*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

It may very well be IMPOSSIBLE to find the appropriate words this time. Yes, folks, finally may actually be "speechless"................. But, what we CAN say, always is PRRRRAISE GOD because WE ARE DONNNNNE WITH CHEMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the build up + excitement wasn't hampered one iota by the fact that "technically" we were at the mercy of Samuel's lab results Monday morning.... if his counts weren't high enough, of course, his drug would have to be postponed for another week - and, well, we just were not going to accept that! We are SO grateful for all of you who were prayerful + in agreement with us that Samuel's body was completely healthy + his counts would be in the clear for chemo. THANK YOU! Prayer + agreement always works!

Samuel's ANC came in well over 2100 (!!!), so all proceeded as planned....

The crew for last chemo day :) 

Getting ready for LAST PORT ACCESS EVER! 

(enough exclamation marks don't even exist for this one!!!!!!)

Last time, bud.

Trinity being the little helper

Aaaand, we're in. No more needle pokes in chest. Just one de-access to go!

Getting checked out by Dr. Setty

...and of course Nurse Trin has the ears covered (she's making sure there aren't any "monkeys" in there)

Making the exam bed covers more colorful as usual

Prepping for LAST ZOFRAM DRIP EVERRRRR!

No more after this!

The hang out session while Zofram "drips"...food + fun, haha

Daddy brought Grippos for the special occasion :)

Mmm...Grippos

This may be one of the few moments worth "missing"...sibling time in the infusion chair

Nurse Annie prepping the LAST DOSE OF CHEMO (Actinomycin)

And there it is, the LAST CHEMO EVERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ready to go...

While Nurse Annie flushes the port for the LAST TIME (with Heparin), the other nurses are gathering in the hall for Samuel's great bell ringing celebration!!!!!

Last de-access EVERRRRRR...such a champ. LOTS of Detachol (helps remove the adhesive)

Hates bandages for now...but always recovers with such a great attitude

"WAY TO GO, LAST CHEMO" poster signed by our wonderful nurses - and presents!!!!!!!!!

Loooooved having surprise gifts to open! Got lots of cool stuff from this amazing place :) 

And special candy treats :)

His incredible nurses cheering for him at the end of the hallway that leads out of the infusion room...

THE BELL..... it reads:

 "Thought this day would never come, 

But now it has arrived.

I am a strong survivor,

And it's great to be alive!

It's been a long, hard road;

Now I'm walking in the sun.

I ring this bell to tell the world,

My chemo treatment's done!

In honor of Maria Little's 

Last chemo treatment, December 29, 2006."

Our CHAMP ringing the bell! Very well deserved honor.

And his partner...with us every step of the way...she earned the right to ring it, too.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

It was quite sincerely a SPLENDID day. God was soooo good - as always. We are honored to have been in your thoughts + prayers throughout this year so far. We're not at the end of this journey, but we're blessed to be past the drug part.

After about 10 days, Samuel's body would theoretically experience it's last ever drug-induced immunity suppression. In the meantime, we're scheduled for another round of CT scans, ultrasounds + blood work for this Monday (12/6). We're looking forward to having Samuel's surgery to remove the IV port removed scheduled for some time before Christmas (!!!). Once the port is removed, we will officially be "in the clear" with regard to the major immune system issues (ie, no more hospital visits for low grade fevers, etc).

We'll know more about the details of follow-up visits soon. We're also starting a year of physical therapy this week, and Samuel is looking forward to "exercising" at the Children's place :) He will be fitted for his orthotics in a couple weeks, too. All in all, we are moving ahead with smiles + excitement for what the glorious future holds!

"You can ring my be-e-ell, ring my bell"

(oh yeah, we sure were singing that for days! haha)

SO CLOSE!

WOW. It almost seems impossibly surreal to know that this Monday is our FINAL CHEMO treatment EVER. We grownups are trying to wrap our brains around the idea and are trying to prepare ourselves mentally for whatever the newest "normal" has in store for us. Needless to say, we are VERRRRRY excited to enter this phase. It's been quite a year.

The children, on the other hand, have no difficulty with the concept. ONE MORE WEEK!!!!! That's all that matters to our little troopers. Yes, we will have lots + lots of followups and longer-term care ahead, but ONE MORE WEEK for accessing the port, then NO MORE TUBE!!!!!!!! It is a true blessing that Samuel's doctors are on board with us making sure that whatever may come in terms of blood work + CT scans (w/ IV-injected contrast), after Monday we will NO LONGER EVER AGAIN access Samuel's port. He's so thrilled to know that noone will ever again insert needles into his chest (can't blame him!).

Goobers :)

Getting ready to be accessed...he'd smile but he's making sure nobody makes any sudden moves :)

#1 support player hanging out while Samuel gets accessed

Wall TIC-TAC-TOE

Hard at work coloring

Colorful sea turtle :)

Puzzles while Samuel gets de-accessed

And, yes, of course chocolate milk........of course.

