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, September 29, 2008

So, I Think We Have a Plan

Hi -
We had some real ups and downs last week (or, should I just say downs?) with getting information. As of last week, we were under the impression that we'd be traveling this week to UCSF (University of California at San Francisco) to receive MIGB treatment for Hans. Wednesday morning I actually made contact with nurses at UCSF for the first time. I learned that they were planning on having Hans come for a CONSULTATION. I immediately went into a panic when they told me he wouldn't be slated for treatment until Oct. 7th or 23rd. That would mean letting him go untreated (letting this stuff grow in his little body) for too many extra days. Many convoluted emails and phone calls later (I'll spare you the blow-by-blow),but at about 4:55pm on Friday, we 'confirmed' a new plan. Hans will receive one more round of Irinotecan/Temodor this week on an outpatient basis in clinic at TCH. Kevin and Hans will travel to Cincinnati for a consultation next week, the following week he will undergo another MIBG scan. (Please PRAY that the Irinotecan Temodor is keeping his tumors under control - or, better yet, for pretty, clean scans once again). Then the following week, the week of October 27th, will tentatively be the MIBG therapy up in Cincinnati, Ohio. As it stands now, all of us will be going, and my mom will join us up there as well.
It's terribly sad that we won't be able to be right there in California where we have the love and support of Roxie (Hans' Godmother), Megan and Phil, our good friends, the new beautiful baby Desmond who was born on July 16th and who we are all dying to meet, our friend Aimee, who was willing to drive up from L.A. to help give us more love and support, and all of their parents and siblings who we love, and who love us, and they all treated us like family when we were in Santa Cruz, CA for Kevin's Grad program. I think I'm grieving the loss of all that right now. BUT - the most important thing is Hans' timely and effective treatment. So - Ohio - here we come! Cincinnati Children's Hospital is in the Top Five in the country. And, they are on the cutting edge with this MIBG treatment for NB - being one of only 5 hospitals in the country to offer it. Furthermore, we are impressed at their willingness to get Hans on their calendar in a timely manner.
Life has been a little 'intense' these past weeks, as we are trying to figure out how to handle all of this, in addition to crawling out from under Hurricane Ike - but we seem to 'get by with a little help from our friends' and family! Thanks for your support during this crazy time. I keep finding myself saying "this is insane!"
Lara

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Wow - Hans is Featured Sparrow Child on Nat'l Website

Okay - I guess Hans is just a star this week - one more site to check out! http://www.sparrowclubs.org/ You'll see Hans there as the featured Sparrow Child.
I really can't say enough about this program. The whole idea is that students adopt a sparrow child for a year and do service and fundraising for a medically fragile child's family. It was pretty moving and powerful to be there yesterday. Sparrow clubs is the nation's only youth-based charity program. I think it's truly wonderful. If you are involved with a school, or have a student - maybe you would be interested in looking into the sparrow clubs program for your community. It's truly a win-win-win. I must say thanks to Carmen, she forwarded me an email about last year's sparrow child and I just kept it in the back of my mind, and then found out that Alison Kilway was desperately looking for a new Sparrow Child in The Woodlands. Fate.
There is a chance they could need another Sparrow Child in The Woodlands this year. Please email me if you have an idea of a child who lives in The Woodlands kevinandlara@hotmail.com.

Proud mama moment - Elle scored 1 goal and had 2 assists today - way to go sportyspice!

Lara

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Hans and Kevin Featured on Local Talk Show this AM

This is kind of fun!
Hans and Kevin were asked by Elizabeth Garcia of the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center to join her on the local talk show "Great Day Houston" with Deborah Duncan about the importance of giving blood on a year-round basis - it was pretty cute! I'm proud of my guys. We think it's important to help get the word out about this subject. We can't count how many transfusions Hans has had. (Chemo kills the fast-dividing cells, like hair, blood and tumor cells. That's why cancer patients need to receive transfusions so frequently during treatment.)

Check it out - Thursday, Sept. 25th 2008, www.greatdayhouston.com click on segment three. I'm not sure how long the website will keep it up - could be today only...

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, ELLE!!! We're so proud of you, cutie!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Photos


Kathy is right - it's hard to photograph jewelry. But the lanyards are turning out fun!

