The Carly Shay Song

We are experiencing semi-normal life right now. Until the second week of Febuarary, Hannah only has chemo every ten days. On the days in between, she seems almost back to her pre-cancer self. I have missed her so much.

Her most prevalent side effect right now seems to be nausea. We are able to keep that in a tolerable range for her most of the time. That said, Hannah did throw up into her dinner plate at the table Tuesday night. You should have seen the boys reaction! It was a deal breaker for them.

I have been able to focus more on work (which is a good thing) and Hannah is working on cleaning her room up without a tsunami size fit. :-)

Her last doctor appointment went very well. Her ANC is soaring up there at 2100. Her weight went up considerably. Thank you, tuna noodle casserole. She loves it. Last week she ate that every single day.

I am posting a video of my random and hilarious Hannah. She got all dressed in rocker clothes and sang me a song about Carly Shay, the star of ICarly. When Hannah casually tossed her glasses down, I thought I would have to stop filming from laughter.

Ok, I have been trying to load this video for DAYS!!!! After forever goes by, it says Blogger.com could not be reached, trying agian. Also, I tried to load it this morning and before you can hit ok on the load the video button it asks you to accept the terms of service. I clicked on the terms of service. It directed me to a page that said, invalid request. So, I clicked the upload button without accepting and it flashed a warning sign saying I had to ok the terms of service that I can't read! AAAHHHHH!!!!

Update: I got it to post. YES!

MOG Redemption

Hannah has had a great week. She was struggling with nausea and unable to eat until a couple days ago. We found the magic of tuna noodle casserole. Really. She loves it. She ate an entire four servings of it yesterday! She has a spinal tap and weight check on Friday. With all she has been eating, I almost can't wait to see the number.

Right now Hannah's ANC is pretty high. Up near 2000. If there was ever a time to get her out of the house, it is now. Also, I have a few memberships that I would like to get some use of!

We went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium (thank you lovely Smacna crew) with Mackenzie and the ever adorable Cadence on Saturday. It was really cold, but it didn't stop us. Ok, after two hours it did. We had a fantastic two hours, though.

The walruses are my favorite. It is the mustache. What aspect of sea life requires the mustache? How did that develop? Or maybe walruses are just trying to look more sophisticated. Either way, they sure did want to see us.



Next on the list was the Museum of Glass. The first experience there was lacking, to say the least. However, since I went and bought a membership, we had to go again. I am happy to report that they have completely redeemed themselves.

We were informed upon arriving that we could go watch them making the glass in the hot shop. We hurried in to find a large room with seats and a sort of sunken stage. Down on stage there where several men working and a woman with a mic narrating the process.

Hannah said Hi very loudly. The woman thought she had a question and stopped talking to ask. Hannah proceeded to introduce herself as if she was at an AA meeting for cancer victims. She said "My name is Hannah and I have cancer". I'm not kidding. The lady reacted so well. I can't remember what exactly she said, just that it wasn't as awkward as that could have been.

Then, one of the guys, wish I knew his name, asked us to come to the front row. He had a small ball of glass on the end of a stainless steel stick that he had just put in a VERY hot oven. He told Hannah to watch the ball and with little tweezers started to shape it. Before we knew it, a tiny horse appeared. Talk about impressive!

It takes awhile for these things to cool, so on a piece of glass that is best described as sand dollarish, he inscribed "To Hannah Love MOG" on the back and gave it to Hannah. It was such an awesome moment for her. She said thank you and then interrupted that poor lady one more time to see if it was ok to take home. When we left she waved and said good bye to each one of the staff.



What a great group, the MOG staff, turned out to be. It is so moving to see how touched someone can be and the way they respond to what Hannah is going through. I think we have been fortunate through this, in that we have met many, wonderful people, just like that. People who have been willing to help without asking, or offer support, love and prayers. It does make a big difference.

Weight Check Wednesday & Snotty Museum Girl

Hannah has a chemo appointment tomorrow. They have also scheduled her to have a feeding tube placed unless her weight is up. Here we go again.

We went down this road during the last IM phase. Something about the combo of Vincristine and Methotrexate really kills her appetite. That said, she has been forcing herself to eat more this week. She HATED the feeding tube. I think, she just might make it.

She has been feeling pretty good all week and really wanting to do more than hang out at our house. So, for New Year's Eve, we went to the Spaghetti Factory, (eating is awesome) and we went to the Tacoma Glass Museum. Unfortunately, when we arrived they informed us that there was only 30 minutes left before they closed. Holidays. It didn't really make sense to pay for the whole crew and only get to be there for 30 minutes.


Hannah was so excited. She wanted to go in. Her ANC was up, she was feeling well, and we were already there. We asked if perhaps we could get a discounted rate just for the short duration we would be there. The snottiest woman I have encountered in awhile told us in that, too bad so sad, tone, that it wasn't an option. We could, however, pay the entrance fee and go in.

Sometimes, I am just so stubborn. I bought a membership. Problem solved. We could go in, and the money not only wouldn't be wasted, it would ensure we could go lots of times. Two trips to this place would have been the cost of membership, anyway. Plus, I did read in the little brochure, that there are glass sculpture projects for kids and it is indoors for godsake! You can't have enough indoor places to go around here. If you can't tell, I am trying like crazy to justify that decision! That wasn't in the budget, at all. Sigh. Look at this face, though. What are you gonna do?