Beckett and Alden's Blog

2009-06-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Ayana took some video of Alden playing piano. It's a bit old, but still cute.

12 seconds

2009-05-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

12seconds is website where people can upload little 12 second "microblogs". John and Beckett were having fun with the webcam yesterday and upload this:

Beckett confronts mortality on 12seconds.tv

Transparency

2009-04-05T08:59:00.001-07:00

A sign of things to come?

(Also, please do not judge my spelling)

Ride 'em

2009-04-04T22:06:00.001-07:00

Today Beckett had his first "horsemanship" lesson. I met his teacher Michele the other day when we were at the park and she was giving one of his classmates a lesson. She has a horse rescue organization and uses rescue horse to give kids lessons. I really liked her system because she teachers the kids all aspects of taking care of horses. He started by grooming the horse (Ellie) and he learned all the safety rules. Then he was ready to get on. At first he was a bit nervous, ("Horses are not really safe for 3 year olds,") but then he started to get comfortable and pretty soon he was asking Michele when he could come back and also saying that next time he didn't need her to hold the rope. (later in the car, he asked for lasso)

Alden, of course, is just as cute as ever and has started walking. He'll take two or three steps before toppling over. If he's going for the remote he can get a up to about 5. He's demonstrated his persistance (read: stubbornness) at the babysitter by spending the whole day going after the tricycle despite several war wounds. He likes to push it around while holding on to the seat. You'll notice all the photos are seated. That's because I don't dare take my eyes off him to get photos when he's up and running.

Alden's Birthday

2009-03-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

Alden's first birthday was a low key affair. We didn't plan a party, but just had some cake and candles and presents at home. But of course, I was not terrible enough to forget the obligatory frosting on face first birthday picture! Beckett got a Winnie the Pooh cupcake, Alden got a Tigger cupcake, Daddy got a brownie, and mommy got some coconut cake.

Alden liked the cupcake wrapper better than the cake. Here's what he looked like when I took it away.

And here's what they both looked like later.

Helpful Hints

2009-03-05T14:02:00.001-08:00

Last week on the way to work after I dropped off Alden at the babysitter. (as I have done every work day since August).

Beckett (waiting in his car seat to go to school): Mommy, where's Alden? What did you do with him?

Me (feigning confusion): I don't know. He was here a minute ago. What could have happened?

Beckett (with exasperation): Okay, where did you have him last?

One

2009-03-05T13:38:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow is Alden's 1st birthday. So on his first birthday he weighs 23 pounds and taller than he started (that's about as accurate as I can get). This is what he looked like one year ago.

And this is what he looks like now (well, actually what he looked like around Valentine's day when I planned to post this video.)

Beckett: His tonsillectomy seems to have cured his sleep apnea, but his sleep habits are still terrible. He can't fall asleep, he wakes up at 2 am all the time and then again at 5:30. The ENT tells us it will be 6-8 weeks after the surgery for things to calm down, then we'll see. He continues to be interested in Barack Obama, Rachel Maddow, and other news casters (all of whom he thinks are John McCain). He also has gotten into dinosaurs and space lately, too. Beckett has also gotten into using some pretty funny terms: "Mommy, did you know pterandons ate fish. For example, they swoop down and snatch them from the ocean." or "Daddy, panda bears eat stuff. In fact, they eat bamboo." (I didn't tell him that, in fact, pandas were not bears.)

Click on the e

2009-02-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

Not much new, except that Beckett learned to log himself into the internet, "No mommy, you need to double-click on the e." (And then he proceded to do just that!)

And in other news, Alden loves our new vacuum cleaner:

My friend Ginny got the boys shirts at the McDonald Observatory. On Beckett's solar system shirt, he recognized the sun and the planet Earth.

Thursday

2009-02-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

Today Beckett had a tonsilectomy-adenoidectomy at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. (This was the third time we had scheduled it.) The procedure was recommended due to his sleep apnea discovered because of his persistent difficulties with anesthesia. He did so well! He started of the day wowing the nurses with a civics lesson about Barack Obama, and then explaining to them the tonsilectomy procedure:

First, you smell the bubble gum, then you go to sleep, then the doctor uses a big tool to take out your tonsils. Do you get your tonsils out? Why?

Then he went back for the surgery which went totally fine. Turns out the adenoids were "enormous" and "infected" and so we're glad they're gone.

For his bravery prize, Beckett declined going to Toys R Us, and opted for going to the stationery store for a calendar and a special pen (orange highlighter). Once home we made smoothies, but hw wasn't that into them. He was pretty miserable when we got home, as expected, but is now snoozing (6:30 pm) before his next dose of Tylenol.

Wednesday

2009-02-04T22:59:00.001-08:00

Well this was going to be a post about how Beckett's getting his tonsils and adenoids taken out tomorrow or that his latest MRI was awesomely stable or that the oncologist said we didn't have to come back for six months, but then I found this....

In which Beckett becomes a member of the paparazzi

2009-02-02T21:29:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Beckett LOVES the digital camera. He can now get his subject in the frame.

...but needs to work on timing....

...and getting people's "good side".

Alden Crawls and Beckett's Fashion Sense

2009-01-30T22:28:00.000-08:00

(I know Beckett's chonis are backwards, but at least he put them on himself, right?)

Here are some things we thought we'd never have to say:

Me: Beckett, a potato isn't for drawing on.
John: Beckett, when Alden cries it means, "Don't push on his head."

Redwood Marching Band - Washington '09

2009-01-20T19:52:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I have nothing to do with the band but my school was the only middle school from California to play for the inauguration.

Diplomacy for Preschoolers

2009-01-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

Beckett's teacher gave me a letter he had dictated. He declined to write a note to Mommy, Daddy, or grandma. Here is the text of the letter he wrote:

"Dear John McCain,
I want to write you a letter. Good news! Barack Obama wins the president.
From,
Beckett"

Do bears...?

2009-01-06T20:43:00.000-08:00

They have been studying bears at Beckett's school and he is very interested in everything about them. This was his bed time question:

Beckett: Do bears poo in the woods?

Those who do not think this HILARIOUS must not have as much of a potty mouth as I do.

Portless

2009-01-05T18:58:00.001-08:00

After a day of talking everyone's ear off, getting poked for no reason, and totally eventless anestheisa (plus almost one year of stable MRIs) Beckett is port-free and only has a few steri-strips to show for his trouble. (He also got a teddy bear which he inexplicably named Pinky Doo Bear.) A gem from the trip to LPCH: "I want to be a Cal-Trans worker when I grow up so I can fix roads."

Beckett does "Dali"

2009-01-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

Beckett was avoiding going to sleep and kept running out of his room with pictures. Finally he ran out screaming: "I wrote my name, I wrote my name." you can definitely see the Ts and he said the funky figure-8 thing was the B. I think that's a letter e in the bottom corner. In other news, assuming all goes well, Beckett is having his chemo port removed tomorrow! Yeah!

Recipe

2008-12-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

Beckett: Mommy, do you know how to make gummy bears?
Me: No, do you know?
Beckett: Yes. You get flour, vinegar, and baking powder, and salt, and put in the blender and you blend it. then you put in some grass.

Who needs an M?

2008-12-23T14:08:00.001-08:00

Decorating, etc.

2008-12-21T08:36:00.001-08:00

Beckett has been very creative with our Christmas Tree.

Beckett has also been busy with pretending:

Mommy, lets pretend you're stuck in the mud, and I'll call the fire compartment.

