3 Years

Today marks 3 years off treatment for Maggie.  It was 3 years ago today that we spent the last night in our house not knowing what the next 10 weeks would bring.  Those ten weeks would prove to be the hardest trial we ever faced, even more difficult than being told our daughter had cancer.  We (I) are still traumatized by the events that we faced 3 years ago (as well as almost 5 years ago).  But, we are happy to say we have our little girl and she is a thriving, normal 5 year old.

Just a couple of weeks ago we had Maggie's parent teacher conference and listening to what the teacher had to say made us very proud.  Physically, Maggie can keep up with her peers, though she is timid (and considering that Maggie has only been walking a little over 2 years).  Intellectually, Maggie is right where she needs to be.  She was described as a quiet, respectful, sweet little girl.  We've always known this about Maggie--she really is a sweet, gentle spirit.  Our hearts are exploding with pride and love for her.

Maggie also took her first ballet class this past month.  She spent 4 Sundays dressed in her leotard and learned dance.  This past Sunday they had a mini recital since it was the last class.  Again, we were so happy and proud of her.

It's hard to believe how far we've come and we look forward to continuing this normal journey with Maggie and the rest of our growing family.

The love of big sister and little brother.

Maggie got an award on the last day of ballet.

Maggie and I had a date and went to Miss Molly's Tea Room.
She loved pouring the tea (aka lemonade).

Our Annual Christmas picture

A Peace-Filled Christmas

We continue to remain busy in the Bixler house.  Maggie is doing very well.  She is enjoying preschool and counts down the days that she gets to return.  We all went down to Dayton on Monday for Maggie's clinic appointment to see Dr. French.  He was happy with the way she looked and her counts checked out well again.  We are especially happy for that.  She goes to get her counts checked every three months and it feels like a week or two before we go, something comes up that starts to make us worry.  This time it was petechiae-like spots on her trunk (petechiae often are a symptom of low platelets).  This of course had us scanning her body multiple times daily checking to see if there were more petechiae or more importantly, were they going away.  In the end, they did disappear and did not seem to cause any harm, but it really stressed us out.

With Maggie's doctors appointment and good counts, we have been blessed with a worry-free holiday, the best Christmas present we could ask for.  We go back to visit the clinic in March where Maggie will receive an echo, EKG, and have more involved blood working looking at several organs and how they are functioning.  Please continue to pray that Maggie will remain in remission always and she will not have any long-term effects to the chemotherapy treatment.

Since our last post, Maggie and Colin celebrated their birthday.  Maggie turned 5 and Colin turned 2.  We had several celebrations with our family and Maggie got to go to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time.  She had been asking to go for awhile and we finally took the plunge.  We all had a great time and she was asking to go back the next day.

And finally, we had some family pictures taken by a college friend in November.  She posted some of these pictures and a reflection of our family on her blog.  To view the pictures and read her comments you can click on the following link http://www.runningchatter.com/2012/11/i-offer-no-apologies-for-this-picture.html.  She did a great job of capturing our family on camera.  Thanks again, Summer!

We wish you all a Blessed,  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Big Family Moments

It has been too long since my last post.  I have wanted to post, but time doesn't allow for it with all the new changes that have entered our life.  But, for now, I have a moment and want to share what we have been up to in the last 4 months.

First, Maggie had her last clinic appointment to see Dr. French almost 2 weeks ago.  Andy and she made the trek down to Dayton together.  Her blood counts looked great (Andy didn't ask for the numbers and they didn't give them so even though it was very hard for me not to know the numbers, I am moving forward knowing she is good).  Maggie told me she talked to Dr. French for the first time.  She is really opening up to others and while her talking was probably a few words, it was an improvement.  Maggie is now 2 1/2 years off treatment- another little milestone.

