Merry Christmas ( a couple of days ago)

Ryan with her girly nails on!

Logan striking a pose

Adam with his new Cars hopper ball

The kiddos on the new Trampoline
It was freezing and they did not care!!!

Merry Christmas!!! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and everyone has a Wonderful (and safe) New Years! We had a wonderful Christmas...we were just missing one thing...KYLE! He went up to Washington this year for break, and we know he is having a great time, we just miss him!

Girls in their new PJs

Logan loved the socks!

Christmas Eve we did not really do much, but our usual...hang out and have Hot Chocolate, read T'was the Night Before Christmas, and put out the cookies, carrots, and milk. The kids were in bed by 7:30 because we knew we would have to be up early. Unfortunately, Matthew went on duty this year on Christmas Day, so he needed to leave Christmas morning by 7:15. We woke up the kids this year around 5:45 so that we would have time to open presents. Santa brought them all a trampoline! And just like every other year, we say we are not going to get too many presents for the kids...they have everything they need, and of course the tree ends up being surrounded with tons of presents. Later in the day we stopped off at the station to see the Daddy and the guys, then went over to Matthews parents house to have Christmas dinner. It was a great dinner and even better to be surrounded by family and friends. This year I must say we feel especially blessed. Ryan was able to be home, and was feeling well. Our future is truly BRIGHT!

Christmas party at preschool

Ryan was able to go to her preschool Christmas party on Thursday the 18th. We had a blast! It was a PJ party, so she was nice and cozy. This was the first time she had met any of her classmates. They seemed to really be accepting. She was able to participate in the book exchange and they even got a special visitor...Santa! He let her hold his bells for him while he visited with some of the other kids. She felt like the coolest kid on the block. It was great to take her out and expose her to some kids her, age and refresh her memory what it will be like to go to school, make friends, and learn from people other than mommy. I think she is excited!!

Ryan and Santa

Ryan holding Santa's bells for him!

Ryan enjoying some Christmas cookies and milk

Miss Paula and Miss Nancy
Ryan's favorite teachers!!

Tuesday December 16th

Ryan and her Grandpa

Ryan and her new baby that
has her port accessed just like Ryan

Pouty face Ryan

Ryan after her procedure...peacefully sleeping

Her counts ended up being high enough for us to go to clinic on Tuesday the 16th....1300 to be exact. So, now she is officially in maintainance!!! It was a procedure day (lumbar treatment), but thankfully my dad was in town and came down there with us. That does help to have someone there with me while she is in the procedure room. Plus he likes to come and be involved in all of this, and four ears are better than two. I expected now that she started maintainance that this was going to be a smooth road...she would go to preschool, I could go back to the gym but, after talking to the docs down there we may need to wait a while on all that. They are waiting to see how her counts balance out. The goal is to have her on the maximum dose of oral chemo with out having her couts be in the toilet. So, if her counts are good next week then on the 13th of January they will increase her dosage. After two weeks they will check her counts...if they are good then they will increase it again, so on and so forth. Until she is at the max her body can handle. They said that if her counts were decent on the 13th of January they might let her go to preschool, since it is only two days a week for three hours. They said on those days I can go to the gym....not quite yet for the gym daycare. We ended up getting home kinda late, but overall it was a good day!! Ryan did great!

Ryan and Santa
(we missed our call for all of us to see him and get a picture,
so we ran him down as he was leaving)

Kyle and Nick Swardson
(Blades of Glory, Bench Warmers, and others)

Logan and twins Rebecca and Camilla Russo from
Zack and Cody

Ryan and Allysa Milano

Our movie stars!
(minus Kyle he was in his PJs for the car ride down to UCLA)

Hello! Well, after getting out of the Hospital on Saturday we figured by Monday her counts would not be high enough for us all to attend the UCLA Christmas party Tuesday (hosted by Allysa Milano), but despite our doubts....Monday her counts had come up to 600...WOW!!! So, we were able to go and we all had a blast. There was food, games, and gifts for all the kiddos. We met Allysa Milano...she was so sweet and down to earth. She actually came down to Ryan's level and was chatting with her for a good 5 minutes before we ever even took any pictures with her.