Tyson and Jim on roof over garage

Kevin, Tyson and Jim on Roof (Gregg and Mike were helping too - just not pictured here)

Hans with Bumblebee Lanyard

Elle with Lanyard

Hans With Mrs. Reedy - Glen Loch's school nurse, and the reason I'm not a nervous wreck for the three hours Hans is at school! She is wonderful, so is Mrs. Nusbaum!

Tree on House

Back in The Woodlands

Hi -
I thought we should post to let you all know we are back in The Woodlands. We had a very relaxing and nice time in Scottsdale. We just missed Kev! Thanks again to Mark and Debi for getting us out of here after IKE - at first we thought we'd be without power for weeks and that we may just stay in Scottsdale until we left for UCSF. At this time, I'm still not even sure if we are doing UCSF next week, or in three and half weeks - I need to get down to the bottom of that one soon!

We were working feverishly on our Lanyards! I will do my best to post some pictures of our tonight. Here is the ordering information: Email me at kevinandlara@hotmail.com and give me your address. We ask for a $15 minimum donation for the lanyard, plus $1 per lanyard to ship it to you. This is an excellent Christmas gift idea for your favorite nurse, doctor, or your child's teacher - anyone who needs to wear an ID badge!

Our cousin KK also approached two stores in Scottsdale and will be making Doggie Necklaces and keychains at The Barkery and Sonny and Chair, and Debi will be making Necklaces to sell at a Scottsdale restaurant - the HerbBox. They just got these ideas and they're going to be featured on a radio program! These ideas are taking off:) Proceeds will all be going to the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation.

We had an awesome visit with our old friends, The Browns, who now live in Tuscon. Thanks for coming up to visit!

Still haven't heard from the insurance adjuster. We all can't wait until they make it out here. We still have some debris to clean out in the big beds out front and back - but the place is really pretty operational at this point...

Talk to you soon - I think there are some pretty exciting things cooked up for Hans on Thursday and Friday - but since nothing is set in stone at this point, I'm going to leave you hanging...

Lara

Friday, September 19, 2008

Counts looking good!



We had a very quick little trip to Phoenix Children's Hospital yesterday. Would you believe it was 45 minutes in and out the front doors and we had great counts in hand! HGB 11.7, Platelets 191, and ANC 5,000! We were glad to be here because we heard that the Texas Medical Center is pretty much out of blood. They are not giving out platelets unless people are bleeding!

THIS WOULD BE A VERY GOOD TIME TO DONATE BLOOD OR PLATELETS! Even if you haven't done it in a very long time. I'm a little worried about the other kids down there who might need transfusions. Check out the website www.giveblood.org if you are in the greater Houston area... If you are not in the area, you can find your local blood center and give, anyway;)

Hans is enjoying his trip. We are all having fun and being at least a little bit pampered. Lots of swimming, lots of playing Wii. Debi had been asked to bring Gabi, the new puppy, in for a photo shoot. We ended up having a little impromptu photo shoot of Hans, KK and Elle with and with out the doggie. I'll update with the photographer's website when he gets our photos up, so that you can check it out. But, I was able to post a couple of the photos today. Pretty good for just getting them yesterday!

Kevin is doing fine. We acutally got power back on at our house Wednesdat afternoon. He was able to return the favor and help another guy get a tree off his house, yesterday. Our block has been doing a few hurricane parties, so it's not all doom and gloom down there. He also said he got a very reasonable quote on getting the rest of the tree down. It was actually just the top 20 or 30 feet of a tree that landed on our house. The other 40 feet is still standing and we needed to get it down. I guess the guy is going to come out to the house today - amazing!

All we have left to do is figure out when to come home. That's a little tricky b/c we don't have our dates for UCSF nailed down yet. It's tentatively set for the week of Sept. 29th. We think the kids are going to be back in school Tuesday, so we'll see.

Thanks for checking up on us. Please keep Chloe Parker's family in your prayers. They are in truly unthinkable circumstances. Chloe's services are today and they still are operating without power at their house.

Lara

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Hello from Scottsdale

What a week...
We're now safe and dry in Scottsdale. We are framing it as an early spring break. We get to hang out with KK, and Debi and Mark, and the boxers Harley and baby Gabby and the cat J2. Our house has some sturctural damage - but it's habitable. I have to confess - if you live on our block or in The Woodlands - I was wishing this would have happened to you, not us! But now I realize that a handful of our friends and neighbors do have trees on their houses as well! So, we'll all deal with it. I was pretty much a disaster on Saturday morning, but now we're just adding it to the list. My mom was able to contact the insurance and they gave us a five day estimate for getting to our house. Thanks to Mark and Debi who flew us outta there to get away from the storm. Kevin and I were a little worried about how Hans would fare for an extended period of time w/o power. He's fine though, he did okay. But now he's beside himself to be on vacation!

