Tom's Best Day Ever

We had an awesome day yesterday.
We have been having a lot of fun with Chris and Elizabeth and Adrian, Ellen and Nathan, Tom's brother and his family from Edmonton. They arrived on Monday and we have spent every afternoon and a couple of evenings with them. Yesterday we went to Granville Island and spent a while in the Kid's Market and while we were there Tom had the single best moment of his life.




Yes, we met Ryan Smyth at Granville Island. I saw him first, but didn't have the guts to say anything to him, all I could do was text Elizabeth "Ryan Smyth just walked by me" (How lame is that???) Thankfully she saw him and said, "Ryan?" and then they had a little chat (..... a chat with RYAN SMYTH!!!!!!) and he asked, "So, what brings you to Vancouver?" So she told him all about Noah while someone went to find him and Tom. Tom asked him if he would still sign Edmonton Oilers stuff and he said, "sure, once an Oiler, always an Oiler!" So he signed Noah's Oilers hat.
Nathan, that hat was already Noah's prized possession, but even more so now! Thanks! We may have to get him another one that he can wear so he can save that one.
That was so cool. I have never seen Tom so excited....

From Alyson's perspective:

I like RMH because it is HUGE! (Alyson typed that sentence by herself) They have lots of movies like Princess Diaries, The Little Mermaid, Ice Age, and we can do lots of crafts here, too. I think Vancouver is cool. It is also HUGE! We have been doing lots of fun things since we got here. We even went to the hospital to see the HUGE playroom and where Noah was while we were at home. We saw the clinic and the pneumatic tube thingy they have there. Dr. Davis was telling Noah that if it was bigger we could send HIM up in it!

Stacey here again:
We have had a busy weekend and week so far! On Friday we went to the clinic and did the blood work and chemo thing. Noah gained 10 lbs in one week!! He is quite anemic and we could tell - his heart rate was way up and he is very pale but he was at 84 and they normally do transfusions around 80, but the Dr. thought he looked ok and he was actually up from the last test, which means he is starting to make his own again, which is positive. His platelets were also up, which is great. Anyway, they decided not to do the transfusion. We were also expecting to meet with the doctor so we could find out what April looks like, but it was not to be.... :(
That is actually what I have really been struggling with, the not knowing... it is a good exercise for me. I was telling someone a while ago, that as a mom, this is the one of the more difficult parts of all of this- not being able to plan anything. I have absolutely no idea what April looks like, and I am so used to having a fairly concrete plan for what activities or sports ( or whatever ) we are going to be involved in and managing all of that, so it is hard for me just to rest and trust that God is doing all of that for me and I just have to have patience and, like I said, rest. It is not easy, as you can probably imagine.
Our Doctor, Dr. Davis, was away, so we met with Dr. Lucy, who does the bone marrow biopsies and Lumbar punctures. We did find out that there is a week break in Noah's treatment and so it looks like - if everything goes well and Noah doesn't get sick- we can go home for a few days!!!!! Yay!!! We will need to go back to the clinic on Friday for his chemo, his final bone marrow and LP of this phase (possibly the last bone marrow he will need - ever) and then we can check out of here and start driving home.
While we are home, they will send the bone marrow away for a test and that will determine what the next months look like. What we have been told by another parent is that the next protocol may entail 4 days on, 4 days off for a while (not sure how many days). We would need to go to clinic four days in a row for chemo and then not for the next 4 days, and so on, and so on....

On Saturday we went to Abbotsford to visit Uncle Ken and Auntie Helene, and some people went swimming while others went shopping for the afternoon. Alyson and Miranda had a hoot with Hannah Jo and Tom and Uncle Ken at the pool. Emily wanted to spend her birthday money so we went shopping, first to Costco, then to Replay, a skate shop in Abbotsford. She has been wanting a longboard since we went camping with the Wimbushes last summer so she splurged and got one - now that we think about it more, we think it is exactly like yours, Josh! It is pretty awesome and she is super excited about it.
On Sunday we went to Lynn Canyon, where there is a suspension bridge and some nice trails by a creek and waterfalls. Noah and I stayed behind and relaxed and took it slow with Auntie Helene and Hannah Jo while everyone else trekked up the stairs and hiked all over the place. (Allie only fell in the water 3 times... pretty good, only her feet and ankles really got wet - I was actually expecting her to get a full soaking, lol) It was very beautiful and relaxing and reminded us of home, to sit by a creek and throw rocks in the water. I AM SO EXCITED TO GO HOME!!!!!! (please Lord, let us go home....)
Also on Sunday Tom's brother Chris arrived with his family from Edmonton to visit with us this week. Our kids have had so much fun together, but it has been different; Noah is noticeably tired and can't do things like run or even hurry across the street - his heart starts to pound out of his chest! What a different boy... can't wait to have my Noah back......

