Comments made by myself ...

Am I a boring person? Hmm...I only have 3 followers although I know that there are more because my blog is on their lists of blogs that they follow.

Now that my Blackberry has unlimited internet, I had planned on blogging more and sadly that has not happened. I don't really know why because there is always something going on in my life that is worth blogging about and then some.

I finished up my Christmas cards today. The kids signed them last night. If you haven't gotten one by the end of this week, it's because I don't have your address. I stocked up last year after Christmas when I got all of these boxes for $0.99 each.

I was proud that I survived Black Friday (this was my very first year). I read some suggestions on a blog that I follow and they came in pretty handy although she frightened me more with the suggestions than I already was. I saved $400 according to my receipts.

I have been emotional about a number of things lately (I know, I know - when am I not emotional). It's about the kids and the holidays coming up mostly. I am thankful for each and every day that I have with them (especially Jalen because we were so close to losing him). There is one other issue and it's a MLM thing. I know I shouldn't sweat the small things and usually I don't because I am that type of person. But this issue has gotten under my skin and I have no idea why.

Latest appointment

I just realized how long it's been since I updated and I apologize. We were in New Orleans on Monday the 9th for
Jalen's bone scan, x-rays and follow up with his Orthopaedic Oncologist. Although the radiologist had not reported his findings by the time it was Jalen's appointment, the doctor really did not see anything on the bone scan and x-rays. BUT...he is NOT ready to start ruling anything else out yet. My translation? He thinks that it is histio, but it has not revealed itself yet. It is really hard to hear that because that means more waiting around for us. The Orthopaedist will be following Jalen even closer now and that eases my mind. It is so difficult to see your child in chronic pain knowing that you can't do anything to help him. Jalen just takes it all in stride though. I look to him when I think I can't make it through something because I feel if he can do it then so can I. It's funny how things work sometimes huh?

Updates

I know that I haven't posted in 2 weeks, but I wanted to wait until appointments were over to bring everyone up to speed about everything.

Jalen had the flu last week and it was so horrible. Between Sunday and Wednesday, his fevers were spiking between 103.8 and 104.4. He was started on Tamiflu that Monday morning and Jazz took the Tamiflu as a preventative (prophylactic). He was absolutely miserable and he either cried or slept between that Sunday afternoon and Wednesday. I did everything I possibly could to make him comfortable, but I knew that there was nothing I could do to take his pain away.

He went back to school this Monday morning. He was so excited when he woke up that morning to see his uniform on his bed. He looked at me and said "Mommy, I get to go to Kindergarten today?" Being in isolation for a week does NOT bring out the best in someone. Tie that in to the fact that my husband had left the Thursday morning to go to work and I was left with a sick and well child that we were still trying to keep seperate - not cool. So, Monday he came home with a happy face and his teacher said that he had a fabulous day that day - YAY!!

But then Tuesday came and my entire family was heart-broken to learn that my mom's beloved dog Nemo passed away. To make a long story short, she brought him in to see the vet because he had been having accidents. The vet took an x-ray and it appeared that his bladder was full of stones. My mom left him at the vet so they could perform emergency surgery. About 2 hours later the vet called to let my mom know that it was actually cancer. He was full of it - I won't go into details because it is extremely graphic. I had to bring Jazz to my mom's that afternoon because she kept Jazz for me so I could bring Jalen to his appointments in New Orleans on Wednesday. My mom is taking this so hard because she feels like she should have known that something was wrong. Nemo was a year older than the kids, but my mom has had him since the kids were born. He was just like her child. So, we are all in mourning right now.

Tuesday morning, Jalen's pediatrician faxed over the results of his sleep study done 2 weeks ago. I needed it in hand to bring with us to New Orleans. The study was atrocious. My baby is not getting adequate sleep at night. He had about 10 arousals per hour that night. That is not factoring in all of the apnea episodes that he had.

Wednesday morning, Jalen and I pulled out of our driveway at 6am to head to New Orleans. His first appointment was at 9 am with his Orthopaedic Oncologist. This man is my hero and he was this doctor that figured out that Jalen had histiocytosis just from Jalen's testing. He did the bone biopsy as a confirmation, but he knew what it was when no one else could figure it out. Anyhow, this was the appointment that we missed last month when Jalen had his issues waking from anesthesia.