The 'real' problem we are facing is the Neuroblastoma. As soon as I was able to get online this morning, I learned that we lost Chloe Parker this week. We were in the room next door to her on Thursday/Friday on the 9th floor. Her NB progressed and took over organ function in the previous 2 days. We are so sorry for her family. She was a strong willed and incredible little girl! Thanks for any prayers you can offer for her family at this terrible time.

Lara

Monday, September 15, 2008

The Plan For Now

Lara, Elle and Hans are scheduled to fly to Phoenix on Tuesday evening. They will be staying with Mark, Debi and Kalene for at least a couple of weeks. Lara is setting things up for Hans to have counts done at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Kev will stay in Houston to take care of the house. With the help of friends they were able to safely remove the tree from the roof today so at least they can tarp it and stop some of the water damage. Lara also mentioned that all of their friends are safe. Sounds like a lot of them are making alternate arrangements while their power is out. Gasoline is scarce right now so they are limiting travel to only necessary trips. Otherwise, they are holding their heads up and making the best of the situation.

Prayers to all of them,

Kathy

Sunday, September 14, 2008

THEY ARE ALL SAFE!

Kevin, Lara, Elle and Hans are all safe! They did have a large tree fall across the study and garage, causing some structural and water damage. In addition to the house damage, power is not anticipated to be back up for 3 - 4 weeks so they are trying to come up with a plan.

Kevin has been in contact with his employer, Marathon Oil, and they have resources available to help the hurricane victims which may include alternate housing for them. They are also considering having Lara and the kids go to Arizona to stay with Kevin's Aunt Debi,Uncle Mark and Cousin Kalene. I expect that they will make a decision in the next day or so. Hans' health and his ability to deal with the physical and emotional stress on his body, heat, disruption to his day to day schedule, the chaos of the aftermath all create additional concerns for Hans. Fortunately Hans finished his recent round of chemo and is now just scheduled for counts during the next couple of weeks. Counts and transfusions can be coordinated with other medical facilities while they continue with their plan to start Hans' treatment program in San Francisco.

Kevin and Lara continue to demonstrate tremendous strength in this latest blow they've been dealt. It's overwhelming for us to imagine how much more they can deal with at this time. Be sure that their primary concerns are for the safety of their family and Hans' special needs. I know Roxie's suggestion for those that would like to help, to send pre-paid cards for gas, food, etc would be a tremendous help to them at this time and once they get to San Francisco (thanks Roxie!). I will let you know where the best place to send cards will be as soon as they know where they will be staying.

Thanks again for the prayers. As they make a plan, I will try to keep you all current.

Kathy and all of their extended family

PS - Lara spoke with a family at TCH and they seem to all be doing ok. TCH has enough power to meet their immediate needs.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Sprung!

Hi!
Would you believe it totally worked out? They totally fast tracked us on 9 and we were "outta there" BEFORE noon! The roads were clear and quiet, there was no gas to be found, but I had enough! I am happy we're all "up home" as Hans likes to say, me, Kev, Elle, Hans, Honey, and the cats - Black, Orange and Cotton.

We left a floor full of patients and nurses down in the Med Center. It's pretty scary! But I'm sure they'll all be safe. Those nurses sure are brave! They're leaving their families to 'ride out' the storm. I know they'll be safe in the building (hope hope hope) but not very minute will be a hurricane party. The plan is to pull patients mattresses out into the hall tonight, to keep them safe from possible broken glass.

Kevin has secured things around here, and cleaned out the downstairs closet, where I guess we're prepared to spend the night if need be! Elle and I made a stop to get more beading supplies on the way home, so we should be able to keep busy.

Thanks for checking on us.

Lara

We've got all of Hans' prescriptions and we're glad he's mostly just enjoying feeling well and his counts aren't at risk to drop too low...

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Going Inpatient Due to Ike!