Today was a pretty chill day. Not a lot to report. Noah is up and he's down, he's in and he's out. We had friends from Smithers drop by lots this week. We had Ron and Janna, Janneke and Tammo and family and the Ripmeester clan. Also, Uncle David and Jaden stopped in for a couple of days. Whew it has been a busy week. All visits were greatly appreciated as it is more proof that we are loved and people are concerned. Noah had a good day, a relaxing day, but is noticing as are all of us that he can only take about one or two hours of activity/visiting before he turns completely white and the corners of his mouth turn downwards, he begins to droop.... physically. These are fairly obvious signs that he has had it. He struggles with health, but as we can usually say; it could be worse. We are very thankful that his blasts are down.
May God grant Noah and I strength as tomorrow is another clinic day. Noah is pretty perky right now, he was giggling at a lot of my stupid jokes, so things are definitely looking up.

Hallelujah!!! We just got a call from the doctor - the blast cells are at 14% !!!!!!! Thank you Lord!
We are off to the Aquarium with David and Jaden (my brother and nephew) Have a good day!

Layin' Low

This weekend we didn't do a whole lot; it was really nice to relax and lay low. Yesterday Noah and I went to Oakridge Mall for a while and then came back to RMH to watch a movie. We were snuggled up on the bed when our room phone rang to annouce surprise visitors. It was John and Aleeda Vis, bearing homework!!! Yay! Noah is enjoying the SpongeBob typing tutor; he was quite excited about that. There are 3 novel studies, a grammar book, a writing book, some math games - lots to keep his brain busy! Thanks!
Today I really wanted to go to church so we decided to check out Vancouver 1st CRC, where my 2nd cousin Trevor and his wife Julia are the pastors. I am so glad we did! It is going to be a nice "home" for us while we are here. It is such a small world, though, one of Noah's doctors was there as well as a nurse from the ward! It was great to see them and discuss with them what is appropriate for us to be doing, eg, it is ok for us to go to church, but don't sit close to anyone and definitely no hand-shaking! Coffee afterward is also out, but that is fine; it was just nice to be there and to SING. It is crazy how after only 2 1/2 weeks that I would miss singing that much.... I just gotta get some good songs on my iphone and wail away!
Another person we met at church was Tom's dad's cousin, Alyce Stolte-Vaughan. She knew from her other Stolte relatives that we were here, but didn't know how to contact us. Then we showed up at church! It was funny, and she is excited to meet Tom sometime. Crazy.

This afternoon Uncle Ken and Auntie Helene and Hannah Jo came and we went for a walk on Kits Beach, where we turned over rocks and looked for little crabs, and picked up shells etc. It was nice but very windy. After that we drove around a bit, looking for a place to eat supper. We decided on White Spot and had a wonderful supper out!

Noah has just come back from his bedtime snack, yogurt and granola. He is so funny, he just goes down to the kitchen and walks around tapping his fingers on the counter, trying to decide what to eat. Hmmmm.... He is getting a bit of flak from the Night Manager for eating such healthy food all the time, lol. His cheeks (and his tummy) are starting to get a bit puffy, which is a side effect of the Prednisone, so he looks like he is gaining weight, but I am not sure that is true. On Friday he weighed 31.5 kg, which is 100g less than what he weighed when we arrived on March 4, but 100 g more than his weight on Wednesday, so that is positive. Apparently it is good to encourage him to eat as much as possible now because the next round of treatment will make him feel bad and he won't want to eat anything. He was already so thin - I hope he gains a lot the next couple of weeks, just not all in his belly and cheeks, ; )
Today we have also been playing some new games suggested by Jeff Anderson (and Mel) from the Appstore on my phone and Noah's ipod. Cat Physics and Urban Ninja are his new faves. (free for a limited time....) Very cool and challenging; a good time waster for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is another clinic day, hopefully just blood work, but they did warn us there may be platelets as well. With platelets there will always be Benedryl, because he had that allergic reaction the first time, so if he gets them, he will be tired when Tom and the girls arrive. The good thing about a platelet transfusion is that it only takes an hour, not three, like blood!
Tom and Emily, Miranda and Alyson left Smithers today at around noon and thought they would get as far as Williams Lake tonight, and drive the rest of the way tomorrow. We can't wait!