And gossiping about his friends:

Charlie has an ear confection.

Address

2008-12-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

Beckett: I live on Lorenzo Abenue, in California.
Me: Oh, what planet do you live on?
Beckett: The Nitro States of America

Sunday Fun part 2

2008-12-10T20:48:00.001-08:00

Sunday Fun

2008-12-07T11:59:00.001-08:00

Castles and Chainsaws

2008-11-25T20:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures for our fans.

Alden at Castle Rock State Park.

Note to self: There may be more than ONE marker on the floor.

Beckett in a REAL firefighter helmet and a fake chainsaw. (The tree is also real.)

The "I'm not ready for this" edition

2008-11-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

This morning.

Beckett: Mommy, who do you think God is?
Me (thinking fast): Well, who do YOU think God is?
Beckett: I think God gave us the sun.

Bedtime on Thursday

2008-11-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

Beckett: Mom, you don't say. "You're ugly."
Me: Umm. No. Where did you hear that word?
Beckett: Teacher said don't say it.
Me: Yes, but where did you hear it?
Beckett: On the internet.

(I swear this is true.)

5:30 am on Sunday

2008-11-16T08:47:00.000-08:00

While watching Jack's Big Music Show this morning.
Beckett: Jack is my husband.
Me: Really?
Beckett: Ask me where he lives.
Me: Where does he live?
Beckett: In the North Pole with Santa Claus.

A little while later while wrestling.
Beckett: Mom, am I squishing your solar plexus?

Still later when my powers of entertainment were wearing thin.
Beckett: Mom, can I go and wake up your husband.
Me: Who?
Beckett: Daddy is your husband.

Tact for Preschoolers

2008-11-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

This morning at 5 am...
Beckett: Mom, get up. Get Uuuuppppp.
Me: You're not the bosss. You're only 3 years old.
Beckett: How many are you, mama?
Me: 35.
Beckett: Whoa! That sure is a lot! It's more than 10.

Alden eats "Vegetable Risotto with Cheese" and Beckett dresses as "Handy Manny" (Disney's version of Bob the Builder)

2008-11-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

Here is Beckett's Handy Manny costume.

Alden's been eating paper lately. Do you think he's trying to tell us something?

Preschool Confidential

2008-11-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

At breakfast this morning.
Beckett: My friend said "Poo" during work-jobs.
Mom: Oohh. Which friend?
Beckett: Ruby. Teacher said that it wasn't a school word.
Mom: What else do you not say at school?
Beckett: Butt.

Cool Website

2008-10-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

We found a cool website that allows kids to "read" books online before they buy them. The cool thing is you can see the whole book. Here's one by one of our favorite illustrators. Of course, there are tons of links to really buy the book, but what's a little marketing when it comes to kids entertainment.

2008-10-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pix just for Polly. The doggies are Katie and Jeff's (L to R: The Boss Man aka Boss and Shady (sp?)). The fuzzy close up is Beckett's portrait of Alden: "Why the flash didn't go off, mommy?"

2008-10-25T15:32:00.001-07:00

One liners

2008-10-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some of Beckett's latest creations:

1. (holding some random remote control) Mom, don't ever, ever, touch my hard drive. Or push it's buttons.

2. Pooh is my husband. He just went to work. In his dump truck.

3. Mom, when you die, do you need a bandaid?

Katie and Jeff''s wedding

2008-10-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures

Update

2008-10-11T16:00:00.001-07:00

Beckett had an MRI last Friday and everything is still stable. We get to take out his port! We will probably do it when he has his tonsils/adenoids out in a few weeks. We met with the pediatric endocrinologist a couple weeks ago. We should have complete results soon, but we need to redraw one of his labs. Becket also started occupational therapy last week and seems to really like it.

Beckett continues to soak up everything such as this:

Beckett: Dad, did you know racoons are nocturnal?
Dad: What's that mean?
Beckett:It means they come out at night, silly.

Alden is getting so big. He's about 17 pounds. He's so sweet and mellow. We started giving him food and so far he's had peas (not a favorite), apples, pears, bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and zucchini. I just made him homemade apple/carrot sauce but he hasn't tried it. I also made him summer squash puree with some type of herb from my CSA box (farm share). I think it was thyme/ He loved it. He's only had rice cereal, but I think I'll try oatmeal soon. He's quie mobile now, though not quite crawling yet, he gets all over the place but without much intention (at least that's what I think).

I hope to have pictures soon.

Career Counseling for Toddlers

2008-09-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Beckett: Mom, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Me: An olympic swimmer.
Beckett: No, it's too late for that. You can be a digger.

(Nice, huh?)

Two Reasons for Early Weaning

2008-09-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

Mechanics and Public Safety for Toddlers

2008-09-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

On the way to school this morning:

Beckett: My other city bus is broken. I need to fix it.
Me:Oh... What do you need?
Beckett: I forgot.
Me: Maybe a wrench?
Beckett: Yeah and a big saw!

Me: Do you have two busses?
Beckett: Yeah, but Tolee took it.
Me: Did he go for a joyride? That's when you take a car that's not yours and go for a ride in it.
Beckett: If you steal a car your parents will be really mad at you. You might get a time out.

Human Resources for Toddlers

2008-08-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

On the way home from school...

Beckett: I need a secretary.
Mom: Really. Why?
Beckett: A secretary helps you make phone calls.
Beckett: (after thoughtful pause)Rin-too needs a secretary.
Mom: Really? Why?
Beckett: He's worried because he hasn't finished his homework.

Later that day:
Beckett: Mom, you're going to be a juggler when you grow up.

For your viewing pleasure

2008-08-15T21:19:00.001-07:00

Beckett and Alden are really starting play together. Beckett loves to hear Alden laugh...

All I want for Christmas and Random Funny Stuff

2008-08-10T17:50:00.001-07:00

First of all... Alden has teeth! Well sort of. He has a nanometer of sharpness barely visible in his gummy smile and he's drooling like a ... like a... well like a baby. He's really mobile, too. Not crawling, just scooting everywhere.
Beckett continues to say funny stuff (in script form for Katie):

Mom: Beckett, I want to plant a garden. What should we plant?
Beckett: Cheerios!
Mom: Well, those won't really grow in the garden.
Beckett: Hmmm. How about corn dogs? (Just so everyone knows... they're veggie corn dogs.)

He recently found one of Polly's old reporter notebooks (about half the size longways of a stenopad.) He carried it to the store and told everyone who would listen that it was a "checklist". He also was using it to take dictation:

Beckett: Okay, mom. You say it and I'll write. Say "almond".

Mom: Almond.

Beckett: (scribbling furiously) Okay. One almond coming up.

(Beckett likes that word because Alden alsways laughs when he hears it.)

Also: I know we have mentioned before how much we LOVE Beckett's school. One of the cute things she does is Travelling Teddy. She has this Teddy Bear in a little bag. Different kids get to take TT home on the weekend. TT has a journal and we write about his adventures on the weekend. We can also read about his adventures with all the other kids. Benny (Beckett's friend) always has adventures finding bugs and such. Beckett's last adventure with TT started like this: (Dictated to John: TT felt cranky when he got home. I shared my book with him and he felt better....Teddy had a tantrum because he couldn't sleep in mommy and daddy's bed so he cuddled me and we snoozed and that made me happy.)

