Surgery, Chemo, and CureSearch Walk

Idaho Fighters Team!!!  I probably have a couple hundred pics from the CureSearch walk...this one is my favoritest.  It makes me cry.  Thank you so much for coming, I hope the walk was as meaningful for you as it was for me!  The next pic makes me cry too...

 Each family that was there who has lost a child to cancer let go of a white balloon

 Then each kid who is fighting or has fought cancer got to go on stage and get a medal...you can play where's Tydo if you want

 I'm not sure how he got lucky enough to hold the banner.  The sun was bright, he didn't look up very often.

Each walker got a bandana (well, until they ran out that is...sorry to my team members that didn't get one!)  The dark green ones signify people walking for a cancer fighter off treatment, the medium green ones like the one Ty has on his head signify walking for a cancer fighter on treatment, and the very light green ones are for people walking in memory of a cancer fighter they lost.

 Then after they got all got medals the cancer kids started the walk for us...see Ty peeking over the banner?

And a fellow A.L.L. fighter lifted him up for a picture, so sweet!

And there they go!  My short little buddy peeking over again.  The walk itself was about 2 miles around the park and since there were over 3000 people walking, it was quite a sight!

Not sure if you can even see us in this one...I think we are wayyyyy back behind those trees.

But here we are! Go Idaho Fighters!!!

 Each cancer fighter had a poster with pictures and their story

 There were so many people there it was very chaotic!

 But it was fun chaos!!

 Ty even had enough energy at the end to run up the hill a few times and roll down

The CureSearch walk was organized and put on by a group of volunteer Utah moms of cancer fighters.  I have met most of these ladies and they are awesome!!! 
We are so thankful we got to be a part of the walk!!

Last but not least...here are a couple of my cousins who shaved their heads last October in honor of Ty for St. Baldricks.  They are some of my heros!  To read that story click HERE.

I wonder if there is a limit to the number of things you can put in one post...so much has happened lately.  Today Ty got his new power port...

 Checking in bright and early at same-day-surgery at 8am...which means we were up at 4:30 to get here on time.  I drove since Brady got home from working in Boise at 2am.  Two hours of sleep might count as drowsy driving.

 97.9cm!!  I'm sure that wall thing isn't always totally accurate, but it looks like he is growing.  His weight was 16.8kg, which is just a tiny bit less than it was last month.

Then up to oncology clinic for his exam, blood draw, and vincristine... Pokie prize!!  He's been waiting and waiting to open these gel pens.

 And a little more gaming of course while we wait for blood count results and stuff.  His counts were great!!  His ANC was 1000 which means they don't raise the dosage of anything...yay!  WBC 2.8, RBC 4.13, HCT 36.9, PLTS 244

And now back down to surgery...we got a little creative while we waited...gel pens are much more fun way up high 

 Still waiting...catching bubbles...

 Still waiting...zooming the car behind the sink foot pedals

 Then the surgeon came in to explain the surgery and show where the new one would be.  The line on the right is the line where he will cut to insert the new port...the pink line on the left is his old port scar...and of course he had to add a nose and a smile.  He was wondering on the way out what the nurses were going to think about the extra lines he drew. : )

 Surgery took about an hour and went well.  His nose was super itchy as he woke up.  This was the first time Brady was there when we handed our little buddy over to the anesthesiologist and said bye. (Fourth time I've done it)  Now he knows why I was bawling my head off when he called me during Ty's surgery to get his old port out.

 Ty wasn't really in the mood to wake up for a while

On the way home he was hot and red faced...but that went away after about an hour.  He had a little nap on the way home too, and had some lucky charms and sprite.

 And if you saw him tonight playing with the neighbors you would never know he had surgery today!  My tough little buddy!

 I know right!  Who rides their bike the same day they had surgery?...don't worry, it still has the training wheels on

Showing his friends his new port...see all the yellow?  They used enough Iodine to clean the State of Utah, he's got it from his belly button to his ear...literally  His port sticks wayyy out, it will be interesting to see how that goes.  Hopefully he will be used to it soon, he hasn't complained about it yet so maybe he is already used to it.  I am glad this day is over!  I have been dreading it for months, and of course it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

 Now here's to hoping for two years of an infection free port!!! 

When we got home the kids had already been fed dinner by my awesome visiting teacher! 

 Thank You!!

And thank you for reading, caring, praying, helping us, being great neighbors and friends and family, donating to and coming to our CureSearch walk, and everything else!!