Whew!

Today was a clinic day, which is a day where we go to the hospital and go straight into the Oncology/Hematology outpatient clinic, not to the ward, where we were before. Since Noah had blood work on Wednesday, I knew that as well as his regularly scheduled Chemotherapy, he would need to have a bone marrow biopsy to check up on the percentage of blast cells (or as Laura Hols said today, those"blasted blast cells", lol) and since he was very anemic, some blood. (Yesterday he was VERY pale and quiet and "unenergetic" - I know, that isn't a word-but not lethargic, I don't really know how to explain it... ) I did not expect this to take seven (yes, 7) hours, however!
We arrived at 9:40 and were shown into a room where they gave him an anti-nausea medication called Ondansetron (Noah thinks that sounds like the name of a bionicle or transformer ) in his IV and put some numbing cream on Noah's back, so he wouldn't feel the poke. This made him nervous because he has previously been under general anesthetic and didn't feel anything. Today he was under conscious sedation, which means not asleep fully, but still not really aware of what is going on. He did just fine, and doesn't remember a thing, which is the goal. So after about 1/2 hour we went into the procedure room, and after he went under, I left to get him food. when I came back he was awake and starving! He hadn't eaten anything since around 9 pm yesterday, so I got him some food. So we sat and waited. and waited. and finally a nurse came and gave him the first chemo drug of the day, Vincristine. That took about an hour, so when that was done, I went back to Second Cup and got him another Egg /english muffin sandwich, and a huge cookie, and then we waited some more. At around 1 the nurse brought his blood in and started that. It takes 3 hours, so we sat in the waiting area and played scrabble and battleship, tried a bunch of different video games, looked at a Guinness book of records, watched part of a movie on his ipod, ate some more, etc. Finally someone put Cars into the DVD player so he watched that until the blood was done.
The waiting area is a big room with a lot of different toys, a kitchen set, games, computers and a big TV. Today I think there were probably 10-12 kids and their parents/ siblings in there either waiting for procedures or getting chemo treatments. Pretty bizarre, all these little kids, some only 2 or so, pulling these IV poles around with them going from activity to activity getting chemotherapy while they play. And parents sitting and talking about their experiences. It feels strange to be making new connections around cancer of all things. Bizarre doesn't quite describe it. It is certainly beyond me....
Then we were brought into a room where a nurse gave the second Chemo drug, daunorubicin, and then she de-accessed him, which he is very pleased about. De-accessing means they pulled the needle with the line attached out of his VAD. Since last Wed, he has had this line attached to his chest, but no more! He now simply has a little bump under his skin, about the size of a thick dime, maybe a little bigger, and when that heals up, no one will know it is there. Very cool. He feels way better now, and he can have a shower without a big sheet of Glad Press n' Seal on his chest. (apparently it works really well for medical purposes, too! Who knew?)
When it was all said and done, it was 4:30, and I suddenly remembered that I had only paid for 2 hrs of parking! I was totally kicking myself; all that sitting around and I didn't remember to go top it up???? Another parent made me feel better, though, he told me that all I have to do is give the ticket to our social worker on Monday when we go back and she will "take care of it". Apparently parking tickets on clinic days don't stick. Sweet. : )
For those of you who have been praying for the numbers to be low, thank you and please continue! We will find out the results next week sometime. Wouldn't it be a testament to the power of God and the power of prayer if those "blasted blast cells" were close to 5%? I am praying it with every breath...
So yeah, a lot happened, but yet it felt like a lot of sitting around! I suppose this is what we will be doing for the next 5-8 months - spending a lot of time sitting in the clinic! A strange new reality.
Noah is getting tired of movies and video games, and is ready to do some school work! Aleeda is bringing a novel study when she comes and Tom is bringing his Math book. He is actually excited about this and I am glad.
The thing we are most excited about is that Tom and Emily, Miranda and Alyson are coming down here soon, arriving on Monday. Neither of us can wait!

