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.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Office Check up

Hey Everyone,
We had our office visit today. We also made an appearance at the Parent Meeting. It was nice to see the familiar faces. Hans did just fine and he got his next prescription for Accutane. He'll start back up on Oct. 1st. I'd say it has been nice to be off Accutane - but we did run into some problems needing to triple his steroids first for a fever and then for a "little" fall at the park, so I don't know... it's been kinda crazy. We did get approval for the Make A Wish Trip from our doctor. At least they can get the ball rolling now and maybe we'll get to go during the dry season... The cool thing is that Hans' special buddy, Dr. Rainusso, will prepare a letter in Spanish for any doctor Hans might need to see in Costa Rica. Kevin is fluent in Spanish, so even if we did have a need for a physician at least we could communicate with them! We'll keep you posted.

Everyone is starting to get excited for this ranch trip. A few of the staff members from TCH are going. We leave on Friday next week and get back Sunday. It should be lots of fun! It's so generous of the owners of the ranch to donate this trip.

Hans has scans starting next week, then he gets a week off, and goes back the following week for an MRI. His audiogram follows on November 2nd. Thanks for praying along with us for clean scans for Hans, Patrick too. He's been doing well in Kindergarten! It sounds like Accutane is not "fun", but he's doing okay on it - and almost halfway done now! It must be time for Colby and Carlie to repeat scans, too. We were all doing it together at the same time this summer...

I can't stop thinking about it. One year ago today Hans had his first office visit related to his Neuroblastoma symptoms. We had noticed that his left testicle was a little swollen and discolored (brown or blue, like a bruise) in one little spot. I had noticed it for four days, but it would look smaller in the AM, so I would think it just went away, and then by the PM it came back. When we went into the office visit, the doctor had actually a bit of a look of shock. But, he didn't say the "C" word, or even indicate a concern. We were referred for a STAT testicular ultrasound. I had just enough time to pick up Elle off the bus and get over to the hospital. I cancelled the Girl Scout camping training I was scheduled to go to that night. We went to the ultrasound at a complex near the hospital here. Hans did great, but we really learned very little. We left the place thinking it was possibly an infection or an injury. Everyone kept asking us if Hans had hurt himself, but we couldn't remember any specific incident. I had asked if sterility was a possibility. I was reassured that no, probably not. Hans and Elle talked a little about that on the way back home. Hans told me that he wanted to have three babies!


Lara

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This has been the longest year of our lives!
Truly Hans has changed over this past 12 months from a baby, just beginning to know what life is all about, to a person with wisdom of life far beyond that of most of the rest of us. I witnessed that change the 4th day he was in the hospital last October. He transformed from a 3 year old child to a person fighting for his life, I saw it in his eyes. He continues to fight that battle with astonishing bravery and resolve!
Thanks to the vigilance of his parents and everyone at TCH he is home and returning to a more normal life. Praise be to God!
Now we have the opportunity to do something meaningful to make sure that all kids with Neuroblastoma survive. The LUNCH FOR LIFE fund raiser will give all of us a chance to participate in finding the CURE! What a fantastic opportunity!!!
It is ASTOUNDING that for every $5.00 donation one drug can be tested which could be the CURE for Neurobastoma. With 200,000 drugs to test we have our work cut out for us.
Now it is our turn, with resolve, to write the check (like Jim and Carmen did through Merit Parking) to do what you can to end this tragic disease that attacks beautiful, innocent children everywhere.
We can do this! You can help.
Stephanie Cady
aka G'ma Stephanie

Anonymous said...

wow you guys have covered a lot of ground in a year. I am so proud of you all, your familys strength and Hans' bravery has been truly inspirational.

we love you guys and are always thinking of you.

big hug
liz, rob, jemma, and flash