These pictures are from our attempt at a photoshoot for Traveling Teddy's album

Gizmos

2008-08-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Alden has a new toy. It's an exersaucer. Awesome bargain shopper that I am, I got it for $6 at the thrift store. (On half price day!) He really seems to like sitting up. I think he is getting some teeth though because he has been a bit fussy and (in the words of cousin Gillian) is "drooping" all over the place. (For the non-Hesses that means drooling!) It's been awhile since we had some Alden pics so here you go!

Here is Beckett in his full pire-person regalia.

And here is another zoo pic. On another Beckett note. he has started saying "Why?" all the time. Variations include "What for?" and just "What?" among others.

Violin

2008-07-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

Beckett's riddle for tonight:

Beckett: Mommy, I am thinking of something that you put on your chin, it has a case and you tune it.

(Hint: Look at the title of the post.)

Summer Trips

2008-07-29T21:52:00.001-07:00

Beckett, Cassie, Alden and I went to the Oakland Zoo last week. Beckett was a bit apprehensive beforehand, at first saying he didn't want to go (he seemed to be a bit scared of the tiger). We gradually convinced him that it would be fun, and he said to a stranger at the pool, "I'm going to the zoo tomorrow!" and then added tentatively, "The tiger's not going to eat me up."

But Beckett had fun at the zoo. This week, we went with his preschool on a field trip to the Felton Fire Station. Beckett and the other kids seemed awed by all the fire engine, but unlike some of his classmates, Beckett was not at all shy about trying on the fire jacket.

Riddles

2008-07-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

At Beckett's school, the teacher has a riddle bag. The kids get to take it home and hide something in it. The parents and kids write down three clues to what is in the bag. The next morning, the teacher shares the clues and the other kids guess what's there. When it was Beckett's turn he put in a toy dinosaur. These were his clues: They're big. They're not real anymore. They say, "Roar".

Now Beckett is really into riddles. He loves to tell them and hear them. This was the conversation this morning as Beckett opened the fridge.

Beckett: Mommy I want a snack.

Me: Let's wait till lunch time.

Beckett: I want something that's green and in a jar.

Later that day...

Beckett: Dad, I want to drink something that's white.

His other language skills are coming along too. After lunch today he said, "I will put my dishes away very carefully, Mommy. Yes, I will."

In other news, Alden is doing great. He just smiles and laughs all the time. We've discovered a sibling similarity. Alden loves to hear silly words. Beckett's favorite was "couch". He just cracked up whenever he heard it. Alden seems to prefer "pistachio". He also loves to look at Beckett and I am sure he recognizes him.

PS: In case you didn't get Beckett's riddle, he was asking for 1. Pickles and 2. Milk ; )

Alden and Beckett, July 2008

2008-07-12T12:33:00.001-07:00

Bumbo Seat and Enjoying "Nature"

2008-07-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Here Alden is enjoying the Bumbo seat (honestly, Alden has more chairs than anyone else in the house including bouncy, swing, bumbo, and car seat). Beckett hams it up in my Firecracker 10k Tee-Shirt (not meant to be a shameless plug.

Also (John is going to kill me...) Beckett got a lesson in outdoor elimination. Notice the coppertone bum? So cute.

Latest MRI results

2008-07-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

Beckett's last MRI showed that his tumor was completely stable, which is great news. Trish (NP at Lucile Packard Neurooncology) said that she and Dr. Fisher wanted to wait to remove his port until the next MRI, mostly because Beckett has trouble with anesthesia and it would be a real drag if we had to take the port out and then immediately put it back in. Unfortunately, that means Beckett's port has to get flushed monthly, and he hates, as he says, to "do his port."

We're still just a little bit concerned about his lag in gross motor skills-- he still can't jump, and he doesn't really run, at least not very fast. One thing that is really helping is that Cassie is taking him to the pool almost every night, and he is coming along quite nicely with his swimming. He can kick and "scoop," although not really at the same time too well, and he does need to be held afloat. Still, he will jump into the pool, which is a huge step forward.

Family Planning for Toddlers

2008-07-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Beckett has been asking where everything came from. He even asks perfect strangers where they got their stuff. Like in the park yesterday he asked another kid's dad where he got his shirt and then reported back to me, "His shirt come from Goodwill store."

So after a day of him asking where everything was from this was the scene:

Beckett: Where'd (fill in the blank) come from?

Me: I don't know. Where do babies come from?

Dad (aghast): Honey!

Beckett: Babies come from bassinettes!

Classroom Management for Toddlers

2008-06-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Beckett (holding up three fingers): How many?

Mom: Three.

Beckett: No, don't just shout out the answer. Say, "How many?"

Mom: How many?

Beckett: Okay, now say, "Three."

Mom: Three.

Beckett: Good job, mom.

MRI Update

2008-06-25T16:59:00.001-07:00

All is stable! (Not sure when we'll be taking out his port, but soon!)

Beckett's MRI

2008-06-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

Beckett's MRI on Wednesday went well, but we haven't heard anything back yet, which is probably good news in itself. We will probably hear results Monday or early next week. Wednesday was a very long day, even as days at the hospital go-- we arrived at 11:30 and left at 6:30. This scan included his chest as well since the pulmonologist wanted a baseline in case he developed any neurofibromas on his lungs.

As usual, Beckett had some trouble breathing under anaesthesia, but, as the doctor pointed out, he has trouble breathing when he goes to sleep as well. It's odd that we don't remember this, but apparently the pulmonologist left a note on his chart for a referral for his tonsils and adenoids. The ENT we saw certainly didn't mention it. Anyway, this is probably another appointment in the offing.

Beckett provided plenty of entertainment (and/or annoyance) for everyone in the hospital waiting rooms we lingered in Wednesday, going up to everyone and asking, "What's your name?" When the person responded with "I'm x, and what's your name?" Beckett would fix his target with a blank stare, wait for a moment, and then try to scam some object off of them ("What's that? Who gave that to you? You said 'thank you'").

Within two hours after the procedure, he had recovered enough to eat a pancake dinner.

Bartending for Toddlers

2008-06-17T22:22:00.001-07:00

Scene: In the bath

Beckett (playing with his bath toys): Here mom, here's your hot chocolate.

Me: Mmmmm. Such delicious hot chocolate.

Beckett: No, its not hot chocolate. It's beer.

Me: Beer?

Beckett: I don't drink beer. Beer is for grown ups, not for toddlers. When I'm a grown up I drink beer.

(Dad arrives on the scene.)

Mom: Beckett gave me some beer, but it's not for toddlers.

Beckett: I don't drink Scotch (He learned this from Uncle Larry.) Scotch is for grown ups.

Mom: Not all grownups. I don' t drink it. I drink water, and juice and sometimes wine. So does daddy. And sometimes daddy drinks hair of the dog.

Beckett: That would make you very sick. We don't eat dog hair.

(Okay: I know this is kind of a "you had to be there" thing. No where else to remember to write it down.)

(Here is Beckett with his cowboy hat, sunglasses, tie, phone and binoculars. But I think he for got his clothes.)

Alden Laughs

2008-06-14T22:41:00.001-07:00

Alden Laughs, etc.

2008-06-14T22:37:00.001-07:00

Here's what we've been up to.

