Tue June 29, 2010

Well, its been an interesting week already. On Sunday, I took Blake to see Toy Story 3-in 3D. Blake didnt care for the glasses. He seemed to love the movie though! My cousin Jamie had her son Trey bring over a family photo she took of us on the beach, it is such a great photo. I am so excited to hang it in our house. She blew it up-not sure on diminsions yet. But I am so excited to have it! Then we all went to Quiznos for dinner. Sunday evening the Proton Center called us to let us know the Proton machine was broken. :( No Proton therapy on Monday. We still had his neuro-opthamalogy apt-and his weekly see with Dr. Mahajan. We are no longer done July 16, at first I was really bummed out. Our new last day is July 19-soo we are going to go ahead and schedule his MRI for that week. We are planning on coming home the 24th. I figure just in case the Proton machine breaks down again we have a few days to spare now. It hard relying on a unpredictable machine...ya just never know when its gonna break down. All the staff is great though. They take really good care of Blake. Today, oh boy-our day started off with me realizing my keys were in my aunts car from dinner last night. She was already at work...so she came home and dropped my keys off-then we speed off to proton therapy arriving just in time! lol I felt like such an idiot. She is soo good to me! I would be lost without her!! So thankful for her!

Slowly loosing his hair

Blake's hair is slowly falling out in the area he is receiving proton therapy. Which seems to be right in the front above his scar-so Wed night I am going to buzz his hair all off. Goodbye mohawk. This will be the 1st time he wont have a mohawk-he was born with a full head of hair and as soon as it was long enough-he had his mohawk. I know that it seems kinda sad, im just taking it as a sign that the proton therapy is doing its job! He didnt lose any hair during chemo-and then we found out the chemo wasnt working. I have pictures posted on my facebook-if you have fb-look me up: Mandy Blake-Danforth. I am on fb almost everyday. lol My cousin Jackie is coming down to stay a few days with us. She will be here tomorrow night. We have some fun stuff planned. It will be nice to have some help at our apts. I will be sure to let you all know what we end up doing. Thanks for keeping up with us! Talk to you soon!!

