Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to you! We hope you had a fun evening like our family did! Kaylee dressed as the Tooth Fairy, and Kyle scared us in his werewolf costume! We headed over to Grandma and Papa through the Woods’ house for Trick or Treating this evening and met up with Uncle Tom too. Both Kaylee and Kyle were very excited to go, which is a big change from last year. Kaylee was still not feeling well last year from her antibody therapy treatments, so she stayed back and passed out candy. I think she walked to 7 houses last year. This year was a different story! Her little legs walked and walked and walked! She was so excited to see some of her friends from school walking around too!

We have had a busy month…I apologize for the gap in posts…so here come the highlights!

During the first week of October, Kaylee received her hearing aids…purple and gold sparkles for the inner ear parts, zebra stripes for the left external ear piece, and purple for the right external ear piece! You can tell that Kaylee selected those colors A few days after receiving the hearing aids, Kaylee was having pain in her right ear. I took her to the pediatrician, who said that the ear looked “cloudy” but not infected. She gave us a 10 day oral antibiotic to try to clear the ear up and help prevent it from getting worse. After the 10 days, she still had some discomfort and was fighting a virus, fevers, and cough, so I took her to see Nurse Holly to check her lungs and ears again. After a chest x-ray to rule out any signs of pneumonia, Nurse Holly checked Kaylee’s ears and said that she still saw fluid in the right ear. So I gave Kaylee some Sudafed to try to dry up her congestion and hopefully help her ear.

Kyle is still going to physical therapy every other week. His knee seems to be doing well, with minimal pain every so often. He did have a little pain tonight as we were trick or treating, but the prospect of candy at each house helped that issue! We will take an x-ray of his knee and see the surgeon in a couple of weeks, so hopefully his knee will be healing enough for some running and jumping…he is chomping at the bit for that!

We had a busy weekend last weekend, with the school Pumpkin Patch carnival on Friday night. Kaylee and Kyle had a great time playing games and hanging out with their friends. Kaylee and Kyle both helped me briefly with the spinning wheel game booth that I ran for an hour, and then Kyle pitched in and helped at the bowling game booth next to me. Thank you Kyle!

Saturday afternoon, Kaylee, Kyle, and I went bowling with the Kids Kicking Cancer Crusade support group, while Jamie attended a Nikon photography conference all weekend. Little did we know that we would be bowling with Joe Jurevicius from the Cleveland Browns! Kaylee had a great time bowling with him, as they picked out which colored ball they were going to roll She looked so tiny standing next to him! She kept asking for Joe to help her bowl…I was not allowed to help her, only Joe!

Saturday evening, Kaylee, Grandma and Papa through the Woods, and I went to Penitentiary Glen for the Halloween event and train rides. This event is one of our family favorites, complete with over 100 carved pumpkins scattered throughout the woods during the train ride. And after the train rides, we ate donut holes and hot chocolate, one of Kaylee’s favorite snacks!

Sunday afternoon, Kaylee, Kyle, and I then went to David and Nathan’s house for a fall party, filled with lots of fun activities! We hiked around their farm land, roasted marshmallows on the fire, took a haunted hay ride in the dark…Both Kaylee and Kyle had a great time playing with their friends and enjoying the wonderful fall weather!

Last Thursday, Kaylee and I went to Cleveland Clinic for a blood draw and exam with Nurse Holly. Nurse Jenny did a great job drawing her blood, and she was done before Kaylee even realized! Then we had a surprise guest help with Kaylee’s exam, Nurse Becky from M50, the inpatient oncology wing! Nurse Becky is doing her clinicals now and will be working full-time in S20 in the spring! And just like any other visit, we played a few hands of Uno and Eye Spy before beginning the exam. We were excited to see that Kaylee’s weight was 18.1 kg, almost 40 pounds! That is the most she has ever weighed Her blood counts looked great and everything checked out just fine! Nurse Holly said that she did not see any fluid in her ears, and Kaylee has not been complaining of any ear pain either, so that is a good sign too! Now, we just need to work on all the wax that she forms…ear drops each night! We will go to see the audiologist next week for a 30 day follow-up for her hearing aids.

So, you can see that we had a very busy October! November may prove to be just as busy, but hopefully with lots of good news for Kyle’s knee! I have to say that it felt strange when Nurse Holly said that Kaylee’s next appointment could be in 4 weeks! The Cleveland Clinic oncology team has become a part of our family and daily/weekly life that it seems strange to only go once a month! But I have to say that it is nice to talk with them about all the fun things that Kaylee is doing in between her appointments, rather than all the health issues

So, we thank you for all the continued thoughts and prayers. It still amazes me that where ever I go, someone is always asking me how Kaylee is doing. I am so excited to be able to share her good news that she is 7 months into remission. And they always tell me that they still pray for her. And I truly believe that all the prayers and support have helped her get to remission and will keep her there. So thank you, thank you, thank you! We hope that you had a fun holiday with your family! Happy Halloween