Round 4 is Complete!

Harold has finished Round 4 of Chemo, only 8 more to go! He tolerated it well the first two nights. He started to feel really nauseated on night 3 (Friday). And it got worse as each day went by. Harold took Hunter to the football game Saturday night and ended up coming home early because he felt so bad. He finished up Sunday night, but the nausea was back last night. It usually takes him a couple days to recoup. He feels good during the day, which is odd to me. He’ll be back to normal in a couple days. He’s scheduled for an MRI a week from Wednesday for our next Duke trip on May 4th. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 7 weeks already since we last went up there.

May 4th is the same day as my pre-op appt for my ear surgery. I hope that I’m able to stay at Duke long enough to see the doctor with Harold. Our appts are so close together that morning and my appt is in Raleigh. So, I’m not sure if that will happen, but I’m hoping for it!

I’m not sure how much I’ll update the blog anymore. Baseball Opening Day was last Saturday and now we’ll be busy with games, etc. And since Harold is head coach, he seems to think that I need to be Team Mom. HAHA! I promise to post updates on Harold though, if anything comes up.

Hope you have a great week!

It's Almost Friday

Harold did very well with chemo last night. He wasn't sick or overly tired today. He and Hunter stayed at Huske until the hockey game was over. Hunter loved it. He had the best time...that's all he's talked about all day today. Unfortunately, Hunter has school tomorrow so he cannot go again tonight. Harold could tell he was disappointed.

On the way home tonight, Holden told me that he knows his ABCs, Days of the week, Months of the Year and can write his name. I've been working on him with spelling his name out loud, but he keeps messing up on the "e". I can't take credit for the other stuff...thank you Melissa for your hard work. :)

Here is Holden saying his ABCs..

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And for giggles...you have to watch this clip. It's kinda long and pointless. But I was trying to get Holden to spell his name. Listen just before the "E" for a nice surprise!!

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Everything is a GO!

Harold's platelets came back at 114,000!! He's good to start Round 4 of chemo. Praise the Lord!

Even his Duke nurse was so surprised that she asked him if someone else gave blood for him! haha!

Of course, tonight he will be starting his chemo at Huske Hardware...watching the FireAntz hockey playoff game. He's such a die-hard fan. Hunter is going with him. They have been buddies for the last week or so. Hunter has gone to all 3 hockey games with Harold this past weekend. AND...he has spent the last 2 days with Harold. He's gone to work with him, gone for blood work together, gone to baseball practice, etc. I'm so glad that they have that opportunity (again).

They both need it.

Hunter needs it especially after all that's been going on. And for those who know Hunter's daddy, you already know that he has alot of things going on in his life as well. He needs lots of prayers right now more than ever. Therefore, Hunter definitely needs this bonding time with Harold. And Harold's driving couldn't have come at a better time!

Everything happens for a reason.

Got the Blue Truck!

Yippee! Harold has his blue truck back. Got it today. whew!

I hope everyone had a great Easter Weekend. We took the boys to Jambbas Ranch on Sunday and then were played lazy all day on Monday.

Harold's labs on Monday were exactly borderline to where they are supposed to be (platelets were 100,000). However, because they dropped from last week, he has to have his labs taken again tomorrow morning. If they have increased, he'll be fine to start chemo. If they have decreased, he'll have his labs taken every 2 days until they are back up. That's a bummer too.

Harold leaves for Florida a week from Friday and we hoping to have chemo out of the way before he left. There's still hope. We'll fine out tomorrow morning. I'll post an update when we find out.

As for tonight, Harold is laying down with Holden because of the "dundering". Boy did that storm come out of no-where too.

Blackmail Time!

I'm sure I have told you that Holden is all about this Gameboy now. He takes it everywhere. He and I bribe each other over it all the time. I noticed tonight that he ran to the bathroom (as he always does because he waits 'til the last minute). But he didn't call my name for about 10 mins. I asked him if he was okay and he said "yes".

However...

I look in the bathroom and this is what I found:


He didn't even know I was standing there until the camera flashed! He is so rotten. He still wasn't ready to get up yet. When he noticed that his feet were "shaking", he was ready to get up (which I later determined that his feet had fallen asleep and were tingly feeling). He didn't like that. He said they were shaking.

It's Easter Time!

