Chemo round 11 day 3

I thought I published this post last night--that's what I get for thinking!  Zoe had a great time again in the sibling play room.  She told us one of the volunteers in there today was a blind man and he knew the funnest games.  In fact to quote her she said he was "off the hook cool".  What a compliment.  I don't think I could ever dream of being that cool!  We were at the hospital a long time today.  Appointment was at 1:30 and we didn't leave until 3:30.  Just a little waiting everywhere we went.  I was able to do a load of laundry at the family resource center however, so that was nice.  When we got back to the hotel after hitting the early Friday rush hour traffic---I have a talent for driving at the wrong time, don't I, the kids got  back in the pool.  I could tell Jackson was tired, but wanting to swim apparently won out.  They stayed in about an hour and then we did something kids in Royal City never get to do--we ordered delivery pizza!  Zoe was so excited, she waited by the window 30 minutes for the delivery guy to drive up, when he did she met him several doors down from ours in the hotel hallway shoving his tip in his face!  I could tell Jackson thought she was nuts. Jax ate some and was asleep by 7pm, not to be heard from the rest of the night (well I did have to wake him up for his shot and meds) it's now almost 8am and he is still out.  I'm wondering how he will do at our family reunion--starts tomorrow and goes all next week.

Lastly, we have passed this barge with this crane thingy on it twice a day, since Tuesday.  It is right off the Gov. Rosellini bridge(or Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, which is the longest floating bridge on EARTH thank you very much Gov. Rosellini) on the 520 highway.  Looks like huge spools of cable are on it and every day, twice a day I tell the kids "I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S DOING!"  Does anyone else have a different answer for them?!

Chemo round 11 day 2

Jackson's port is getting tired of hanging out in the same old spot so it has decided to float around just a titch.  The just a titch move put it directly under the scar tissue from his surgery to place the port.  So it made our nurse today very nervous to access his port.  She got the needle in and then couldn't get any blood return, after pushing in two syringes of saline she got good return so we could proceed.  The nurses call this a thirsty port, sometimes for whatever reason ( they know I'm sure/hope!) a port won't return any blood flow until lots of fluid has been pushed through.  Weird for Jackson as this has never happened for him before.  During Chemo today Zoe went to the sibling play room and she loved it.  Big plans for her to go back again tomorrow!

She made Jackson and I some "modern" clay art!

After Chemo we decided to really "torture" Jax and take him school clothes shopping at the factory outlets in North Bend.  I sometimes think he would rather have bamboo spears thrown at him.  I even made him try on jeans and shirts, call Child Protection Services!  Zoe and Jax are pretty well set for school and anything else Jax needs I will be getting WITHOUT him, it's annoying to have a teenager whine so much!

Chemo round 11 day 1

Today started early with an Endocrinologist appointment at 8:00am, the driving adventure for this Chemo is an ongoing one, the main road to the hospital is 45th street, and a rather important portion of 45th street is closed until SEPTEMBER for repairs.  The consequence of this is that everyone has to get to Campus and the Hospital on the same road--funsies NOT.  The hospital sent out a friendly notice reminding everyone that you can only be assured of your appointment if you are there within 20 min. of your appointment time and due to roadwork they suggest you give yourself an extra HOUR!  I just had to laugh.  One more great thing about Royal City---traffic is not an issue!  Jackson didn't have to be back for his Oncology appointments until 3:00 so we went back to the hotel to swim.  The kids and I had the pool to ourselves for 2 hours and had fun.  I discovered Jackson cannot float on his back or tread water very well---better watch that boy closer.  Zoe is loving having big brother and Mommy all to herself and she repays us by telling us every thought in her head!  She is currently very ticked off because when she requested we stop by i-Carly's apartment I told her i-Carly didn't really live in Seattle.  So she has been going on all day about the lying people on TV, lying to KIDS!!  The lying to KIDS part really gets her ramped up.  We got the oil changed in the car (Aunt DeeAnn should be so proud) and went back to the hospital for Jackson's appointments at 3:00.  The extra week seems to have done the trick because his ANC was 2,751 it hasn't been that high since before Chemo.  His WBC was 5.2 also the highest it has been in a long while.  RBC was4.57 HCT was 37.7 and PLT 334,000.  Marnie Bergeson was kind enough to bring all the things we forgot at 4:30 in the morning on Tuesday so we are really back in business now!

I finally got batteries for my camera and when I downloaded the pictures I discovered a few Michael took at Football camp of Jackson and Carter and their buddies--looks like Carter might have enjoyed hanging with the big dogs!

