Super Ryan

Ryan and Les are headed down to Scottish right now. Ryan started with low grade fever after school yesterday. We had his counts checked at Coach Gary's clinic after school and got the results this morning. His ANC is 0 and both hemoglobin and platelets are below transfusion levels. So, he will spend most of today in the clinic. At least he will be in a space right away and not hanging out in the ER. He doesn't seem to feel bad and, of course, didn't want to go. He will have more energy after his transfusions. They will just have to wait for his ANC to come up so he can fight off any germs and infections. He does have a sore on the inside of his cheek from his chemo. Tomorrow is Les' birthday, so we will likely be celebrating it together in the hospital. Will and Heidi will probably go to the Winder-Barrow /Apalachee game with friends. It is the big game of the season, and I know they won't want to miss it. Thanks for checking in. Please pray that Ryan has a short, healthy stay at the hospital. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan

Ryan wasn't feeling very well when he climbed in the car to go this morning. He started feeling better and ate a little, but then got sick. He seemed to feel better after that. He got red blood and got out of there just in time for the Atlanta traffic. Seems like everytime my parents take him he gets blood. That makes for a very long day. My appt. with Dr. O'Regan went very well. She, too, was incredibly nice. I met most of her team. They were all very positive and friendly. They are working to schedule my MRI so I can possibly start treatment as soon as Monday. I have some papers to look over tonight to select a treatment plan. All I have learned over the last 3 years has really prepared me for this. None of it seems too bad. I did have an EKG so they could establish a baseline for my heart function. This is one of those tests that Ryan hates because of the sticky buttons. I left some of mine on so he could see them and take them off for me. He thought that was pretty cool. Hopefully, tomorrow will go better for him. We have open-house at school and the kids start on Friday. I could really use an extra couple of weeks! Thanks for checking in on us. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan

Ryan's chemo is going ok. He started chemo Monday with a platelet count of 52k. They will recheck his counts during the week to see if he needs either red blood or platelets. He was asleep when we got there on Tuesday (after a horrific ride in traffic) so I got a wagon in the parking deck and loaded him in. He stayed in the wagon pretty much all day just watching TV. Thank you, Julie and Lori Peck, for bringing me lunch and for the treats for us. They played Deal or No Deal and kept Ryan company while I went to my appt. Thank you, Kellie, for staying with him and taking him for Mongolian Beef. He and Will ate their take-out order after football last night. My appt. with Dr. Wood went incredibly well. He was so very nice and thinks I am going to do very well. He said he would rush the start of my treatment more for my mental health than out of any sense of medical urgency. He wants me to have an MRI because of my age. I don't know when, yet. I am anxious to hear about the chemo options today. I just got home in time to take Will to his football scrimmage. Ryan worked as his team's "water-boy" and had a great time. He was so funny to watch filling the bottles and taking them around to all the boys. He kept the sidelines "tidied" like his daddy would. I am so glad he got that gene. Will worked hard in spite of continually lining up against the star player of the other team. He is going to the clinic today with Ryan and my parents. I will post again after I find out about my chemo. Thanks for checking in on us. Please continue to pray for Ryan and his friends Taylor, Luke, Hannah, and so many others fighting hard. Please pray for a cure for all cancers. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan

Not much new to update on the medical front. We had Ryan's labs drawn yesterday at Coach Gary's clinic, and Ryan called me after leaving to tell me how great it was. Leslie had been out of town for the last few days so he took him. They were thrilled to see Dylan's mom, Kathleen, meet them at the front desk. Dylan and Ryan swam on the same relays at swim team. We will get results today and hope to see a big increase in his red blood count and platelets. I had explained to Ryan about how low his platelets were on Monday and he got very upset on Wednesday when he thought he was going to lose a tooth. I hated that he was so frightened. He did lose the tooth and we were able to keep the bleeding to a minimum. I am hoping to hear from Emory today that they have scheduled my appt. This waiting around is starting to really get to me. The phone calls, emails, and cards I have received have been so uplifting. I got a very special care package that really, really touched me. Catie's and Mary Grace's mommy's sent me a bracelet engraved with a great message from my cancer-mommy friends to "expect miracles" and a cd full of inspirational songs. We all belong to various groups in our lifetimes ranging from little league sports teams to college sororities and professional colleagues. This family of cancer-mommies is one of the most special groups I have ever belonged to. Believe me, I would give anything to have never belonged, but the relationships I have made during the last three years are with the strongest women I've ever known. Many people have asked how we do it, but I have yet to meet a mom that has crawled under the table and cried the days away. Well, at least more than one day! I am going to expect miracles and I'm going to play my cd when I have to drive down to Emory for my treatments. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and words of encouragement. Please keep praying for Ryan and all his little cancer friends and a cure for all cancers. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan

Time sure seems to pass slowly when you are wanting to get moving on your cancer attack plan! We have had a good last few days. Ryan seems to be feeling alright. He has had friends over playing just about everyday. We went and got his labs yesterday. His hemoglobin was 8.1 and platelets only 12,ooo. Both of these numbers are at transfusion levels. The clinic believes the numbers are on the way up. His white count has come up nicely already. We are just trying to keep him from getting bruised or cut. He has to get labs repeated on Thursday, and we expect that to show more of a rise. The needle-stick on Monday was a little traumatic. He was screaming at the nurse to "Take it out!!!!!" as she tried moving it around to get blood. We are going to start getting his labs done at our swim coach's clinic in Braselton instead of Athens. I think they take care of a lot more kids. We are still working on getting the slides of my biopsies sent to Emory. The hospital in Athens sent them to the dr's office in Athens instead of Emory, so there is a delay in that already. The option of a mastectomy has been taken off the table as the lymph node was positive. Looks like chemo for me. I almost think Ryan thinks this is great. He, of course, doesn't really understand it all, but I think it is somehow reassuring to him that this has happened to someone else in our family. He is already teasing me about having to take the liquid antibiotic that tastes bad! We are definitely keeping our chins up. This time is tough not doing anything. I know it will be better once we have a plan in place and can get started. Thank ya'll so much for your prayers for all of us. We feel so incredibly blessed to have so many that care for us. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan

We have been watching Ryan's fever since about 5 am. We are supposed to go straight to the hospital if it hits 101, but that is what we did the last two rounds and had no fever after arriving at Scottish Rite. Once you go, they are likely to keep you for 48 hrs. as a precaution. So we want to make sure that he has fever. It has gotten close to 101 twice today, but we are pushing fluids big time. My parents came and stayed while we went to see my doc in Athens. He was able to do a node aspirate, but we won't know the results of that until early next week. I spent a lot of time on the phone today trying to set up my treatment at Emory. Many, many thanks to those that offered recommendations on doctors. When Ryan got sick, we walked in and said his tummy hurt and everyone took over from there. Not the same in the adult world, let me tell you! You have to round all the docs up yourself. Anyway, we are home, and so happy to be there. Please say a prayer that Ryan will get by without a trip to the hospital this go round. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan

Now, me-ugh!- I am still in disbelief. I have been taking care of a lump in my breast with ultrasounds, second opinions, and the like. Neither of the surgeons I saw were too alarmed about it, and it hurt. Everyone said that if it hurt, that was a good sign that it wasn't cancer. So much for that! I will learn more at my appt. tomorrow, but I am looking to get a referral to a dr. in Atlanta rather than Athens. I just think that might be easier with all the trips we make down there for Ryan. I don't know what the course of treatment might be, but I do know that it is not going to take my focus off of Ryan and his needs. We have worked hard to keep cancer away from our everyday life, and we don't want that to change. It will be a struggle to keep him from seeing the effects of it in me and not worry himself sick. So, thank you for your emails, posts, and phone calls. Thank you mostly for your prayers. Please pray for a quick treatment and that we can minimize the negative impact that it will obviously have on Ryan, and Heidi and Will.

Love, Les and Missy

# posted by Ryan @ 8/08/2007 10:55:00 PM 2 Guest Book

These are just a few of the Flashes of Hope pictures we received. Aren't they
wonderful?? I just love Ryan's little smile. As you can tell, he was much happier having his picture made with Dr. Rapkin than me. I will post more in the coming weeks, but these pictures will always be treasured.
Les took Ryan in this morning for the last day of chemo this round. He will be happy to be de-accessed this afternoon. He did get red blood yesterday so hopefully that will keep him at home. He lost a tooth on the way home yesterday. I was a little worried about his platelets, but the bleeding wasn't too bad. Now, if only it won't be a source of infection. We got a visit yesterday at the clinic from Michelle from Camp Sunshine. Will is looking forward to sibling camp coming up at the end of August. And we got a visit from Kellie. She brought Ryan a birthday present and gift cards for Heidi and Will so they don't feel so left out of everything. We are so thankful for her friendship. She is doing an awesome job raising money for the hem/onc unit. Speaking of that, I want to tell you about another fund-raising opportunity. Check out Play for Patrick to see details of a golf tournament coming up in September at the Druid Hills Golf Club benefitting Neuroblastoma Research at Aflac here in Atlanta. This is definitely where we want our money to go. We are hoping to get our fund-raiser going on Ryan's site before school starts. Today is our last day with Gramma. We are going to go out and do a little tax-free shopping. Tomorrow we are going water skiing with the Peck clan. They are so awesome to put this day together for our kids. Will has just been dying for it ever since he watched Ryan ski when we were at Rosemary in June. Thanks for checking in on us and please keep up your prayers. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan