First Day of School

Mikayla started school on Wednesday and she was soooo excited! She was ready to go in no time and even had her hair flat ironed especially for the day. She went to school hopeful of making new friends and a great new year. It was weird to send her off to school and not have the boys around. We did the traditional first day of school pictures, but the boys were missing. We will do those on Monday!

Oh and she couldn't have a first day of school picture without our new family pets. Meet Alex and Addy. They are actually the boys but she is taking care of them while they are away.

She came home from her first day very excited. When I asked her if she made any friends she said "Yep, one" After asking a few questions she said "I just went up to her and said 'do you want to be my friend?' " So there you go her first friend! LOL She was nonstop talking about all the great things she did at school and what a great time she had. I was so glad and know it will be a great year.

Later in the evening we were still talking about school and she said, "Mom, this one girl said I was mean" Red flags went up everywhere because we have been working for the past month on being mean. With her behavior and attitude problems I have been saying "you can't be mean or you won't have any friends" She was quite concerned that someone called her mean. So, I asked some more questions. Turns out the girl budged (big deal in 1st grade!) and Mikayla said "HEY!" she promises that is all she said. The girl turned around and said "your mean, you know that" Of all the words she could have used, that one probably hit Mikayla the hardest because I have told her if she is mean she won't have friends. We talked about it some more and she was ok with it.

Yesterday we had a meeting with the Principal, Guidance Counselor and her teacher. The teacher and Principal are new to the school so were not aware of our situation, the Guidance Counselor knew both boys and had great things to say about them. It was a great meeting and we just shared some of the possible side effects, things we have experienced and informed them a little about what she has been through. We wanted to make sure they alert us of any concerns in her education or emotional state as these are known areas of long term effects. We left the meeting confident that we had the support of our school staff and that helped me to feel better. Some of you that were around at diagnosis may remember we had a bad experience with the school in dealing with Tyler, so I am almost glad we have a new principal and teacher on board.

In first grade during the first week they bring a brown bag home and are to put a few things in that bag that tells a little about themselves. Mikayla was so excited to do this and she chose to put her port in her bag. I had talked with her a while ago about it being her choice if she told everyone she had had cancer or not. I told her no one would know and she could keep it that way or she could tell them. She has asked me if the kids would make fun of her because she had cancer and I couldn't answer that for her, you just don't know with kids. So, I was surprised a little when she decided on Day 2 to announce to the class what she had been through. I think it went well, her teacher, Mrs. Blackford said the kids had lots of questions and Mikayla was a little shocked they didn't know what a port is. In Mikayla's world this is all normal, she doesn't realize how rare it is to have cancer. I am so proud of her for talking about it and now she doesn't have to hide it.

She came home from Day 2 saying that "everyone is my friend, well only the girls" LOL So, she is adjusting well to her new school and loving every minute. Although it did seem to catch up with her last night. She was a little emotional and asked to go to bed at 6:30. She slept until 9:30 got up had a snack and went back to bed. I think school is wearing her out! Hopefully she will adjust to going to school all day, every day. But I do know she is enjoying it. She even asked me this morning why she couldn't go to school tomorrow. :)

We pick up the boys from Sib Camp in the morning and I can't wait! It has been a weird, quiet week and I am ready for my noisy, busy family to be back.

Don't forget to order your Beat Cancer Shirts at www.beatcancertoday.org and put my name as a pickup to avoid shipping. The last day to order is Tuesday! We have sold well over 1,000 shirts! AMAZING! We will get the word out and bring awareness to Childhood Cancer!

Also, continue to pray for Maddeson (cp: Maddesonsfight), I did get a chance to stop and see them this week. They were able to bring Sea World to her and it was a great day. But their moments are coming to an end and my heart aches terribly for them all. It is hard to see a purpose in this. Please pray for the Tersinar family especially in these next few days!

Christie

We had such a great weekend. It seems we are trying to pack so much fun into the last days of summer! The whole weekend was full of fun with people we have met along our journey with cancer and we feel truly blessed to have met each and every one! We have been on the road quite a bit lately and I keep telling myself, school is starting so it will slow down a little. But that never seems to happen at the VanWey house! We won't complain we enjoy every minute of it.

