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.