Singing and playing guitar

"Sharing" Alden's gym (my newest yardsale find)

Swimming

Snoozing

Swinging

Alden's Conversation Skills (edited)

2008-06-08T10:14:00.001-07:00

Pictures

2008-06-06T22:15:00.001-07:00

It has been pretty exciting around here with the primary campaign (which ended on June 3). As part of the final GOTV effort, Beckett participated in a gay pride parade. (He also added to his collection of scammed items). He has such an outgoing personality that he talks to all kinds of people and they just give him things. So far he has these items: binoculars and a stuffed sheep from the lady at the thrift store, a whistle from a guy at the park, a hat from another guy at the park, sunglasses from someone in a very interesting costume at the Pride parade, countless snacks from friends at the park, and several books (free) from a yardsale.

Beckett likes to have all his things with him and wants to bring something along everywhere he goes in a little container or bag. He has lots of little bags and is even still carrying around a Choxie box that had truffles in it for mothers day. Here he is ready for school this morning wearing three or four bags. What you don't see is the tupperware box that contains his yellow camera from Daniel, his yellow change purse (it's inside the lunch box), and his binoculars. The hat on his head is the one acquiredat the park from a guy that I am presuming to be homeless(washed, of course). I swear that this was NOT staged. He actually came out of his room with all that stuff and proclaimed himself ready!

Alden is getting really big! I have been putting him down on his tummy and on election day he rolled over! Twice... and hasn't done it since. Here is how he looks now.

Hygiene for Toddlers

2008-05-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

This was the scene after Beckett just went to the bathroom.

Me: Okay, what do we do after we poop in the potty? (Correct answer: Wash Hands.)

Beckett: Pee!

Me: Okay, then. After we pee what do we do?

Beckett: Poop!

Me: Okay, but what do we do in the sink?

Beckett: Spit!

Not much to report...

2008-05-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

In which I become domesticated...

2008-05-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

My friend Kim recently had a baby and I wanted to make her a quilt. My mother in law showed me some tricks of the trade as well as some really cool tools for quilting. I also learned a lot from the internet. You can find videos of ANYTHING on youtube. So this is the quilt.
A close up to see the pattern.

And a back view...
Notice there is no super close up? There's a reason for that. I need to work on straight seams.

Beckett Update

2008-05-13T23:12:00.000-07:00

Beckett has an opthalmology appointment next week with a new pediatric opthalmologist with LPCH. It will be the first time seeing him but since he is with Packard, I thought it would be a good a idea to switch. Also our previous opthalmologist wasn't in our HMO. The same day he'll go into oncology clinic to get his port flushed since it hasn't been used in a while. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but he has his MRI rescheduled for June 18th.

Two months

2008-05-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Alden had his two month check up yesterday. He weighed 10 lbs, 11 oz. and the doctor said he looked great. Beckett has been taking swimming lessons which he really seems to like. I really admire those teachers. Each class has two teachers and six three and four year olds. It's like herding cats.

One day after school Beckett came home, wrapped himself and Teddy up in some curtains I had just washed and fell asleep on the trampoline.

Beckett's Party and Alden Smiling

2008-05-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun party for Becektt's third. It was at Highland's park which is a great place for kids to play.

Here is Beckett wearing one of his favorite gifts: a cowboy hat.

Alden finally let us catch him smiling.

Three years

2008-05-04T21:45:00.001-07:00

Three years ago today Beckett was born 11 weeks early weighing 2 lbs, 5 oz. Check himout now.

Three going on sixteen

2008-05-01T20:57:00.001-07:00

First let me say that we LOVE Beckett's school. He goes to a really small preschool with only seven kids including my friend Susan's twins. When Beckett first started a few months ago he was the only boy but now there are three boys. The teacher is amazing. She has so many cool activities. She really gets toddlers and all the kids seem so happy AND they are learning. Beckett is talking so much more since has gone there. And there lies the rub...

I am not saying he learned all this at school but here a few things he has been saying:

1) "I am sixteen. I have my driver's license." (He also told me that he got his license from Grandpa Oscar!)

2) After I asked him to do something: "Just a minute."

3) Told it was time to go to bed: "Give me ten minutes."

4) After being told what we were having for dinner: "Hmmm. How about peanut butter and jelly."

5) Oh yeah and he's been calling us Mom and Dad instead of Mommy and Daddy. (Apprently his cousin Milly has gone one step further and is calling her parents by their first names.)

Alden is growing too. I think he's about 10 lbs. now and he's staying awake for longer periods and even smiling a bit. He's really got a mellow and laid back personality so far.

Future Rock Star?

2008-04-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

Beckett got a guitar from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Oscar. He absolutely adored it. In fact he even tried to sleep with it. The first thing he did this morning when he woke up was play the guitar. See the video of his debut here.

And here are a few more pictures.

Brief (noninformational) update

2008-04-18T20:14:00.001-07:00

Beckett was supposed to have an MRI on Wednesday. When we got to LPCH they would not do the scan as Beckett had been given some milk at around 5 am and they felt it was not good for the anesthesia. We'll reschedule in 4-6 weeks. Grrrr.

Video Post

2008-04-16T20:11:00.001-07:00

Grandma Pat tries out the new camera's advanced technology and captures Alden working out.

A couple of pictures from Grandma Pat's Visit

2008-04-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

Dirty House /Picture Post

2008-04-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

The first one is Alden and we have one of Beckett returning from one of his favorite activities which is looking in the portapotty and saying "Ewww." I am afraid he got that from me because the BBC show "How Clean is Your House?" is on during Alden's breakfast time, so to get Beckett to let me watch it, I made a big deal out of saying, "ewwwww" at the dirty houses. He calls the show "DirtyHouse"

Alden's first week home

2008-03-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting. Alden is doing what most newborn babies do which is eating and sleeping. He's a bit backwards in that he likes to sleep a lot during the day but we are working on that and he's doing a bit better and slept for four hours straight the past two nights!

We gave Alden his first bath which he HATED. He screamed the whole time.

Beckett had a visit from Auntie Katie this weekend. He fell in love with her glasses and wanted to wear them everywhere. Even though he got a cold, and was miserable he still wanted to keep the glasses on.

Here's a picture of all the guys together. It's hard to get everyone smiling and looking at once.

Alden at Home

2008-03-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

Alden and Cassie came home from the hospital today! Last time, Beckett had to stay in the hospital for weeks and weeks, so this is very new to us. Our house suddenly feels full.

Beckett is adjusting well to Alden. When we got the car, he was upset to leave "baby brother," and I had to reassure him that we were just getting the car to pick him up. So far Beckett has been gentle and sweet with Alden.

It's a Boy!

2008-03-06T22:27:00.000-08:00

OK, we knew it was going to be a boy. But it's a cute boy! Alden McIver Glass was born at 8:32 am on March 6, 2008, weighing 5 pounds 9 ounces and measuring 18 inches. We got a call last night from Dr. Moore telling us that there was a lot of protein in Cassie's urine, and that she had consulted with Dr. Taslimi and decided that we should deliver now to avoid possible complications in the near future.

The delivery went very smoothly, although Cassie had high blood pressure afterwards and fairly severe pain and nausea. She is resting more comfortably now and is on magnesium sulfate as a precaution. She is already feeling better and should be less groggy by tomorrow, when she will hopefully feel up to talking on the phone and having visitors. Alden is doing great and trying to breastfeed, although everyone is exhausted so it might take him a while to get the hang of it.

I could go on and on about Alden's cuteness but I need to get some rest so I will just post some pictures and write more soon.

Visit to Labor and Delivery (or I feel like a big whiner)

2008-02-24T21:32:00.000-08:00

First of all, everything's fine. So last night I had some really bad stomach pains that reminded my of how I felt when Beckett was born. Plus my blood pressure was way up for several hours. Normal for me during this pregancy is 120's/70's but they were in the 140's/80's and 90's even after I rested. So I called the on-call Dr. this morning who, of course, told me to go to labor and delivery for some labs and an NST.