Sat June 26, 2010

Hi everyone! Sorry its been so long since my last post, this week was a long one. Here is my recap:
Mon-Our first apt was a Neuro-psych evaluation. Blake was so hungry he couldnt focus, so I asked for our apt to be rescheduled for a later time that week. We then went over to Proton therapy and Blake was so brave. There was a few faces I didnt recognize in the Proton room. This tall guy was the one who was trying to access Blake's port. He poked him 3 times before another nurse came over to do it right. I was so mad-Blake was SO brave-he watched the guy keep poking him with this big needle. I thought he would cry but he just watched. You could tell it hurt a little but he didnt cry. I was so proud of him. I could have killed that guy though. lol Oh and then that night when we got home his little port access tube-wasnt taped up good. He was playing on the floor and all of a sudden he is holding this little tube saying "here mom, help please" I thought it was one of Jeans parts or something. So I told him to put it back and he kept saying help mama. Then it hit me what it was-oh crap! Luckily his line was closed by the little clip-other wise he could have bleed out. I quickly put his tube connector back on-and made sure to make them tape it up so that wouldnt happen again. So scary! Then the poor kid came home and fell into the stone step and got a goose egg on his forehead. lol Poor kid had one heck of a Monday!
Tues-Oh Tuesday-what a day. This was my dreaded long day. It actually started off pretty smooth. We had a 730am labs, 800 EEG, then 930 Proton therapy, then 1200 Dr Slopis, then 2pm PT, 3pm OT. The first 3 apts went so smoothly. We arrived at the Proton Center-free parking, rode the shuttle over for the labs and EEG at the main campus, then caught the shuttle back over to the PTC (Proton Therapy Center). Once Blake was done with Proton therapy we caught the shuttle again back to the main campus, and this is when everything fell apart. lol So Dr. Slopis's nurse called and told me to come over right after Proton and they could see Blake early. So at 1130 we were in the waitin room. We waited till 1230 when the nurse let us know he had left the office and would be back at 1. Okay I thought another 30 min wont be too bad. At 130 I went up to ask the receptionist if he was just running late or what?! 10 min later they called us back to go to the exam room. One of his attendings came in and started the examination at 2pm. I was a little upset at this point-now we were missing PT. At 3 I thought she was done with us-well she was, but Dr. Slopis still wanted to talk with us. So we missed our OT apt too. We left his office at 430. I was SO exhausted and so was Blake. Dr. Slopis was very nice-but I feel like he should have rescheduled our apt rather than making us wait that long. He gave me some good info-and answered my questions. I just wish we wouldnt of had to wait so long, especially with how long our day was. By the time we got home we both were so tired-we ate dinner and crashed hard!
Wed-A nice recovery day for us-lol Only had Proton that day so we went out and did a little shopping. I found Blake a pair of white Etnies for $13.99. That is so cheap! I need to get him one more pair for when he grows. Normally Etnies ar $40, so they are a really good deal. lol.
Thurs-Proton, and saw Dr. Mahajan for our weekl apt. She said the redness on his head will soon be the area where his hair will fall out of. He is still doing really well with the radiation. So far it seems to be a lot easier on him than the chemo. He is full of energy and playing like a normal 3 year old! He is such a tough kid!
Friday-Started out with Proton therapy at 730-ugh! Then saw Dr. Wolff, who I found out is moving to Boston. I told him we were sad to hear it. We LOVE him!! Blake pretends to be Dr. Wolff. Then we had our Nuero-psych eval. Blake did a pretty good job, at the end our therapist had to bribe him with a surprise. lol He knows how to work the nurses now. lol He got a pretty cool tool set. We came home-napped, then that night we met up with Jamie and Pam and all went to the pool. Blake loved it! Jamie got in the big pool with him and was teaching him how to swim. The rest of us just sat pool side and hung out. lol We came home around 9 and hung out in the kitchen. After Blake went to bed we had a really fun girls night. Cranberry-Pomagranate Vodka drinks mmm!! lol It was such a nice evening. Perfect end to my week. I just love my family down here. I am really gonna miss them. I know that we will all stay in touch. Blake adores all of them. I think its SO cool that this experience has made me closer to a part of my family that I hardly knew when we first came down here. Now I fell like will be a part of our lives forever! So cool!
I also want to add that we made some really sweet friends at PTC. Blake loves playing with Noah and his little brother Isaac. He calls Isaac-baby Isaac. He is so gentle with him. lol Its very sweet to watch. Kristin is their mom and I have really enjoyed talking to her-she seems to have the same stresses as I do, and its nice to have someone to realate to. Especially when our hubbies are so far away-working. I hope to stay in touch with her as well. They are from Pennsylvania. I think it would be cool for Blake and Noah and Isaac to stay in touch too. Little pen pals-so when they get bigger they can look back and see what they experienced together at such a young age! Well, I think that about sums up my week. lol 3 more weeks to go and then we will be headed home to Lees Summit. I will talk to you all soon! Thank you all for the continued prayers and support! Love you all!!

