We had a great Halloween. Brooks was the best Elvis ever. I should have
found a contest to enter his picture in. Everyone
loved his costume.
Gentry had a great time trick-or-treating. He was so funny because he liked it to pick his choice of candy and he would only take 1. He wouldn't take more than one piece, even if they tried to give him more than one. Brooks is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up to a standing position. His goal every day is to be wherever Gentry is. He is still off the charts in height, 30 inches long! Gentry is still responding well to his treatment. He is very tired of taking medicine but knows that he gets to see Shamu over spring break so that has been a good incentive. He has a spinal tap coming up in 2 weeks so we are starting to get prepared for that. Gentry is also getting very excited about the holidays. Every commercial that comes on tv, he shouts out "I want that". Half the time he doesn't even know
what the toy is. We are so happy that he is responding well to all the medicines and chemotherapy. We are approaching the 1 year anniversary of his diagnosis and cannot believe all that has happened. Looking back I think to myself, how did we do it? We still have a long road ahead of us but we know that we have such amazing support from family and friends. Keep up the prayers for Gentry!

Well we are hanging out at the hospital because Gentry has bacteria in his blood. We went in to the ER at 2 am on Sat. because he had a fever and was throwing up. They treated him for flu and sent us home. Then later on Sat. the ER called and said we needed to come in for IV antibiotics because the blood cultures showed bacteria which is not good. So we went back in and they had to draw blood from his tube and from his arm which did not make Gentry happy. We were told to come back in on Sunday for more antibiotics. Well Dr. Rosen decided to admit us because of his fever. He has still had good energy and has had fun today playing in the playroom on the pediatric floor. We are all a little stir crazy and hoping to go home soon.

We had a great time at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk. Team G-Man raised over $3000! Thank you to all who donated. Gentry is handling his chemo pretty well and Dr Rosen is happy with his progress. This is a chemo week and he will be very tired by the end of the week. We are a little nervous with cold and flu season approaching, fingers crossed we can keep Gentry from catching any colds. Brooks is teething and suffering miserably through it. But he has started to crawl and is quickly learning how to get around and into Gentry's toys. Keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers.

Gentry did great last week with his spinal tap. He stayed a little calmer which helped a lot. We told him it was okay to cry but would go faster if he wouldn't yell and fight so much. He also did great while Dr. Rosen did a quick checkup and checked his central line. We were very proud of him. He also had a great 4th birthday. We had family and a few friends over for sandwiches and cake. He loves his new Better Batter Baseball game. Brooks is growing like crazy. He had a checkup and shots last week. He weighed in at 2o lbs 11 oz and is 29 inches long. He is off the charts. He is trying to crawl a little bit but usually just waits until we pick him up. Gentry has had a lot of fun playing with Brooks. He likes bringing him toys to play with but definitely doesn't want Brooks touching his toys. As long as Gentry's blood counts are good we will have a round of chemo this week. Keep us in your thoughts.

Gentry did great taking his chemotherapy this past week. He didn't
complain at all
which made it much easier on us. It did start to wipe him out by Thursday night. He was really worn out on Friday. These pictures are from the Relay for Life that benefits the American Cancer Society. Gentry was the youngest survivor there. We went to the Survivors Dinner first and then we walked the Survivors lap together as a family. There were 4 teams of students and staff from my school who helped to raise money and walk all night for Gentry. The walk started at 7:oo pm and ended this morning at 7:00 am. It was a fun night and Gentry got to help light the candles that spelled out "Hope", it was very special for us. We also found out this week that we will be leaving on March 13 to go to
Orlando thanks to Make A Wish. This trip is the incentive we are using to help encourage Gentry to take his medicine. We have a spinal tap on Monday so that will be a rough day. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

More pictures form camp!

We took Gentry to Camp Victory this weekend. It was family camp for children who are currently in treatment or have completed treatment. It was a great time. We built rockets and launched them, they had horses to ride, a carnival, a shaving cream fight, swimming time and of course our favorite the therapy dogs that come to Dr. Rosen's office. We met a lot of great families! I will post some more pictures, we took tons. We have a round of chemo this week and Gentry sees his cardiologist for a checkup. We also met with the Wish Granters from Make A Wish and have the paperwork turned in. Hopefully we will hear soon about our trip to see Shamu. I think Gentry's first "camp" experience was good. He was starting to not feel good towards the end so keep your fingers crossed that he doesn't get sick.