When I got there (after laying in the hospital bed for 30 minutes waiting for them to take my blood pressure) my BP was 117/72, the lowest it's been in days. All my labs were great, even better than before and the baby was awesome on the monitor. So basically, I was perfectly healthy (but paranoid) pregnant lady using up valuable resources. I feel like a big baby. To make matters worse, the whole time I was watching CNN and there were Hillary and Obama taking about how expensive health care is. Not that I wanted something to be wrong, and the nurses and the on-call doctor were really nice and reassured me that it was right to come in, it's just that I hate wasting people's time.

Yeah!

2008-02-22T15:28:00.000-08:00

Our meeting with Dr. Fisher went as planned. He recommends holding off on further chemotherapy since his scan was stable. He showed us the scans and explained the August 07 vs. Feb 08 scan but it was kind of hard to really see. The Feb scan definitely shows a reduction in "enhancement" and he was really pleased. So the plan is to have an MRI every three months and see the opthalmologist every three months also. Trish recommended we stagger these visits to get a check in every six weeks which I think is a great idea. Beckett will keep his port until we get one more stable MRI and then we can remove it. (We could also wait for two stable MRIs). He will need to go to Packard once a month to get his port flushed.

On other news I am now 35 weeks pregnant. Everything is going well. We are getting really excited in preparation. We have the baby's area all set up, and have acquired most of the gizmos we'll need. The only task remaining is convincing the cat that the bassinet is not his bed.

Even better

2008-02-13T09:02:00.000-08:00

I had a call from Trish who is the neurooncolgy NP today. After the tumor board review Beckett's scans they felt that there was even some shrinkage of his tumor. We will meet with them next week to get a plan for monitoring but this is just more evidence that we can hold off for awhile if scans and optho appointments are good.

The baby is also doing well and staying put. I am exactly 34 weeks pregnant and feel good except for this awful cough that will not go away.

Beckett is in love with the digital camera. He gets to play with it when he goes to the potty. Here is a self portrait he took yesterday.

Stable!!!!

2008-02-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

We just got the call that Beckett's tumor is "absolutely rock solid stable" from the MRI in August!! We'll meet with Dr. Fisher and Trish to on Thursday to discuss a plan of action!

Quick update.

2008-02-04T22:35:00.000-08:00

At labor and delivery yesterday all the labs were normal again and even better than before. The baby was looking great on the monitor. I go back on Wednesday for a growth scan and to do all the labs again. The doctor even gave me the go ahead to take Beckett to his MRI today if my BP was good this morning which it was. We are heading up to Stanford in a little while and hopefully the MRI will go through with no problems. If his optic glioma is stable (or smaller!) we will have a really good reason to hold off on further chemo treatments. Then we would just monitor his OG with MRIs every three months and opthalmology visits every three months. He hasn't been able to complete an MRI since August we this one just HAS to happen.

Baby News

2008-02-02T19:10:00.001-08:00

Just so everyone knows we like to keep it exciting around here. Anyway, when I went to the doctor on Monday they drew some labs as a precautionary check for liver functions and platelets which are the marker for HELLP syndrome. Since I hadn't hear anything by Thursday I figured all was good. But around noon my doctor called and said she didn't like the looks of tsome of the labs and wanted me to go into labor and delivery. They said my liver enzymes were abnormally high (but not crazy high) and my platelets while still in the "normal" range were decreasing. In addition I also had protein in my urine which can be a sign of preeclampsia. They ended up keeping me overnight and releasing for the weekend on bedrest. As of now, the baby is doing great and looking good on the monitors so that is great. I go back on Monday for more labs. They gave me steroids for the baby's lungs and switched my anticoagulants to one that clears the body faster in case they need to do an emergency C-section. So now I am just chilling on the couch and waiting for Monday.

Also on Tuesday Beckett has an MRI to see how his chemo has been working and to possibly allow us to take a break for awhile. He seems to be getting a bit sniffly so I am HOPING he stays healthy and they can do the scan.

Second Opinion

2008-01-29T19:23:00.001-08:00

Today we had an adventure in San Francisco. We took Beckett to UCSF to get a second opinion from a doctor there about his chemo treatment. Since our appoinment was at 9 and we didn't realy know where we were going or where to park we left at 6:15. It was raining a little but all was well. We got into SF around 8:15 so we had a few minutes to sit in the cafe and have some coffee before our appointment.

We had a bit of trouble with the insurance issue, but it seems to have worked itself out. We met Dr. Banerjee and went over the history of the case with her. She discussed with us some of the chemo options as well as the possibility of holding off on continuing chemo at this point if the Feb. 5 scan shows a decrease in size or stable tumor. She said she would lean towards that for a kid, like Beckett who was not currently demonstrating visual problems. This would be in conjunction with MRIs every 3-6 months and opthalmology visits every 3-6 months. She said if we go this route, at some point down the road, it is possible, even likely that he will need more chemo or even radiation to preserve his vision. (Prognosis for optic glioma is better for kids with NF1 than kids who get optic glioma out of the blue.) Of course, if the tumor has grown then we will continue to treat. She will call us on Friday to let us know what she would recommend as treatment if this should occur.

Beckett otherwise is doing great. He says so many cute things we can't keep up. For example, he always says, "Not bedtime... cause its (blank) time." Fill in any preferrable activity to bedtime such as "Watch Diego time" or "eat cereal time". A not so cute development is that he says, "Actually" a lot. For example, if we say, "That's daddy's phone, " he'll say, "Um, actually, Beckett's." He does this quite often.

He is getting excited about the new baby too. He likes to feel the baby kick (which happens a lot) and he recently is enjoying our new double sit and stand stroller. We're not sure how he'll respond to an actual baby though.

Update to the ER story

2008-01-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

So we got back home from Stanford at about 10 am today after about 12 hours in the ER. Beckett was dehydrated and got more fluids and more blood tests. All of his blood counts look OK, except for the dehydration, which was fixed with lots of IV fluids and electrolytes. After a day of all three of us lying on the couch and in bed, Beckett is feeling much better. He has been walking around a bit and even ate some dinner, so hopefully he is on the mend.

We will get blood culture results back in a few days, but it looks like the problem is more likely his stomach than an infection from his port site. We will also test his stool again for giardia since it's possible that he got reinfected. But for right now, Beckett is doing pretty well.

At the ER

2008-01-23T00:10:00.000-08:00

Well, not a lot of news to report for a long time, and now we have a lot of news all at once. As I write this we are sitting in the ER at Stanford. Last night we were at the ER at Dominican. Beckett is doing OK but he is sick and has a fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and some difficulty breathing. When I ask him how he feels, he says "I feel happy." I wonder if just thinks that is what you are supposed to say.

Last night we went to Dominican after the on-call oncology doctor at Stanford advised us to go in because of Beckett's temperature. After they assured us that they could handle Beckett's port, they had to fumble around with it for a long time to get it to work. They did a blood count and said that it looked good, took a blood culture (which isn't back yet), gave him some fluids and he perked up quite a bit.

He seemed worse today though, and his fever spiked up a bit to 102.4 or so. The on-call doctor tonight thought we should come in for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, so here we are. Also, you are supposed to apparently take a blood culture every 24 hours when someone with a port has a fever for more than a day, since there is some concern that the port site could become infected.