Michael and Carter tagged along with the team when they went bowling one day after practices.

Carter looks pretty pleased to be with Jackson and his friends.

Jackson and Zoe working on their synchronized swimming routine, in the hotel pool.

Jackson and his "chemo" eyes, don't worry the drops will fix 'em right up.

Fancy Schmancy Grocery Shopping

We are staying in Bellevue this Chemo trip (and we brought Zoe to save on wear and tear on the Royal City folks!) and it is our first Bellevue stay.  We headed out for dinner last night and after eating stopped by the only grocery store we saw in the 4 miles we had driven, the "metropolitan market".  This is a beautiful store.  Sometimes when I have shopped at Wal*Mart for the one billionth time in a week I will daydream about stores like this one.  However, this was not a choice, I swear it's the only grocery store in Bellevue (o.k. the only one I saw).  This store made me feel look an unsophisticated slob.  When we walked in Zoe yelled, "it smells like somebody needs a diaper change"!  We were in the cheese section, Michael would have seen familiar words, we saw stinky cheese, and TONS of it.  There was an olive cart that was bigger than a twin bed. Not to mention your soup cart---Wild greens with roasted leek soup anyone?  I actually heard someone asking if the greens and leeks in the soup were organic (nobody knew, what a shame I was tempted to buy the lot but if its not organic wild greens, and leeks then forget about it....).  You had your choice of couscous from several countries, seems Israel is a couscous meca, people like their couscous much better than your Hungarian couscous for example.  We found gray salt carmel's, $12.99 for two pieces that together aren't as big as an Oreo cookie!  Speaking of salt, I never knew the variety of colors and flavors of salt, I thought the little girl with the umbrella had the market on salt, I was wrong.  Zoe and Jax liked the seafood--headless salmon and shrimp bigger than Carter.  Two bags and a $60.00 bill made me leave the metropolitan market day dreaming of a Wal*Mart store to shop in. 

Fourth of July

We are technically in Seattle and had five hours of Neuropysch testing today, but as Chemo doesn't start until tomorrow we will save the hospital talk till then and catch this blog up!  We had lot's of fun with Grandma Beve, Grandpa Fred, Uncle Dallas, Aunt Marcie, and Aunt Mindy in town.  I mentioned before that Kylie and Sydney showed up in Royal about an hour before these folks and girlies in our house have been giggling ever since.  However they spent the Fourth of July day with Grandma Louise hence, they don't feature in these particular pictures.  We drove up to Leavenworth Saturday and went to the fish hatchery.  We saw 3.2 million (I want to know who counts and how much the government pays for that!) baby salmon and hundreds of grown ones who have come home to .....well die.  It was cool.  Then we walked through Leavenworth, and then we found Grandpa Fred and "real" reason to come back and visit us, "Hooked on Toys" which should actually be named, "A store for fishing addicts to overdose in".  We also explained to Dallas about "Queasants" and he will be returning soon to bag him some of those real soon!  We went to Chriss and Jerry's fabulous fourth of July party and had a fabulous time---of course.  Zoe found a frog prince and the rest, like fireworks that lit up the Royal Slope didn't compare to that froggy treasure for her!

Zoe and her "friend"!  Sometimes I wonder if her and I are really related??

Dallas and Marcie just dreaming of moving to Royal!

Jackson with his fourth of July eyes.

Aftyn allowing one of her many "fans" to hold her.

This is why I am petitioning that Courtney lose her hair license--she gave Jens a mullet--sign my petition please, we can't allow this to spread and infect us all.

Braydon is done with Kindergarten so he should be old enough to give the Cougar man Kayak rides--right?

Braydon, Jax, Carter, Zoe, and Caden (or as Carter calls him---Caden Larry).

Happy Fourth everyone we are so blessed to be Americans!  Thank you dear cousin Zack and Brandon Smith, and the rest of our brave soldiers.

The Beehive state invades the Evergreen state...

Tonight Michael's parents, Drandma da Bev, and Drandpa Fred(ala Carter) plus his Sisters Mindy, and Marcie, and Dallas, Marcie's husband came from Utah to be with us, little ol' us.  And then Grandma Louise brought two more beehivites(?) Kylie and Sydney.  Fun, Fun, Fun, Fun....we are excited. 

Carter showed off his crazy lightsaber lord of the dance skills tonight, the audience was way impressed.

You might be wondering where the 14 of us sleep, no problem, just put 6 girls in one room and the rest is easy peezy.

Stay tuned for more madcapped adventures from Hargraves Ave.