Hi,
Just wanted to let everyone know that they finally figured out what to do with us. They gave us the option of declining tomorrow's chemo and just staying home, or...
sticking around as inpatient tomorrow to get the full dose of Round I of Irino/Temodor. I didn't think missing 20% of chemo was a real option. They got Dr. Russell on the phone and she concurred (she's at a Children's Oncology Group Conference in Philly). We are now waiting for the room. Hans should be done at noon tomorrow. IF road and weather conditions look decent, we'll be headed home at noon. But, if not, we'll ride out the storm on the 9th floor (actually - I can only hope they are able to put us up on the ninth floor)!
Kev was here to make the big decisions with me, but then he headed home to batten down the hatches and ready our place for a storm. I hope the roads aren't getting too bad out there for everyone!
I had a feeling we'd be going inpatient - so I decided to pull Elle out of school this morning as Hans and I headed into clinic. I just felt I should grab her since everything was such a big question mark...I'm sure glad I did!
Will update later. Hospital should be pretty good on generator.
Lara

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Bake Sale Postponed Due to Ike

Hi Everyone -
I just wanted to be sure that all of our bakers, sellers and shoppers got word that the Memorial Bake Sale has been postponed due to Hurricane Ike. Hopefully IKE won't be that much of an event - but it's better to be safe than sorry. We want each of the families to be able to participate in this day safely! As soon as I get my hands on dates for travel to UCSF I'll throw out some more ideas for dates.

As Shelly pointed out, Houston is likely to be on the "dirty" side of this storm, [for our friends who live elsewhere, the dirty side is the east side, as hurricanes move counterclockwise they are more dangerous and faster as they blow in off the water] and we don't want our friends coming from hours out to be put in harm's way. They'll likely scale back appointments and be operating on a skeletal staff - so we won't have as much of a customer base. It's better to wait so we can raise a lot of funds for NB research!

Meanwhile - we are working on our own contingency plan for Hans' treatment. They aren't overly prepared in clinic yet, but I am going to bring my overnight bag tomorrow, just in case we are detained as inpatient. I'm getting back-up plans for Elle worked out, and it's all kinda crazy!!! I have heard it said that text messaging can be the best means of communication during a bad storm since the phone lines can get swamped so easily. So, MOM - you might have to learn how to text - i just sent you a test message. But, Carm, just not while driving;)

Lara

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Irino/Temodor Under Way




Hi -
So for a 'quick' post and update - we are finished with Days one and two of Irino/Temodor. So far it seems to be going okay. The main side effect doesn't seem to be hitting Hans!

Hans went to school today and we plan to send him tomorrow and Thursday. I guess he got on the teacher's chair today and explained to everyone that his was port was accessed so they shouldn't touch it or run around. His class seems to have fallen in love with him. Whenever I pick him up just before lunch, it seems each student has to say goodbye, hug him or give him a high five. I feel for Mrs. Nusbaum - I'm willing to pick him up in a less disruptive way. Mrs. Nusbaum reports that Hans is adjusting quite well to the routine of being a Glen Loch Gator! How cool is that? I couldn't be happier with his team - to the point that I don't even worry about him during his 3 hours of school (unless the phone rings!) I try to take a nice long walk and pick up this place a little bit...

Today Hans got to ride home with daddy - so he was pretty happy about that.

I wanted to post information about a couple of upcoming events:
There will be a Blood Drive in memory of Blaine Brandon on Saturday, September 13th at: American Dream Cycles in The Woodlands

Also - the Sparrow Clubs is doing a Bunko Night for Hans - their theme is
Highlanders for Hans. The Bunko will be Oct. 4th. How cute! For more information you can email: Sparrows@YourHomeTown.com We sure appreciate that Alison Kilway, Travis Kilway and the Highlanders are doing this for our family. I can also forward you the flyer, if you email me at kevinandlara@hotmail.com

It looks like Hurricane Ike is coming right at us. Bakers, please bear with me a little longer - Kevin and I are watching it, watching Marathon Oil's weather alerts, and we're staying in contact with clinic staff. I'll try to make the call by tomorrow evening as to whether or not we can go ahead with the Memorial Bake Sale on Friday, or if we'll need to reschedule.

The Pics above are from our Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center photo shoot back in June. We have no idea if any of them will be used in the Blood Center's Print Media or not...

I'll post more when I find out about Ike.

Lara

Sunday, September 07, 2008

News from Doc

We've talked with Doctor Russell a few times since the last post. She told us that she has conferred with the docs at MSKCC in New York, and that we should hold off on that option until "Hans' disease is back under control."