We will know more tomorrow. For right now everyone is fine, just very, very tired. On another front we are hopefully going to San Francisco on Tuesday to get a second opinion on Beckett's treatment. Dr. Fisher may very well have suggested the best option, but this is a complex decision because we are getting away from the standard treatment for this, and basically we have to choose from the best of several bad alternatives.

Plan B

2008-01-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

Today we met with Dr. Fisher and Trish Murphy (oncological nurse practioner) about a new treatment regimen for Beckett. Allergic reactions to carboplatin are pretty common, and they are usually able to desensitize patients to the medicine over time. Beckett's allergic reaction, however, was severe enough that desensitizing him to carboplatin is not an option.

So, we are looking at a new chemotherapy drug and treatment plan. Dr. Fisher went over some different plans with us that included oral medications (not a good idea, especially with Cassie being pregnant) and stopping treatment altogether. What Dr. Fisher recommended was going to another IV treatment, the old one that was standard in the 80's before carboplatin and vincristine became the standard treatment for this kind of low-grade tumor.

The older drug is called Dactinomycin (or Actinomycin-D, or Cosmegen) and it has a success rate roughly equal to the other treatment we were doing, and it will also be given in conjunction with Vincristine. The downsides to this medication is that it is much more like conventional chemotherapy. Beckett will go to the hospital every day for a week, although the treatments should be shorter. Beckett will get more sick and will take more time to recover after a week of chemo. His white cell counts will likely get quite low; they hadn't budged on the other treatment. The side effects are roughly the same except that it is much more likely that his hair will fall out.

The silver lining is that we will have slightly more time weeks off of treatment, and the overall treatment course is shorter (30 weeks), so we should still finish slightly before we had planned to. Beckett will probably start not next week but the week after.

We haven't posted a lot to the blog because chemotherapy had become pretty routine, but this certainly changes things quite a bit. On the plus side, Cassie's pregnancy is going really well so far and she is already past the point where Beckett was born.

Allergic Reaction

2008-01-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the hospital for week 17 of our treatment. Beckett was seen by the nurse practitioner and she was so happy with how his breathing and airway was looking. We were also happy to report that we finally got the all clear from the public health nurse that Beckett's Giardia is all gone.

Anyway, the treatment was going as normal. I was laying down with Beckett to get him to hopefully take a nap. I noticed that it seemed that he was breathing kind of hard and coughing a bit so I went to get the nurse. It turns out it was a good thing I did as Beckett was having an allergic reaction to the carboplatin which is fairly common at this stage. The type of reaction is called anaphylactic (kind of like when people are allergic to bee stings, I think).

The nurses immediately ran in and took the carboplatin off his IV and administered benadryl and hydrocortisone by his IV (port). They also paged the Nurse Practitioner who came right away and ordered extra fluids and called the respiratory specialist. They gave Beckett blow by oxygen, which is when they just put the mask near him, but don't make him wear it, which is good because he was not happy with all the people fussing around him. They also gave him a breathing treatment which was pretty uncooperative with. They got his O2 saturation to 97% which is where they wanted it and then they decided to stop the breathing treatment because he sounded clearer and because he was so mad that his heart rate was going up pretty high.

Finally everyone left and I cuddled him for about 2 minutes and he fell fast asleep from the Bendryl. Totally ZONKED! So zonked that he didn't even wiggled when they took his blood pressure.

Trish and Dr. Fisher came in to talk to me. They said that they would not be continuing Carboplatin as this was considered a severe reaction. So we are having a meeting next week to discuss options for treatment ("plan B" as the Dr. put it). Simply put, the options are: another IV medicine, an oral medication, or watch and wait with frequent scans. I am guessing they are going to recommend the other IV medicine as Beckett is probably too young to reliably take a pill and he responds so poorly to general anesthesia, but we will see.

Now we are home and he is just fine. He just watched Diego: Baby Jaguar on Nick On Demand for the 800th time and is getting ready for bed like nothing happened.

Eyes Looking Good

2008-01-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the pediatric opthalmologist. We actually saw two doctors both of whom were awesome. They were able to see Beckett's optic nerve and assess his vision some what which they hadn't been able to do previously.

The news is good because they did not see much if any change from the last visit (around 6 months ago). They said that Beckett's vision was 20/30 with both eyes which is awesome but they can't really check visual acuity well at this age.

The appointment itself wasn't too bad either. My aunt came with us to help out as holding a wriggling 2.5 year old while they put drops in his eyes is a bit hard when you're 7 months pregnant. But... it wasn't as bad as last time when he screamed the whole time and he did a GREAT job.

I also had an appointment today for an nonstress test for the baby and it was great. He moved around like a champ and all looks well. Sadly, the lab lost my bloodwork from last week so we may need to redo it unless it "shows up..."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year, Not much else new

2008-01-05T21:42:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas and New Year. Beckett got to spend time with two of his uncles which was great fun. Now he is having a good time enjoying all of his awesome new Christmas toys. He's doing great. We think we finally kicked the giardia (still waiting for final clearance from the public health nurse) and he is still handling chemo well. We still haven't completed an MRI but we got a referral to ENT and pulmonology to decide how best to proceed with anesthesia and we are continuing daily breathing treatments at home, which he HATES.

All is well with baby #2 also. According to ultrasound he now weighs 2 lbs, 9 oz which is more than Beckett weighed when he was born. He moves around A LOT, which I think is great. I can actually see my shirt moving. Since it is round about the time of pregnancy when Beckett was born (29 weeks) my doctor is increasing the monitoring to weekly NSTs and weekly Doppler checks of the uterine artery. I feel like I have learned so much about preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, inherited thrombophilia that I over analyze everything that happens. I spend a lot of time just waiting for things to go bad.

I am now on medical leave which has really helped with the stress. Worrying about Beckett, daycare, chemo and the new baby along with work was just exhausting me. I am so happy that my job is so flexible and my colleagues so supportive that we made it work. I sure do miss my students though!

Long Day at LPCH

2007-12-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

On Saturday the MRI department at Stanford called us to tell us there was an opening on Tuesday for an MRI and we could reschedule our MRI from the 19th to 11th. I jumped at the chance because Beckett wasn't sick and had been doing really well with his congestion since we got the new nebulizer medicine. On Monday the nurse called me and said that they would be able to access Beckett's port for the general anestheisa after he was already asleep from the gas. That morning I told Beckett that we would not need to use the EMLA cream (numbs his skin prior to getting poked) that we usually use when he gets his port accessed because he HATES it and everytime I put him in the car seat he says, "No cream today." So in the morning, I said, "That's right no cream. Just a little medicine."

When we get to the hospital, and I saw the jam-packed waiting room I new we were in for a long wait. Around 10:30 which was when we were supposed to go in for our scan, the nurse called us in for the physical exam. She, of course, noticed his stuffy nose which I told her was chronic and he has had several scans before in this condition and that if we waited till he was completely clear it wouldn't happen.

Anyway, this was the first time that he has had general anesthesia through his port and he usally gets it accessed in the oncology clinic where they do it all the time. So the nurse tells me that it's better to access port in order to administer the general anesthesia and skip the gas step altogether and so he does need to get poked while awake. The nurse said she didn't understand why the other nurse had told me otherwise.