We signed in and were called into a room right away. The PA (physician's assistant) came in and checked Jalen out. I expressed to her some of the concerns that I was having with his chonic leg pain. She asked him if he was hurting and Jalen ignored her. She sent us over for x-rays of his legs and hips. They reviewed his x-rays as well as the MRI and skeletal survey that was done last month. I heard Jalen's doctor fussing in the hallway because radiology didn't get a particular x-ray done that the PA had ordered. Jalen's Orthopaedist is well known for being the type of doctor that people don't mess around with. (A little history...a year or so ago, Jalen's Hema Oncologist & Orthopaedic Oncologist ordered tests on the same day under anesthesia. One of the machines was broken and the Anesthesia Dept would have to bring him over to the Outpatient side & they didn't want to because they felt it could be too dangerous for Jalen while he was under. Dr Heinrich (Orthopaedist) overheard this while he was in surgery. He stopped the surgery that he was performing to get things straigtened out and lets just say that Anesthesia brought Jalen over to the Outpatient side to complete his testing. He is a bulldog when it comes to practicing medicine and he is greatly respected because of it. I personally never want to get on this man's bad side - lol.)

Getting back to the appointment...Dr Heinrich came in with a line of questioning towards Jalen. The way that he asked Jalen the questions made Jalen answer them. Do your legs hurt? Yes. One of them or both? One. Which one? This one (Right leg). Does it hurt all of the time or some of the time? Some of the time and it hurts a lot. Do your hips hurt? Yes. One or both? One (Right hip - affected hip). Some of the time or all of the time? Some of the time and it hurts a lot. Doc looks at me and tells me that he is recommeding a bone scan. From the x-rays taken that day, they can see a spot on his left knee. Although it's his right leg that hurts, it could be from walking a certain way to not have the left side hurt. Jalen had pointed to the side of his right leg between his shin and back around to his calf muscle when the doc asked where it hurt. He is also ordering a huge list of x-rays. He does NOT like skeletal surveys because they are one-sided (from the front) and the human being is 3 dimensional. He also said that skeletal surveys are fine if the patient is NOT symptomatic, but Jalen is symptomatic (fevers and chronic pain). He said that if this is not Histio, we will start ruling things out until we get an answer. The look on his face told me a lot. He has not looked this concerned since Jalen was first diagnosed. I told hime that I didn't want to be paranoid, but I have been concerned for a while now with all of these things going on with Jalen. He said that I am not paranoid, but even if I were, I had the right to be. I broke down in tears and told him that this was deja vu for us and do you know what this magnificent doctor told me? "I know, I have been here since the beginning. Don't you remember?" I couldn't help but smile. He has this way that makes me feel relieved when we see him. It's like my fears are justified. So, on November 9th, we will be in New Orleans for a day long affair. We need to be there at 7am, so he can get admitted. He will get an IV put in as he needs to be injected with the contrast they use by 8am, so that his scan can be done at 11am. It's about a 30-45 minute test where he will be awake. Between 8am (when he gets injected) and 11am (when the scan starts), he is free to roam the hospital after he gets his regular x-rays done. We will be seeing his Orthopaedist after the scan is done. Basically, we will know that day if something is going on, or should I say what is going on.

Later that day, Jalen had an appointment with his ENT. We signed in and took a seat. The nurse called us back and weighed Jalen. Betsey (the nurse) started looking for Jalen's folder, but Dr Kluka was already looking through it. Wow, that was fast. I handed the doc Jalen's sleep study. Betsey ushered us into a room and while we were going over meds and the reasons that we were there (although they already knew), Dr Kluka walks in. Again, that was fast. She sat down and asked me besides Jalen's sleep study, what was my greatest concern about his sleep. I told her the fact that I feel he is not getting enough "good" sleep. It is affecting his behavior. The sleep study is evidence that my fears are justified. While she's writing things down, she asked me if this is how he is still breathing normally (while motioning to Jalen). I told her yes and she said that she would be miserable if she was breathing that way all of the time. Jalen was awake, by the way, but he has this raspy congested sorta breathing. It's what some would probably consider loud. So, she examined him and then sat back and said "It's time that we perform a turbinectomy." That was music to my ears!! She went into detail about what is done (which I already knew) and that it is a mostly painless procedure that is done outpatient. She will also check his adenoids to see if there is regrowth. His tonsils are ears look perfect. Jalen's surgery is scheduled for November 24th.

Now don't get me wrong, no mother wants to have her child go through surgery. I am no exception to that, but I can't continue to see his daily behavior suffer due to physiological problems that can be corrected. When he is irritable and emotional, it is not his fault. Each night he gets the same amount of sleep, but his arousals prevent him from getting "sound" sleep. I know that there is no way I could function on a daily basis like that. It is sad that Jalen has just become used to it. I can't wait to see how he sleeps once the procedure is done.

