Eighteen Months Into This Thing ....

I’ll admit, I haven’t updated the site in a week because quite frankly, I don’t have much to report. I have NOTHING to report on the medical front, which is a good thing. Kendrie keeps rolling along with her at-home chemo, no problems there. I’m hesitant to report that the Singulaire seems to be helping her cough because as sure as I do I’ll jinx it, and then she’ll be up all night, hacking up a lung. Once the nurse mentioned “Exercise induced” it was indeed obvious to us that she coughs more when she is exerted --- and also in the middle of the night, usually in direct correlation with how little sleep Blaine and I are getting. If we’re well rested, she sleeps like a log. If it’s a night we're trying to catch up on our sleep, she’s coughing like a madman. Isn’t that always the way it works?

I’ve mentioned many times the wonderful list-serve I am on for parents of kids with leukemia (ALL-Kids) and how much support and encouragement I’ve gotten from these parents. We have new members join (sadly) on a pretty regular basis and we had another new member sign up tonight and send an introductory e-mail. I responded with a welcome, and typed in that “my daughter Kendrie was diagnosed ……” and I sat there and counted up the months … October to April ….and hey, wait, what’s the date today??? And it suddenly occurred to me that Kendrie’s diagnosis was exactly eighteen months ago TODAY. How funny is that? Well, obviously, not funny in the ha-ha way, like when you see those people on AFV whose pants fall down while they’re dancing at a wedding, but funny to me that only six months ago, when she hit her one-year anniversary, I was so uptight about it I practically had a nervous breakdown in the parking lot at my hairdressers shop. Today’s 18-month anniversary date would have gone by completely unnoticed if not for that e-mail. I guess that’s a good thing, right? We’re so comfortable in our normal lives that I sort of forgot all about it. Or, well, the part of my brain that isn't obsessed with it, forgot about it.

Anyway, I thought I would share with you a few photos of Kendrie and her “boyfriend” Nicholas. They are neighbors, classmates, buddies, and (unbeknownst to Nicholas) betrothed, at least if Kendrie has her way. She even asked me the other day if she wanted to marry Nicholas, did that mean she would have to be a girl? So maybe there’s hope yet that I’ll get her in a dress someday! Kendrie is aware that we will probably be leaving Georgia sometime next summer (2006) and she has already asked Nicholas’s mom if they can move with us. She hugs him way too much and is thrilled to be on the same t-ball team as him (Nicholas’s mom and I successfully negotiated {ie, begged} that they be placed on the same team!)


Kendrie and Nicholas at school, working on a project together. Hasn't she realized that it's never a good idea to get involved with a co-worker???



Kendrie has long been obsessed with playing t-ball. Now that she's on the same team as Nick-Nick (her pet nickname for him) there is truly nothing on earth that could make her happier. More t-ball details to follow.




From the looks of things here, Nicholas is re-thinking his decision to spend the afternoon at our house for a playdate. She totally adores him! It's a good thing it's so young and innocent, otherwise Blaine would be cleaning his guns already. :)

Otherwise, not much is going on here. We did have to cancel our plans this weekend to attend Family Camp, which was sad but necessary. Blaine is just too gimpy to manage walking all over the campgrounds, from the cabins to the mess hall to the lake to the various activity locations, etc. The kids were disappointed, but to be honest, I think Blaine and I were more disappointed than they were! What does that say about our social lives???

I hope you all have a nice weekend. While I certainly don’t wish any drama or natural disasters upon our household, I hope something happens soon, so I have something to tell all of you in the next journal update! Otherwise I’ll be forced to report on the new brakes we had to buy for the van, or the upcoming PTO elections, or something equally as mundane. Let’s see, winning the lottery would make for a nice journal entry! (Of course, that would entail actually *playing* the lottery, which we don’t do …. So I’ll have to think of something else.)

Take care,
Kristie
**********************************************************
KENDRIE’S PERSPECTIVE:

WORST THING ABOUT HAVING CANCER TODAY: Same bad thing that happens every week -- having to take those twenty bazillion pills before bedtime. Nasty!

BEST THING ABOUT HAVING CANCER TODAY: Well, the fact that I am eighteen months into my treatment means that there are only eight more months to go --- then I am done, baby, DONE!