So then another nurse came in. I should have realized when she asked ME what size needle to use she might not be as experienced as I would want someone to be. So then she tells me Beckett will need to lie on the bed perfectly still for her to do it. Um, yeah right. He's 2, for Pete's sake. I told her that in clinic I usually hold him on my lap and she said, "Well as long as he doesn't kick me, I just had surgery." Beckett was really upset by this point and saying, "No, please, no please, no hurt." I said, "Should I take him down to clinic to get accessed?" and she said, "No, I know what I am doing,'" and finally stuck in the needle. Then she tried to use the port and nothing happened. This means that the needle was in the wrong place. The nurse said, "Have you ever used this port before?" Um, yeah. Like 14 times. She said, "Well, if they didn't flush it right the last time, then it doesn't work." So basically she was blaming day hospital, who do nothing but administer chemo and flush ports all day long because she goofed.

Thankfully the other nurse came and said, "Let's give him a break. Since you have a long wait, I'll do it in a little while and give him a little topical medicine so he doesn't feel it."

So finally around 12:45 she came back and we finally got the port placed but it was certainly no picnic. After waiting around another 30 minutes for the anesthesiologist, we finally went down to MRI. They let me stay until Beckett went to sleep and then I went to get food. (Did I mentioned that Beckett had last eaten at 7:30 pm the evening before?)

I went back up to the waiting room and after a few minutes I saw the doctor walk by with Beckett in the bed. She called me over and said that they had been unable to do the scan because his oxygen saturations had gone down too far and he needed a breathing treatment and oxygen administered. He was okay, but they couldn't do the scan because administering the full general anesthesia caused his airway to be disrupted.

I waited for awhile in in the recovery room and Beckett woke up.(He actually could have slept a lot longer as it was his regular nap time, but we woke him up.) When he woke up he promptly gobble two purple popsicles and was his usual cheerful self. We were cleared to leave around 4:15 pm (original appointment time: 9:00 am check in, 10:30 scan).

Afterwards I took Beckett to (yikes!) McDonalds and he ate a WHOLE chicken sandwhich and a carton of milk and then when we got home he ate strawberries and yogurt.

So all's well that ends well and now we are just going to wait for a new MRI time and discuss how we are going to deal with the respiratory issues during it.

And in other news...

2007-12-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

Beckett is going to be a big brother. We are really excited to be 24 weeks pregnant with number 2. We are taking a lot of precautions this time around as Beckett was born 11 weeks early (at 29 weeks) due to HELLP Syndrome . We were lucky and he a had a relatively uneventful NICU stay (7 weeks) and aside from the optic glioma is doing quite well for a former 2 pounder.

The info so far:
We found out a few weeks ago that our new addition will be a boy.
He's on track on growth scans (as of today 1 lb 6 oz) .
My health is pretty good with only minor increase in blood pressure.
We are being watched and monitored very closely with monthly growth scans and other tests for now.
I am taking daily injections of Lovenox and also daily baby aspirin to prevent problems from occuring.
I am WAY bigger than I was at this time with Beckett. In fact, I am bigger than when I delivered him, which we are taking as a good sign.
This past week we had an ultrasound and got an awesome picture. We also found out that so far things look good but in the words of Doctor Taslimi, "We're not letting our guards down."

This is a profile shot in case you couldn't tell! (It takes awhile!)

Cousins

2007-12-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

Beckett and his cousin Milly get along so well! It was great to have everyone out here and see the kids together again. I am glad that they get to see each other as they grow up and they can be friends, even influence each other. Today, Beckett said, "I climb Milly." (He wants to climb like Milly.) I think she might also have a positive effect on potty training, but the jury is still out. Beckett also loves to look at pictures online of Milly and Jed and watch their videos on Youtube. Each of Milly's videos have about 80 views and I am sure that most of those are Beckett.

The picture above is from the newly remodeled playground in Ben Lomond, which has awesome play structures, including a giant rope web to climb in, a bunch of different slides, a super cool padded surface, swings, one of those cool phone things, etc. Of course, as you notice in this picture, the kids are playing with grass. What could be more fun?

They also had fun at the grocery store. (Also newly remodeled.) I can't wait until they're teenagers and they actually drive. (NOT!!)

We still haven't heard about the last giardi test, but we're willing to bet Beckett will need another round of antibiotics. His sinus infection does seem to be getting better though, partly from being out of daycare and partly from more treatments.

Great Grandma

2007-11-26T21:40:00.000-08:00

Since we last posted it's been pretty eventful here. My grandmother (Beckett's great grandmother) had been really sick. She was in and out of the hospital multiple times. My sister was really worried so she flew in from England with Milly and Jed (Beckett's cousins) for Thanksgiving. We brought all the kids to see her on Saturday afternoon. She woke up and talked to them all and it was great. Unfortunately, she passed away on Sunday night. She was 90 years old.

Beckett and my sister's kids are too young to remember her, especially Jed who is only 7 months old, but Beckett loved to go visit her in her apartment, because of the elevator and the fact that she always let him play with her phone a much as he wanted. She even let him keep holding it after the "If you'd like to make a call please hang up..." lady came on.

I only have a couple pictures of Beckett and my grandma together, because most of the time when they were together, she mostly took pictures of him. But here is a recent one as well as one from when Beckett was a baby.

Feet better... tummy worse

2007-11-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

Beckett's feet and walking got much better over the weekend. However on Saturday he started having respiratory problems and required several breathing treatments. After a couple days of taking it easy he feels much better. Today, on Tuesday, he stayed home with John and went to the doctor who gave us a different nebulizer medicine and also a daily nasal medicine which should help with the chronic sinusitis.

We also got a call from the nurse at Packard and she confirmed that Beckett has giardia, which is a somewhat nasty parasitic illness. Because his immune system has been depressed by the chemotherapy, the treatment is not so straightforward. Trish, from neuro-oncology at Lucile Packard, had to talk to an infectious diseases team. They finally decided to give him an antibiotic with a name as long as my arm, something that the local pharmacy does not stock (it's on order). Otherwise, he isn't showing any symptoms right now apart from some bloating and diarrhea.

Owie feet

2007-11-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

(Note: Scroll to end to read happy ending first.) A few days ago we noticed that Beckett was having trouble walking and he was stumbling a lot. At day care that day the teacher told me that he seems a little slower than usual lately and she was a little worried. I had noticed that he seemed kind of tired.

We called oncology and they said that the funny walking was probably the result of the vincristine and that in general reducing the vincristine dose doesn't help, just discontinuing it, so they don't really do anything about it unless the kids can't walk at all.

That night (Thursday) when I picked him up from day care he was standing by the teacher and when I went to hold his hand so we could walk to the car, he fell. I carried him and that night he couldn't walk anywhere and just wanted us to carry him. Everytime his foot touched the ground he would say "Owie, foot" or "Owie, toe".

That night, around three I heard him open his door to his room and I figured he was trying to come get in our bed which he does sometimes. I was happy because I thought he was walking on his own, but when I looked he was crawling. It was so sad. Poor little guy.

The next morning we took him to Grandma and Grandad's house because I didn't want to take him to daycare and we called oncology again. I got the voicemail. When I finally got to talk with someone, they said, "How soon can you get here?" When I told them it would take me an hour, they said, "Not any sooner?" I raced to Scotts Valley where I was meeting my mom and we both then raced with Beckett up to Lucille Packard Children's Hospital.