Fri June 18, 2010

I am so thankful that its Friday!! We had another long day. I was so excited this morning because our apt was for 9am, early enough to do something with the rest of the day. Boy did I jinx us. lol We got there at 830-we have to be 30 min early to ALL of our Proton apts-all ready for him to go back, we had one lil guy ahead of us. They took him back-then they came back to the waiting room...I was like NOOOO, please dont tell me the machine is broken again. It was-darn thing!! Its been broken I guess for the past several Fridays. Not to mention a few late starts during the week. I guess its pretty tempermental. Ugh!! Technology. lol So 2 1/2 hours later it was FINALLY Blakes turn. He was so hungry and tired by then. He fell asleep while I was holding him. Poor kid. I swear, this whole NO BREAKFAST is killing us! I hate it! We gotta do what we gotta do though, right?! So after he woke up at 115 we rode the shuttle over for our apt with Dr. Wolff. We were only 5 hours late for our apt. lol Crazy right? Dr. Wolff is actually in Venice for a conference, so we got to meet Dr. Vatts. He is amazing too!! We chatted with him, I liked the way he described the radiation process. He said its like Blakes tumor is a shell, the radiation is killing everything inside the shell, then as time goes on the shell may shrink as the tissue inside is dying. Hopefully radiation will stabilize his tumor. I just keep praying that Blake is a miracle and the whole tumor just disappears. Wouldnt that be SO cool! Ok so finally at 330 we were done and headed back to my car at the Proton center. And by 430 we were finally home. So much for a short day huh?! lol Oh well.
So tomorrow at 9am I will be saying goodbye to my hubby. Back to KC he will fly. I am not looking too forward to that. I am going to miss him. Blake has been quite the handfull lately. After talking to other moms it sounds like we are all suffering together with the same problems. Its horrible because these lil kids have already been through so much, and dont have the words to express their frustration/pain or whatever they are going through. So we all just try to do the best we can and take care of them-with LOTS and LOTS of patience. It is exhausting I will be honest. lol I am SO tired at the end of the day, but Blake is SO worth it. I know he means well, id be grumpy and aggravated too if I didnt get to eat for hours and was running around without a nap at 3 years old. I guess thats all for now-I will talk to you all soon!!
Oh, and I have had a few people ask for our address down here-If you wanna send a card to Blake, or color a picture I know he would love to receive them!

Our address here is:
4709 Broadmoor Dr.
League City, TX 77573

Thanks everyone! We love you all!!

