This has been an amazing week in our family!!

ELI IS FINISHED WITH CHEMOTHERAPY!!


On Sunday, we had our family over to watch Eli take his last pills and celebrate with us. I got a little weepy when I thought about the past years, everything he has been through, and that we are really finished.

Monday we pulled the boys out of school and went to the clinic to "Ring the bell". I realized when my dad said, "what?" that many folks did not know what I meant by this. At the oncology clinic there is a bell on the wall. No one plays with the bell...and everyone sees it each time you are there for treatment. To me, it was always a symbol of where we would be "oneday". When a child is finished with treatment he or she gets to ring the bell three times with the docs and nurses surrounding him and cheering him on. It was amazing!! I have included some pictures.

I am continuously reminded of how many people have been praying for our family and how many folks have helped us along this journey. I can only say THANK YOU!! We have come through the other side, and it feels great. The strength that God has given us has been tremendous...and much of that strength has come from all of you. Our prayers have been answered....God is sooo good. Our family is stronger as a result of this, and our faith has grown so much.

We will still have follow up appointments and what not, but no more meds!! Eli will not be officially "cured" until he is close to 18 years...he is considered to be in remission now, then in five years we will be cancer free, only 10 years later is he considered "cured".

Our big celebration will be on May 29 here on Daniel Island. I will be sending out evites and inviting Christ Church as a whole. If somehow you are reading this and you haven't "officially" gotten an invite, please know you are now invited. There have been so many of you helping and praying along the way that I am bound to miss a couple, so please accept my apology in advance, and please come celebrate with us!!!

Rejoicing,

Maria

Well, we had to have one last "Hurrah" now didn't we?? After being out of the hospital for over 2 years, we were admitted for fever and low blood counts on Sunday evening. Eli's hemoglobin and platelets had come down quite a bit (something else that hasn't happened since he was on maintainance) which had me quite worried. On Monday we were thinking if the counts weren't up he would need a blood transfusion on Tuesday....well, on Tuesday everything had gone up!! Yea!! Unfortunately, we had to wait until 4pm and be fever free to be released. All morning, no fever. All afternoon, no fever. Then at 4pm....101 degrees!! Ugggggggg!! So we stayed.

Yesterday his counts continued to rebound, and the oncologist said with the blood counts he has now we could go home. We got his IVIG transfusion and left the hospital around 7:30pm...and as we were walking down the hallway going to the parking garage, Eli turns to me and says, "That was fun!"...AMAZING!! Sure, if you call being stuck in a tiny room for 72hours fun, that was a blast....but it sure does give me perspective. Yes, we were in the hospital, but he wasn't hurting or extrememly sick. It was an incovenience, and that is an amazing blessing!!

We did get to visit with all of the nurses that we haven't seen in such a long time. Funny, I used to be terrified of hospitals and now it feels like a homecoming. I enjoyed that part of it. Such an amazing place with incredibly dedicated people working with these kids!!

Eli's teachers and class were great. Miss Ann came and brought the most amazing balloons that everyone commented on and the class made a book for him and some signs from the school. He was delighted to look and them and talk about all of his friends. His "girlfriend" Adelyn even called and chatted while we were there!!

My parents really helped out this week. John has already begun work in Tampa and that means I am flying solo. My mom stayed with the boys during the evening and my wonderful friends here kept them in the afternoon. But it is great to be home.

Since his counts dropped so low, we will be working our way back up to the dose of chemo that he was on. This means that we should be able to enjoy high counts for a month or so while we get things straight. I don't think I mind this at all at this point.

Thanks for checking in. Hopefully things won't be this exciting again any time soon.

Maria

Again I am sooooo thankful for my amazing support system that I have here.

I am still raising money for our LAST walk for Team in Training!! Please, please give!! http://pages.teamintraining.org/sc/myrtle10/elisteam

Thanks!!

OK, I know that I have been super, super slack....but we have had lots going on around here (all good!!)

Christmas was a blast, and our trip to Orlando was amazing. I really think that I had forgotten what it was like to go on a long vacation like that with the boys. We have taken a weekend, here or there, but this was SOOO exciting for everyone. And we did it ALL!

We stayed at Give the Kids The World, a resort near Disney that is only for Make a Wish kids. We had a condo with two bedrooms and a full sized kitchen that was decked out for Christmas with 4 trees and all of the pictures on the walls were wrapped to look like presents. This place was special, and the staff was great. There is an ice cream parlor that is open daily from 8am-9:30pm, so we broke the Crowley world record and had ice cream EVERY DAY!! One day I even offered a banana split for breakfast, but the boys didn't want to give up the amazing waffles that they serve for breakfast!!

We had one day at SeaWorld were we got to get up close with the dolphins and fed them, two days at Universal and Islands of Adventure where we rode Men In Black 4 times and ET twice and Jake and John went on the "Hulk" roller coaster that look soo scary. Three days were for Disney, and we did all four parks. Epcot was surprisingly the favorite, but I think it was because we rode Test Track multiple times. The boys did the "pirate adventure" and got made up like pirates and we rode Pirates of the Carribean twice. And Eli got a one on one with the power rangers!! I have never seen that child without words, but he just grinned the entire time.

Every day we opened the park we were going to, and we didn't get home until 8 that night. The boys loved the magic light parade at Magic Kingdom and the lights on the castle were amazing. We ate out at all of the boys picks, from NBA Cafe, T-Rex, Rainforest Cafe, and Mythos in Universal. All very cool places!! I am attaching some pics, but I can only say that it really was a trip of a lifetime.....and the boys so deserved it after the past three years..especially Eli.

Now we are looking to April 25 and end of treatment....we are in 2010, a year that I have been so waiting for I cannot stand it. On Thursday Eli had his next to the last lumbar puncture and we were all chatting about it. Kinda reminiscing about how little Eli was when he first came in, really still a baby. And here he is a little boy now...wow. Our nurse practicioner, Lori, said that they can do his bone marrow biopsy in April when they do the last LP so he won't have to come in for another procedure. It really isn't required anymore for whatever reason, but she knows me and knows that I want that final reassurance before stopping the meds.

May 15 is our PARTY date, so everyone put it on the calendar. No details yet, but plan on it!!

On another exciting note, John has taken a job in Tampa, Florida, that will take our family away from Charleston. We have always known that our stay in Charleston would not be forever...but I do know that God's hand was in all of this. I could not have been placed in a better place or with better friends, caregivers,(and family) as I was during a most difficult time in our family's lives. Leaving before now would have been impossible for me, and now it is easier. The timing could not have been more perfect, as His always is. Now I have the fun task of getting the house ready to sell (please pray) and keeping it clean with my three swamp rats all day...uggg!!

Thanks for checking in...and for the prayers. Keep 'em coming, we are in the home stretch!!

Maria

Please also pray for those in Haiti. Dad has heard from the leadership there that there is near total devestation....