Party animal!

Logan had a great birthday week, and it was capped off with his party on Saturday. He was so excited to have his friends there, and they had a great time. It was a little too cool for the Slip-and-Slide, but we broke out the water guns and they still had a blast. The Ironman theme went well, and through a minor (major at the time) crisis we had two favors to give away. Logan really enjoyed having family here for his birthday, and all of his superhero gifts. We are all so thankful for his health this year and how he is doing. He loved the Ironman cake that I made him, complete with light up arc reactor:

(Just a couple of extra random pictures from our trip to Vail)

Happy birthday big man!

Logan had a great birthday yesterday. He had fresh, warm cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then I was rewarded with "these are the best cinnamon rolls in the whole wide world." Also, "you are the best mom in the whole wide world." What more can I ask for?

He had a fun day, and then we went out for dinner. Logan had requested broccoli cheese soup, and it took me awhile to figure out the place as there are not that many options. We did find a place, and Logan enjoyed his dinner (pictured below).

Logan then opened presents, and enjoyed it a great deal. He now has a Spiderman costume, a couple of cool Avengers jackets, new Ironman shirts, Ironman cup, Avengers Bowling set, and some new shoes.

Overall, it was a great day to celebrate Logan being a year older, as well as his health and all the strides he has made over the past year.

Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!

Logan is a rockstar. That is all.

Well, I guess I can tell you why. We went to chemo yesterday (dressed as his favorite Ninja Turtle, Leonardo), and none of the normal nurses were there. So, he had to be accessed by a different nurse, Miss Megan. She did great, and Logan was a super trooper. He received his IV chemo and they also did an IV antibiotic to replace his oral one that he takes on the weekends. He has been having some trouble tolerating it, and we thought we would give this a try. Hopefully it will help. He has been taking his medicines without too much difficulty, and no major effects from the steroids yet. We are hoping that he will have a good week since tomorrow is his birthday and Saturday is his party.

I have been busy trying to fulfill Logan's birthday requests. He wants cinnamon rolls for breakfast in the morning, and they are ready to put in the oven in the morning. The cake is baked, and will be frosted tomorrow. Then the finishing touches should be done on Friday.

Here are pictures of Logan at chemo, and then eating some of the birthday cake given to him by the doctor, nurses, and staff at the clinic. They also gave him some toys for his birthday. We really do love the clinic and all the people there that help Logan and our family. If we have to go through this, at least there is a good team to make it go smoother.

Big week

Wow, so much to tell...We had a great weekend in Vail at Vail Rocks! Logan and Alexis both loved exploring the town. They were both very excited about hiking with the Love Hope Strength group. On Saturday morning, we all put on our "Team Logan" shirts, and met the group. Of course, Logan was a star and everyone cheered for him and thought he was pretty cool (which, of course, he is). Off we went. Three and a half miles. Up hill. A fairly steep hill. Thankfully, they had two stops for some live music in a couple of meadows, so the kids (and me) had some time to rest. Logan made it about half way on his own, which I feel was pretty good. Then he needed to be carried on Eric's shoulders to the second stopping point. Alexis was starting to fade at that point too. Uh, oh. Thankfully, Katie Poppert, offered them a ride for the last third of the hike. We will be forever grateful, because I am not sure how that last stage would have gone. At the top, we all had some lunch and relaxed while listening to music. Then we topped it off with a ride down in the gondola, which was a highlight of the weekend for the kids.

Yesterday, Logan went in for a finger poke, because he has chemo today. Unfortunately, we have not heard back from them about his  numbers, but I guess we will today. I think he is doing pretty well, I mean, he hiked on Saturday and had crazy energy all weekend. But you just never know.

Logan is gearing up for his birthday on Thursday and party on Saturday. He is super excited about his Iron Man cake, and having a couple of friends over to play. He has also requested cinnamon rolls. He wants them for his birthday. He wants them for his party. And he wants them to take to daycare next week for his birthday treat. Wow, I guess I better get busy.

This last one was Sunday after we got home from Vail. Logan was done, and needed a break.

Playtime is over

Well, it happened. Summer break is over and we are back to our old routine. I started back to work yesterday, and Logan is back at Cathy's. He went back with no problems, and was really excited to see his friends. It does help that we talk it up like that, but he didn't even cling to me yesterday when I dropped him off. Doesn't he know Mom needs an extra hug? Apparently not.

