Only one more year!

Ben has only one more year of chemotherapy!!!!! Seems like a long time from now, but not considering how long we've been dealing with this. We are totally excited and will celebrate tonight!!!

Ben the Fisherman

Ben has done some fishing on this vacation, including his first fly fishing trip! Here are a couple of photos -- a rainbow and a pink salmon.

Made it!

We made it through another month of steroids. Ben had a tough time again but he is now feeling like his old self again so we are happy about that.

Two more days of camp and then off to Whistler for fun days of fishing, swimming, hiking and relaxing. We can't wait!

Hockey!

The boys had a tough time this morning. David was recovering from a scooter accident that left him banged up and with two loose teeth (thankfully they are baby teeth!) and Ben from his spinal tap. Ben's back hurt much more this morning than it did yesterday - maybe a full day of hockey after a spinal wasn't the best idea! Despite their aches and pains they both decided to play in their hockey games to wrap up the end of their great week at the Kings hockey camp. They both played so well and we are so proud of them.

At the end of the game awards were presented to a few of the players and we were so happy that Ben received the "Most Inspirational/Biggest Heart" award. We were so excited and proud! Certainly a well deserved award!!!

Long Day

Ben had another spinal tap today. He was feeling very yucky this morning - tummy ache, headache, cough and his legs were sore too (but that was probably from the Kings hockey camp this week giving him such a good workout!). Plus not being able to eat or drink was getting to him by his appointment time.

After being examined by two doctors they decided that it was safe to go forward with the spinal. Ben was his usual goofy self and entertained all in the room while he was sedated. I was told he was was very talkative and funny during the actual procedure. Thankfully, it didn't take very long for him to come out of it today so we were home in time for David to be delivered home from camp by a wonderful friend.

Ben's back is a bit sore and we need to watch his cough and make sure he doesn't get a fever but otherwise all is good. His amazing nurse called with his numbers and they are all good: white blood count 2.2, hemoglobin 12.1, platelets 194,000 and polys 1562.

Now we just need to make it through the next 5 days of steroids :)

Ben is Awesome!

Ben and David have been in chess camp all week and have been absolutely loving it! They like chess but I was nervous that they wouldn't be overly excited about doing it for the whole week even though it is just 3 hours a day. However, I have been pleasantly surprised at their response every day when I ask "how was camp?" They respond everytime, "It was so awesome!" or something similar that response.

I was a little worried yesterday afternoon because Ben started to feel a bit yucky and didn't want to go ice skating as we had planned to do. Then, at about 1:00 a.m. he woke up with a terrible cough. Fortunately, he woke up feeling great and when I asked him how he was doing he said, "Mommy, I'm fine. I can beat leukemia so I think I can beat that little thing!" He is so awesome!

Ben is 9!!!!

I just can't believe he is getting so big. I am very happy to report that Ben declared his birthday and birthday party to be "AWESOME!!" He is so cute and fun and just having a great time.

We had a great weekend with a visit from Grandmom and a very fun party in the park with laser tag and a yummy cake made by Grammy! All is good!