March 16, 2011 (and please pray.....)

*disclaimer -all of the italicized words have no special meaning, it is all totally random, courtesy of Noah :0)

We have been enjoying our time here at Ronald McDonald House; it has everything a kid could wish for and more. Video games, a foosball table, a huge flat screen tv and LOTS of movies, and most importantly to Noah, an abundance of food! (Who is this kid??)
We have a small room with a queen sized bed and a mattress on the floor, a sink, a dresser and a closet. We have a small tv with a dvd player as well. On our floor there are 3 large communal bathrooms, a small library, a computer area with a printer and iMac and also a laundry room. There are 7 rooms on this floor. Everyone pitches in to help with keeping the place clean. For example, every time anyone uses the bathroom, we have to disinfect the sink and toilet and dry it off - apparently water droplets are breeding grounds for bacteria, so here there are none! Each room is responsible for one chore a day; today my job was to mop the floors and clean the toilets in the bathrooms on our floor, and yesterday it was vacuuming the carpets and sweeping the floors in the hallway on our floor (Noah did the sweeping part). Everyone helps with everything and it all runs very smoothly.
We have also had some visitors! Yesterday Lynnea Vis came to visit all afternoon, and Rick, Kathleen and Nathan Vandenberg came to visit and were able to stay and partake in our amazing meal last night (!) some of the chefs at the Delta Hotel came and cooked a delicious meal for us - chicken and steak and beautiful salads and veggies and breads.... It was sssoooooo good! AND there were enough leftovers to feed everyone lunch and supper! Noah and Nathan took on Rick and Lynnea in foosball, then Noah and Nathan enjoyed a bit of NHL 06 on the Xbox before supper. It was very nice to see them.
Today the Novakowski family came to visit us all the way from Kamloops! It was great to spend the afternoon with them at the Vancouver Aquarium! We saw a 4D show where they poke you and spray you and blow air on you, etc while you are wearing 3D glasses and watching a movie. It was really neat. Noah loved all the different fish, dolphins and frogs. That place is right up his alley.
We do have a prayer request for all you pray-ers out there:
Noah went to the hospital for blood work today and we received the results of Friday's bone marrow biopsy; it is not going as quickly as they had hoped. When we arrived, Noah's bone marrow was 90% full of Blast cells, (the immature white cells) and on Friday it was still at 68% full. The goal for this month is remission, which means the bone marrow has less than 5% blast cells. (Sometimes kids go from 90-5% in the first week of treatment.) This means that Noah is so far not responding as well as they would like to the treatment, and we need you to pray that he would respond quickly, that the treatment to kill the leukemia cells will be effective.
What this may also mean is that we would need to stay here longer for an "extended induction" phase of treatment, and also that the treatment as a whole (the protocol) would take us down a longer, more aggressive road. We are really hoping that he will respond well enough that we would be able to come home for the first week of April before the next phase begins. He will have another bone marrow biopsy on Friday to check up on it - wouldn't it be amazing if it were at 5%?? I am almost afraid to ask for that! But as my good friend Billie Hoving (Grandma Firefly) always says, "You don't have if you don't ask!" So, please join me in praying that Noah's bone marrow would be less than 5% blast cells... For we know that nothing is impossible with God!
Please also pray that Noah would have peace that God is really working in this situation; when he heard this news this morning he became quite worried that it meant the treatment wasn't working at all. We sat and talked and prayed for a while, discussing what it means to put on your armor everyday - especially "the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one ..." those thoughts and feelings that God can't /won't bring healing, and actually, this evil cancer itself is a flaming arrow but it can and will be extinguished! Thanks be to God!
We have been so overwhelmed by everyone's generosity: we received a cheque from our church from all of your donations to the fund (wow! Thank you!) and the meals and gifts for our family every day are such a blessing! We really appreciate all of your support and don't really know what to say, except "Thank you!".
I especially want to thank Debbie Groot, Teresa Mager and Anne VanderHeyden for the very special way they took care of Emily on her birthday with a cake, and decorations for the chalet and gifts, etc while we were in 100 Mile House. It brought tears to my eyes to witness this love for her when I couldn't be there in the way I wanted to be for her. Thanks also to my Aunt Helene for bringing me there so I could watch her play hockey and spend her 13th birthday with her. Last but not least, thank you to Barb Bandstra who is hosting a birthday party for Emily tomorrow. I hope you all have a lot of fun! (Please take pictures...)