Friday December 12th we were all able to attend Kyle's school play "A Christmas Carol". Oh, did I mention he was Scrooge?? That's right...the lead role! He did an incredible job! They all did!! It was awesome seeing him come out of the curtain during the applause at the very end!! Talk about a proud parent moment!

GRANDPA

Then Saturday we picked up a visitor....one of our favorites....GRANDPA!!! My Dad will be staying a week...YEA!!! We have had a blast with him. We actually planned this visit to just hang out around the house because we were not sure what the situation with Ryan was going to be. We have put up our tree and hung lights, and I have actually gotten to escape to do a little Christmas shopping.....finally! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

I wanted to give everyone an update on the little boy Ryan Wilson that I mentioned in a previous entry. They received great news...his twin sister was a perfect bone marrow match for him. That is incredible news for him and their family. His odds at overcoming this now have greatly improved!! Thank you everyone for your continued prayers for both of our Ryans!

Long Time no Blog!!

Well Hello!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! We have been very busy lately. That is my excuse for no recent entries. I wish we could say we have been out Christmas shopping, but unfortunately we have been in and out of the hospital. Fevers, Fevers, Fevers!!! Thankfully nothing ever came back on the blood cultures, yet like I have said before they have to treat her as if there is until we get the results of blood cultures back 24-48 hours later.

All my Beautiful Kiddos

Logan just a little excited about her present!

First off....Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Logan!!! She turned 7 on the 25th of November. Happy Birthday Baby!!

Ryan

Ryan at Memorial Hospital

So, lets see....the evening of Wed the 26th she began running a fever. That evening we were able to get cultures drawn and labs. The following morning, Thanksgiving morning, we were able to have her Pediatrician call in an order for IV antibiotics to a local Urgent Care. We were very thankful because that allowed us to be home for turkey day instead of in the hospital. Well...as the day progressed her fever got higher and higher, therefore landing us at Memorial hospital for the next two days....Yuck!!! While in the hospital she received more antibiotics and also got a blood transfusion. Her hemoglobin and hematocrit were low. We were able to come home on the 29th with IV antibiotics to be given twice a day by me. See....I knew I would use my medical experience again, I just didn't think it would be on my daughter.

Ryan enjoying one of her favorite treats while in the hospital
ICE CREAM!!!!

Ryan playing one of her favorite things while in the hospital...doctor.
"Okay mom ...only five more pokes"

The future Dr. Ryan Wiggins

Well, a couple days later, on the 3rd, she began running another temperature while still on the antibiotics. Her hemaglobin and hematacrit were very low again and her "counts" were really low. After her Pediatrician and the docs at UCLA talked, the end result was us driving to UCLA at 12am. That sucked!!! They were able to get her a bed (not have us sit in the ER) so we hopped in the car and hit the road. Matthew was on duty, but thankfully Kenny was not, so he was able to come over and spend the rest of the night with the kiddos. We spent the next three days there on stronger antibiotics and getting another transfusion. They took her off all the antibiotics on Friday morning and watched her for fevers. No fevers so....she was able to come home on Saturday afternoon. And no fevers so far (please say some prayers)! By the way, that was our first (and hopefully only) visit to the new hospital.....WOW! Very nice!!!

Speaking of prayers, I have a request. We were hooked up with another family from here in Bakersfield recently. They were actually down at UCLA when we were there, so I got to meet some of them. Ryan Wilson is an eighteen month old little boy who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. I don't know if anyone remembers at the begining of our Ryan being diagnosed.... they test for a Chromosome called the Philadelphia chromosome. Well, our Ryan was negative, but Ryan Wilson's came back positive. That makes the road he will have to travel extemely rocky. He will need a bone marrow transplant, and his regimin of chemo will be tougher. Please pray for him, that one of his siblings is a match, that his family be as blessed as we have been to have the love and support around them that we have, that his little body fight this battle the way our Ryan has, triumphantly! To the right is the link to his care page for those who want to follow his journey. Warning----He is probably one of the cutest little boys you will have ever seen!!!

Thank you again to all those who are providing your thoughts, prayers, love, and support. Again we appreciate it more than you know!!!! Love to you all!