Tue June 15, 2010

Sorry everyone-havent had the time to update ya! lol We have been pretty busy lately. So lets recap:
Sat: Took Phil out for an early Fathers day! They have an actual Vans store here-and he LOVES Vans. So we got him a new pair of shoes! We ate lunch and Phil wanted to let Blake try some dip-n-dots. He loved them of course! He got the birthday cake flavored ones. It was a mess-but totally worth it. Sat evening my Aunt Jean, Aunt Bonnie Cousin Jamie, and cousin Taylor all came over for a little birthday party! Jamie brought over the cutest cake w/ matching cupcakes. It was an underwater theme with little rings. SOOOO Yummy!! Oh my god-im not a big cake person-but this cake I could have eaten alone lol. So glad that didnt happen. Everyone down here loves him SO much! After eating the delicious cake, Blake got some gifts! Aunt Bonnie got him a really cool set of Hot Wheel cars, then Taylor brought in a kitchen center! Omg!! Blake of course loved it!! How we will fit it into my lil civic...hmm not sure. lol We will figure it out though. lol Then we went outside and my Aunt Jean got him a wagon. It is so cute. Army green with a door, cup holders and a storage area. He loves it! He was having everyone pull him around, sitting quietly enjoying the ride. My car is going to be so crammed full of stuff its probably a good thing its only Blake and I riding in the car. Lol. That wasnt the end of our day though!! Phil and I were able to get out for a little bit and do some birthday shopping for Blake. Then we went to Saltgrass Steakhouse for dinner-JUST THE 2 OF US!! That almost NEVER happens. Let me just say I had totally forgotten how peaceful dinner can be when you dont have to entertain a 2 year old. We had such a great dinner. The food was AMAZING! We spent a little more than we wanted to but it was SO worth it to have dinner alone! We got home around 10. Blake was in bed, he had a lot of fun with his Mimi-Aunt Jean. lol He calls her Mimi now cuz thats what her grandkids call her-so now he has Mimi-Aunt Megan and Mimi-Aunt Jean. Cute huh?!
Sunday: Had a pretty mellow day-Blake had a rough day. Woke up and went to church. Blake cried when we dropped him off at Sunday school. Went to service, lost my keys for a little bit, found them, picked up Blake who was crying again. Came home for a nap. Then took my Aunt to lunch at this place called Papas Seafood. I had chicken salad. lol Im not a fan of seafood. It was all really good food. Blake was naughty at the resteraunt. It was kinda stressful. Came home and Phil and him had 1 on 1 time while Jean and I went to hang out for a little bit. Blake had a rough day-im not sure if its side effects or what. Time will tell I guess. I have NEVER seen him act like that. It was like a rollercoaster all day. So glad the day was ending-we were all ready for a new day.
Monday: Oh boy-this was quite the day. Ugh! So we had an 8:30am weekly apt with Dr. Mahajan. She is his radiation doctor. We talked to her about Blakes behavior, and what to expect from the Proton Therapy. I guess I was wrong. The proton therapy wont make his tumor disappear-basically it will kill it, maybe shrink it, but it will still be in his brain. The best thing we can hope for it that it kills it so that it stops growing. Then we will wait and watch. Making sure that it doesnt start growing again. Hopefully, in time technology will come up with more cures for Brain tumors. Until then, we just want a stable tumor!! After our apt with Dr. Mahaja, our next apt wasnt until 1pm. So we rode the shuttle over to MD Anderson to see the pediatric surgeon about Blakes g-tube. Its been draining. Ewww. So they looked at it-and put a little more water in the balloon. Hopefully it helps. Then we rode back over to the Proton center. Keep in mind-Blake CANNOT eat until AFTER his proton therapy because they have to sedated him. So its like 12:20 and he is STARVING, as are we because we are not gonna eat in front of him. The proton center is running behind. At 3pm Blake is finally taken back. Can you imagine. It was so stressful and frustrating. Our poor kid was SO hungry. He kept saying my turn, mama my turn. He knew that once it was his turn he could eat. I kept trying to explain we had to wait, but even I was getting a little angry. It would have been one thing if I could have let him sleep in late-but being up since 6:30 so we could leave by 8 to be at the PTC by 8:30-then not feed our kid till after his apt. Thats asking a heck of a lot out of a 2 year old. Hell, thats a lot to ask out of an adult. lol. We made it though. He came out at 4ish. We headed home to get dinner-he ate some grapes and some snacks. By the time we got home it was 5:30. He didnt want to eat dinner. I was trying everything to get him to eat something-but I think he was so exhausted and hungry he couldnt eat. So we ate. Thinking he would eat later. Unfortunatly he never did eat anything more.
Today-Tuesday: Woke up at 6 HUNGRY!! I should have known. We distracted him with Toy Story 2 the movie. He watched it while we got ready to go. Our apt was at 11am-so we had to be there at 10:20. Again they were running late-11:45 is when they took him back. So...better. But still frustrating. He was having a really hard time-he was SO hungry. He came out and we fed him some muffins, and some chips. He drank all his juice. We got home and he took a nap-all of us did. We get so exhausted trying to keep him okay while we wait for his treatment. Chasing him, holding him, playing, its a lot of work. Then we took Phil to meet my cousin Jimmy at his work for the Clutch concert. Clutch is one of Phils all time fav bands! So of course he was SO excited they were having a show while he was here. Jimmy got Blake a birthday present too! A Tag Junior Leap Frog reading thing. Its pretty cool! He gave him a few books too! Im excited to see how it works. I just downloaded all the software so Blake can play with it tomorrow. Blake wanted to open it ASAP! lol He carried the little hand held reading thing around for a long time. lol So cute! We ate dinner then went to the mail box-another present! We stopped at the park-played for a while. Then came home to cool off. Blake opened his gift-from grandma and grandpa Danforth, and Val and the girls. There was a bunch of stuff in the box-sunglasses, paintbrushes, books, bath foam, foam airplanes, beach towel, Toy Story plate, bowl and glass, a fake knife, Princess and the frog movie, and a cool glowing blinking ball necklace. The girls made cards and pictures-he loved all of it. Pretty good day huh?!
Tomorrow is his actual birthday. He is gonna be 3!! We made a cake tonight with cupcakes. We are gonna have a little family birthday! Phil and me got him a Buzz Lightyear wing pack thing. He loved Brady's! We also got him some fake food to play with his kitchen! So he will have another day of gifts tomorrow! He deserves it! This kid is going through so much right now. Im just so proud of him. He has had a rough week at Proton Therapy-but we are gonna get through it! I will talk to you all soon! We are doing well so far! Thanks for all your support!!

Fri June 11, 2010

Phil's first flight with Angel Flight-he LOVED it!!

