my little baby is a teenager

here is Aidan having his most favorite PIZZA,  Lombardo's artichoke pizza the large #7.

He also had a hot chocolate at Tim Hortons and won a free donut.  More postings will be coming this weekend to continue his celebrating on the big ONE...... THREEEEEE

Oregon Coast

Finally a posting.... We were not sure the trip was going to happen since Aidan's platelets were going down but we were given the okay and  he just had blood work this past monday.  Yeah no blood transfusion, next appt April 10th  for some Vincristine, it is a quick chemo that will go through his line and probably some more blood work.  

First day we drove to Lynwood for an overnighter, it was a rough one for Aidan.  He woke up at 1AM throwing up and having stomach pains.  The next morning he was fine so it must have been just a bug that needed to get out of him.  Next day was onward to Portland and mcbites at McDonalds.  They still have cool retro looking McDonalds. In Portland we took the metro downtown and wander around.  The boys enjoyed Powell Bookstore and of course we had to hit the foodcarts.  Suzanna and I had Thai and Aidan and Brandan had fish and chips.  It was a food truck that Aidan had seen on Eat street and it was GOOD stuff.  Took the boys to Trader Joes and of course the other usual stuff, Walmart, Costco, Kohls and Fred Meyers.  We stayed at the Radisson Residence near Lloyd center it has an upstairs and down with two bathrooms yes awesome Suzanna had just points to get it.  Brandan said "Pinch me I can't believe we are on holidays" Aidan said this is the best birthday start ever.

Next day onward to Lincoln city, we were going to go to the Tillamook cheese factory but the road was closed so we had to do some backtracking. We went clam digging and i got the boys each there own digger and BiMart.  The boys and Suzanna built a fire on the beach and we just hung out it was a fun time.  Can't wait to go again. 

Today is Aidan's birthday he is 13, yup a TEENAGER.  The boys have music class today and then off to Aidan's favorite restaurant Lombardo's Pizza for Artichoke pizza and the house salad. 

Freedom Friday

It felt like a long 5 days.  There were a lot of kids in the clinic today unlike yesterday when it seemed quiet or most of the kids were in the rooms as opposed to the common area.  Yesterday Aidans nurse had  a button that said Stupid Cancer.  We give the button two thumbs up.  

DE-ACCESSED Aidan likes it, I like it.  He got blood work done and his Platelets went down a bit more.  Dr. Lucy said for Aidan to get bloodwork on monday and maybe the weekend with no chemo will help get the counts up.  Still crossing our fingers for the Oregon coast.  

 Aidan brought Creme Brulee to the hospital. Here he is  with Susara doing the brulee.  His torch was giving off smoke so he had to do it outside the clinic doors so that the smoke detectors didn't get set off.  They were delicious!

 What else could make a friday great?    Dan from Balding for Dollars brought in Pizza, lots of pizza for the clinic and the upstairs wards.  The flavors were ham and pineapple, pepperoni, cheese, potatoe, and granville island.

On 25th and Oak there is a bubble tea house that is rated as number 1 in the city it is called Dragon Ball.  Aidan does the ordering, it is a strawberry slush bubble tea with milk and pearls.

The Dirty Apron

Here they are the GREAT shots of Aidan at the Dirty Apron!  I can't take credit for the shots it was Kristina the Child Life Specialist from BCCH.  (thanks they make awesome memories!!!!!)

On the menu was Delicious Mac and cheese, Chicken Pot pie, chocolate covered strawberries, homemade biscotti and Creme brulee.  Aidan brought some leftovers home so Paul, Brandan and I were like vultures devouring the yummy leftovers.  Aidan kept his own stash of mac and cheese in a secret place in the fridge. 

The middle shot on the bottom sums up how he felt about the event.  On the drive home he kept saying " THAT WAS SOOOOOO MUCH FUN"!!!!! Followed by I LOVED the atmosphere.  Aidan was happy that his social worker Susara was there also.  They were finished early but Aidan wanted to absorb everything around him so he told me not too come down until later.  

We went to the Gourmet Warehouse to pick up some Vanilla beans because Aidan was making Vanilla creme brulee for the hospital.  He has his own little personal torch and is going to do each one tomorrow.  He just tried on the chef coat we didn't buy it.  It is his last day in the clinic until April.  We will find out if he needs a blood transfusion of platelets. 

Indoor Gardening

So of course with everything that was happening last year our garden was just okay.  Aidan wanted to get a jump on things so he planted some seeds about a week and a half ago and I was surprised to see how big every thing had grown.  These are Aidan's peas and Brandan's pumpkins.  I guess we will be doing the green house thing since I don't think it will be a good idea to put them in the ground yet

BCCH day 2

Today Suzanna(my sister) came to the hospital today and hung out with us.  So I had to show Suzanna the new coffee maker in the lunch room at the hospital.  Check out the wonderful foam.

Oh hang on this is not suppose to be about me it is about Aidan.  

SOME VERY COOOL NEWS  when we were at the hospital today Kristina the Child life specialist was gathering a group of teens and tweens to go on workshop that was offered at the Dirty Apron.  It is a cooking school in Gastown http://www.dirtyapron.com/Home/

Aidan has become quite the foodie so he is pretty excited.  Actually I am excited too, but it is just for the kids.  I will drop him off tomorrow at 5:30 then pick him up at 9:30.  Wish the parents could be the tasters.

Spring Break

Not really Spring Break it is Professional Development week.  We are starting off the week hanging out at the hospital.  Aidan has his scheduled hospital visit of Nelarabine through his VAD.  The appt was at 11 but we had to wait for bloodwork and then bloodcounts.  It was about 1:30 when he finally got the chemo going through him.  It takes about an hour.  Back to microwave food, since I wasn't anticipating staying so long I ran to Safeway and got them Mr noodle and kraft mac and cheese.  There is an activity room that has a big TV, tons of board games, arts and crafts and of course every possible gaming console Wii, Playstation and Xbox.  The boys sit their butts down and are oblivious to everything around them.  I ran into some parents that I had met on previous occasions so we had a nice visit. I was really happy to run into Stacey, her son and Aidan were diagnosed about the same time.  When you hear that we have to go to the hospital it isn't a bad thing. You get to meet up with some of the other parents that have children that are going through the same thing and the crew at the hospital are so GREAT.  Oh they got a new coffee maker in the clinic so Stacey made me a perfect latte(hmmmm I should have taken a picture of it)

Aidan's platelets are down which isn't a good thing. Here is the definition Platelets help the blood to clot so that heavy bleeding does not occur when you cut or hurt yourself. When there are not enough platelets in the blood, you may bruise or bleed easily.  He will get bloodwork again on thursday to see if he needs a blood transfusion.  Luckily it only takes about an hour of transfusion, the weird part is that the blood is frozen and he can feel it when it goes into him. 

Positive thoughts for an easy breezy week, we want to head to the Oregon coast next week for loads of FUN!!!! 
OH by the wayI took these pictures with Aidans IPAD with a new app we just downloaded it is free and called cameraawesom