So Gentry did have the chicken pox and shingles. We were about a minute away from having to go back to the hospital. I just knew he would need a blood transfusion. But luckily because we got him on the anti-viral medicine right away it helped. But it push us back a week on his chemo. Gentry is handling the oral chemo pretty well. He takes 6 1/2 pills every other Wed. at 6 pm and midnight, 6 am Thurs. and noon. Luckily the pills can be crushed up so that helps some. They do have a bad taste so we have had to get creative in how we can convince him to take it. So far chocolate ice cream has been the best but waking him up at midnight and at 6 am has been brutal. We do this every other week so it just feels like we are never getting sleep. Plus he has to take his rescue drug on Fridays at 6 pm and Sat. at 6 am. This week Gentry told me that he is just sick of taking medicine. Broke my heart. He is handling better than you would expect a 3 year old would. Brooks still just hangs out and is very laid back. He still has his wild hair and is probably going to have to get a hair cut very soon, just a little trim. This past week Gentry started back at Ms. Pam's for summer camp 3 days a week. He was so happy to see her and his school friends. I can't believe summer is already winding down and I will be back at work soon. Hopefully we will be in a good routine with this oral chemo by the time school starts. Keep up the prayers!

Brooks was 17 lbs, 7 oz and 27 in. long at his 4 month check up! He is off
the charts in height and weight. The dr. said he
looks great and to start him on some vegetables. Brooks ate the entire jar in one sitting! He also hasn't lost any of his hair which makes him look so much older. Whenever he is
at the store with me people always stop and comment on his hair. Gentry, Jerry and I made it through the first round of oral chemo but we were exhausted last week. It is so exhausting watching the clock to make sure we don't miss a dose and getting up in the middle of the night and early in the morning. Trying to wake Gentry up at midnight to take medicine was very difficult because he is a heavy sleeper. We made it through but are now battling a rash on his leg that could be a form of shingles or chicken pox. Neither are good since he has no immune system. Our pediatrician and Dr. Rosen decided to start him on anti-viral medicine today and tomorrow they are going to try and culture it. His leg is really gross looking and he complains that it hurts. Of course it couldn't be something simple like poison ivy. Also, his white count and platelet count are really low right now so please keep us in your thoughts as we deal with this.

Schools out and we are ready for summer! Gentry had his weekly lab draw yesterday and we learned about our new round of chemo that he will be starting next week. It is all oral, 6 1/2 pills every 6 hours for 24 hours. Basically he will have his lab drawn every Tuesday. Then on Wed. I have to call to check on his blood counts and as long as his numbers look good then we start the chemo on Wed. nights. He will get 6 1/2 pills at 6 pm, midnight, 6 am Thurs. mornings and noon on Thursdays. Then Friday at 6 pm and Sat. 6 am he will get his "rescue" drug that stops the chemo. We have been taking it every time we have chemo and without it his organs will start shutting down. Everything is very time regimented. The pills can be chewed or even crushed up and put in something so that should help since getting a 3 year old to take 1 pill is hard but 6 1/2 at one time would be impossible. He has been feeling pretty good but is still hit or miss on eating and sleeping but not having any problems expressing his anger!!! At least he has a fighting spirit. I put on a picture of him with his very last backpack chemo treatment and one of him cooking for me with his kitchen. Brooks is doing great and getting the hang of eating with a spoon. He has a checkup and shots next week. He is a big boy! Loves to eat all the time.  We don't have anything big planned this summer. Just going to hang out and relax. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

OMG-I am catching a lot of grief for not updating the blog in over a month. Sorry, things have been hectic. Gentry's surgery went really well and he did a great job this time taking the "sleepy" medicine ahead of time. It made it much easier on all of us since he was pretty loopy by the time they wheeled him off. So far so good with this new line. Hopefully it will be
the last one. Treatment has been going pretty good. Some days are easier than others but that is expected. This week should be his last "backpack" week and last spinal for 12 weeks!!!! We are going to 
surprise him with a new bike. Brooks is doing great and growing like crazy. He has a checkup the end of May. He has discovered his feet when he is laying down and lifts his legs up. Cracks us up every time. Friday night my school hosted a family Bingo night and it was great. They are donating the profits to Gentry's Wellness Fund. We were very overwhelmed with the generosity of the people who organized it and those who donated prizes. There were several thousand dollars in prizes given away including free dental work, private golf lessons, limo rides, cleaning service and tons more. And Gentry had a great time spinning the wheel of bingo balls around during the games. We are so thankful to have so many people supporting us. Even though Gentry's treatment is going well it is still a battle everyday. We couldn't image going through this without all this support. Keep your fingers crossed that treatment goes well this week and we can move on to the next phase.