Santa's Messages for the girls

I found this through a friend so did one each for the girls

Alex's Santa video

Robyn's Santa video

Alex is doing well but last night she had cold sweats and was in some pain she woke this morning happy and looking well no fever of anything so she talked me into school as it is swimming day, tonight her school have their presentation night and I have been asked to come didn't know you had to RSVP to these events but the prep class have 4 awards up for grabs so maybe Alex is one of the lucky ones ♥
 the school had to get a new sign due to vandals they broke it last week so we helped get it done and tomorrow they officially open the new Library and I will be there for that too 4 days left of term then school holidays start :)

Fever

Alex got a fever on Sunday morning and all last night she was not doing well at all we are just to watch her  I am hoping its not Chicken pox as we have the cancer Christmas parties this weekend coming up. and if she is still not well we will be canceling :( like last year. Oh well this will be one last fever before the Port-a-cath is removed and stressing over infection can slowly stop.

Alex went to school today temp was normal but 37.8 so still close to high she wants to enjoy the last week of school and doesn't want to miss anything. she also has swimming tomorrow but this afternoon her temp was back over 38 so still watching her.

The school was vandalized again this last weekend with the school bus windows being smashed. No respect by some people. last week it was a sign which has been replaced for now with help from us.

11 days to surgery day now :) Alex is actually looking forward to getting her port out asap :)

the Girls 1st Carols By candlelight 2010

last night we had Christmas in the park just down the road from our place. the sky looked like it would break open and bucket down but held of with the odd sprinkle,
Alex and Robyn had a ball even with the hour line up for rides we went on 2 all up then wondered around a little while listening to local choirs and celebs sing carols,
the girls got a glow stick each and then we had Ice cream and a milkshake, then it was getting cooler so decided it was time to head home at 8.20pm the fireworks went off at 9.15 but we missed them although we could hear them from our house but could not see them.

 Tonight was the Carols By candlelight the mayor puts on and they had fireworks and the Last F1-11 Dump and Burn we did not go as Alex was not 100% and she hates loud Noises, but we still got a great View of the Dump and Burn from our back yard :) they flew over our house hehe

our first year of no treatment

had to put this up as we have hit the one year mark she is not cancer free as such but no new growth and we have been off treatment for a year :)
so no growth etc is still a good thing. sort of our own NED ( No Evidence of Disease)

not going to be a big thing as Cancer is always waiting and stupid I just am thankful for my healthy Happy 6 yr old even with the small side effects she has.

small steps forward :)

23rd Nov 2009 we finished Chemo treatment and we are still going well :)

Port removal

well I have now got a date for Alex's Port removal. the 10th Dec at a hospital closer to home too. and the same surgeon that did the port and kidney surgeries last year, lucky we have private health insurance :)

now we have another small step forward and just pray the remaining cells stay stable and never grow.

Christmas is in the air

yeap its beginning to look alot like Christmas and we are no different here today we put up the Christmas tree started making Christmas Cards to post out all over the world, and took some family photos for Grandma and Grandpa in South Australia.

not much has happened this last week only that the girls have not got Chicken pox but we are still in those 21 days, 2nd Dec the time is up so not to much longer, we are now booked in for the Christmas party with Camp Quality on the 5th Dec if they stay well :)

Alex gets her new orthotics this week on wednesday we head into the RBWH (Royal Brisbane Womens Hospital) right next to the RCH, this is also our 1st year since end of treatment Anniversary. I do not want to make to much of a deal as Cancer is stupid and waits so I hope we get many more with no change on her scans.
 thursday Alex has a Christmas party at her school for the prep and year ones so she needs a grass skirt as it is Hawaiian with water bomb fights and all ♥

next weekend we have the carols by candlelight that we missed last year due to low counts for Alex. and hope to get some photos from this year as I want to make a special Christmas this year for us to look back and know it was the best it could be.