So, we're working on that. Feels a little like taking a shot in the dark. But - it's all we can do. Things are in the works to get Hans into the MIBG treatment at UCSF. It looks like it'll take a couple of weeks to make this happen. Meanwhile,
we are going to get some chemotherapy in him starting Monday. We are going to go with (IV) Irinotecan/(oral?) Temozolamide. Hans has clinic appointments set up for 12:20 each day next week. As long as he is feeling well, he should be able to go to Kindergarten in the morning and head down to clinic afterwards. He will also be given his third dose of Zometa. From what I understand - the hydration requirements aren't as strict as with Topo/Cytox, and the blood count drops aren't quite as low. He should be feeling well the whole time, and he should only have to go into clinic for counts once in each of the following two weeks... There are some side effects, but he's starting a new Antibiotic in hopes of countering those.

It's pretty scary. There are no guarantees that any of these treatments will have the desired effect in Hans. I wish there were some quick lab tests where you could predict how Hans would respond to each therapy. All we can do is keep going, keep fighting, and keep praying. We are trying to make the best decisions we can for our boy. I am happy that Dr. Russell is working with us to help coordinate the treatment at UCSF.

Meanwhile - 'normal' life moves along. Elle has started soccer (go Wolves!) with her first game Saturday. My proud mama moment was when she was the only kid on the team who called out begging to take a penalty kick and aced the final goal:) They didn't win their first game, but they seem like nice kids, and the coach isn't gonna let them goof around. That's good. We also met with Girl Scouts to plan out the year and I am pleased to report that Girl Scout Troop 11251 will help with making lanyards for Neuroblastoma Research, and they will do a cookie drive for either Ronald McDonald House, or for TCH. Sweet.

We'll keep you posted as we roll into another hectic week of balancing school/work/treatment/soccer and another Bake Sale!

Lara

PS - anyone can click on the "Neuroblastoma Parent Handbook" Picture icon, above on the right, and read more about the MIBG or 3F8 Treatments.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Scan Results: Relapse Part II

Hi all-

Well, we got some more bad news today. Hans's MIBG scan (Meta-iodobenzylguanidine scintiscan) showed two new spots indicating neuroblastoma tumor. One is on his left femur (upper leg bone) and one is on top of his liver just underneath the diaphram. Last week he only received the CT scan and the MIBG scan (No bone scan or bone marrow tests). The CT scan was clean. This scan mainly images soft tissue and unfortunately doesn't image the top of the liver where he had the spot. The good news is that whatever is on top of the liver has not spread elsewhere in the abdomen or it most likely would have been picked up on the CT. They didn't do the bone scan because the MIBG is more sensitive and would pick up anything present on the bone scan. They didn't do the bone marrow because if it shows up on the MIBG, its probably in the marrow.

The real bummer about the results is that right now we can't do the 3F8 study up in New York at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. This is the study that uses antibodies that specifically attack reappearing neuroblastoma cells and seem to hold some promise in preventing relapse. The issue is that one has to be 'clean' in order to start the treatment. If you have tumor present like Hans, its really not an option (Dr. Russell, Lara, and I will confirm this with New York). This is something we really want to do, but once again we have to get rid of the tumor that has reappeared. It's still a future option, but not until we take care of what's on our plate.

So now we're kind of back to square-one. There is no cure per se for relapse, only a boatload of options to choose off the 'menu' of 'hopefully this works' treatments. That's not to say that neuroblastoma kids don't pull through after relapsing, just that there isn't a standard treatment protocal like at initial diagnosis. When Hans initially relapsed with severe tumor in his right arm, we went a pretty aggressive route: Put in another permanent catheter to receive aggressive IV chemotherapy and 12days of radiation to the arm. This worked great for the arm (the arm was completely separated from the shoulder, and now he throws rocks and plays the Wii like nothing ever happened), but it obviously didn't work systemically. Dr. Russell thinks maybe the radiation did most of the healing, but maybe the chemotherapy wasn't the complete answer. The chemo probably did some good, because he doesn't have tumor all over, but it didn't completely keep the neuroblastoma at bay.