A big moment in our family's life was the introduction of Grant Sebastian on August 13.  He weighed in at 9 lbs. 6 1/2 ounces.  Another big baby for us!  I was worried about how Colin would welcome him and handle the change, but he has shown us that he is very flexible and ready to be a big brother.  Maggie has been wonderful.  She loves on Grant and wants to hold him all the time.  She is a big help, getting diapers, burp cloths, giving him baths, and calming his fussiness.  Even Colin has joined in the help of trying to change his diaper, not necessarily something I'm ready for, but he is trying to be helpful.  Grant has been a very good baby, sleeping much of the day, and getting up every 2-3 hours during the night.  He seems to be pretty laid back, which is a good quality considering the crazy family he has been born into.  He is able to sleep through the screaming and yelling of children playing (for the most part).  Not to say though that Andy and I aren't really tired and back to the old sleep deprivation that we remember so well with the other two children.

We have struggled for the last almost 4 weeks of illness, which has been very frustrating.  Colin started with the stomach bug for 5 days, gave it to Andy and Maggie, and now we are dealing with colds in our family.  So much so, that we had to take Colin to the ER this morning due to retraction in his ribs, fast breathing, and grunting.  Thankfully he doesn't have pneumonia, but it's just one more thing.  Everyone is sick except for Grant, and I pray it stays that way.  We can't afford to have Grant sick.  So, I am very ready to have some normalcy in life- life that doesn't consist of illness.

Another big moment in our life was Maggie's first day of preschool!  She is going twice a week in the afternoons and was to begin on September 11, however, do to the stomach bug, she missed her first week.  Andy and I were so disappointed, but Maggie didn't seem to mind too much.  She started this Tuesday and loves it!  I was very worried there would be tears, but she left my side and didn't even turn back.  She has really matured in the last year and we are so proud of her.  Four years ago, we weren't sure she would ever see this moment, but here she is and we have met another HUGE milestone!

Maggie's first day of school- 9/18/12

Grant- 5 weeks old

Colin being Colin- 9/16/12

Mickeyland!

I apologize that it has taken me so long to share our Special Wish trip with you.  We have been so busy with moving and unpacking, as well as life.  Below are some stories, pictures, and memories from the most amazing trip anyone could ever take.  We are so appreciative of the organization A Special Wish for providing us with so many wonderful memories.

Our trip started out a bit rocky, as we were rushing to get our house packed up (we were closing on our house a couple of days after our trip) and the kids had been sick with colds.  Maggie had a temperature the day before our flight was to leave, which caused me some worry and stress.  However, amazingly so, she showed no sign of temperature the next day or throughout the trip.

We were picked up by limo very early in the morning.  We woke 

the kids (Maggie had told Andy she wanted to be tickled awake)

and rode the limo to the airport.  From the moment we entered the limo, 

Maggie never stopped talking.  She loved every minute of it. 

 The kids first airplane trip.  They both did very well (Colin slept

much of the trip).

 We stayed at the resort Give Kids the World.  It was an amazing place, basically a big playground.  They had a carousel, swimming pool, playground, arcade, all you can eat ice cream and buffet, pizza sent to your villa, putt-putt golf, and so much more.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to enjoy all the amenities because we also received passes to Disney, Universal Studios, and Sea World, and we spent as much time as possible at each park.

We spent a day and a half at the Magic Kingdom.  One of the perks of staying at Give Kids the World was that we didn't have to wait in lines.  It was so nice to go right to the front and hop on the rides.  The first ride we went on was Snow White and this did not go well.  Both kids were crying due to some scary parts (who would think it would be scary?)  After the first ride, we were still unsuccessful with the Winnie the Pooh ride.  We were not redeemed until "It's a Small World."  Both kids loved riding in the boat and watching the children sing.

One of the kid's most favorite things was riding the carousel.  There was a carousel at the resort and after breakfast, we always had to take a couple of rides.  Each park had some type of carousel and Colin always pointed it out and wanted to ride.

We met Dora at Universal Studios.  A rare family picture that turned out okay.

Universal Studios had a play land that the kids loved.  A pit full of balls?  What could

be better?  Maggie also rode her first roller coaster ever.  When she got off, she was

all smiles, but opted not to ride again.  She said it was, "too fast!"