ok here are some photo's

Chicken Pox

the weekend was here and Saturday I get a call that a friends daughter has caught Chicken pox through our school. Oh Not Happy when I am in and pout of the hospital with children with no immunities and really Need to Know ASAP... had some words with the school today and we have now draft up a letter for them to send out to parents to let us know  I didn't want the school community to know Alex was a fighter of this don't need their pity. but this is about the others we deal with at the hospital. Alex has also now been removed from the Camp Quality Christmas party :( due to the 10-21 day period for chicken pox to show up. I can not allow her to go when so many there are still battling this cancer fight. we have been added to the next one but that to could be removed due to my girls getting sick ARGH and with Christmas so close what next.


Lets hope we have a nice Christmas this year with no issues...

surgery done

Yesterday was one long day I took Alex to the hospital at 10 am we had to be there before 11am and she had to fast from 7am with clear fluids til 11am so she did well I decided to fast with her :)

11am we were taken to the day procedure ward to wait there were a few children in here waiting on different procedures and most worse than Alex this time, Alex was first on the list so I spoke to the Dr's about Alex's pre conditions and about what they wanted to do. they decided as she had never had gas before they may do the general through an IV so we got the magic cream on both wrists ready and then she was given the pre-op meds with in minutes she was slurring her words and laughing at mummy's 4 eyes lol.

one very groggy Alex ^

they bought the trolley for us to head down to surgery and then decided as she was so good to use the gas at this stage Alex was laughing at her hands hehe. so into the room we go and they give her the gas while I hold her hand and stroke her hair. almost asleep I give her a kiss and am lead out of the room while talking to another Dr. this is about 1pm by now so I go down for a coffee and something to eat while I wait for her to go back to her bed. I could not eat so went back to the room and watched TV waiting. Alex had a small complication with her airways but everything went well she was kept in recovery longer than normal for this reason so they could watch her. then she was bought back to the room and started to cry when she saw me ♥

Sleeping of the drugs ^

by 3pm Alex was back with me and she just slept the afternoon away.they took 3 teeth the one with the abscess and the one next to it as it to was infected, the third was her wobbly tooth at the front as it was on its way out, Alex got 2 crowns ( these are metal and silver hehe) also 1 filling.  At 5pm there was only 2 families in the Day ward left and we were the last to leave waiting for Alex to wake up fully and eat etc. I got out just after 6pm and we headed home

surgery for teeth

we have a big day on Friday Alex has to fast with only clear fluids from 7am book in at 11am at the RCH and then hope all goes well
she still has that dreaded cough but no one is worried ( except me of cause) and the abscess is still there and looks horrid
Alex is a little scared about it all but I have told her the tooth fairy is waiting for these bad teeth and she wil be ok Mummy will be there when she needs me ♥
Hubby and Robyn are staying home as the hospital is a hard place for a 3.5 yr old to keep entertained.

so wish us luck and hope all goes to plan and Alex is feeling better soon

I did some research about the teeth side effects and she may have a few due to still having her baby teeth with Radiation and Chemo but at least these are not as harsh a treatment we can deal with them one step at a time.

♥♥♥ remember to hug and kiss your loved ones every day and any time you feel like it the world is a roller coaster and no one knows what tomorrow holds for any of us ♥♥♥

Scan day with good results in the end

OK today was going to be a long day but OMG was it ever so long with appointments added at the last minute.

5am I was awake and stressed about the day ahead.

6am up and showered getting girls ready the breaky and all the things I needed in the car. grabbed the stroller as Alex gets tired still easily and OMG a spider fell out lucky I was bouncing it on the driveway before shutting it in the boot. so he went splat Sorry!!!

7.15am out the drive and on to childcare to drop Miss Robyn in for the day at this stage thinking I should be home by 3pm at the latest (yeah Right!!!)