No proton therapy today. We got to the proton center and the machines were broken down. So we headed over for our lab apt and our apt with Dr. Wolff while we waited for them to get fixed. We rode the shuttle again. Blake just loves the shuttle-he buckles up and doesnt want to get off. Our apt ran a little late again-so by 1130 Blake was starving. I decided to go ahead and feed him. Poor kid. When we finally got back to the proton center at 1pm the machines were up and running. They were running a little behind-so we decided to reschedule his apt. That means we are adding a day to the end of his cycle. I think it will put us in Houston a day or so more. We headed out to pick Phil up from the airport. Finding the hanger that he was going to be flying into was quite the adventure. I had to stop and ask for directions 3 times before someone actually knew where it was. lol I finally found it and just in time-we were able to see Phil's plane come into the hanger. He was co-pilot!! He didnt get to push any buttons though lol. I still cant believe he flew in a small private plane. I would have been so scared! Blake was so excited to see him-as was I. It was GREAT! Unfortunately he worked last night and so he was SUPER tired. Once we got food in him he crashed! lol So he is asleep, we are watching a movie, and looking forward to a great weekend!! Next week will be so great having Phil here! Im so happy!! :) Talk to you all soon!!

Thur June 10, 2010

Day 2 of proton therapy-Blake again did GREAT!! Our apt was at 1030-so we had to be there at 10. We went back to the Proton room with the nurse and Blake surprised everyone with a littlest petshop frog he had secretly put in his pocket. lol Everyone was laughing and wanting to look at it. Its so little-like the size of small grape. lol He pretended to make it hop on the nurses and they were screaming and laughing. It was fun. Then Blake sat on my lap on the table-pushed the buttons to administer his medication, then he was out. I waited in the waiting room, and about an hour later he was carried out to me. He was happy-but very hungry. We ate a snack, then went up to find the shuttle. We had a 3pm Audiology apt. We missed the shuttle by seconds-dang. lol So Blake played in the toy room and once the shuttle was back-HE WAS SO EXCITED!! He called it his 'bus'. So we got on the 'bus' and Blake was smiling ear to ear-he jumped in the very first row of seats-by the window. We rode to MD Anderson's main campus. NO CARSEAT!!! It was a big deal for him lol. I thought we might be able to be seen early-but boy was I wrong! I guess they are down to 1 doctor-it was like 1pm when I tried to check in-the receptionist let me know Id have to wait till atleast 230. Are you joking? wow! Ok-so they told me where I could take Blake to play. We headed to the OTHER side of the hospital and once we finally found it-CLOSED from 1-2. lol Oh boy. Sooo we went back down to the main lobby and I had luckily remembered snacks-so we found a table and sat down to have a snack. This took up about 15 min. lol. Soo we walked around-then finally decided to sit by the elevators we were going to be going back up and Blake ate a sucker. 5 min later-if that-the sucker was gone. lol So Blake decided to be the elevator helper. He pushed the button and by the time the elevator doors opened-someone was ready to go up. He did this for 30 min. He was talking to poeple, and telling them to have a good day. It was actually pretty funny to watch people talking to him. He had a BLAST! He is talking SO much now. Coming up with new things daily. Some of them Im not sure where they come from-but its so cute to watch. He kept telling people "Im Blake, that my mom". lol Once 230 finally came around we went up to the 10th floor and checked in. He ran around the waiting room like a race car-huffing and puffing its so funny to watch-he made more friends up there. Of course. lol. He is quite the social butterfly these days. Finally at 345 we went back to see the doctor. He had Blake sit real quietly and ran his tests. Blake did such a good job. I was totally proud of him-with having NO nap-and being such a long day. He is such a trooper. The doc said his hearing looked great! So off we went to find the shuttle/bus. Blake again was ahappy cameper on the bus. We got to my car-and headed home. I thought for sure he would crash-but nope he stayed awake the whole way home. Once my aunt got home we ran to the sprint store to look for a new phone for her-I LOVE the new HTC evo. Its SO cool. Too bad its so expensive. Then we all went to eat at Denny's. Blake was so good. He cracks me up-he ordered for himself-sprite, pizza and grapes. So grown up these days! Then we decided to run by Toys r'us to buy a potty chair for him. He has been telling me when he poops-so we talked about it and he said he want a big boy potty. Here we go...lol. I would LOVE to be done with diapers. However, potty training a kid with the use of only one hand-might be difficult. Im up for the challenge-i know im gonna have to help him a lot. But just to be done with diapers-it would be so great!! He is such a good kid. Now that we have been off chemo-I can totally see him changing. He has more energy and higher spirits. It makes me SO happy. Radiation does not seem to be taking the toll chemo did on him. So thank god for that. I know we are only 2 days into the radiation-but he is just doing SO well. Im one proud mama!! So day 3 is tomorrow-we are ready! Then tomorrow afternoon my hubby is flying in on a 4 seater plane lol. AngleFlight!! These pilots are donating their plane and time and money/gas. So its free for us! How amazing is that?! Im just so excited to have Phil down here with us. I have totally missed him these past weeks. 5 more weeks to go and hopefully we will be home! Although I must say-I am totally going to miss my Aunt when we leave. I am really enjoying my time with her. And all my family here. Its gonna be hard saying goodbye! Ok, well I better go run through the shower-we have a big day tomorrow. Thanks for keeping up with us! Talk to you all soon!!