Update

Since last week, we have had no major events except Jalen's sleep study done Tuesday night. We had a quiet weekend. The kids spent the night at my brother's house Friday night after we went out to eat and stopped at Best Buy to acquire more movies. We spent over $100 at Best Buy - yes our family LOVES movies! My husband and I went home after dropping the kids off at my brother's house. We changed and then left to go out riding. This is something that we did quite frequently when we were dating. Saturday morning I picked up the kids from my brother's house and we went home to start watching some of the movies that we bought from the night before. We all vegged out on the sleeper sofa in the living room. Sunday was another lazy day. Jasmine had ballet on Monday and I actually managed not to cry. Well, at least not until we got home. The kids started their reading groups this week and Jalen was the first to bring home a book. After we all ate supper and were bathed, we sat down for reading time. Instead of my husband or myself reading, it was Jalen's turn. The letter from his teacher said that they would need help in the beginning, but Jalen didn't. He read every single word in the 8 page book. So, I cried. Wow, is all that I could think. My baby boy can read! He just sat there and beamed with pride. I looked at my husband's face and I could tell that he was having a hard time holding back his tears. All I could think to myself was "Are we going to feel the exact same way that we are feeling now when it comes to all of the kids' accomplishments to come?" I certainly hope so.

When I picked up the kids from school on Tuesday, I had to go through the explanantion that Jalen and I would not be sleeping at home that night. Jasmine was extremely upset. "But momma, I am gonna miss you!" is all that she kept saying. When her dad and I sat down to read with them later, all should could talk about was how she was going to miss us. And then the tears came. She seemed a little better when my husband said that she could sleep with him that night. Jalen had brought home 2 books to read that night. One of them was the same book from the night before and the second book was new. And he did it again!! He read both books all by himself.

Jalen and I left home around 6:45 pm and headed to Women's and Children's Hospital for his sleep study. We arrived at 7 pm, which was about 15 minutes before we needed to check in. I asked Jalen if he wanted to kill some time and go visit the nurses in Pediatrics. His exact words were "oh yea momma, let's go!". So we went back and visited some of the ladies that have gotten as close to us as family. Two of the nurses shed tears when they saw Jalen...they always do. Others were so excited that they ran around the nurses' station to hug and kiss Jalen. They oohed and aahed about how big he has gotten since the last time that they saw him. It was a short visit, but we had to get going.

We went back up to registration to get Jalen checked in. After checking in, the clerk called for the shuttle to come and pick us up. Jalen was thrilled when he got on the "bus". The sleep tech was waiting for us in the lobby. She unlocked the door for us to go in. We went to the elevators and she let Jalen press the buttons. He had a big old conversation with her and you could tell that Jalen had her wrapped around his finger - just like he usually does. We went straight into the room and he hopped in the bed. I put the TV on for him to watch cartoons and settle down some while she hooked him up to everything. He asked her questions about what was what and he also let her know what he knew about some of the wires that she was hooking up. She remembered from his paperwork that he had plenty of sleep studies done before. He would glance over at the monitors wondering when they would start "working" and the tech thought that was the cutest thing. She said "Oh yes, you can definitely tell that he's used to all of this stuff!". When she was finished, she turned the lights out and asked him if he wanted her to leave the door open or close it. He said to close it because the light was too bright (in the hallway) - that was too cute. I left the TV on for a few minutes while I read my book, but turned it off when I felt my eyeslids getting heavy.

I remeber waking up a few times during the night. The tech came into the room a few times and then next thing I know, it's 5am and shes taking all of the wires off of him. I asked her what she could tell me about the night before. Generally, they aren't supposed to give you any info, but she knew that I knew a lot about what was going on so she did give me some insight. Good news is that his oxygen maintained throughout the night. But that's about it for good news. She kept stressing to me that I needed to remember (for future reference) that he breathed through his nose for the first half of the night and through his mouth for the second half of the night. Also, he DID have apnea episodes. She could not tell me how many, nor could she tell me when they happened (the first half or the second) which is why she probably told me about his breathing for the different parts of the night. What I mean is that if he had the episodes during the first half when he was breathing through his nose, he will need a turbinectomy. If his episodes were during the second half when he was breathing through his mouth, he will need another type of surgery. If his episodes were throughout the night, he may need both surgeries. BUT...this is all if his apnea is deemed obstructive or central. If they are central, no surgery will correct it and he will need to be put on CPAP. Central apnea is dangerous and very scary because it's the brain NOT telling his body to breathe. Obstructive apnea can be corrected and it has in the past. After his obstructive apnea was corrected, he was found to have central apnea. Part of me is hoping that it is not obstructive apnea again because of the suregeries he will have to endure. If he has mixed apnea (obstructive and central) he will need correcting surgeries as well. Obstructive apnea could also be the cause of his high blood pressure, so we would know that's what is most likely causing his blood pressure issues and surgery to correct the apnea would also correct his blood pressure. I never thought that I would hope for central apnea, but I am now to a certain degree. If he does NOT have obstructive apnea, we will have to search for the cause of his high blood pressure.

