Wow, I knew it had been a long time since I posted but didn't realize mid-June was my last blog. Time sure does fly by when it's sunny and warm in Winnipeg. Here's a quick update on Dane's journey the past little while ...
The countdown to the end is kicking into high gear. We are now less than nine months until his treatments are finished. One real positive of such a gap in between posts is the time seems to tick away quicker. We are down to one more birthday, one more school year and one more hockey season until he is finished chemo hopefully forever. The planning for the big celebration is really going to have to ramp up come the fall. We will be busy but it's an event we can't wait to have because it will signal the end of his 3.5 year cancer treatment.
Dane has been feeling really well the past six weeks. We had a "rough" patch in late-June early July when a virus hit him and combined with his chemotherapy obliterated his infection fighting neutrophil cells. The upside for him was he felt good because his daily chemo meds were suspended until the counts rebounded in mid-July. The downside was he was living with a mom & dad (particularly mom) who was very stressed out for several weeks. Although intuitively I knew his leukemia wasn't back, it didn't take away the panic when I saw blood cell counts that were as low as they had ever been, even compared to the very early days of his diagnosis. We generally only go to the clinic every 28 days, but because of the counts were there every week for five weeks straight. It was brutal and on one visit when told his neutrophils were so low they could only be read manually, I lost it - tears and all. I was reassured by the head pediatric oncologist he was "ok", however I didn't "de-stress" until his numbers rebounded. They are much better now and tomorrow is his monthly chemo. We had it moved a few days this week because he and Ashley are both in hockey camps and we didn't want him to get "whacked" with drugs that sap his energy.
Aside from this health blip, the summer has been fantastic! Ashley and I did our mother/daughter trip in early July with friends and it was excellent. We have been spending a lot of time at the cottage in Ontario and the kids have been having a great time with friends, tubing and particularly water-skiing. Last week we were off work but in Winnipeg and very involved in the annual Believe in the Goal golf tourney & hockey game. It was tiring but rewarding and a ton of fun. We wrapped up our vacation with a couple of days at Lake Wpg - Grand & Victoria Beach. The kids don't experience "beach" life too often so it was great.
We are prepping for the return to fall and the busy days & nights of hockey and ringette. Dirk and I are heading back to Las Vegas for a few days in September - we are looking forward to that "R&R" time. Clare is fantastic - so full of personality. She talks all the time - can't imagine where she inherited that trait from!?!? I've attached a picture of the three of them taken by a photog in June.
We hope all is well with you and your family. Until next time - take care, Janie & Dirk
