Roller Coaster Ride

This is officially what I am calling the past couple of days. WOW! Tuesday morning, Tim and I went to the Bee 98.7 radio station to talk with Todd and Erin on the morning show. (Staring up that roller coaster!) We went to promote the upcoming walk and the on-line auction. We did a quick 5 minute thing in the broadcasting room. Then we went back to a recording studio and talked with Erin for about 20 minutes. Very cool to see how things work with all the new technology! Our interview with Erin will air this Sunday, June 19th @ 7am on all the local Citadel stations (98.7, 93.3, 101.1, 94.9, 1320 to list a few.)

(Tim in the recording studio!)

(Tim talking it up!)

(Tim and Erin. What a sweet heart! Top of the first big drop!)

On the way home, we stopped by Costco so I could get some things for Primary. While there, Cory texted me and said that Tim's counts were low and that he needed some platelets as soon as possible. Here comes the dip of this roller coaster ride:( Upon arrival at the hospital, Tim's temperature was a little high. Normal procedure is to wait it out for an hour, then see if there are any changes. If the temp is still high, then we are admitted and started on antibiotics and wait for the temp to come down. Well, as the platelets were started, a doctor came in, took Tim's temp again, saw it was border-line high and ordered a room and antibiotics immediately. Way to scare a kid and put a mom in panic mode. Thank goodness, the nurse was on our side and monitored Tim's temp during the transfusion. Luckily, his temp came down and I was able to take him home!

(Tim and his bag of pee, oh I mean platelets!)

But, our troubles were far from over. Tim's temp spiked Tuesday night almost to the point that I was about to take him back to the hospital. Cory was inspired and told me to get some men over to the house to give Tim a blessing. (Cory was in Denver for work.) After the blessing, Tim and I both went to bed. His fever slowly began to drop.

Wednesday was spent taking Tim's temp every hour. It was drop, then spike and drop again. Finally around 4pm, Tim's temp was normal! We still took it easy and didn't let friends come over. Just to be safe. Slowly starting back up the roller coaster.

Thursday morning, Tim and I were back up at the hospital, this time to meet with Dr. J and to get his second cast off. Numerous x-rays were taken of Tim's limb and the doctor decided that Tim no longer needed a cast:) Hooray! And Tim can start to get some movement back, slowly with my help:)
(Tim thinking how to move his foot!)

Cory is running Ragnar this weekend! Go team "Running Up Your Pass!"

Fort Herriman Days' Parade

(Tim making good use of his limb!)

Yesterday was Kelli's "Best Day Ever!" We were in the Fort Herriman Days' Parade to get the word out about Tim's walk on June 25th. It was a long day, but so much fun! We were up early to decorate Cory's truck with yellow and white balloons. Then we went over to the check in area and waited for the parade to start around 9am. We were entry #75, so by the time we started the parade route, it was 9:40 or something like that. We had to wait a long time!! But, it was worth it. We had some neighbor kids help pass out candy, bracelets, stickers and flyers. We even passed out a few "No Fear Here" shirts. Tim took turns sitting on the tailgate and on the front of the truck. He waved his foot at people and threw out candy and otter pops! I was amazing to see all the people out and watch them read the flyers about Tim and the walk, then stand up and clap and scream for Tim. At times, I got very emotional. Good thing I was driving the truck so no one could see me crying :) We finally got home around 11 and cleaned up. Tim chilled for most of the afternoon. His counts are on their way down now :(

(Here we come!)

(Need I say anything?)

Next on Tim's list is a radio interview this Tuesday and getting his cast off Thursday. Dr. J said if the x-rays show that the bones are healing, Tim may not have to have another cast!

Round 8

Only 6 more to go! Tim did okay with this last round of chemo. He threw up 8 times over the course of 5 days/4 nights. He stayed pretty positive and had some fun the last day. He taped his remote controlled fart machine to his green rc truck and ran it under the nurses' chairs and let it rip! He also took is rc helicopter up and flew it around, annoying some of the nurses. But for the most part, the nurses were pretty cool with all of Tim's jokes:) On the last day, I took Tim out on the hospital patio and we sat outside for awhile. Tim found a couple of balls and threw them over a fence onto a roof section of the hospital. He was ready to be out of that place! He goes in again around June 21st for just a two-dayer. He has two weeks to rest up, let his counts fall, and get them back up again! Tim is going over to the middle school three times a week for some math summer school. Actually, he is taking a class to see if he can get into the 8th grade math honor's program! He is a day behind, but what else does he have to do during the day when all is friends are in school? Check out these pictures of Tim! He took these using an app on the i-pad he got to play on after taking a survey every morning at the hospital. Pretty cool and Tim loved it:)



(My favorite!)
Tim, and the rest of us, will be making an appearance in the Fort Herriman Days Parade this Saturday. The parade starts at 9am. We will be handing out flyers all about the walk on June 25th, as well as candy, bracelets and some car decals! Should be a fun morning for all involved-parades are the best :)

Hospital Study

Good news! Tim went in for chemo this afternoon. His counts were finally high enough for him to start a 5-dayer! We checked in around 2pm, had Tim's port accessed, hot hooked up to fluids and waited for the chemo and certain body fluids to reach a certain point. Finally, around 6:30, chemo was started! If all goes well, we should be able to start chemo 3 hours earlier than the previous day each day which means Tim could come home Tuesday evening:) Right now, Tim is part of a hospital study. The hospital wants to see how they can make cancer patients' stays more comfortable. So, there is a camera and a sound detector in Tim's room. And, each day and night he fills out a survey on his experiences with the nurses. In return, Tim gets to play on an i-pad each day after the survey and he gets a $20 gift card. Pretty cool. Tim was pretty excited to play with an i-pad and the gift card sold him to participate!

(Tim checking out the i-pad. He found and played a "Trains" game and loved it!)

Oh, and some really cool news-Tim's story on KSL was picked up from news affiliates and aired in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, and Tennessee! He's famous:)

Mak's Weekend

While Cory, Tim, Kelli, Katie and I almost got washed away this past Memorial Day Weekend, Mak went south with the Oborns for some camping/hiking/motorcycle riding near Moab, UT! They left Thursday after school and returned Monday evening! They had sun all weekend and got very dirty! But Mak came home with a huge smile and her face and lots of stories to tell! Here are a few of the pictures she took with her camera :)

(Going into Arches National Park. Mak hiked the Fiery Furnace Area and loved it! I have hiked it once and it is AWESOME!)

(This is a huge sand hill that the group played on for awhile. Mak is the little yellow dot about 2/3 of the way up in the middle.)

(Mak's self-picture after going up and down the big sand hill twice. I guess she was exhausted!)