The oncology nurse came to see us right away. She watched Beckett walk and confirmed that it was definitely from the vincristine. She said that the walking issues are from neuropathy which is like pins and needles (like when your foot falls asleep) but in little kids it can actually feel like pain. She said there is medicine for it, but she probably wouldn't recommend it at this point as she wants to keep as many chemicals as possible out of Beckett's system. She also said they would probably not discontinue his vincristine, but see how he is after his first treatment back from "break" which will be on the 21st of November. She said the reson why they had wanted us to race up there was that she was worried that something else, like pressure in the brain, had been causing his difficulty walking, but watching him she was reassured. She said she had even arranged for him to have an emergency scan if we needed to but seeing him, she felt much better. (So then I felt better, too!)

The next step of the regimen, which I explained badly in the last post will include 3 weeks of carbo/vincristine, one week of carbo only, and one week off. The cycle will be repeated, I think, 10 times.

We also found put that they moved up his MRI from the 26th to the 14th so even though he has two weeks off from chemo he STILL will have gone to Stanford every week since the end of August. By the time of his next break that wil be four months straight.

Today, Saturday, Beckett is walking much better. He still has "slappy feet" causes his ankles are really tight, but he is walking where he wants to go and seems his usual happy (snotty) self.

Induction over!

2007-11-01T19:03:00.001-07:00

We just got back from our tenth chemo treatment. Now we don't have to go back until the 21st of November. We may not even have to go up for an MRI if it can't be rescheduled (it's currently set for 11/26.

Beckett did great today as usual. Serendipity struck as we turned on the TV at exactly 1 pm and found one of Beckett's current favorite episodes of Backyardigans. He calls it "Horses" but it's actually called "Riding the Range". He was a little annoyed about commercials and the fact that you can't just "watch again" on the TV like you can on DVD. Ahhh, technology.

After we left the hospital we went to Target with Auntie Sarah. Beckett had a great time and when we dropped her off he kept saying, "More Sarah, More Sarah."

Someone recently asked me about the size of Beckett's tumor. Today Trish told me that it was about two centimeters in diameter, but that doesn't count that part that extends down the optic nerve, which can't really be measured. She explained that it's like the optic nerves are thickened and that that is what can impact vision. Beckett's tumor apparently was 1 cm in January's MRI and 2 cm in July with more thickening of the optic nerves which amounted, I guess, to a significant increase. Since that time we have not seen an increase and hopefully the next MRI will also show stability.

Anyway, I am glad that we got through induction. Our protocol for the next 10 months or so is four weeks on (three weeks with carboplatin and vincristine and one week with just carboplatin). We'll have MRIs after every two series I think (about every ten weeks).

I hope we'll have some good potty training news to write about in the meantime.

Halloween

2007-10-31T22:29:00.001-07:00

Beckett had a Halloween party at school today. Being the lazy (super busy) mom that I am, I donated the juice boxes. I think there must have been quite a few like me because Trader Joe's was wiped clean out of juice boxes except for the sugar filled white grape and (gasp!) lemonade. Oh well. We tried to make it back home in time for trick or treating, but we rolled through at 6:10 and it ended at 7 and we still needed to eat dinner. Secretly, I was kind of glad because it looked like the whole town was out trick or treating and was a little crazy. Beckett didn't seem to mind which I am sure will not be the case next year.

Here's a picture of Beckett in his costume. (We kind of cheated because this picture is actually from last weekend when we tried it on.) That face he is making is a growl.

Tomorrow is his 10th treatment and the final one in the "Induction phase". He will get a two week break from treatment during which time he will get an MRI to let us know how the treatment has been working. We are hoping for no growth or even for a reduction in the size of the tumor.

Can't Touch This

2007-10-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

This week John's mom has been visiting us from New Jersey. It's been great having her here and Beckett adores Grandma Pat. She "got to" take Beckett to treatment on Thursday and has been helping us a lot with babysitting (we actually went on a DATE), cooking and all kinds of stuff. Today we had a birthday part for John (40th!) at the park. We had great fun seeing everyone and Beckett ran around the park with Ruby and Charlie (the twins of a friend of mine). There were two major hits of the party: My friend Elaine, gave John one of those audio birthday cards that plays "U can't touch this" when it opens up, and Alex, his brother, gave him a card that plays monkey noises when you open it. Ever since we got home, Beckett has been playing with MC Hammer and doing a little dance as he plays it. When I tried to hide it before bed, Beckett forlornly asked for "Purple Card" for 5 minutes before we figured out what he was asking for.

Now he's sleeping with both cards cuddled up next to him and I am waiting to be awoken to MC Hammer at 2 am. (If that happens. I am calling Elaine.)

Lucky

2007-10-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

We had our eighth chemo treatment today. I was feeling sorry for myself because work has been stressful, etc. Every time I go to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital its a good wake-up call though. Beckett was in the Day Hospital, and the girl next to him was on week 90 of chemotherapy. Also we met another boy who had gone through TWO YEARS of various treatments. And he was only three. I heard another lady asking the social worker for a letter for her boss because he didn't believe her that she needed to spend the day at the hospital with her daughter getting chemotherapy.

We are so lucky! We know Beckett is going to be fine. We have health insurance that makes it so that we don't worry about how we are going to pay for all this. We have jobs that allow us to take time off to care for Beckett and supportive friends, family and colleagues. It's still hard and exhausting, but we could have it so much worse.

Beckett did great today. I have given up on having him sleep through treatments so the tough job is entertaining him for two hours while he gets his fluids, zofran, vincristine, carboplatin, flush and heplock. The worst part, as always, is when the nurse "deaccesses" his port and takes off the tape holding it down. When we left, he fell asleep before we got on the freeway, after only demanding the Signing Time CD once.

15 minutes...

2007-10-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

...of fame.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/October/16/local/stories/03local.htm

Look at the picture. (You can read the article, too. It's about a sales tax extension for the library in Santa Cruz.)

Six down.....

2007-10-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

Beckett had another fairly uneventful week at chemotherapy. It was our second week of just getting vincristine so he didn't have such a long day. In fact we rescheduled it so that I could take him after school and save my sick days for the upcoming months.

Beckett is starting to realize where he is going so he starts to say "Owie" when we go in to have his port accessed. He's a trooper though and only cries for a second.

This week we start back up on both the chemo drugs so we are back to long appointments. John is taking him this week and I'll take him the following week. Luckily, Grandma Pat is coming for a visit and she is going to go with us. Having another person there will make it much easier. So we only have four weeks to go until our two week break. We start up again right before Thanksgiving so our chemo that week will be on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

Beckett is also having an evaluation for physical therapy Monday, as the result of leftover preemie issues. He's just a bit behind on some stuff like jumping and running. I think it might be a bit genetic because my mom tells stories of me hiding behind doors trying to jump when I was his age and John is not the world's most coordinated person.

Otherwise Beckett is doing great. He's talking up a storm, chasing the poor, patient cat and calling his cousin in England (who owes us call, by the way).

Sick

2007-09-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

Beckett has an ear infection in both ears and a sinus infection. I'm not sure how much, if anything, this has to do with the chemo suppressing his immune system. Yesterday he was sent home from daycare with a fever of 102, and today he barely had a fever at all. The pediatrician prescribed yet another round of antibiotics, about the third that he has had. The cold or fever isn't anything too much of a concern right now as his blood counts are still very high, but we worry about him being sick as the treatment progresses.

Yet Beckett continues to be his normal, cheerful self, even if his nose is running like Niagara Falls. Well, he has his moments of grumpiness, but they seem typical for a two-year-old. The chemo appointments themselves have been no big deal. This week and next week he is getting only the Vincristine, which means the appointments will be fast and relatively painless.