Wed June 9, 2010

The girls getting him ready for first round of Proton therapy



Day 1 of Proton therapy is done. Blake did so great! I took him back to the Proton Therapy room-its a HUGE machine! Blake was still mad at me for not letting him play on the stairs-so he was crying. They accessed his port, gave him the medicine and within seconds he was quietly sleeping. lol Such an easy way to stop a temper tantrum huh?! lol They put his mask on him-its a little scary. Its like a net-with a hole for his nose-and it snaps on to the table. It gave me anxiety just watching them put it on him, but the nurses and anethesiologist were so nice, I knew Blake was in good hands! Everyone is SO nice there. It really makes a difference! So I waited out in the waiting room, once he was awake in recovery I went back to see him. He got 2 stickers on his card-they use it for all his apt/procedures, so he was in a good mood. We left and headed home. We had to be there by 6am-so we woke up at 4am to leave by 5am...it was a LONG morning. When we got home to my Aunts house I realized I never got the key when I left her house because she was leaving after us...so we were locked out. I was so embarassed. Luckily Jamie, Jeans daughter, lives 5 min away. I called her and we headed over to her house. She is SO sweet! Blake absolutely loves her! She said we could stay as long as we needed to. Blake got nice and comfy on her couch and vegged out to some NickJr. His favorite! She brought McDonalds Happy Meals home for lunch-another favorite of Blake's. Then it was nap time. We took a much needed nap-waking up at 4 is not fun! Once we woke up we headed back home-my Aunt came home early from work so we were able to get in! We ate dinner and now Blake is watching some Backyardigans-his MOST favorite show!! I think for his birthday next week I am going to try and get him another Backyarigan from Kemah. He has Austin and a small Pablo. Im gonna go look for Tasha, Tyrone, or Uniqua. Then he will have them all. lol. Well tommorrow is day 2 of radiation. Blake is kicking cancers butt one day at a time! Hoping for a tumor free kid when we are done!! Talk to you all soon! xxx

Blakes mask for proton therapy-he never saw it until his last day when they gave it to him to keep. He was sedated before they put it on him. It kept his head completely still for the treatment.

Sun June 6, 2010

My little Rockstar!

Wow! What a great week and weekend! So Friday we met with Dr. Wolff for a routine weekly check up. Our apt was for 11 with him, but he was running 2 hours behind schedule. :( I cant complain though because he is such an amazing doctor-totally worth the wait! Plus while we were waiting Flashes of Hope was doing photoshoots-so of course we participated! They are a nonprofit organization that takes photos of children fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. How cool is that?! In 5-6 weeks we get 2 8x10, 4x6 proofs and a cd of all the images!! FOR FREE!! I am so excited! Blake was a total ham during the whole shoot. The photographers and staff just loved him! It means a lot to me that we did the shoot on Friday because after Wed-NO MORE MOHAWK! The radiation is going to cause bald spots-and we cant use hairspray or any perfume type hair products. We have to wash his hair with gentle baby shampoo and wear a hat so he doesnt get exposed to sunlight. His little head is gonna be so sensitive! So having photos taken before all of that-it was a nice surprise! Dr. Wolff came in and picked Blake up-giving him kisses and hugs! You can totally tell he loves his job-and all the kids. We talked and he let me know he was going to set up PT/OT for while we are in Texas! Woo Hoo!! Get some use out of the botox! :) He also is sending us to see the Neurologist-Blake has been itching his nose a lot-and it almost seems like he has some type of sensation on the right side of his mouth. So we are looking into all of that. We go in on Wed for our 1st proton therapy session. I am eager to see how quickly the tumor will disappear. I pray that it all goes smoothly. Blake is such a fighter!