Whew, wow, did you get all of that?

Random Ramblings

Well there hasn't been too much going on this week. Jalen went back to school last Thursday and I started following up on what happened on Wednesday. I have a pediatric BP monitor on order...those things cost a fortune!!! But I need one to monitor Jalen's pressures for a few weeks to determine whether or not we need to go back to see his Nephrologist or not. I have also scheduled appointments with his ENT and Orthopedic Oncologist. I worked my magic and got him an appintment for the same day to see both doctors October 21st. We went in to see his pediatrician this morning to see what we can do in the meantime. She is getting him scheduled for a sleep study. The findings from the sleep study will determine what path we take next. I was told that at his age, they usually do not order an apnea monitor. He has been needing a CPAP, but he is so young we have been told for a while that it would be pointless for him to wear it because he would likely take it off at night like he used to do with his apnea monitor. Also, depending on the findings of the sleep study, we may need to get a referral to see another Pulmonologist. A positive note is that his pediatrician did NOT feel that his liver and spleen were enlarged today. She said that she would prefer to do an ultrasound before ordering a CT scan to see if there is in fact, enlargement. I told her that I don't have a problem waiting it out and seeing if his organs are enlarged in the near future. I don't want to put him through tests that are needless at this time. She is genuinely concerned for Jalen's welfare and she is uneasy with all of these old symptoms that have returned. So, we have gotten the ball rolling and now we play the waiting game.

On to Jasmine...nothing new for her really. It's usually the same things with her, just a different day. She had ballet on Monday and I waited in the lobby for the entire class. Usually, I run to the store or do something to pass the time, but on Monday I didn't. I went and spoke to the owner of Jazz's dance school. She is a good friend of my brother and sister's. So, we caught up and I filled her in on Jalen. I went back to the front and pulled out my book to read. I could hear the girls tapping and then a Christmas song came one. They must've been practicing for the Christmas programs that they were invited to participate in. After about 45 minutes, it was quite for a while and I could hear their teacher giving direction. All of a sudden a song came on and I burst into tears. It must be a song that they will be dancing to for their year end review. It is definitely a "mom song" and eventhough it has been out for however many years, it still gets to me. My parents surprised my sister and her husband at their rehearsal dinner with a slide show and my mom picked this song for my sister's portion of slides. I cried like a baby that night. Ok, so the song is...I hope you dance by Lee Ann Womack. I actually got up and went outside to call my mom just to calm down. I could just picture my baby girl in there dancing around to that song.

I am THAT mom! You know the type that I am talking about...I cry for everything when it comes to my kids. Every birthday they have, each Christmas, their pre-school graduation, weeks leading up to the start of Kindergarten and each time that they have a high or low in life. It's not limited with my kids either because I am that way with my sister. She is younger than me by 2 years. I cried during the weeks leading up to her wedding. I am talking about breaking down and crying. During rehearsal, I cried my way down the aisle. Her wedding day, I cried all morning. I didn't even buy any pictures that we took before the wedding. Why? Yep, because I was crying. Again, I cried walking down the aisle and even when we were up on the altar. I cried when she recently found out she was pregnant. All of our family sort of laugh at it. I am very maternal with her.

