Spring Skiing @ Killington

My favorite time to ski~spring break~warm sun on my face~light weight ski gear~nice soft snow...great times with family and friends. This year my friend, Alex and her two boys, Kaz and Izzy went up with us and we met my mom and dad for a quick weekend trip.

First Game of Season

First game of the season and Joey is a superstar!!! Incredibly exciting to see him bolt down the field, challenge the opposing players and tend goal...especially since it has never just "clicked" for Joey. It usually takes him weeks...it is going to be a fun season!

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!