Tomorrow is time for Mikayla's monthly check up. Brent will be taking her to her appointment and I will be staying home. I believe this will be the first time I have missed an appointment, so that may be hard on me. We are going to ask for a Neuro-pshyc evaluation, after talking to some people we feel this will be a valuable thing to see how the chemo has affected her and get a base line of how it affects her in the future. Maybe it will give us some answers about her learning and moods (which have been VERY bad lately!) I am also anxious to see her counts and see how she is doing. I know that she is losing weight, you can see it in her face and some of her clothes are starting to hang different on her the weight loss makes her look taller. I was wondering if she would lose weight, before Cancer Mikayla was a tiny little thing that would get blown over in the wind. Steroids helped to bulk her up quite a bit, it is interesting to see her change. I was going through pictures the other day and I honestly don't remember this little girl.

These were taken on her 4th birthday, about two weeks before she was diagnosed. Do you see how pale she is and the bruise on her leg? That is what I see and wonder how I didn't know. She has grown alot in the past 2 and a half years and she looks different. Her new favorite thing to do is flat iron her hair to take the curls out. This makes her look much older and her hair "so long" as she likes to say!

We will head back to Boone on Sunday to take the boys to Sib Camp. They are so excited. The boys will be missing the first 2 1/2 days of school but I am very pleased that both schools have been very accommodating and helpful in getting them ready for school before they head to camp. When you see their faces when they talk about camp, you know there is no way we could have taken this from them. I can't wait to hear all about it!

If you haven't heard already, we are trying to get the word out about National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. We are working with a group of 4 other parents to promote this in Iowa (and nationwide) as much as possible. Please visit http://www.blogger.com/www.beatcancertoday.org to get your Beat Cancer Shirt in Iowa or ISU colors (other colors are also available). The Cyclones are currently winning in sales so we need all our Hawkeye friends to help get the word out! (ok Cyclones can order too, its for the cause,right?) If you want to avoid shipping costs and just pick them up from me you can do that. If you have any questions just email me at mailto:cvanwey@gmail.com.

One last thing, but maybe most important. Our friend Maddeson (cp: maddesonsfight)will not find a cure for her cancer. She needs a miracle. Our family loves Maddeson, she lives in Marion, we visited her many times, Mikayla talked to her when she was first diagnosed about losing her hair, we sat in the surgery waiting room with Maddeson's family when Mikayla had her port out and we have been praying for this little girl since the beginning. Right now we ask you pray for her to be able to head on her Wish this Saturday to Sea World. Please keep the Tersinar family in your prayers over the next couple weeks and months. Our hearts are with them!

Please we need a cure. Go to http://www.beatcancertoday.org/ buy a tshirt and wear it EVERYWHERE. We need people to know our children need a cure!

Christie

Vacation

We made it home from our vacation. It was a much needed time to relax. It was great to spend time with my dad and enjoy his pool. The weather could have been a little warmer but the kids didn't seem to mind. They had a great time going off the diving board, making up games and having all kinds of fun.

We did have to come home and back to reality though. It is always tough to recover from a vacation. We are working on that now. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of how our week was spent. I also posted a video of some of their games on Facebook if you want to look there.

This week we have been getting back into the swing of things and quickly realizing how fast school is approaching. Wow, where did the summer go? I am not sure if I am ready for school. The kids will go to register Thursday. They will find out who their teachers are and all that fun stuff. It should be an interesting year. I hope I am ready for it.

Today we were supposed to have a checkup but I think Dr. T is on vacation (at least that is what I was told) so we won't go until next week. I can't believe it is time to go already, I guess I have already lost track of our schedule being just 2 months off treatment.

This weekend when we were driving, I had Tyler alone in the car with me and we had several good conversations. It was a 5 hour drive after all! I asked him how he was doing and if things seemed different for him now that Mikayla was off treatment. I worry about Brenden and Tyler so very much, I know it effected them a lot. I was surprised by his response. He said "It isn't really all that different, except now it just feels like Mikayla is on steroids everyday instead of once a week" Ouch, that hit me. But I know what he is feeling. We have been really trying to crack down on Mikayla and curb some of the attitude she has but it seems to be worse. It is almost like she is on steroids all the time, but we don't have those to blame anymore. This is something we will work on.

I will say I love that Mikayla is off treatment and that we made it through those 2+ years. But it also doesn't feel like the end, even though to everyone else it seems the end. Those fears are still there, the effects are still there, and actually the emotions seem to be more raw now than ever. I don't know if we didn't allow ourselves to feel it before but going off treatment has brought a flood of emotions, today is one of those days.

I will post an update from her next doctors visit. I am anxious to see how much her blood counts have rebounded in 2 months.

Christie