preslee wondering where the heck her ice cream was. She wasn't real into the pie but, boy, was she sick of waiting for her food!

Preslee and Addilyn outside at the cabin. My parents told them we were going to the mountains and when we arrived, Addilyn got out of the car, looked around and said to me, "Mom, where's the snow? I thought we were going to the mountains." She was not impressed with these Californian "mountains". Hehe. I think it burst my parents bubbles a little bit. But they do have wild turkeys running everywhere. (I wasn't rude by mentioning that we have deer and bears in OUR mountains. ;))

This is Runkin (my brother Ryan) spinning the kids on the hardwood. Why we never thought of this is beyond me because it was the funniest thing EVER.

We also went and got haircuts from the best hairdresser ever. KELLY! She did Addilyn's hair all straight and pretty with every color of tinsel imaginable. She walked away thinking she was a princess.

As I mentioned previously, I took the plunge. I chopped 11" off. It wasn't just for fun. In fact... almost cried. But I'm donating it to Locks of Love. I wanted to for SOMETHING for Carter since he had to be bald for 8 months. I like it short... but I'm growing it out. :) Here's a picture of the back.

We had a wonderful time out in San Diego. It was a VERY fast 10 days full of pictures and countless memories. I can't wait for next time. I love my family and can't wait to see them this summer at Aspen Grove!!!!!

10 Months

***Wow... I'm such a slacker!!! I need to play catch up on this thing! Sorry Grandma!***

10 months ago today our world was rocked. Like, seriously rocked. Like, changed forever. Like, faith had to take over completely so that we wouldn't go crazy... or cry myself to death.

We got that call.... you know.... THAT call. The one you never want to get. The one you hope will start with, "Good news! It's really nothing at all!" Or even, "It's pneumonia. I'm sorry." Not the one that starts with, "I've been trying to come up with a plan for Carter before I called you." And not one that continues, "Get him out of bed and take him to the hospital. He needs blood. Lots of it. And platelets... lots of them."

BUT.... we have made it this far! We have made it to Maintenance, which, honestly has been harder than we thought it would be. It's been an adjustment... the whole adventure has been. And while I would trade all the silver linings and a future Make-a-Wish trip for a normal, healthy little 6 year old who can run around with his friends, that's not our lot.

Our lot right now is this. Cancer. And that's okay. There are still days for me that are hard.

There are things that I never thought I would hear my 6 year old son say... "Hey Mom. Since my counts are good can I go play at Dylan's?"... "What?!? My liver counts are that high? Oh man!"... "I know, Mom. Don't. Touch. Anything." (Every time we take him anywhere I say that to him.)... "Mom, when I turn 9 and my cancer is gone can we go to Chuck E. Cheese's?"... "No, Addilyn, you won't get cancer, too. I promise."... "It's ok, Mom. I don't mind playing alone at recess. I played with my friends until they started running. Then I got tired and couldn't keep up." (That one is especially hard for me.)... "My name is Carter and I have A.L.L. Leukemia." (Correctly it's just A.L.L. as the last "L" stands for Leukemia... I think it's so cute when he says that, though".)

I am sure to thank the Lord each and every day for his doctors and that they are saving his life. I also thank the Lord for him reacting well to the medications-- meaning the cancer IS going away... although the side affects are less than ideal. I thank the Lord for allowing us the opportunity to save him; giving us that chance and not just taking him from us. I thank the Lord for the friends and family that have taken such good care of us, who have prayed for us, cooked for us, listened to us, called us, texted us, emailed us, sent us sweet cards or gifts for the kids. We have SO much to be grateful for. And I hope I never act otherwise!!!

Ever since Carter was diagnosed and his hair started falling out I have been growing out my hair. Those of you who know me know that my hair is long. Always has been. Always will be until I'm too old to pull it off. While I love my son, I'm not about to shave my head. (Vain? Perhaps.) But I wanted it to get long enough to be able to chop it off and donate it. I don't color it a whole lot so I'm a good candidate. (Don't worry, we pulled up the hair that has been colored and only donated the bottom portion.) It's really easy to donate your hair. Just chop off 10 inches (that's the hardest part, FOR SURE!), fill out a form, and stick it in the mail. Anyways, my sister lopped it off for me and actually made it look cute. It doesn't look as cute when I do it... in fact it's kind of like a have a big poof ball on my head but that's ok. At least I don't have cancer, right? :) Plus, it's a super cute little pony. :)

Look at all that hair! (I'm super tired in this picture... don't judge.)

My entire family.

I thought it would be funny to take a family picture like this. Usually Carter has to be the one wearing the mask... but not this time! Everyone else had to wear one and he got to be mask-less. (More of my family pictures to come.)