Another Head Shaving Party

Ryan and her Papa!
I love the expression!!!
The end result!!! Uncle Drew's Turn

Ryan and her Uncle Drew
Papa, Drew, and Ryan
Drew and his friend Erin with Ry

Uncle David your up!!!

Looking good!

Aunt Holly.....The Brave One

The After
Ryan and her Uncle David and Aunt Holly

All of us Baldies!!!

The day that we shaved Ryan's head not everyone was available to participate. So.....we had another head shaving party!!!! Now we are not the only baldies in town!!!!

The Big Day

The "Big Day" was not so big.....everything went really well last Tuesday. She was in a great mood! I think because she has been feeling fairly normal lately they finally got to get a dose of the real Ryan. In the past she has been very quiet, and not very friendly. This time she was talking and laughing when they would try to play with her...it was great! She had her procedure and that went well. She got her IV meds and that all went well. They have ordered her daily IV Meds to be given at home, so home health will be out to give that the rest of this week, then next week Tues., Wed, Thurs, and Friday. The medications that she is getting through her IV and the ones she will take orally are going to cause her counts to drop....a lot. So, again we will have to be on the look out for fevers, and she will continue to be a shut-in. I am so glad it is Hot-cocoa, warm fuzzy blanket, and reading books weather!! That makes it a little easier. Because her counts will be low for a while.....we don't have to go back down to UCLA until December 16th....YEAH!


We also got news they are going to eliminate one of the phases. The next phase would have been Intermaintenance #2 then Maintenance. Now she will just be starting Maintenance. She has just responded so well! I truly feel blessed. So all is well, and we just have to pray for no fevers, and for her little body to continue to fight like a Champ!!! Love to all!!

Tough Day Ahead

Ryan holding her Angel bear...Rosabella??!!

Hanging out at the hospital!

Hello all! We had another couple of days in the hospital last weekend. Last Friday she started running a fever and again we landed at the hospital for two days. This time thankfully we were able to go her Pediatricians office and bypass the ER!! Much better than sitting in the ER having her exposed to all of the yucky stuff that goes through there. We have now realized anytime she runs a fever and her counts are low, we are unfortunately just going to have to plan on a little trip to the Peds floor for at least a couple of days. More times than not she is just going to catch little viral bugs, but they have to treat her immediately with antibiotics in case it is bacterial. A bacterial infection would run ramped in her little body due to the fact she has ZERO immune system when her counts are low. We have also realized that it is better if we limit her exposure to anything. Needless to say she has become a bit of a shut-in.

Logan and Julie before the Carrie Underwood concert

Julie and I....I love her and miss her so much!!

Despite the fact that she has not gone anywhere she has been busy. We had a visitor come into town...her Aunt Julie. She was just here last month but came back into town to go to the Carrie Underwood concert. She surprised Logan with her second ticket, so Logan got to go to her first concert. She had a blast!! The amazing part about all of it is that Ryan did not say a single word about not being able to go. The whole time they were getting ready she was just excited for Logan. She got to hang out with Aunt Julie quite a bit so I know that was good for her. She does a pretty good job at understanding why she can't go and do. Amazing Girl!!

Ryan checking out the golfers on the golf course with the new binoculars

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!!

Amazingly Beautiful!!

Ryan NOW is doing great...full of energy, and playing as if there is no battle to be fought right now! That is the way we like to see her!!! Her beautiful bald head is the only constant reminder!

Ryan Paige

Well this coming week will be heading down to UCLA. This is a week when she is "count dependent", but I am sure her counts will be high enough to receive the chemo since her counts were up to 1000 this past Monday and she has not had anything now to knock them down. She will be getting three new types of chemo this visit. It is hard for us when we know she is getting something new because we never know what side effects she will have from them. She is expected to get more mouth sores, no appetite, lose weight, and her counts will drop low and likely stay low for a while. So, Tuesday she will have a lumbar puncture treatment (procedure), which we have not had to do for a while. Also...two IV and one oral medication that she will take for 14 days. One of the IV medications she will have to get for four days this week and four days next week. Thankfully we have home health available to come to our house to take care of that for us so we don't have to travel down to UCLA everyday!

Thank you for ALL of the continued love and support. We can not express our gratitude enough! Continued prayers would be much appreciated this coming week...that she will have limited side effects and continue to be victorious.