Getting back to the kids though...This year has probably been the toughest on me. Between April and August I had a really hard time. In April, we moved into our very first home and the twins no longer shared a room. May came around and they graduated from pre-school. Jalen also had his post-chemo evaluation and I always get so nervous for those. June was especially rough because I had fallen really ill at the end of May and we didn't know why. June 1st, my husband was laid off. June 4th I found out that I was pregnant and thought that's what had been going on since the end of May with my illness. Needless to say, I needed emergency surgery on June 8th to remove an ectopic pregnancy. I was between 8 and 10 weeks and it had ruptured my tube twice. It also explained everything that I had gone through for the 3 weeks leading up the surgery. At this point, Lourdes should feel lucky that I haven't filed suit against them. Their "malpractice" almost cost me my life. So, June was for healing and then July comes. The twins' 5th birthday. I have always been emotional for their birthdays, but this one was the worst. What broke me down was their cake. Normally, we get them one cake and either it's a general theme or we split the themes on the cake. We couldn't do that this year and it made me realize that they will probably never share a cake again. Kindergarten was looming over my head and that made things worse. My best friend and her children were in town and staying at my house for a week long visit. She timed her visit right because she knew how hard of a time I was going to have this year. I had a breakdown on the night of the kids' birthday party. My husband had been after me to start going through things in the house and throwing things away. We (me, my BFF and my hubby) were cleaning up after the party and he was asking what he could throw away. I lost it! I never want to throw away anything that reminds me of the kids, their projects, party items, etc. He is naturally worried that this may turn into hording and he says that we just don't have the room. We have a 4 bedroom home, where the 4th bedroom is the family/ game room. I really want to use that room to store these "memetos". Our home is very neat and tidy and everything has it's place. Our home is also very open and we don't overcrowd our rooms. We even have a separate den that I am using as a formal dining room. Why can't I just put these things in the 4th bedroom then?

Anyway, now I feel exposed and naked to how emotionally attached I am - lol! And when August arrived, so dis Kindergarten and I assuming you can imagine how that went for me...

Back from Hell

So...we came back from New Orleans Wednesday evening. This appointment went far differently than we had anticipated. First, the good news... Jalen is still in remission. I know I should probably be yelling that from the rooftops, but we had a number of scares while we were there that have brought up some major issues. These issues may be the reason why I have had this overwhelming sense of dread for so long. I could just feel that something was wrong and know I my "mommy-senses" were right on the money.

We arrived at Children's Hospital at 6:30 and we were brought into one of the rooms on the Short Stay Unit. Jalen was assesed and the nurses got his mile long medical history. Anesthesia came in, we signed the consents and he was given Versed to relax. We were brought down to the MRI area and that was where things changed. Normally, we are brought into the Procedure Room for him to be intubated. They said that if it was needed, it would be done in the MRI area where we were. Well, it wasn't going to be done this time and I FREAKED OUT. That was my safety net. That was the reason that he has gone under propofol all these years instead of sedation. Hello...? He has Central Apnea!! They kept trying to reassure me that if he needed the tube, it would be administered. Still, it didn't sit right with me. But what can a mom do? I tried arguing the point, but to no avail. So, we went to the cafeteria for coffee and then went outside for a smoke. After, we went into surgery waiting area for them to call us once he woke up. Well, about an hour had passed and there was another family that had come in about 30 minutes after we went in to the waiting area. Their daughter was getting her MRI after Jalen, so I knew that they already had Jalen in recovery. One of the recovery nurses had come to get another family and recognized us. I asked her if she had seen Jalen back there and she said she would check on him and would be right back. She came back and said that he had been in there and he was still sleeping. Another 30 mintues goes by and they finally gave to get us to go to Recovery to see Jalen. He was out of it...a little more than usual. He had also wet himself while he was under anesthesia. After another 15 minutes, they wheel him back up to the room in Short Stay that he was in before he was brought down. I ran out to the truck to get his change of clothes. When I get back to the room, the nurses were situating him and watching all of the monitors that he was hooked up to. I looked over to the blood pressure monitor and it was 158/85. Are you serious?!? I asked his nurse if that was his pressure. She said yes and looked at it and she freaked out. She pressed the button to get a repeat pressure and it was 149 over 80 something. The nurse tore outta that room like a bat outta hell. I hear her on the phone and then she rushes back in to tell us that she's waiting on another nurse, so he can be rushed over to the Oncology Clinic where his doctor can monitor him. (By the way, Jalen had a history of HBP a few years back, so this isn't new for us but he hasn't had a problem with it in a while and we thought that it had resolved it self due to other reasons.) I am on the phone cancelling another appointment that he was supposed to have before we saw his Oncologist that day. The other nurse gets there and they are putting monitors on his bed & adjusting his IV to bring it with us. Then off we go...I have never seen them move that fast before. We were running through the hospital. They are yelling out to people to get out of the way. I swear I felt like I was in a scene off of a TV show or movie. It was just surreal at that point.