We found Thing 1 and Thing 2 at Universal as well (with Thing 3 on the way).

Maggie enjoyed riding the Dr. Seuss rides.

And yet again, the carousel.

One morning for breakfast, Maggie chose to go looking like this.  It

was a bit funny that a very shy girl who doesn't like attention wanted

to go into public this way.  She gained many stares, smiles, and inquiries.

We thought it was pretty funny.

We visited Epcot.  This was one of our shorter days as Maggie fell asleep around 6-ish and didn't

wake up until the next morning.  We ran these kids (or they ran us) until we were exhausted.

I joked that we needed a vacation from this vacation because we were on the go the

entire week.

We went to Sea World and while the shows were enjoyable for Andy and I, the kids

(or rather Maggie), much preferred the rides.  Who would have thought that the 

little girl who got car sick on the hills of Holmes county would enjoy the twisty,

up and down, and around in circles rides.

Maggie's favorite princess is Snow White, and she is the only princess that

we got a picture with.  Maggie was, of course, super shy and wouldn't

talk, but after the fact, she loved the visit.  

Maggie and Colin both did not do very well meeting the characters.  

She wanted to meet them, but as soon

as we were up close, they both got very shy and scared.

The day we left the resort, they had horse rides.  I thought the kids would be too scared to ride them, but they both loved it.  Maggie was all smiles.  What a wonderful opportunity!

Thank you A Special Wish for a wonderful experience!

And now we have a cowboy and cowgirl.

I think these two final pictures summarize our experience perfectly.  We had an amazing time and we're so happy we were able to go on this trip with our princess!

More Changes

We continue to have busy lives trying to transition from Dayton to eastern Ohio.  While, I haven't gone through the pictures of our Disney trip yet (which was the trip of a lifetime), I will be sharing those pictures and stories very soon.  When we arrived back to Dayton from Disney, we had one day to finish packing up our house.  We signed papers and as of March 15, we no longer have a house in Dayton.  We spent 7 1/2 years in Dayton.  Dayton has many good memories for us, as well as some not so special memories.  We bought our first house, had our two children, received a Master's and Doctorate degree, and watched our daughter fight and beat a horrible disease.  Dayton will forever hold a special place in our heart.  

During all of the packing, moving, and selling of the house, we had Maggie's clinic appointment.  This appointment brought a lot of anxiety for me as this marked her 2 years off treatment (as of February 24).  This is a big mile marker.  It seems like a week or two before we have our clinic appointment, I always start seeing things on Maggie's body that would not normally make me so worried, but given the timing, my mind starts working in bad ways.  However, we had a great appointment.  Maggie actually said a few words to Dr. French (outside his presence, she is very fond of him).  Her numbers looked great and we haven't heard anything about her EKG or echo, so that must have gone fine too.  We have now moved to seeing Dr. French every 3 months (we'll see how I handle the gap).  We are very happy with Maggie's progress.

Within a week of selling our house, we found a house in Medina and as long as all goes well, we'll be moving in the end of April.  We will be very happy to be settled in our own house again.  We have been very grateful to have my grandparents house while they are in Florida, but the kids (and I) will be happy to have our own things again.  And hopefully we'll see Andy more as he will be closer to some of his sites that he counsels.  

And finally, we had an unexpected surprise given to us around Christmas time and are happy to announce that we will be adding to the family in August.  Maggie has said she wants a girl baby because we already have a boy, and if we do have a boy, she will give it to someone else to enjoy.  We'll see how that all works out.  

Thank you for continuing to follow along with us.  Our life is continually changing (all wonderful changes) and we look forward to seeing what comes next!  

Big Events Ahead

We have had a very busy month and the busy-ness will be continuing the next few weeks.  We have been busy the last two weeks packing up our house because it is being sold!  Very soon, the stress of having a house in Dayton will be gone and we will only be dealing with the stress of finding a new house.  We are very thankful to be so close to finally selling our house, especially given the climate of the market.

