Excellent start to 2010!

Happy New Year! We are only a few days into the new year but I think its going to be a good one. Things are definitely looking up. Shaun had his scans yesterday to look for any out growth of cells and they were totally CLEAR!! This is excellent news. It means between his surgeon physically removing the tumors and the chemo attacking any remaining cells, nothing has been able to grow out. Yay!! The doctor was also impressed with how his body is tolerating the chemo. Most other patients have to drop down the dosage by now due to the side effects, especially the neuropathy. Luckily, Shaun's side effects have been tolerable and he is able to maintain maximum killing dosage! It is so cold here, especially this week, so I hope the neuropathy doesn't get worse (cold triggers it). So 2010 has already brought us some hope.

In other news, we've had a lot of fun visiting friends and family over the break including a trip to Bloomington to see an IU basketball game. We also went to Amy and Dan's house where our competetive spirits came out for a Gingerbread House decorating competition! You can vote for your favorite house on their blog.... http://lundfamilyfun.blogspot.com/ I can't tell you which one is ours, but I can say Shaun and I are in the lead! please continue to vote for us....Shaun has cancer, he deserves your vote!

More pictures and fun stories of Bryce to come. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

For those of you new to our blog, WELCOME and Merry Christmas! Shaun and I like to post fun things going on in our lives, cute photos and videos of Bryce and updates on Shaun's treatments. Feel free to scroll through older posts to see Bryce progress over time as well as short explanations of Shaun's treatments and common side effects. Today is his 6th chemo treatment, half way done!! He will be unhooked on Wed and most side effects should wear off by Christmas day. We are waiting to hear when his next scans will be, but hopefully soon. The scans are to monitor and detect any outgrowth, so hopefully they will be clear. But if not, we will be as aggressive as possible to get rid of any cancer.

This past week we had a lot of fun. Bryce got his first haircut (thanks to his dad and grandma!). Shaun and I had a date night Friday to go see Jerry Seinfeld's standup act in South Bend, IN. And yesterday we took Bryce to see the animals and lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo lights with the Dunns. So its been an active couple of days, but a lot of fun. Only a couple more days of work before Christmas and some time off.

Look for pictures of the haircut and lights later on tonight. Oh and Bryce is becoming quite the kisser, check out the video.

Time for a new video

Its been a little while since we've posted any videos of Bryce. We took several in November, but they are mostly close ups of Bryce talking/standing or walking (with help). So here is one of Bryce dancing. The toy (if you can call it that since it is so much cooler than any toy I've seen before) is from Kayci and Sarah and Bryce loves it. The video was taken before he could pull up to stand at it, but now he prefers to stand and dance as the music plays.

Things to be Thankful for

This week was a great reminder of what we are thankful for. It was the 4th treatment for Shaun so 2 months down, 4 to go. So thankfully, chemo is 1/3 of the way over and hopefully it is doing what it needs to to rid Shaun of all the cancer cells. Ok, so we aren't really thankful for needing chemo and Shaun having cancer, but it has given us daily reminders of how wonderful our friends and family are. Last week Shaun's friend Jeremiah visited, just because he was off of work. And one of Shaun's favorite students, from back in Birmingham, stayed with us while he competed in a debate tournament. I think the tournament was just a convenient excuse for this student to hang out with Mr. T. My friends have been great too. A couple of my high school friends have contacted me to show their support and Kim from Birmingham is even taking me out to a movie tomorrow while she is in town visiting family. Then there are our families. We are so incredibly lucky to have such supportive parents who will do anything to make our lives easier. For instance, my parents have been watching Bryce during the day while I'm at work. Bryce spends a lot of time over at their house and now that he is mobile, he can be quite a handful. But they are amazing with him and take wonderful care of him, and always with a smile (and dinner too!) We are so very thankful for everyone who has jumped in to lend a helping hand and those who bring normalcy to our lives to help us forget about cancer, if just for a little while. Happy Thanksgiving.

Photo Shoot

Here is the link to see the rest of the photos from our photo shoot with Christy. Click on website then proofing. The password is Thal. Let me know which ones you like!

www.LangheimPhoto.com

Brian and Caryn got married!!

Sorry this post is a little late, but once again we have a lot of updates. First off, CONGRATULATIONS to my brother and new sister-in-law for tying the knot last weekend. They had amazing weather (who's ever heard of high 60s and sunny in November?) and everything was just beautiful. Welcome to the family Caryn!

While we were in Madison for the wedding, we also met up with a friend of mine from high school. Facebook brought my former spanish partner and I back together and I am so glad for it. Christy is now a professional photographer and she was nice enough to squeeze in a photo shoot for us. Bryce was adorable, as always, but he also showed a lot of personality. At one point he was crawling away from the camera in a pile of leaves and he looked back with his butt up in the air. It reminded me of that picture of George Castanza on Seinfeld in his underwear. Priceless. Here is a link to Christy's blog where she posted some of the photos. A link with all of them will come soon. http://blog.langheimphoto.com/ For anyone looking for holiday photos or family photos I highly recommend her, Christy is AMAZING. Strong, smart, talented, beautiful in and out- she really is amazing.

In other news, Shaun had his third chemo treatment this week. I think he is starting to get used to things but still doesn't like missing out on ~4days a week due to being so tired. He also has neuropathy which causes all kinds of problems like hand/foot cramps, face pain when taking a bite, twitching of leg muscles and occassionally he loses feeling in his hands. Luckily, none of the symptoms last very long, but they are annoying to say the least.

This weekend we decided to take it easy since we've been doing so much traveling of late. So we had a wonderful day with the Dunns! We went to brunch then the Mt. Prospect library. I haven't been there in probably 20 years! Thankfully they have updated it since I was little. Now it has a great area for kids to play with toys, puppets, and books all for free! It also had a lot of room for Bryce to crawl around, so he liked that. Bryce and Eliot are becoming good friends and even shared a sweet moment of holding hands. Shaun and I both hope they will grow up together and be as close as Shaun and Chris.

The Cutest Dragon Ever!

Well I apologize that I don't have more pictures from this past weekend. My camera was uncooperative :( I did get one picture of Bryce in his costume though and I think he looks pretty cute. Shaun and I had a great time hanging out with Jeremiah and Elaine at their family's annual bash. Costumes were mandatory so Shaun and I both dressed up. Shaun made a great looking Jesus and I was a 50s housewife. Didn't quite work out to have a family theme, maybe next year. If I get pictures from Heather or Elaine from this weekend, I'll post the scary pictures of Shaun and his Jesus wig. Shaun also got to enjoy watching the 49ers play the Colts with his dad, Jeremiah and Elaine. The Colts won, despite Shaun and Jeremiah cheering against them, but since Payton Manning didn't throw any touchdowns, they considered it a good game. Next weekend is my brother Brian's wedding. Will Bryce wear a tux? You'll have to check back next week to find out.