Successful MRI

5:30 am Friday morning, I am in the bathroom getting ready for our long day at CHOP when I hear this giggling coming from Owen's room...silly silly boys!

So general anethesia was no fun... but Owen did great and the MRI was successful. We should have the results in a few days...

In the evening we met my mom in Doylestown to enjoy the beautiful weather and have dinner outside...so cool to watch Owen completely loving Joey's mozzerela sticks such a switch for him!

"Failed Sedation"

"Failed Sedation" that is how it is stated on the hospital forms. All drugged up for nothing, Owen had an MRI last Monday and they were unable to get the images. Labored breathing, elevated heart rate and a little boy that wouldn't stay still... After three attempts to get the image they called it quits and brought him back to recovery. So tomorrow we are off to CHOP again this week (Tuesday's visit was for a pentam and a flush) to visit general anesthesia for a second attempt. There they will be able to give Owen a different combination of drugs and instead of inserting tubes in his nostrils to help with breathing, they will be able to insert a breathing tube. If the MRI results show that the tumors have remained stable, Owen will be able to continue his stretch of no chemo!! The difference in him just over the past few weeks has been amazing...eating, constantly on the go, chatty and silly...

In other news...we were able to finally get a few days of skiing in over Spring Break...the first time Owen has been further than 2 hours away in a year. I'm working on a new computer so once I figure out how to upload my pictures I will post some from the trip. Hope everyone had a nice holiday!

...after an hour of playing around I figured out the photo gallery on my laptop...will add skiing pics tomorrow...I am soooo sleepy!

Where did Spring go???

Last Wednesday we took the boys to Castle Park...what a beautiful afternoon. Sitting in my chilly trailer ("learning cottage"),

I could really use another warm spring day!

Stopped...

So the big news is that Owen has stopped chemo treatments. His team of doctors met and decided that the risk of his increased reactions to the carboplatin outweigh the benefits of him continuing the treatment. His MRI results have shown that the chemo made the greatest difference during the induction phase of treatment, causing the tumors to slightly shrink. Since he has started the maintenance phase of treatment, which he received 6 out of the 9 rounds, the tumors have remained stable. As long as the tumors continue to remain stable and Owen's visits with the neuro-ophthalmologist go well then Owen won't need further chemo treatments. His next MRI is scheduled for April 6th and he'll have a follow up appointment on April 13th to go over the results, flush his port and give him pentamamine (to ward off pneumonia.) If the MRI shows that the tumors are stable then Owen will just need to go to CHOP once a month for a check up and the pentamamine. He will continue to get MRIs every 3 months and his port will stay in until the doctors determine that he is completely out of the woods. So we are all cautiously optimistic!

MINE!!

No...Owen has yet to learn the word "mine" but he definitely sees anything that Joey is eating or playing with as needing to be in his possession. Owen was given cheerios for breakfast yesterday and completely refused to eat them...but would gladly eat Joey's cheerios and then scream "No!" when Joey would try to take a bite. You can see his expression last night when Joey wouldn't share his Pokemon cards...Joey gives in very easily...Owen's pleased as can be!

Love these pictures...

On our way home from the gym on Saturday, after my mon had given the boys hershey kisses for the car ride home...this is what I was watching in my rear view mirror. Joey does not have a hoodie on he is "Cornholio" (if anyone out there admits to having ever watched Bevis and Butthead) and Owen was happily letting the kiss melt in his hand and trying to lick all the chocolate up.

On Sunday we went skiing at Camelback. It is amazing that Joey jumps right back into the sport even though he hasn't been on skiis since last season. By mid-day he was a bit of a jelly-legged mess.

Monday was a snow day so Joey got to go with us to CHOP. The roads were covered on the way down, traffic moving slowly so it took about 2 hours to get into the city. Owen made it 3/4 the way through treatment before he broke out in hives again. Treatment was stopped and Owen's vital signs were monitored for about at hour. You can tell how much Joey loves his brother because he is always sitting as close to him as he can get. In the car, Joey sits in the middle seat...at the hospital he will sit on the side of the chair until Owen pushes him out of his space :) Joey is so good with his little brother...even feeding him ice cream after his treatment to help him "feel better." I was actually really glad for the snow day...a selfish part of me feels like taking Joey out of school each Monday to go with us because he always lightens the mood of the day.

Shower Time

Silly Boys...both ended up in the shower together

Gearing up for a big day tomorrow. Should be

interesting with the pending snow storm.

A fun weekend...went too quick...finally got skiing with Joey, Me-Ma and Great-Dad (my mom and dad). Conditions were cruddy...what can you expect from the poconos but the company was wonderful...will post pictures tomorrow.