The Oncology nurses came and met us in the hall to help the Short Stay nurses move him into one of the Oncology Clinic rooms. Nurses and doctors flood the room to see about Jalen. The blood pressure monitor was programmed for every 5 minutes to get a reading. At one point, the lowest was 105/80, but the next reading shot up to 125 over something. A nurse stayed in the room with us for a while. One of the fellows (a pediatrician who is now getting trained in a specialty) came in to fully examine Jalen. He asked about the fevers, headaches and hip pain. While he was examining Jalen, he asked if Jalen had liver or spleen involvement with LCH. I told him no and asked if something was wrong. Yes, Jalen's liver and spleen are enlarged. More blood work was ordered and after the lab came to draw his blood, we were sent over to Radiology to get the Skeletal Survey that was scheduled for after the MRI was complete. After we got back from doing the Skeletal Survey, the doctors had come back from reviewing his MRI with Dr. Ward (he is the head of the radiology dept and has been the one following Jalen's case since he was first diagnosed in November 2007). They also reviewed the Skeletal Survey images unofficially back in clinic. The fellow came back in and said that some of the blood work had come back & it was all normal. Dr Singleton (Jalen's Oncologist) finally came in. And we had a long in-depth talk. I told her how I had been feeling lately and she said she completely understood. The good news is that Jalen is still in remission, but the bad news is that he has all of these other issues going on. She examined him herself and we discussed what these issues were. We don't know what's going on with these fevers and that is still a scary issue. I told her that I have come to terms with the fact that he ran fever for 3 years for unknown causes before he was diagnosed. So, in essence, LCH could be manifesting, but has not attacked yet. Realistically, the fevers could be for another reason though and we just don't know what. We did not go into detail about the enlarged liver and spleen although I am certain that it will be followed up on. We have an appt with his pediatrician next week to see about getting Jalen an apnea monitor again because I am comcerned that his apnea is the culprit behind the blood pressure like it was in the past. Jalen's turbinates have swollen so much that he can no longer breathe through his nose & that may be behind the obstructive apnea (he does have Central Apnea as well, but that doesn't correlate to this. I will also have Jalen's pediatrician follow up on the enlarged spleen and liver here because that it definitely a concern of mine as well. I have rescheduled his Orthopedic Oncologist appointment as well as an appointment with his ENT in New Orleans for October 21st. His ENT will determine then if further surgeries are needed to open his passageways. We are also hoping that it is the high blood pressure causing his headaches. I am getting a BP monitor to regularly check and document his BP. If this persists, I am sure that we will be returning to Jalen's Nephrologist as well (in New Orleans). I am just hoping that it is apnea and not his kidneys that are causing his BP to be so high. Those are really the only 2 reasons that children will have high blood pressure. So, we still have our detective work cut out for us.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for all of the thoughts, prayers and well wishes. It means so much to see that people truly care and have reached out to us. Jalen is a very special boy and touched each and every person that he has ever met. He has this way of penetrating your soul.

Also, if you have questions, I do not mind answering. I understand that people are curious.

A Ray of Sunshine...?

I have to talk about Jasmine first because this mama is so proud! She had ballet yesterday and about 5 minutes before the class ends, her teacher came out to get the mothers that were there early. The girls got to sit with their moms and they were holding green pieces of paper. Well I took a look at Jasmine's paper and started reading. Four of the classes were invited to put on a mini recital for the holidays and Jasmine's class was one that was invited. So, the teacher went over everything and then started talking about the girls in the class. She said that there were 2 new girls this year (Jazz is one of them), but you could swear that they were veterans cause they have jumped right in and picked up dancing like they have had lessons before. I got teary eyed and was beaming!! My baby girl!!

About Jalen... he woke up Saturday morning with NO fever. I mean come on, how weird is this getting. That's 3 days with fever, then 3 days without fever and another 3 days with a higher fever than before. On top of that, when he is running fever, it doesn't break. It will come down a degree or so. Then poof, he wakes up one day with NO fever. He is still complaining of his head and his right hip (the hip that was initially destroyed from LCH). He is back in school today, but just for today because we leave for New Orleans after I pick the kids up from school and drop Jasmine off at my mom's.

His tests are being done early Wednesday morning, which is why we are leaving tonight and staying in a hotel close to the hospital. We have to be at the hospital between 5 and 6 although I don't know the exact time yet. I am still waiting on the Short Stay Unit to call with details. After his testing under anesthesia, we go to see his Orthopedic Oncologist and then to his Hema Oncologist to get the results. Needless to say, it will be a long day because we won't know anything until tomorrow afternoon. That being said, if everything is okay, we will be back tomorrow night. If we don't come back tomorrow, then everything isn't alright.