How many more, Samuel? ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost Almost!

Last week (11/22) went really well. We're focused mostly right now on managing the full restoration of Samuel's extremity strength + keeping his body healthy enough so that we stay on target for treatment completion.

Despite a little moment of "concern" over the 12-14th weekend, Samuel was recovered + in good form to get his Actinomycin treatment as scheduled. On that Friday night (11/12), Samuel's body decided to show signs of fever...made even less cool since Dad + Mom had run away for the weekend, and the children were staying with their grandparents. Mawmaw did an amazing job monitoring him through the night, and PRAISE GOD bc Samuel's fever never crept over 100.0 -- friendly reminder that 100.5+ wins an immediate trip to the ER (and judging from his ANC on Monday, he may have been automatically admitted for 48-hour isolation watch). Mawmaw refused to allow any sickness or infection or even symptom take hold of Samuel, and her watchful, faithful guard paid off! Samuel arose Saturday morning feeling great and ready to take on the world!

Probably the best news was that considering a weekend fever scare, his counts were pretty great yet again by Monday (11/15), thanks to all the prayer + agreement. Now the excitement is mounting bc one more week of labs, followed by one more dose of Actinomycin and........ WE ARE DONE!!!!!!!! Getting ever MORE excited, as if that were possible :)

Monday 11/08/10

3 weeks and counting.............praising God that all is going well + Samuel's body has been able to get what the doctors want to give him.............on track :)

All smiles :) 

How many more appointments, Samuel? ....THREE!!!! :)

 Daddy hooked 'em on the zingy craziness of GRIPPOS

"They're not chips. They're GRIPPOS." lol, thanks Dad.

LAST DOES OF VINCRISTINE!!!!!
....EVER EVER EVER AGAIN!!!!!

PRAISE GOD!!!!! WHOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

Good day :)

PT = fun fun fun

The babes were pumped about getting to go down to the Children's Place for "EXERCISE ONLY" on Friday! As long as tubes weren't involved, it was going to be a good day! Ms Lori was an awesome Physical Therapist who ran Samuel (and Trinity, of course) through a litany of tests to measure his strength, balance, mobility, and physical skill sets. The "tests" were about as much fun as kids could wish to have in a hospital!

Welcome to the PT/OT floor!

Preliminary stretching evaluations

Push ups :)

Sit ups

Hallway races

Target practice

Stair climbers :)

 Bouncy bouncy bouncy.........

..........bouncy bouncy

Coolest roller slide!

Wheeeeee :)

Everybody gets a turn!

Samuel's evaluation revealed a few things. Most importantly, he is an incredibly healthy, strong little boy - who definitely loves to run + jump + exercise! As a result of the Vincristine, it does appear he has suffered some nerve damage which has weakened his hands and feet. His grip strength tested at about 50% of what it should be for a boy his age. Fortunately, we know this is temporary + entirely reversible. Also, the muscles in his feet (specifically connecting the top of his foot + leg - extensor muscles) are very easily fatigued so that if he walks for too long the muscles no longer contract, making his feet slap on the ground instead of taking controlled steps. The muscle weakness is temporarily affecting his ankles, causing both feet to "roll" inward which causes a decent amount of foot pain for him + a greatly reduced ability to balance himself.

We were referred to an orthopedist for evaluation of whether or not shoe inserts or braces will be of greater benefit to his recovery. We are also on track for an 8-week physical therapy treatment plan in order to help Samuel regain from any strength or mobility loss. And, we are also getting started within the next week or so with Occupational Therapy in order to help Samuel with the fine motor strength + development. The OT will help especially with the "pinch grip" functions, like holding pencils + tying shoes.

Ultimately, we are discussing the results with his doctors at Monday's treatment. According to their plan, Samuel would receive three more doses of Vincristine; however, in light of his amazing progress this year + the steady onset of these noteworthy side effects, we are believing they will agree to eliminate all remaining doses of it.

Samuel is looking very forward to his physical therapy, so we're so glad that he'll have even more good times to remember at Children's! We also have a bunch of exercises + stretches to do at home, so we're making family exercise time a fun part of our days. It's wonderful to be able to go through all of this as a team, and to work hard together to get stronger + better than ever. It's quite the sight to see Trinity, Samuel + Mom lined up in front of the living room couch doing sit-ups together... GOOD TIMES :)

Week 5 (Counting Down!)

This was the first Monday we had with Samuel's reduced dosage of Vincristine. All things considered, the treatment day went well. We are scheduled for his first Physical Therapy appointment Friday morning so will know more about the remainder of his treatment plan after those evaluations.

 Getting ready for the main event :)

 

We could get them to sort of smile... turning faces away from cartoons? Not so much.