I have been reading the Goertzen family's blog at http://samsconqueringofall-goertzens.blogspot.com and I came across this paragraph that sums up exactly what I have been feeling/thinking about, but could never put into words as eloquently:

"We want to focus our thoughts on God and submit to his plans for Sam {Noah} and our family in all of this, knowing he is carrying us through each moment of every day. We also choose to be thankful, remembering daily all that God has provided, and are awe struck when he surprises us with moments and situations that cannot be attributed to "coincidence." It seems like unexpected acts of kindness come our way every day. He delights us over and over with small and big things that constantly remind us that he loves us so specifically and intimately, as he does you!"

We are really feeling God holding us in His big, awesome and mighty hands....
Good night everyone.
Stacey

Best Day EVER!

So two awesome things happened today...
1. Noah was discharged from the hospital. We had a lengthy meeting with the discharge nurse about all the things I need to know: how to give him his meds; signs of bleeding and how to stop it and what to do if I can't; what to do if he gets a fever; where to go on Wednesday and Friday when we come in for blood work and Chemotherapy and a LOT more. Thankfully we were given a big binder with all that info in it as well, so I don't need to keep it all in the front of my brain.
We arrived at Ronald McDonald House (RMH) and the first thing we had to do was go through a checklist to make sure no one was sick, etc. I was honest and said that Noah has been coughing, (minimally, but it is there) so the person in charge sent us right back to the hospital, to get a note from the doctor saying that he isn't contagious and can be around other immunosuppressed kids. (are you kidding me????) So, back we went, and the doctor was annoyed and wrote us a note.
When we arrived the second time, we were shown around and it is amazing! There is a huge communal kitchen, a big playroom with lots of different activities, video games, craft stuff, toys, etc. And there is also a tv room with lots of movies and a huge tv to watch. This is all in the common area, so if anyone wants to come and visit, you too can take part in all this fun!
2. The second awesome thing was that about 15 minutes after we arrived, during our tour, someone gave us tickets to the Canucks game!!!! Yes, we were at tonight's game, and we had seats 10 row up behind the Canucks bench!!! We were so close. It was very cool. Noah felt torn about cheering for the Canucks at first, but I told him that it is ok to like two teams, and really, you can't go to a game and not cheer for them; the energy is so contagious! I took a lot of photos and I'll put them up along the side so you can see... Oh and it was so weird, the people beside us were from Smithers!!!!! Bev Brooks! I didn't know her, but I did recognize her. It was hilarious!

Also, I think the prednisone is starting to kick in. Noah ate supper (provided by some volunteers from somewhere - it was so so good) very quickly; I guess the incentive was there, we only had about 10 min to eat and go. Around the second period, he started telling me all the different foods he could smell, lol, "Mom, I smell onion rings! ...I smell peanuts!... Oh, those hotdogs smell so good! Can we get one?" So we went in search of Hotdogs during the 2nd intermission and he ate a huge hotdog in about 5 minutes. My boy is hungry. I love it!
Well, I need to get to sleep, I have a busy day of game playing and crafting tomorrow!
ttfn
Stacey

