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, April 16, 2010

Low ANC



I'm trying to be better about posting and taking pictures, but Hans is making it easier on me because he is posing a little bit. For sooo long all I'd get would be the back of his hand!

The good news is that Hans' HGB is 9.8 and Platelets are about 235 here on Day 9 of Millennium. Yay. We've got that round behind us - I was pleasantly surprised that this even round, round 6, didn't really cause us any bad side effects like rounds 2 and 4 did. BUT, his ANC is pretty darn low at 345 today. We got labs drawn at our pediatrician's office again here in The Woodlands and it was FAST! Wow - we save about 4 hours, and a lot of expense in gas and parking - so I'm a happy mama.

So, we are laying low. Hans is good at entertaining himself. This week water balloons and some of those punching balloons are doing the trick. Fun fun fun...

I'm trying to work on making some travel plans... which is CRAZY when I can't really predict when we'll have to be in Philly. But - we are going to be going to San Antonio for Memorial Day weekend with Elle's soccer team, and I just registered us all for the CNCF conference in Chicago in July! I'm excited. We went once back in 2007 and haven't been back since. There is much valuable info at this amazing conference. www.nbhope.org I'm hoping we can make our annual trip to Seattle this summer, and we are starting to daydream about taking Hans to the Nick Hotel in Orlando sometime around Thanksgiving... Wow - that's a lot of planning in a world where you can't really plan. How are you supposed to do that????

For now, I am just try to follow Hans around with Hand Sanitizer and limit germ exposure to reduce our risk of spending the weekend in the hospital with fever. I get two word text messages from Kevin that say "hand sanitizer".

Thanks for checking up on us.

Lara

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an adorable pic of Hans :) I love it when the boys take the time to stop for a photo! When his ANC rises & you want some company, give us a call....

suzanne said...

wonderful, wonderful - I'm glad Hans is having fun even "quarantined".

Yep, planning with a cancer kid is hard. blood counts and treatments seem to set the boundaries and plans always seem to be iffy.

You have done an amazing job of continuing to get Elle's activities covered, etc.

Hugs,

Anonymous said...

Nice smile, Hans!

Glad to hear our guy is doing well! What did we do before hand sanitizer???

Thank you for all of the updates, Lara, re: Hans AND Elle!!

Love and hugs all the way around!
Aunt Susy

Anonymous said...

Glad things are ok. Enjoy the visit with your mom.

When did Hans loose his teeth? I didn't hear that story.

xoxo

Roxie

Anonymous said...

You better duck with the water balloon Grandma Stephanie!!!
I hope you all enjoy your relaxing week with Grandma Stephaine...

Love,

Pat K.

Unknown said...

Hi-
I live in Chicago and have been "amaturally" selling Vickie's lanyards. Would love to meet up with you when you are here to discuss (seems you girls have it down to a science) :)
Happy and Healthy Days!
Marni Debra Brown