Love this picture!

Saturday we did a few errands-then Blake played in the baby pool we got to put in my aunts backyard. Blake actually got in a few times. He normally just stays on the outside. Then that night we went to Blakes favorite place-Wal-Mart. Lol got a few things we needed and then came home for bed!

Sunday-we attended church with my Aunt. Its a huge church-but very cool! Blake went to the 3 year old class-he did so good. I was so proud of him. He is just getting so big. After church we came home and had lunch. Now Blake is napping-thank goodness. He was up a lot last night. Poor kid got a mosquito bite on his arm that was itchy all last night. It kept him up. We might go for a drive later-maybe take Blake to one of those indoor playareas-like at McDonalds or something. The heat is horrible and wears him out so fast. Indoor with air-conditioning sounds good to me. :)

One of my favorites!

Ok-so those of you who havent already heard...the Art Auction was a huge huge HUGE success! They raised $4200 and still counting! I was so chocked up when I got the message. I cannot believe all the people who donated and got together to support Blake. He has to be one of the most loved little guys out there! He has so much love and support surrounding him-and us. I cannot tell you how greateful we are of everything everyone has done for us. Its SO much!! I feel so blessed to be surrounded by SO many people who love us and are willing to help us in anyway they can. Its truly a blessing! You have all made such an impact on our lives! I dont think I will ever be able to repay you all for everything you have done! I hope you all know just how much all of your support and love means to us. Thank you thank you thank you!!

Thur June 3, 2010

Hi everyone! Blake had his first Proton Therapy apt yesterday. It was just a trial run. I must say it went really well. Our apt was at 2 and we were done and out by 3. It went so smooth! Everyone we met at the Proton Center was SUPER nice. They are very kid friendly. Blake had fun playing with all the toys. When we went back to meet the anesthesiologist he told the nurse "be careful my port". I couldnt believe my ears. He is talking SO much now. She smiled and told him she would be very careful. So I picked him up and set him on my lap. We raised his shirt and after counting to 3 it was done. His port was accessed. She let him push the buttons on the machine to administer his medicine. Then in 2 minutes he was asleep. I helped position him on the bed and then went out to talk to the nurse. By the time she finished talking to me-Blake was already in recovery. Within 15 min later a nurse was carrying Blake out to me. So we headed home-eating snacks the whole way! Blake cant eat before his sedation so yesterday was quite the challenge since his apt was at 2. Our first actual proton therapy apt is June 9th at 630am. Tomorrow we meet with Dr. Wolff. I will keep you guys posted on how it all goes!
Tonight is the Art Show. I wish SO bad that we were in town for it. I know my family will be there in honor of us-but Ive heard there is gonna be a lot of amazing art! There are so many people who have contributed to the show. Im not sure how I am going to thank all of them. I am just so touched at all the support everyone is showing for us! I hope one day we can show people the same love and support you have shown us in this time of difficulty! Thank you all for everything!

Tue June 1, 2010

Hello! We made it to Houston in 12 hours on Sunday. Had a very relaxing Monday. Today has been a relaxing day as well. Tomorrow we go to the Proton Center for Blake's simulation. I am very anxious to see how this is all going to work. I want to say thank you for all your support. We are doing well, just a little homesick. My family in Houston is taking great care of us. We are VERY lucky to have them here while we are going through this treatment. Blake has a 'home' to come back to after treatments. So I feel very blessed. It still amazes me that through all of this-things just have a way of working out. We truly have AMAZING supporters helping us through each chapter of Blakes treatments. God is good!! Ok so I will be on soon-to update you on how day 1 goes. Love you all!!