Every year, we color Easter eggs and ever year it's always an adventure! After these pictures, Holden decided he was going to color his hands **GREEN**. When I told him that it doesn't wash off, he freaked out. Then we scrubbed and scrubbed!

Hope everyone has a wonderful EASTER weekend!

Just our Luck!

Wednesday was supposed to be a wonderful milestone for us! Harold was supposed to be driving again. Well, it just so happened that Tuesday night, Harold was picking up his old work truck (aka the one he wrecked 7 months ago). The truck has been repaired and sitting at his boss's house. It has been driven a couple times by the other guys. When Harold went to drive it home, it started acting up and Harold couldn't steer it. He and one of the guys looked underneath and wouldn't ya know....the tire rod was just hanging down!

Unbelievable! Just our luck. The truck is not drivable! It crushed Harold. And Harold's personal truck (aka the hunting truck) has been in the shop since early March. I can't believe it. I could tell that Harold was a little upset too. Who wouldn't be? We (and I say "WE" very strongly) have waited 6 months for this day to come, only to be slapped back down. I couldn't stand Harold being upset. Now he was stuck at home and COULD drive! So, I decided that we were going to rent a truck until next week. My husband deserves it! I deserve it!

Yesterday, we picked up a Ford F-150 truck for Harold to drive. Of course, it's not his first choice, but it's a truck! I could just see in his face that he felt better. Independent is probably a better word to describe him. And again, he deserves it! Hopefully, his hunting truck will be ready early next week. Please pray that it will be!

One More Day!

Count it with me...

1 more day until Harold is back to driving again! YAY!!

(look out everyone!)

Just checkin' in!

It was a typical Monday. Harold had his labs done this morning and they came back great. Platelets were at 121,000. Well above the 100,000 requirement. But they don't order chemo on those labs. We have to wait until next week. Hopefully, they will still be above the required level to start chemo next Tuesday. Atleast we are praying for that. Harold leaves for his annual Tarpin fishing tournament in Boca Grande, Florida on the 24th. And I certainly don't want him to worry with a bazillion pills on his trip. That's enough to stress me out for sure.

Holden had his surgery follow-up appt this morning as well. We were in and out in less than 10 mins. Everything looked good. His ears were healed and his throat is healing. It's definitely not slowing him down! I thought I would have this Friday off for a long weekend, but daycare's closed on Monday instead of Friday. So, I'm taking Monday off instead. Kinda bummed me out. I know it's still a 3-day weekend. But having Friday off sounds better than Monday. Hopefully, it will be nice and we can take the boys fishing on Monday. Harold is in a bass fishing tournament this Saturday at Falls Lake. So, after Hunter's ball practice and Holden's soccer game, we're going to do something. I don't know what yet.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Ball, ball, ball!

I guess when you have boys, you just get used to sports. If it's not baseball, it's soccer, or hockey or basketball.

Hunter had baseball practice for 2 hours this morning and then Holden had his first soccer game at 1pm. I say first game because he has missed the first 3 weeks (2 because of the weather and then he had his surgery last week). Now, only 3 more games to go.

It took him a little while to figure out the game strategy. But once he watched a couple of the kids, he caught on quickly and was on that soccer ball like a fly. It only lasted an hour, but it wore him out!

Holden's feeling better and baby news!

Holden had a so-so week with this throat. He stayed home with Daddy on Monday and Tuesday. He didn't know how to act when he went back to school. He missed everyone and Holden says everyone missed him. He was out of his daily routine and it was a struggle to get him motivated. By Friday, with the help of his wonderful teachers, he was back on schedule and finally weaning off the pain medicines. I don't know what we'd do without his great teachers. They kept me informed when he was feeling bad and kept up with his meds. Needless to say, he's definitely back to himself today, except he's still not eating big meals. He had gotten used to pudding for breakfast and popsicles for lunch. He couldn't understand earlier why he couldn't have a popsicle for dinner! We're working on that.


CONGRATS LISA AND TOM!
On Monday morning, my sister's water broke (2 weeks early). She was a trooper...she tried to have the baby el-natural. Not for me! I'll spare the details...but she was in labor for over 25 hours and ended up have the epidural at 3:30am Tuesday. And she finally delivered a precious baby boy at 11:26am. His name is Nathan Thomas and he weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. They were discharged on Thursday and are adjusting well at home. I got to hold Nate Wednesday and he was so sweet. It's funny how you forget how little your babies were. I can't wait to hold him again.