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.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween

Whether we like it or not, We are where we need to be today. Hans has had quite a couple of days. That ICE really caught up with him. Hans has been admitted and he not only received platelets and blood (thanks again, donors!) he had a Nasty reaction to the platelets. He broke out in hives all over. It was a mess. He had been bleeding out the nose all day from low platelets, then the hives, then a number of bruises all over his little body with such low platelets. He has big bruises just from where he scratched his hives. A couple of days where we really feel like we are back in the trenches. Gosh. Just stinks when we've been literally counting down the days to Halloween since at least August. We had ordered Kevin a costume to match Hans unknown phantom, we'd picked Honey up a bat man costume, and Elle was all set as a flapper. Oh well. We are where we need to be, like it or not. Hans has continued to have fevers as high as 103.3 just now.. There is good news, there is a silver lining. The lymph nodes feel noticeably, significant smaller on both sides. It is incredible. How strange it is to have this visible, palpable disease. We could watch it grow before our eyes from the size of a lentil to the size of a golfball. Now we are watching it melt away. It's more like a gum ball now. Wonderful! With any luck and hope we won't have to do many more rounds of this ICE and we'll have him back on a much more reasonable, manageable, less harsh therapy!
Tonight we are ignoring Halloween...and cozying in for a night of burgers and fries with Aimee and kev and Elle. Sooo sweet that they are all here to pretend it isnt Halloween along with me and Hans. There is plenty of candy though, of course.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah to signs of shrinkage - BOO to fevers, hives and bruises! Healing prayers for a speedy turnaround and on to a successful stem cell recovery.

Love, G.Kathy & G.Dale xoxo

Anonymous said...

Oh, ditto to Grandma Kathy's and Grandpa Dale's message! SKEEDADDLE to fevers, hives, and bruises!

Your burger party was cozy and sweet...I could feel the love in the room from afar!

Onward and forward! May you feel better with each passing hour, Hans!

Love, hugs, and prayers...
Aunt Susy

P.S. A costume party is FUN anytime...you name the date!

Anonymous said...

Oh Goodness, I am always thinking and praying for Hans and you all.
Love,
Claire

Anonymous said...

I agree with Aunt Susy - maybe have to have a costume party when Hans is in the spirit...hopefully soon! Love, hugs and prayers...
Aunt Holly and Uncle Michael

suzanne said...

Sorry the Halloween plans didn't work out, but glad that Hans is getting what he needs. I'm thrilled that those bumps are shrinking!

Sounds like a delayed dress-up party would be good.

Hugs,