We are also preparing to take our Special Wish trip next week.  We will be going to Disney World (or Mickeyland, according to Maggie).  It will be so nice to take a vacation as a family, as we haven't done so in several years.  We have heard that the accommodations for Special Wish are so nice.  We will be sure to post pictures and share stories from our trip when we return.

Another big event we just experienced was Maggie's 2 years off chemotherapy.  Dr. French has told us that getting to 2 years is a great accomplishment and the odds of relapse drop.  We have Maggie's appointment on March 12, so once that appointment is successful and done, I will feel a great sense of relief.  Maggie will have a more comprehensive appointment that day with an EKG, echo, and more blood tests looking at her liver.  I look forward to that day being behind us.

Though our posts are not as often as they once were, we do appreciate you following along with us still.  Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Photo taken 12/6/11

Photo taken 1/22

Making a snow angel

Our family Christmas tree picture

Updates

Life seems to keep us so very busy.  Lately, the busy-ness consists of managing sickness, something we have not been familiar with for a very long time.  Maggie went almost 2 years without getting a cold, but alas, we have been bitten by the cold bug several times over.  Both kids got colds Christmas Eve, and we have been fighting them ever since.  We have had a viral rash and Colin got the stomach bug along with diarrhea from an antibiotic (which caused some dehydration).  It seems like it just keeps on going...

I took Colin to a hematologist at Akron Children's a couple of weeks ago.  The test they do to determine if there is a bleeding disorder (specifically Von Willebrand disease) isn't normally given until a child is over 18 months old.  It's a test that needs to be done with the least amount of stress possible because stress on the child can alter the results.  This is a bit challenging because it's a blood test, requiring 20 mls of blood.  I don't know any children who don't cry giving blood.  It's also a test that you have to run several times because it can show false positives.  So, rather than do this test (we are to come back in 3-6 months), the doctor decided to do another CBC (to rule out leukemia AGAIN),  an epstein barr virus (mono), and an immune system test.  These tests were done because Colin had a cold/cough after 10 days and he has eczema.  I felt that we were asking for more possible "problems" by adding new blood tests.  Not only that, but I had to sit for another hour with the stress of getting another CBC and looking for leukemia.  Another hour of torture.

The tests can back with a normal CBC (no leukemia, again), normal Epstein Barr Virus, however Colin's IGG level (immunoglobulin, or antibodies which fight infection) was a little below normal.  The doctor decided to not do anything for now and have him tested in another 6 months to a year.  So, for now, we will sit and wait to have further testing until Colin is a bit older.

We went to Dayton last Monday for Maggie's clinic appointment to see Dr. French.  Her numbers all looked great, better than we've ever seen them (even given that fact that she was fighting a cold).  In two months, she will have routine tests to evaluate her heart and liver.  They will do an echo and EKG along with more extensive blood tests.  Chemotherapy can hurt these organs so they like to keep watch on them.

As we were at the appointment, I found out that Dr. French is the bleeding disorder expert in the southwest area.  How great is that?  I was able to ask Dr. French all my questions and discuss with him about the process we have gone through with Colin thus far.  It was so great talking with him.  He was able to ease my mind (after working with him for over 3 years, he has a good idea how we handle stressful situations).  Because of our previous relationship with Dr. French, we decided we will have Colin's hematology concerns transferred to Dr. French.  Though the travel is further, we feel more comfortable using Dr. French as his doctor.  Dr. French stated however, that if Colin doesn't show any further signs of a bleeding disorder, he would probably not test him for Von Willebrand's disease.  This was encouraging to me and hopefully we'll not need to look into this further.

So, that, in a nutshell is how our hem/onc issues are going.  I left Dr. French's office feeling much better and hopefully that will continue.  Now all we have to do is get rid of the "normal" viruses that are floating around our family.  I guess we always said we wanted a "normal" life and now we are getting a taste of the "normal" illnesses that most families deal with.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family.  We greatly appreciate them as this journey veers off the road every now and again.

Photo taken 10/16/11 by Luke Lehman