9.05am Arrive at the RCH and Banksia out-patience Late but thanks to Brisbane Peek hour traffic. they do Alex's Obs she still has not gained any weight but not an issue. Elma the port ready for access and tell them the time it went on. they access the port to early ARGH poor Alex was screaming :'( so they do bloods etc then flush so its ready for CT at 1.30pm.

9.50am we get into see Dr Tim Alex loves her Dr and he is a wonderful oncologist, we talked about the abscess and Alex's teeth and he got us referred straight away to upstairs and he put it he wanted her treated by someone he knows. so the appointment was made for 2.50pm that afternoon with me running straight up with the referral.

10.35am physio appointment, we discovered that Alex has one leg longer than the other so this will be monitored over time she needs new orthopedics so we need a referral for that and may be lucky to squeeze it in today as well.

11am we finally make it into the wonder Factory and Alex is happy playing and joining in, they had a high school doing a shakespearean play and Alex watched some but got board so off we go to play foosball and paint hehe

11.50 we are back in Banksia to start her oral contrast, we get the drink then head out to the play area with the 1st of 3 drinks over 1.5 hours we play a little then when the next one is due go back into Banksia, ( we were like yo yos in and out of there today) after the second drink we play games in the ward then have the third and go back out for a quick play then toilet stop before radiology for the CT.

1.30pm we arrive on time and then Alex has a small play before we are called in to head down the foot road to where the CT is. Alex knows this drill well and I get to take a photo of her on the CT then I go sit down and wait for her to be done she is such a "Super Trooper" then we head back to Banksia yes we're back hehe but hoped to see the Dr before the Dentist visit although we knew he was also on call so missed him this time. the staff De needled Alex's port then it bled alot so we hat to wait in the room til it settled down.

2.48pm now its time to go see the Dentist upstairs so up we go to another waiting room. we sat and did a puzzle and then the Otho arrived to do Alex's feet lucky as I had forgot about that and Banksia had told her where we were. then we get called into the dental room Alex goes and sits down like the "super Trooper" she is and they check her teeth she is getting use to this all now with 3 visits so far. the abscess is an issue and needs attention NOW they tried to get us in this week like tomorrow or Friday but no luck, appointment was then made for Friday the 12th she will lose the tooth that has the abscess and we will deal with the future issues she may have as they are required... she will have X Rays and depending if any other teeth have abscess issues she will lose them too. but otherwise they will cap her teeth that have the cavities. she has 2 wobbly teeth and it was funny as the dentist (Steven) said a wobbly tooth the High Five to Alex hehe so cool to see these specialists treat children special and make them comfortable. filled in the papers and finally got out and yeap you guessed it back to Banksia to see the Dr before we can go home.

3.20pm in Banksia out-patience waiting for the Dr to squeeze us in between others and call outs. calling home every 20 minutes as I could not get home in time to pick Up Robyn so we had Hubby leave work early and the Childcare dropped Robyn home :) 
4.10pm we get called into see the Dr but now we have no File hehe so a wait for that to come back and then fill Dr Tim in on what Dr Steven has said get scan results (preliminary results but still) the tumours have SHRUNK woohoo OK back in my bubble as I do not want to jinx anything and we are 2 weeks away from our first year of treatment, next thing we discuss is Port Removal. Dr Tim decided its about time to go and well if anything does happen we can cross that bridge when we need to. so another lot of forms and now 2 surgeries for Alex in the next few weeks or so... woohoo no more stress about her port or infection etc. yeap stepping back into the bubble to remember things are good but life is unpredictable.

well we finally get out of the hospital and head home in Peak hour traffic again and arrive home after 6pm Good thing we sorted out Robyn's drop off :)


we also got our invite to Camp Qualities Christmas Party and we will be going

so good news that things are still shrinking but always standing strong that cancer is stupid and can wait and wait, also finding out a few new things that are issues from her treatment but thankfully all treatable and manageable... small steps forward and we are slowly moving forward too.

smiley face in shrek paint

CT scan

playing in the play ground