Anyway, the end to our summer break went pretty well.  I took the kids to the dentist and to visit Eric at work last week. We snuck in a last visit to the pool on Tuesday morning. I really like going during the week when they open since  no one else is around. Why am I the only one who seems to know this secret? We went to the movies to see the older version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Monday and Planes, Fire and Rescue on Tuesday. The kids loved both movies, and I was treated to having two Ninja Turtles in my house all day reenacting the movie. We also enjoyed a little family time with Eric who went to the movie with us on Tuesday to round out our last day of break.

I wanted to say thanks to our four donors to the Logan's Avengers team for Vail Rocks. The Carr family and their friends the Bailey/Petrie family and the Gargan family (thanks Candice for sharing), and also to the anonymous donor. We are up to $300 which is great! It is 9 days away, and we are hoping to raise even more, but we are so grateful for any and all donations as well as raised awareness.    If you are still interested, here is the link to our fundraising page. So many people out there need life saving matches. We are thankful that Logan does not need a bone marrow transplant, but he could need one if he were ever to relapse (do you know how hard it was to type that last phrase?). Many people out there rely on organizations such as Love Hope Strength and Delete Blood Cancer to find matches so that they can live.

Logan's Avengers

Greetings! Well, Logan has been doing pretty well since his chemo last week. He has been tired and napped several days, but overall did well. The steroids definitely made him tired/cranky/needy, but that is getting a little better now that he is done with those for this month. We have been staying pretty busy this summer, and I have been trying to keep the kids active for a few reasons: 1. It is just nice to be "normal" and do fun things for the summer. 2. We need Logan to have more stamina for his Make a Wish trip to Disney Land in October. And...3. We want him to be able to do as much of the hike as possible next month at Vail Rocks! Vail Rocks is an event/fundraiser for the Love Hope Strength foundation who works hard to get people on the bone marrow registry to save lives. It is such an important cause, and we support it strongly. We have started a team to honor Logan called "Logan's Avengers." (Note: I also happened to rename the blog with this name, as the other one always bugged me a little.) Here is Logan's Avengers Team page. If at all possible, we would love for you to visit it, donate if you can, or send it out to your friends. Even if all we do is increase awareness, then we will achieve our goal. If you cannot support this cause with money, please consider going to Delete Blood Cancer and requesting a swab kit to become a marrow donor. It is a quick cheek swab (please check online to make sure you are eligible first) that you send in with your information. If you are matched with someone, in most cases they take the cells from your blood (not your bone, though they do this in some cases) and it is a relatively easy procedure. You could save some one's life!

This picture is from this last weekend when the kids were able to spend some time playing with their cousin Emma. They had been looking forward to this visit for so long, and really enjoyed seeing her in person (not just on the computer an in pictures). 

Smooth chemo day

Logan made it through yesterday like the champ that he truly is. He knew that he was going to have to wait to eat breakfast until after the spinal tap, so he was fine with the morning routine. Of course, we always hope that he will sleep late on these days, and...he always wakes up earlier than usual. He was still understanding of waiting to eat, and he picked out some food to take. Once at the clinic, they checked him in and we learned he had grown an inch in the last month, but put on no weight. No wonder he was looking thinner and was having a hard time keeping his swim suit from falling down!

They accessed Bob and drew blood for his labs, and gave him a quick check-up. Everything looks good, and Logan seems pretty healthy. Then they were ready to do Logan's spinal tap and give his chemo into the spinal fluid. While Logan was in, we went and warmed up the breakfast he had chosen. They gave him some extra sedation this time because he was feisty last time and seemed to remember more. Actually, he has told us repeatedly that he does not want to be "made into a ball." Hopefully he will not have as much of a memory of it this time. After the spinal chemo, he always gets an IV and stays laying down for about an hour. He actually did better this time, and pretty much ate the entire time. He ate almost all of a sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich, and he ate 6 sausage links. We also spoke to a dietitian while there, and they are recommending that we limit his milk intake. Well, that should be a challenge, but we will try. Then they gave him the IV Vincristine and took the needle out of Bob. Off to home we go!

Once home, Logan seemed to be his normal self. Maybe with a little less energy. We gave him some Pepsi for the caffeine to ward off any potential headaches that are often caused by the spinal taps. We watched a movie, ate lunch, and took it easy. We played on the slip and slide and fort in the evening, and then went to bed a little early after his first steroid dose. Overall, one of the better spinal tap days he has had during his treatment. These pictures are from our fun day at the zoo on Monday with Candice, Weston and Curran: