Owen's Story

It has been 2 years since Owen was diagnosed with Leukemia.  At times, that seems like it was just yesterday, but others it feels like forever.  Owen is ready for it to be done.  Before his treatment in November he said that he doesn’t want to go to the hospital anymore.  He was also asking why Logan doesn’t have to go and that “it’s not fair.”  Such hard things for such a small mind to understand.  He really doesn’t know anything different though.  He was 3 1/2 when we found out and he probably doesn’t remember too much before that.  But, he does his medicine like a pro and takes it as it goes.

Last months treatment was pretty rough.  It was supposed to be an easy one since it wasn’t the spinal tap, but for some reason the medicine really hit him hard.  He didn’t feel well for about a week after his treatment.  Then, to top things off, he had an episode of  SVT and we almost thought we were going to have to take him to the hospital.  Luckily, his body knows what to do and he vomited and it brought his heart out of it.

Other than the medical stuff, he is doing great.  We had our first snow flakes and even though nothing sticks on the ground he is ready to go out and play in it.  He can not wait for snow.

I hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving!!  Lots of love to you and your families.

I feel like so much has happened in just one month.  We had Owen evaluated by the Occupational Therapy team at Children’s for his fine motor skills.  There were 3 separate areas that they were looking at, and out of the 3, he was where he should be for one.  The other two, he is measuring a year behind.  This is most likely due to being off of Pre-School and going through the treatment for the year after he was diagnosed.  They are recommending OT and are very hopeful that it should only take a half of year or slightly more to get him back on target of where he should be.  During the evaluation, there was concerns that maybe he was having some difficulty tracking or focusing with his eyes, so he saw a Optometrist.  They determined that his vision is great!!  Yay!

Owen had treatment last Wednesday, and it was the one with the spinal tap.  His blood counts were all crazy too, so the Doctors thought he might be fighting off some bug.  This treatment has hit him pretty hard this time.  A lot of resting and trying to take it easy.  This week has been another of ups and downs.  Today he got another headache.  One of the ones that makes him sick.  Luckily we are taking him to the Neurologist on Friday, so hopefully they can determine the cause.  He averages about 5 per month!  That seems a lot to me, being that he is only 5.

The whole month has not been bad… we had a fun trip to Chicago to see Owen’s Aunt Kimi get married.  It was Logan’s and Avery’s first time on a plane and all kids did great!!  The trip was so fun.  The boys were ring bearers and they did their job well!  So handsome.  I wish I had some pictures, but I didn’t take my camera since we were flying.  We also went to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins.  The boys are all in to Halloween this year and could not wait to make our house “spooky”.  They are both being Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Halloween.  I will have to post pictures!

Here is a shot at the pumpkin patch.

Owen’s treatment was a week ago today.  It was a quick and easy one, and he did great.  He was on the steroids for the 5 days after his treatment and had been feeling really good.  It’s that week after the steroids stop that is always up and down.  Today will be his first day of missed school.  He was up sick through the night and is still not feeling well.  Luckily, I talked with his doctor’s at the hospital last week regarding letters for his absences and they will be able to provide whatever is needed so that Owen is not penalized at school.

School is going well.  He really enjoys going and tells me so much about what he is learning.  It is so nice to see that he is adjusting well.  His teacher has said that his fine motor skills aren’t really where she would like to see them.  We had heard this before from his teachers at Pre-School.  His Doctor’s say that the Vincristine that he gets affects his nerves and can have an affect on his fine motor.  I think everyone will keep watching him and we will just have to work extra hard to get him where he needs to be.  It is amazing how Leukemia has affected so many things that you take for granted.

Here is a picture of all three of the kids.  Not the best, but they are all looking at the camera 😉

Owen had his first day of Kindergarten and LOVED it!!  He is excited to go back tomorrow!  He was not nervous or scared at all.  Went right up on to the bus and waved good-bye like it was nothing.  I was so proud of him.  He has Mrs.Kinross, whom I got meet on Monday night, and I can see why he said “She is sooo nice”, because that is what I thought too.  He is going to have such a wonderful year and I am excited to see how much he grows.

He had a treatment 2 weeks ago and did mostly good.  He did have a headache for 3 days in row straight last week, so we ended up making an appointment with a Neurologist.  I was holding off, not wanting to have to see yet another specialist, but I think it is best to try to see what they think the headaches are coming from.  It’s not until mid October, so hopefully they don’t get worse before then.

Here is a picture before we went to the bus stop.

Summer is already half way over.  I can’t believe that in 5 weeks Owen is going to be starting Kindergarten!  He is really excited, but a little nervous too.  We have been having a fun summer, enjoying playing outside and making new friends.  He finished his T-ball season at the end of June.  He liked it, but was ready for a break.  You could tell by the last few games that all of the kids were feeling pretty much the same way.  We had a fun little vacation to Sesame Place out near Philadelphia and spent a morning in Philly at one of the museums.  The boys had a blast!  It figures that the days we were at the park were the hottest days we have had all summer.  Owen loved the water slides at the park and both boys really opened up in the hotel pool!  They were both jumping in and going under.  A huge improvement from last year.

Owen had a spinal tap this past Wednesday.  It went well, and he felt pretty good afterward.  The 5 days after he gets treatment he is on steroids and usually feels pretty good during those days.  It is this week after the steroids stop that is always a wave of highs and lows.  He’ll feel great and start playing at something, then it hits him and he wants to lay down.  Hopefully it will pass quickly this month.

Here is a pic of the boys from on vacation.  It looks to me like they are plotting something.  Pretty typical of them these days 😉