Kids, I know what we're gonna do today!

Last night we attended another fun HopeKids Minnesota event. This one was a brand new experience for the couple hundred people who attended: watching movies on the football field at TCF Bank Stadium where the Gophers play. They played the Phineas and Ferb movie and then Soul Surfer. A huge thanks to Gopher Athletics for allowing it to happen and the HopeKids people and student athletes who helped out! It was the first time they had an event like this at the stadium. Julia and Finn were impressed with the size of the place, and enjoyed running around on the field and feeling the artificial turf.

For the movies we plopped down near the 50-yard-line on our blanket and laid back. It was really windy and the clouds rolling by behind the giant screen was a neat sight.

We left after about 30 minutes into Soul Surfer. It was already an hour past the kids' bed time and we were 45 minutes from home. Even that little bit left an impression on Julia because this morning she remembered to ask to see pictures of the real Bethany Hamilton.

We're now busy getting ready for Julia's Make-A-Wish trip tomorrow. We'll be leaving bright and early to head to the airport for a week in Orlando!

The Clear Scans

The scans were clear! So that's obviously good. We're free of those until the start of the new year. And since they looked good, Julia got to have her Mic-key button taken out. For those of you not paying full attention (you're forgiven), that was the little device that gave us access to her stomach. It was put in as a G-tube late winter for us to give her feedings and later trimmed down to the button but kept so we could give her any meds she needed.

She said she didn't want it removed. I think it was part not wanting to have to take any meds orally and part because it sounded scary taking it out. To remove it, a nurse just deflated the balloon holding the button in place on the inside, slid it out, and covered the hole with gauze and tape. It was really weird just having an open hole in her abdomen with just a piece of tape over it. At home we had to change the gauze a few times a day and now, two days later, there's no discharge and it appears to be sealed. It looks kind of like a small bellybutton.

When I was changing the gauze this morning, Julia was gracious enough to let me snap some pics of The Hole, as we're referring to it.
Also notice the nice looking scar on the right side of her belly! I didn't want to force anyone, so for a closer-up shot, click here.

After a shower tonight, Amanda helped Julia style her hair. Her fauxhawk was awesomely cute!

The Upcoming Scans

On Tuesday we'll be spending the day at Children's Hospital. Julia's got scans, PT, and hopefully taking her Mic-Key button out. I've been trying not to think about it too much, but over the last few weeks, that's been difficult. After the scan is over and we've gotten the good news, Amanda and I will be relieved and then we can start worrying about the next one.

We're hoping to make it through Tuesday without a hitch so that we can focus on our vacation coming up in a few weeks. Julia's Make-A-Wish trip is nearly upon us. We're all excited to head to Orlando for a week! We'll be meeting again with Julia's wish granters next weekend to get all of our final details squared away. We'll be staying at the Give Kids the World resort. It's equipped for those kids who aren't medically well enough to be out and about to be able to have a great time on-site. Since Julia doesn't fall into that category, we'll be able to visit all the nearby theme parks as well as enjoy the activities they offer.

Julia's hurt arm was mentioned in an earlier blog post. All seems fine with it - nothing broken and it isn't bothering her at all now.

She also got a nice compliment from her guitar instructor at this week's lesson. He could definitely see improvement.

The kids decided to build Skippy a fort earlier today. It ended up quite elaborate and this evening the dog actually crawled in and laid down in it. Here's a picture of the early stages.

School Days, Strumming, and Splints

The kids started school a few weeks ago. That's right, even the little guy is getting in on the education action. Julia's in 2nd grade and Finn has started pre-school at UWRF. Things are going well so far.

After her birthday, Julia started taking guitar lessons. She was really excited about starting and she has her lesson once a week. She sometimes needs to be prodded to practice, but it's clear she's picking it up when she talks about what she's learned or showing the chords and notes she knows.

Julia went to a gymnastics birthday party on Saturday. She had a fun time until she fell off of a piece of equipment and hurt her arm by her elbow. After an hour or so, she was still in a lot of pain so Amanda took her to the ER. The x-ray looked negative for any breaks or fractures so she left in a splint and sling. She'll need to be seen in a few days and possibly x-rayed again to make sure it all looks ok. She hasn't had much pain at all today, so that's a good sign.

We're also staying plenty busy with dance classes, girl scouts, etc.

There would be more pictures of Finn, but he usually goes in the other direction if he knows the photo is being taken.

On Being Bald

There's no faulting a person for feeling self-conscious because of missing hair caused by chemotherapy. It is, after all, an unasked for change to someone's appearance that will draw stares and raise questions by peers and strangers.

That being said, the real meaning of the baldness ought to be thought about.

The falling out hair and later smooth skin is not a sign of cancer. It's a sign of the cancer being slowly killed off, cell by cell. It's a sign of a body stronger than the nuisance growing inside of it. It's a sign of tens of thousands of hours of creative and hardworking minds who studied, learned, and devised ways to destroy the parasite while leaving the host only temporarily weakened.

Hair? Please. Go ahead, take it. It'll grow back while the abnormal cells that decided to take a run at the whole of the body are long deceased, forgotten about, and their parts recycled back into other living things that agree to play by the rules.

Of course, the confidence of the preceding words is helpful to maintain a positive attitude during the worst of the worst. The fact is that sometimes the good guys don't win. But even in a loss, progress is made. Not only has the fallen inspired family, friends, and strangers, but the entire situation has brought people into the full spectrum of the human experience, of which, loss of life plays into it heavily for everyone who has ever lived. And all players in the game of fighting cancer are winners because they all become an all-important data point. One blurb of information in a file might sound like an insult to be a life's legacy, but I'm completely free of cynicism when I say that. Those tens of thousands of hours of work that bring hope were brought about by tens of thousands of those stricken with cancer - those who underwent treatment and battled through to whatever end was theirs. Good or bad, their end result made the lives of those who suffered and fought after them a little bit easier.