Dr. Russell gave us her approximate 'top-five' list of next, viable treatment options. Two of the options are open clinical trials and three of the options are treatments out of the trial phase. One of the clinical trial options, Lara and I both crossed off the list because both we and Dr. Russell haven't seen great results after 3 years of data. The other clinal trial option has only been ongoing for 6 months and there really isn't any data to suggest successful/unsuccessful outcomes either way. We probably aren't doing this one either, but it's certainly a tough call...just because there isn't data, it doesn't mean it won't work. Wouldn't it be a shame to find out this was the cure?! At this point, though, Hans has future options so we will try things right now which have data to back up success.

The treatment option we are currently leaning towards is MIGB Therapy (yes, this is related to the MIGB scan that you are all familiar with). Basically, when one receives an MIGB scan (Meta-iodobenzylguanidine scintiscan), he/she is injected with a radioactive iodine isotope which neuroblastoma cells preferentially uptake. Normal healthy cells do not uptake this isotope. After injection of a small amount of this iodine isotope, the MIGB scan can detect neuroblastoma tumor areas in the full-body. The idea behind MIGB Therapy is that if you inject a large dose of this radioactive iodine isotope, and it is subsequently absorbed by the neuroblastoma tumor cells, it has a therapeutic effect (think targeted radiation). Topotecan/Cytoxin+radiation therapy (we just tried this) and MIBG Therapy are two of the most documented, effective treatments for relapse neuroblastoma. We tried one of them and it didn't work, so let's go for the next one.

There are only two institutions/hospitals in the US that currently offer MIGB treatment: The University of California-San Francisco Childrens Hospital, and Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. Texas Children's and Seattle are about a year away. Our plan is to go to UCSF for Hans's treatment. 1) We are closer to family and friends, and 2) Katherine Matthay, MD (UCSF) is the expert on this treatment. Dr. Matthay was also the principle investigator on the study that led to the standard treatment protocal that all hospitals throughout the United States now use for treating initial neuroblastoma diagnoses. Dr. Russell knows Dr. Matthay very well and is helping us collaborate with UCSF staff. Lara and I have also previously spoken with Dr. Matthay via email and she is very receptive to our situation.

MIBG Therapy is very, very lame. There are more-harsh treatments, but this is up there. The reason why there are only two hospitals that offer this treatment is that it takes special 'radioactive-safe' facilities. Basically, this means that when the child is injected with the high-dose radioactive iodine isotope, he/she poses a risk to others and the environment around them. The hospital treatment facility essentially has lead walls used as protection, and the staff has to be trained specifically for these risks. Generally, a typical stay for Hans would be 10-14 days. Three of those days would be in a sort of isolation. While he is 'radioactive' (sorry...don't know how else to put it), family can see him, but not touch him. When I say 'see' him, I mean kind of like how in the old days, after you had a baby, you looked through the window in the nursery and said..."Oh isn't he cute?!!". That kind of seeing your child. Sucks!! Usually they also like to collect more stem cells (like he did for bone marrow transplant) because occasionally they need this for bone marrow recovery. Dr. Russell thinks this shouldn't be a problem for Hans.

Please know we aren't taking this course of action lightly. Hans still sleeps with us because of his adrenal issues. Every hospital stay Hans has ever had (now over 150 nights), either Lara or I has slept with him in his hospital bed. I can't imagine how to explain to him 'radiation safety' and that we can't be with him, and touch him, and hold him for a few days if this is what we decide to do.

Lara and I are very receptive to Hans. If we think he can't handle a certain treatment, we'll stop. So far Hans is cool. Right now he is so excited about waking up and going to kindergarden. When he gets home from school he wants to watch cartoons and eat and play video games with us 'all together'. He's a normal little kid (except for the baldness and 3-year old body) and he feels great!

Dr. Russell will be calling us tomorrow with info from Dr. Matthay. We'll let you know what's up.

Keep the prayers and good vibes coming.

Tons of love

Weberlings

So many Angels

A website you might want to check out. A lot of us "NB" families keep tabs on one another across the country. The world lost a really sweet little second grader over the weekend - Max. Even though I never met this kid, my heart is broken once again. His parents have done so much to push research forward through the MagicWater foundation, but, sadly, the miracle cure didn't come quickly enough to save their boy...
http://mikulak.blogspot.com/ (i guess you have to copy and paste - the link doesn't want to go thru)

We're going in for the scan results appointment at 12:15 pm. What I always say on this day is that I should walk around with a puke bucket...

Lara