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.

Friday, October 17, 2008

waiting game

Hans and our neighbor Zach had a little photo session yesterday...





Hi - we'll post when we know but for right now we're just playing the waiting game.
We now have one more round of scans under our belt. We only did the Marrow and the MIBG. The docs didn't think we needed a Bone Scan or a CT.

So there's really no news. Elle has been working diligently on her orders from school and we've even come up with a Lanyard Project order form and a new email address for orders: lanyardproject@live.com. The project is going really well!
Elle has some other big news... She made the cut for her school's district wide fun-run. She just missed the cut last year and this was her major goal for the year. She's enjoying some of the priveledges of being a 4th grader, the seniors of her campus. She signed up for choir on Thursdays after school, and she is a 'gator gaurd' this week and next week. (The big kids that get to school early to open the doors for kids getting dropped off at school...) We've been a little slow with her Bluebonnet Reading this year, but we're working on it - you can see the Texas Bluebonnet award winning booklist here: http://www.txla.org/groups/tba/nominees.html

In other news, that's not nearly as exciting. We've kind of changed our plans for Hans' school year. It has been pretty tough for him, with all the ups and downs of treatment, and the hurricane, and, I think, mostly the inability to get into a routine... We've talked with the principal, our staff at TCH, the teacher, and we're sort of following Hans' lead and deciding to wait until next year to give Kinder a start. It may sound a little crazy - but it was just a major battle to drag him out of bed on the days he was suddenly, unexpectedly supposed to be going to school. He loved it once he got up there, and we couldn't have loved his teachers and the staff any better. But, essentially, it was a little much. So - we'll try again next year! Crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. The whole thing makes me feel a little flaky - but I think it all boils down to Hans being a little sensitive and fragile, and if we can conserve his energy and let him do what he wants this year, we'll start him up next year. I guess we all just do the best we can, huh?

Okay - I'll post again after we have scan results.

Lara
PS - Erin got stable results. We were hoping for shrinkage... but at least there was no more progression...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good morning!

I am pleased to learn about Erin's results!

Postponing K makes perfect sense! Hans will be really ready next fall!!!

Love to you,
Aunt Susy

Charon said...

Hey Lara,
Cute, crazy pictures of the boys! Congrats to Elle on the district fun run and success of the lanyard project. If you need any help from Anthony, let us know what we can do. Regarding Hans' school, I know those are tough decisions to make - what we'd like them to be able to do vs. what might be best at the time - you are all doing a great job with Hans' needs and as his parents you know how to figure out what's best for him!

Take care, Charon

Laura The Crazy Mama said...

Those are really cute pictures!
The goofy faced one is classic.

Anonymous said...

We held Nolan back a year since he was a summer birthday. It is pretty common to do up here in Bellingham (especially boys), even without having to deal with what Hans has had to go through. We certainly don't regret it a bit, and I'm sure you won't either.

Doug Burghart

Anonymous said...

We held Nolan back a year since he was a summer birthday. It is pretty common to do up here in Bellingham (especially boys), even without having to deal with what Hans has had to go through. We certainly don't regret it a bit, and I'm sure you won't either.

Doug Burghart

Anonymous said...

Hey guys I know that you really wanted him to go to Kindergarden but he will be even more ready net year they always say it is better with boys to wait that extra year :) we continue to pray for clear scans can wait to get the results I will be on pins and needles. Call if you need anything.
Tracy Ash

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update; our prayers are with Hans and your family! I took 5 wristbands over to the ladies at the Exxon. Love, Allison (Sparrow Clubs @ TWHS)

Anonymous said...

Hi! It sounds like a good idea to me to let Hans wait a year for Kinder, I cannot imagine you ever being flaky! I love the pics of the boys, so silly! Congrats to Elle. Hope Kevin is all healed up. Love to you all, Cindy