2 down...1 to go
or
26.2 down..13.1 to go!!!

What an amazing weekend.

"Eli's Team" met again in Myrtle Beach to walk the 1/2 Marathon in Honor of Eli and all those with blood cancers. This year I walked with the names Eli, Kinsey, Abbie, and Cliff on the back of my shirt...walking in these little ones honors.

Friday night found our entire family at the pasta dinner for LLS. Since Eli is the honored hero for the season they asked me to speak...and as I prepared and actually gave the talk "Eli's Story" it hit me just how much we have come through...and all of the people in our lives that have made this incredibly difficult journey bearable. As I showed pictures of my bald, skinny boy in 2007 and the robust boy of 2008 and then there he was looking the picture of health. Boy, we were there and here we are now. We have so much to be thankful for.

Saturday morning 5am came really fast as we left the beach house (thank you to Margaret and Jolly for that) and went to the start of the 1/2. We only had 15 women this year..there were some new folks and some that had walked it last year as well. We even had a couple from Rome, GA who ran it in amazing time!! Although the group was different, it was still a great time. It was definitely a "sophomore" year in this 3 year commitment. Last year all of us were training much more. Partly because of fear of the walk. For me, last year was a therapy of sorts...I was going through so much I could do nothing about that walking for hours talking to my friends was a wonderful way of dealing. I didn't need that as much this year, life has gotten back to normal and things have gotten busy again. We took some walks, but not too much. But we all made it...13.1 miles!! Now I am looking forward to next year, the final walk, and the "beginning of the end" of this for us. The walk will again be in Feb, and we go off treatment in April...wooohhoooo!!

From then on, it was a girls weekend (although all of the girls were at that point walking like 90 year old women!!) What a joy!! As someone said, what a great group of women..to which I responded...yes, I do make good friends....I am very, very fortunate to have such a supportive group of women in my life, and I know that!!!

In all, I think we will come to about $5000 raised for LLS in the walk!! Yea!!

And that was my great weekend. Next year, same place, about the same time!!

Thanks for checking in.

Maria

I am thankful for my friends and that I was able to complete the 13.1 miles !!

OK I know I have been horribly slack...but luckily everything here has been going really well.

Thursday was procedure day and quite the marathon. We got there at 7:45 and didn't leave until a little after 5pm. There was a mixup with the chemo, so the procedure was delayed and he had to get IVIG after that which is a blood product and takes about 3 hours to infuse. It still amazes me what a trooper Eli is throughout all of this. He was perfectly content the entire time except around 12:30 when he was sooooo hungry and thirsty and just had to fuss about it...which I understood completely because I was hungry and thirsty too :) His blood counts were great:

Hemoglobin 11.8 (normal)
Platelet 178 (normal)
ANC 3800 (normal)

Again, having his ANC so high right now during flu and strep season suits me just fine, but we may have to increase chemo dosage again if it continues to trend up like this.

Our great Nurse Practioner, Lori, let me know our "D Date" for next year.......April 25, 2010....so everyone put that on your calendars. There will be a HUGE party around this date to celebrate our going off treatment. I know it may seem far, but to me it seems so close. When we get to 1 year and counting we will be ecstatic...I dream of days without meds...

Eli has now started our fun steroid pulse. His mood hasn't gotten worse yet, but the appetite is kicking in...he really wants to eat constantly. I think he may also be growing to boot....

One week from today, on Feb. 14th we will be walking our half marathon for Team in Training. I am looking forward to it, but I really haven't been training so I fear I will be really, really sore after....We have a group of about 17 women again and we will be staying at the beach for the weekend. Pray for us please :) I will definitely check in after and post pics and let you know how it went.

Thanks for checking in.

Maria

I am thankful that our friend, Abby, was released from the hospital so quickly after her pnuemonia...it is a very scary thing for these kids and she came through like a champ!!!!