And as the treatments move toward producing less nasty side effects while still destroying the ceaselessly growing cells, here's to looking at a lack of hair for what it truly is: a sign of the battle being fought.

Kid Vacation!

The children spent all of last week splitting their time between their grandparents' houses.

Each of them had a backpack with whatever things they wanted to bring along. Finn couldn't fit everything he needed so he had a little extra to carry.

They got to do a lot of playing and exploring while spending the week in central WI.

Julia was excited to get to meet and hold Natalie, Amanda's cousin Leah's new baby.

Meanwhile, in another part of the state...
Amanda and I enjoyed going out to eat a few times without the extra cost of a babysitter and going on some long walks. We also took the opportunity to enjoy an evening at the Minnesota State Fair. Our only plan before going was to eat some interesting things, on sticks, of course. This was our menu of fair food that we ended up eating:
- cheese on a stick (like a corn dog, but with cheese in place of the hot dog)
- corn dog
- deep friend veggies on a stick
- fried green tomatoes
- corn fritters
- deep fried spam
- lefse
- sweetcorn ice cream
- slab of bacon on a stick

We had hoped to, but didn't get deep fried cookie dough, chocolate covered jalapenos, or deep fried candy bars. We didn't find the cookie dough and I decided to opt out of the other two at the end of the evening after listening carefully to my stomach. I think I made a wise decision because by the time we got home, I was feeling a little funny.

In one of the buildings they had several marker boards from CaringBridge to write words of support or in honor of someone battling an illness. I jotted down a quick note about Julia's outcome of her own cancer.

Here's a self-shot of the two of us above the state fair.

Although the extra free time in the evenings was nice, it was just as nice to get the kids back home on Saturday and be able to end the weekend with all of us back together.

The upcoming weeks are going to keep us busy. Amanda is already back at work, Julia starting back to school later this week, and Finn starts pre-school in a few weeks.

August Through the Years

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Filling in the Gaps

From post-cancer news to party pictures, there's been little else mentioned in awhile, so I thought I would go through our pictures from the past six weeks and throw some out here that had gotten left behind in all the hubbub.

Julia and a friend fed and checked out the animals at the petting zoo during River Falls Days.

At a Hope Kids events at Como Town (at the Como Zoo), the kids cordially passed each other while driving the little cars around.

Having aunts and uncles around pre-party led to some acrobatic hijinks.

To celebrate Amanda's golden 30th birthday, she had a weekend away. It was a little bit of a downer for her though because I tagged along. You can tell there was a nice breeze on the boat by the way her hair her looks in the picture below, taken while on the dinner cruise on the St. Croix.

We also squeezed in a family weekend before the fast approaching Fall comes around and school starts back up. We went to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre and saw Hairspray. Below is how we looked prior to leaving for the show.

We all had a great time and the kids even got high-fived by the very tall man who played Edna Turnblad. Afterward, we were hanging around in the lobby looking at different things when one of the actresses walked by and asked Julia if she would like to meet the lead actress who played Tracy Turnblad. A few minutes later she came out and talked to us for a few minutes.

We stayed at a hotel that night so we could lounge in the pool. The kids enjoyed eating pizza on their bed while watching TV channels we don't get at home.

We let each of the kids build a teddy bear at the Build-a-Bear store at the Mall of America.
Julia made a rainbow teddy bear that she named Ella.

Finn opted to build a dinosaur instead of the standard bear. He named it Mr. Dino.

We didn't go on any rides (though the kids certainly asked enough times...) but we walked through the park at the mall and we ran into Aang, the character from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Julia didn't want much to do with him, but Finn was pretty excited.

Party Pictures, Round 2

The welcoming signs were hung around the park to point people in the right direction.

The kids helped with some of the decorating. Finn was lifted up high by Grandpa Dayton to make sure things looked just right.

Julia jumped to measure the height of the purple fringys.

Once the decorations were up, an assortment of memorabilia documenting Julia's cancer journey were placed around as well. Julia acquired a long string of Beads of Courage, each one symbolizing an event or hardship that she met along the way.

A table full of pictures and other things to remember her journey was also displayed.

And of course the legendary 23 feet long timeline explaining everything that happened October through July was up for everyone to see.

Amanda and I had known for several months, but at the party we finally broke the news to the kids. Julia had been granted one of her wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This October the four of us will be spending a week in Florida visiting Disney World and some other fun places! We're all super excited! Finn has never flown so he's extra excited about that.

On another Disney note - After the Make-A-Wish process was well underway but before we knew all the details, a friend of ours had quietly gathered donations from people and presented us a gift of Disney gift certificates. We were very touched by the gift and plan to use them at a future date to reinforce the current memories and make new memories as a family.

Another wish Julia had had was to get a giant rainbow cookie that was as big as our house (and with no frosting). We all had a good chuckle at that one and told Julia that it just wasn't really conceivable to make a cookie that large. And while that is true, Julia's Grandma Colleen and Grandpa Dayton arrived at the party with...a giant, frosting-free rainbow cookie! It wasn't nearly as big as a house, but we were all surprised and it was hilarious to see Julia's reaction.

It was great seeing Julia so happy and just as awesome to see how happy everyone else was too. The two shots below are with grandparents and the two after those are great-grandparents.

A photographer friend of ours took all the pictures in this blog post. While she was taking the below picture, I accused her of condoning the monkey-like behavior of climbing on picnic tables. But I guess if it turns out cute, all is forgiven.

It was fun looking at all of the pictures afterward because I didn't realize some of the great posed shots that had been taken.

The nonposed are great too. In this one I see: reflecting, absorbing, and content happiness.

And finally, the photographer, Tania, and Julia.