First of all a few very big "thank you"s are in order: first off, to my Uncle Ken and Aunt Helene, who have visited us 3 or 4 times already, sat with Noah so Tom and I could go out for dinner, brought us a pillow and Noah a nice fuzzy blanket for when he was cold, and most of all for driving me to and from 100 Mile House for Emily's hockey tournament this weekend. It was so awesome to go there and see Emily on her birthday, thanks for making that happen!
Next to my dad, who, when my laptop died on Thursday, gave us his. I don't think it was too much of a hardship for him, because he could go and buy himself a new one, (he and I are so alike, lol...) but it really is nice to have a way to connect to the outside world, etc. Thanks, Dad!
Along the same lines, my sisters who decided my cell phone was unacceptable and bought me an iphone (!!!) I was seriously excited to go and pick a phone, any phone I wanted. Thank you.
And to Cyndi McCarthy, Henry and Gerrie Vanderveen and Trevor and Julia Vanderveen for figuring out a way to get us a vehicle to use this week. I know it took a bit of effort, and phoning around, but Noah and I really appreciate it. You guys all have busy lives, so thank you for doing this for us. Thanks to Henry and Gerrie for the use of your car while you are away. I'll take good care of it, I promise! :)
Thank you next to Cindy Hamhuis who was able to get some buddy passes for us to fly back and forth from Smithers on Hawkair. You have helped us immensely! Part of dealing with ALL, besides all the chemotherapy every week or two, is that every time Noah gets a fever, we need to come here to Children's. (I know, crazy, eh?) so that could mean a lot of flights and that has taken some of the stress out of this. So, thanks Cindy!

Now on to the latest news from Noah, "Today has been a very boring day. All I did all day was play video games, watch TV and go to Starbucks for hot chocolate. And my dad went home this morning so we can't even play Need for Speed..." He is feeling fine so he is bored, which is just fine with me! I prefer bored to sick or sad - much easier to deal with! We explored the hospital and found a big book called Horrible Histories that he is totally immersed in right now. He was really funny today, he wanted to type a post on here and change the font, etc. He was typing when he realized, "Argh, Andrew is probably beating me in All the Right Type! I was ahead of him, but now he is probably beating me! " We also realized, sadly, that Noah can't continue in his role in the school play. :( He was cast in the comic role of The Stump in The Tale of the Three Trees. It was perfect for him - he has great comic timing. Oh well, he's kinda busy.
We are mostly just waiting to be discharged to Ronald McDonald House tomorrow. We have to stick around Vancouver because Noah has chemotherapy and possibly Bone Marrow biopsies every Friday, and he needs blood work twice a week and he may even periodically need transfusions. I am curious about RMH; I have heard a lot of very good things about it, so I am excited to get out of here and see it.
Well, Noah and I are going to play a game, probably Battleship, so I will go. Tonight after he goes to sleep, I will post some photos if I can figure it out. I'll post pics from the first day on, and maybe copy some of my facebook posts and notes for those of you who aren't on FB and are curious how the first few days were for us.
TTFN
Stacey

Noah is fast asleep after a long, but good day. I was a little worried about the events of today, as it started with him having a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) and a bone marrow biopsy. Maybe it was the great drugs he was given to start his day or maybe he is finally feeling better, but the day was nothing like what I thought it would be. We had a wonderful day. At about 11:00am when Mom had just left for 100 mile house, the doctor "Svetlana" came in and informed Noah and I that we were free to go. She said he was doing so well and he had just received his Chemo therapy, and that was good. We could go. Unfortunately for Noah and I we haven't really got somewhere where we want to go. Our plan is as follows: we stay the weekend, and learn from the nurses how we are supposed to take care of a boy with Leukemia. Come Monday, Noah will not have to stay in the hospital anymore, he just needs to be here to continue his treatments. This is great news, and made Noah very happy. Upon receiving this great news, we decided to make use of our new found freedom and we ventured out into the rainy Vancouver weather. We ended up at a mall, ate some donuts and returned to the hospital for a well earned rest. Our eventful afternoon lasted an hour and a bit, but judging from Noah's aura, it was time to get back. The boy is an open book and when he is tired and feeling "it", he is very obvious. Then to our delight, Opa showed up and we had a nice visit and a nice meal in the cafeteria. Noah was even able to join us there. After a shower and some medication, Noah crashed at around 8:20.
Thank you, Jesus for a great day and saving my wonderful boy! 'Nuf said.

Awesome Day!

