ALL CLEAR!

Scans look good! So the next step is to talk to his surgeon who will look laproscopically at his abdomen for any out growth of cells. If nothing is there, he goes on with life as normal (until his next scan in 3 months). If they do find anything, he'll have surgery to remove it. Either way we have a plan and I think we are both optimistic that he will be cancer free! Thanks to everyone for their positive thoughts and prayers!

Whoo hoo!

Colon is clear! Just waiting to hear about the rest of Shaun's tests.

Updates

Sorry about the lack of posts, I blame my boss, oh and P90X. Shaun and I have started exercising after Bryce goes to bed so that cuts into my blog/aimless internet search time.

Some things to update everyone on. We will be moving!! The Dunns offered to let us live with them in their new house that they will close on in July. Its right by Lake Arlington with a park literally in the back yard. Its an amazing house and we are excited to have some room for Bryce to run around and someone for him to play with (Eliot!!). More on that as it develops. Here's the link to the house.

http://www.redfin.com/IL/Arlington-Hts/2020-N-Oak-Wood-Dr-60004/home/13848680

Bryce is doing great!!! He loves to point out objects he knows then make corresponding noises. So the elephant goes "Eee", dog says "woof", monkey is a "boo", chickens (actually all birds right now) say "bock", cars go "vroom", the list goes on and on. Not sure when he learns the real words for things, but for now, its super cute. I smile every time he goes "Eeee".

Shaun is doing well too. He's keeping busy studying for the bar exam, helping out around the apartment and watching Bryce quite a bit. I'm jealous of all the fun they get to have including the zoo, the Shedd aquarium and the botanic garden. Shaun's scans and check ups will be next week, so keep your fingers crossed the chemo worked.

In my world, things are busy and there isn't enough time for everything. But, I'm managing. I submitted another grant this week, presented a poster (Shaun calls it my 3rd grade science project poster) and even did some experiments. So hopefully things will settle down soon.

I think Shaun should be in charge of the uploading of pictures from now on onto the blog, but we'll see if that happens. Anyways, have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Eh, Shaun's off the hook this time, Amy sent me some pictures of Bryce playing in the backyard.

March Madness

In spirit of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, we've been working with Bryce and his basketball skills. If you recall from an earlier post, Bryce had an affinity for his basketball even at a very young age. Shaun has been working with him and Bryce can now bounce and chest pass it. He doesn't quite get dribbling yet (its hard in the apartment with carpet) but he likes to throw the ball down. You can tell he likes it based on his squeals of delight. So you might want to turn your volume down a little for the video.

Shaun has been enjoying having a regular schedule again and not being out of commission every other week. He's getting a lot of work done and even rearranged the apartment. His scans will be in early to mid April, so we get to enjoy a few weeks of normalcy.

I apologize for not posting much this month, I'll try to do better. But this one is pretty cute of Bryce playing with his basketball while Woody tries desperately to get our attention. PS Woody was not hurt in the making of this video, it just looks like Bryce throws the ball at his head.

Sorry I can't seem to get the video to load. I've had this written for awhile so I'll just post it and try again later with the video. Sorry

A little wobbly, but getting much better

Bryce has been walking a lot more lately. I think his record is 20 steps and he likes to do laps around the chairs in our living room. He likes to have toys or food in each hand while he moves around which only poses a problem when he falls. Luckly, he is fairly coordinated and runs to something to grab on to instead of falling down.

Also this week, Shaun had his next to last treatment. He is now only on 1 of the 3 drugs he started with. I guess there is no proven differene between 8 treatments versus 12 with the other drugs, so eliminating them at this point shouldn't matter. I think he is looking forward to eating lots of ice cream, milkshakes and chocolate to celebrate being done with chemo. Maybe we should do something to celebrate his last treatment. Any suggestions?

Long and Lean

Bryce had his 1 year check up today. He is doing great! As expected, he is between the 75 and 90th percentile in height and 40th in weight. So it appears he inherited his Dad's metabolism and body style, long and lean. I've never heard a doctor say "eat more meat and fat" but that was her advice to keep him from getting too skinny. Who would have guessed a doctor would actually recommend burgers, chicken nuggets and french fries, man its nice to be a skinny kid!

Springfield, IL

Valentine's weekend was our first weekend in awhile that we stayed at home and did nothing . But we are back to traveling every week with a trip to Springfield, IL. There, we visited my sister Amy, her husband Dan, and Shaun's college friend Ravi and his family. It was a quick visit, but Bryce got to meet Ravi and Jen's 10 month old daughter, Naya. Shaun got to reminisce about the great times Ravi and he had in college sitting outside the dorm, giving everyone who walked by silly nick-names. I guess since they don't drink, the stories were fairly tame. It was passed Bryce's bedtime so he was getting kinda fussy. Luckily, Uncle Dan came to the rescue and took him home for us so we could visit longer. Dan did a great job putting Bryce to bed, he even changed his diaper! Other than Dan's insistence on Bryce learning "french fry" while fist bumping, he was a perfect uncle. Thanks Amy and Dan for the hospitality, sorry I got you sick :(
Last week was also a treatment week, #10 of 12. So Shaun is almost done, only 1 more month! He's been doing remarkably well tolerating the fatigue and stomach ache (or at least not complaining about them). We worry about his neuropathy now that it is spreading to his hands. He hasn't felt his toes in months and now his fingertips are going numb. The nurse seems to think feeling will come back, but we will try to be proactive in preventing any further spread by reducing his dosage. Only 2 more to go, can't cause too much more damage, right?
And in cute Bryce news, he can now identify farm animals by name and repeat several of the noises. He also started walking across the room, unassisted.