Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 9:00 pm

Wow, it has been a long time since a real blog update. What does that mean? We are all doing great and enjoying a busy life.

The last time we posted we mentioned Reese’s summer scans. Everything came out with “No change.” That means no cancer growing. He is stable! Dr. Max told us that we will not do scans again unless there is a problem! How exciting is that! No more sedation, long days of no eating, no more contrast, and a very upset child! He will be monitored every 6 months through blood and urine tests. At least those are less invasive than scans! He will still have an ultrasound just to monitor the cyst on his kidney but that is an easy one to do.

Reese’s wheelchair finally arrived! It came the last week of July. (It was ordered in January). When we went to the spinal defects clinic in July his rehab doctor was appalled that it had not arrived. She made some calls. Guess who has the power? Not Mom. She did the trick! Reese enjoys his chair and is a great driver most of the time. However, he does not do well down hills when it gets going too fast. He then just lets go and laughs. He thinks it is a fun ride. Mom and Dad are working on this. Reese is supposed to wait for an adult to go down hills. This includes the ramp leaving school, and our drive way. One day he drove down the drive way and across the street. Mom chased him, but could not catch him before he crossed the street. Thank God someone was watching and no cars were coming! Reese is fine, but Mom was not happy! We think we have learned this now, but we will be watching very carefully.

Reese walked in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. He did this the day before he turned 3. One of the organizers knew it was his birthday and made him a cake. The stadium of people sang “Happy Birthday.” What a moment for Mom and Dad. A stadium of cancer survivors and their loved ones sang our cancer survivor Happy Birthday. Reese liked it but he did not get the significance of it. Maybe he will later. Donna, a teacher who used to teach with mom and a breast cancer survivor, pushed Reese around the track in the survivors lap. (Mom and Dad felt they should not be on that lap. They wanted to honor those who had fought and survived cancer). Donna was thrilled to do that. Quite amazing to watch so many special people who have fought this horrible disease!

The next day, Reese had a wonderful birthday party. He loved the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party. He had lots of fun with his friends. We posted pictures that tell the story so I will let you look at those. His favorite gift is his “bicycle” from Uncle Carl. Thank you Uncle Carl for all you did to make that work!

After a few months of fighting with insurance our roof finally got fixed. When did it happen? The day we had guests visiting us. . . from Norway! Lonnie and Nicholas came back to the United States for a few weeks to visit friends and family. They got to spend a few days with us. We loved having them here. Reese loved having an older boy to look up to and Lonnie who would snuggle with him whenever he wanted. We went to Red Robin to celebrate Reese’s birthday. (We did that last year, as Lonnie and Nicholas were leaving to go to Norway. It seemed like the perfect place). We also went to the T-Rex restaurant. Where else do you take a 3 and 9-year-old boy. Dinosaurs of course. They both had a great time! Reese still talks about it and he adds Lonnie, John, and Nicholas in his prayers many nights.

The summer went by so fast. Mom tutored on Wednesdays. Usually about 6 kids which meant a long day of tutoring. She also worked at the Disney Store evenings and weekends. I think I ended up working as many hours during the summer as I did during the school year. So much for the summer off! Next year, I will take more time just to relax and enjoy time with Reese!

We celebrated Reese day (the anniversary of Reese’s diagnosis) by going to The Rainforest Café. The giant tree frog came around to take pictures with the kids that night, so Reese had his picture taken. He loved it. After that we went to the 2 story carousel by The Disney Store and Reese asked if Mommy could ride with him on the 2nd story. Mom obliged, but by the end of the ride, Mom’s motion sickness was not doing so swell. Next time Dad will ride with Reese on the carousel. It is so exciting that Reese has come so far since that ugly diagnosis 3 years ago!

Reese and Mom both started school in August. Reese is going to preschool 4 days a week at Mom’s elementary school. We go to school together and go home together. This was harder than Mom expected. That is a lot of stuff to carry in every morning. All Mom’s stuff, Reese, his backpack, walker, and wheelchair. It took a while to get the routine down. Reese also thinks Mom should play with him the entire time he is in the kindergarten room. Mom has to get ready for her class. It has taken us a while but doing much better now.

Reese loves preschool. He loves his teacher and his new friends. He has therapy everyday. They are working on making his legs and trunk stronger. He sees the physical therapist and the occupational therapist. So all 4 days he is at school, he sees someone.

Aunt Dawn is at school at Emporia State. This means she is about half way between our house and her home. This means that she comes to visit us more often. We also get to go to Emporia to meet her too. We love seeing her more often!

Reese was very excited about his Halloween costume. He was Wall-E. Dad made the costume. It was quite impressive. We got lots of compliments. Can you believe it is hard to find costumes for children in wheelchairs? We just made our own. Reese loved all the inflatable decorations in the yards in our neighborhood. He was so sad to see them disappear. He is waiting (although not very patiently) for the Christmas decorations to appear.

Reese has a check up with Dr. Max in December, ultrasound to check the cyst on his kidney, and spinal defects clinic in January. We will update more frequently with holiday news as Reese is very excited! Thank you for your continued prayer and support!

We are currently working on the 2008 Christmas ornaments, 2008 Christmas stamps, and the 2009 Reese Calendar. They should all be up before Thanksgiving on his site for everyone to purchase. If you are on Reese’s mailing list, we will send out a notice when they are available. Otherwise, check Thanksgiving weekend if not earlier.

Reese is growing up to be such a big boy. He no longer looks like a toddler. Recently we updated his photos page with about 30 new pictures with more on the way. Be sure and check out the recent additions.

Mom and Dad

30 NEW Photos (Month of October, Pumpkin Patch, and of course, Halloween)

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