After yesterday, it is such a relief to see Noah today. He is almost himself again! He is smiling and happy and joking around. And still not eating. But that is ok; the food nazi is still here until Sunday morning. He even tried to pull the "but I have to go to the bathroom...." He has quite a lot of energy -must be all the blood... ; ) He is also very pleased that he has been completely disconnected from any IV, after promising to drink an entire water bottle today.
We got to go for a short walk out of the oncology ward today and found a library on the second floor. Noah needs to wear a mask whenever we leave our room, because he is "immuno-compromised" He was a little tired when we came back, but was VERY happy to see his Opa when he arrived because he came with a Sony Reader! Now we can download books from the library, and we won't have to pack an entire suitcase full of books whenever we come here, like we did this time! We already have all of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books on there and Noah is happy as a clam!
Then to make a good day even better, Barry Lester came to visit again, also bearing gifts. BV Home Centre donated an ipod Touch to Noah! The Nanningas put some movies and fun apps on it before sending it to him. He was so excited! Thanks Travis and BV Home Centre!!
It is a good thing he is having such a good day, because tomorrow promises not to be so nice. He will have another Bone Marrow biopsy and Lumbar Puncture in the morning and another Chemotherapy treatment. Please pray that everything goes smoothly, and that he won't have any adverse reactions.
I am excited because tomorrow is Emily's 13th birthday and she has a hockey tournament in 100 Mile House and I get to go! We have been planning a 'girls weekend' for a long time and I thought it would be nice if I could still make it. My Aunt Helene is Debbie Groot's sister and she was invited to come and watch Hannah play, so we are driving together tomorrow and coming back on Saturday. I can't wait to see my girl again!
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers and for your support, it means a lot!
Stacey
p.s. Owen, we want to see pictures of your haircut! It sounds awesome!

V.A.D. Day

Noah has had a bit of a rough day. After the blood transfusion yesterday, he still needed platelets, the part of your blood that causes it to clot. He had a platelet transfusion this morning, but had an allergic reaction to the platelets. They stopped that and gave him Benedryl. The hives and red coloring subsided, but they still needed to give him more, so they gave him MORE Benedryl. He was so sleepy, he didn't even notice that he hadn't eaten since about 9:00 last night! Britney Timmer surprised us with a visit and a gift this morning, but he was too tired to fully appreciate it. :( Thanks anyway Britney!
At about 1 he went to the O.R. to have the surgery Tom was talking about yesterday. While we were waiting for him to be done, (this surgery takes about 1-1.5 hours) we had another surprise visitor! Dave Tucker came to keep us company while we waited - a perfect diversion.
Noah just came back from the O.R., where he had a Vascular Access Device (V.A.D.) implanted in his chest. It will allow whoever needs to take blood or give any medication or treatments to do so without needing an I.V. or to poke him with any more needles. For now he will have an "I.V." but not through his arm; it goes straight into a vein in his chest. The nurse just came and took the I.V. out of his hand. If he wasn't so groggy, he would be very happy, I'm sure.
I have been taking some photos, so I will spend some time here and try to figure out how to post them.

Day 4

Noah has had a very good day today. He would like to express his thanks to his many friends and family in Edmonton who spoiled him a little today. He was also spoiled by having his Grand Mother come from Edmonton. He had a good sleep last night, the first without a fever, and woke up in a great mood.

Noah has a Leukemia called A.L.L. . This is short for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. His white blood cells are MUTANTS, and IMMORTAL. They are juvenile white blood cells that are messed up and don't die, they just reproduce and keep going. Because they are at a juvenile stage they are not doing the job they are supposed to. He has a lot of them, and they are preventing his bone marrow from forming all the other types of blood cells.

Because of Noah's chemotherapy, he is developing some sores in his mouth and this makes it very difficult to eat. He doesn't want to eat, and father, Nazi supper man, makes him. Other pain is happening in his bones like his jaw and knees. There were times in the last couple of days where he couldn't get up and walk, it was just too painful. This makes it tough to go to the loo, I'm telling you!

As I write this, he is having a blood transfusion. He has no useful cells in his blood stream it seems, so he needs platelets and hemoglobin as he is having some minor surgery in the morning (fingers are crossed).

Noah says the worst part about this whole experience is the many, many blood tests. He has been poked more times in the last little while than we can count. No fear of needles here anymore after this. His surgery tomorrow should solve this problem, we won't get into it here and now.

The good parts of this whole experience are lots and lots of video games, a comfortable bed and many many wonderful nurses and doctors who are taking such good care of him.

Noah says: Thanks for all the presents and keep them comin'.

Thanks to Shawn Boyes and Hugo VanderHoek who set up this blog.

Over and out for now. Talk to you tomorrow!
Tom