"We Remember Him"

Sept 29 - Always a tough day for the Kidd/Hantscher families. Eleven years ago yesterday our first child - Cole Andrew - was born at HSC. As we have done every year since 1999, we honoured his special day with a picnic dinner at St. Vital Park and a picture of the kids at a spot close to where Dirk and I took him one warm fall day. Every year is different - last year was particularly tough because it was his 10th birthday and Dane was fixated on the older brother he never got to meet. This year the kids were more pre-occupied and I think had both decided they "didn't want to cry" over Cole quite so much as in the past. I think yesterday was tougher for Dirk because of Dane's health issues - it's hard not to be sad when you are reflecting on one loss in the midst of a serious health issue of another child. The bright spot seemed to be Ms. Clare - Ashley and Dane think she is the best and were delighted to have their baby sister in the annual photo. I think it's a tender shot of the three siblings.

On a more upbeat note, Sept 29 was a rewarding day for both Ashley and Dane. Our Ms. Ashley has turned into quite the little runner and in two cross country meets has placed an impressive 14th (Sept 22) and 8th (Sept 29) out of about 100 grade four girls. She definitely has the build to be a runner - those legs of hers are mighty long (takes after her dad). Yesterday Dane received the email he had been waiting for - he was successful in his attempt to play 8A1 hockey this season. Not too bad for a kid who has been battling the fight of his life the past 9 months! Every ice time he gets stronger and faster and we anticipate this will continue. More importantly is he is ecstatic about the game again. We are seeing a level of enthusiasm we have not witnessed since November 2008 and it is wonderful. Dirk is going to be broke though as many new pieces of equipment were required to start the season. Both kids are now gung-ho to get fancy new hockey and ringette sticks and I told them I wasn't going to be left behind so it will be my turn next!

In terms of Dane's treatment, I don't really have any news to report today. He has not been at the Clinic or Children's Hospital since September 16. We were scheduled to go yesterday, however I have been fighting a wicked cold/virus since last week. To avoid passing my germs onto any of the kids, our appt has been rescheduled to Friday. So far he has been handling the various meds really well. I don't even have one "roid" induced story to share for this month and I'm hopeful this will become the norm for months to come. As much as we all enjoy the humour of his food cravings, the emotional roller-coaster that accompanies "dex" (dexamethasone) is not pretty. So thus far, Maintenance is a much better world than the intense phases of the past eight months.

Until next time, take care ... Janie and Dirk