About Me

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Bakersfield, CA, United States
Hans was a busy, happy, sweet and fearless three year old when he was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. He fought his disease like a "gladiator" for nearly 6 years. Hans was an animal lover to his core. He was 'guarded' at home by his three cats, Black, Orange and Cotton. He also had his Golden Retriever, Honey, to keep him company. Hans enjoyed swimming, biking, gardening, grilling (he had his very own grill!), horseback riding, playing video games, building Legos, and flipping between Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet. Hans loved all members of his family and he was a loyal friend. He had to go through a lot of treatment in his life. But Hans powered through it. His attitude was let's get this done! His motivation was always to get back home, to his family, pets, favorite foods and pool.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Either "Ignorance is Bliss" or, "No News is Good News"

So far Hans has had an MRI on Monday and a CT scan today. The MRI was a little rough, but the CT Scan was a breeze, Yeah Hans! He got injected today with a shot of Radioactive Medicine for his MIBG scan tomorrow. We haven't heard anything back yet about Monday's MRI or today's CT scans. We'll meet with Dr. Russell tomorrow afternoon to go over everything thus far. Hans will then have a Bone Marrow Aspiration on Friday and a Bone Scan next week. They did push back his Bone Scan so his kidneys won't have to work so hard processing the Radioactive Medicine in his system. We saw Patrick, as well as another little guy, Colby, in Nuclear Medicine. Colby is my hero because he was diagnosed with NB one year before Hans, but he's just a month older than Hans. He has battled some of the same side effects. Thanks for your prayers for all of our boys.



Hans and I had five hours to kill today so we walked up to the zoo. Hans wanted to check on his elephant - baby Mac. Baby Mac is doing just fine. It looks like they are building a large new area for the elephants. This is nice, but it looks like they're taking over the alligator bayou, which I always really liked.



It was a very successful Birthday Weekend. Hans loved his party at Chuck E. Cheese. (Erin, your comment was right on the money.) He downed three pieces of Pepperoni Pizza. All of us were totally impressed with our little 8 year old buddy, Michael Smiley. He took it upon himself to very carefully escort Hans through the climbing structure, and it was like he appointed himself Hans' special buddy for the day. It was adorable. Hans has now lit candles on cake or leftovers at least half a dozen times. We just sing to him whenever he wants to hear it again. I'm a little worried about the birthday kid at the next party Hans goes to. I think he thinks he's in charge of blowing out all candles, everywhere.



Elle and Joey left late Monday. I hope she didn't cause him too much trouble, but I know she's having a blast. It was hard to say goodbye, but I know this was the perfect timing. She's just missing out on a LOT of scans down here. She's now with her Grandma Kathy/Grandpa Dale in Ellensburg. She'll also hook up with Grandpa Dean/Grandma Diana and Auntie Anna/Uncle Matt this weekend. Roxie flew out last night. It was fun to have a house full and to have so many helping hands. It's sort of quiet around here! Hans was mad at me today because I told him "no" about something. He started crying and said, "I need my sissy 'a make me feel better."



Elle - you're missed down here - but have a blast for all of us!



Lara

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Continued prayers for all these brave boys. I'm sticking with "No News is Good News"!

Love, Aunt Holly

Anonymous said...

Nolan had a buddy that had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese in March. The party was in the middle of the week. I wasn't very effective at work the next day, since I had a "Chuck E. Cheese Hangover", although the video games were pretty cool.

We'll be praying for good test results and continued recovery for Hans. Take care.

Doug, Amy, Nolan and Clay

Anonymous said...

Lara-
It's so good to see that Hans is doing okay. We're checking in every now and again, Sequoia asks about him and likes to see the pictures. Take care of yourselves and if you ever come to the river come say hi. You are all always in our prayers.
Love
Parish, Anna, Lucas and Sequoia