It's been SO NICE to be home. We have just so MANY amazing people in our life! In numerous ways people have reached out!!! So many wonderful thoughtful words, gifts, acts of service, prayers and love that we are extremely grateful for. It means more to us then people will ever know. I hope to be able to get back to every single person and adequately express my gratitude. However right now I feel so inadequate to do so with limited time, energy and emotional/intellectual capacity (so many logistics and priorities I'm struggling to juggle). I sincerely hope that every single person that has reached out to us in whatever form, that they know of our appreciation and love! We truly have felt strength beyond our own.
With that said though, I am not going to deny that this has been really hard. It is definitely a learning and growing time for us. This month of induction has been very rough on Staussen (and us). We refer to staussen's behavior as 'Steroid Staussen' and what gets us through the exhausting and draining moments is the fact that he will not always have intense steroids in his body. Induction is a 28 day cycle of intense treatment. The goal is to put Staussen in clinical remission (less then 1%) of leukemic cells in his body. These pictures and video's will give you a glimpse of what the steroids do, it's pretty crazy. Staussen has gained 11 pounds due to the steroids. And if you would be so kind to not judge us too harshly in some of the food we have fed him... they get intense cravings. I promise he has had healthy things too (he loves green smoothies, hummus and carrots). Any way's here a bunch of random pics and videos during this induction phase.
With that said though, I am not going to deny that this has been really hard. It is definitely a learning and growing time for us. This month of induction has been very rough on Staussen (and us). We refer to staussen's behavior as 'Steroid Staussen' and what gets us through the exhausting and draining moments is the fact that he will not always have intense steroids in his body. Induction is a 28 day cycle of intense treatment. The goal is to put Staussen in clinical remission (less then 1%) of leukemic cells in his body. These pictures and video's will give you a glimpse of what the steroids do, it's pretty crazy. Staussen has gained 11 pounds due to the steroids. And if you would be so kind to not judge us too harshly in some of the food we have fed him... they get intense cravings. I promise he has had healthy things too (he loves green smoothies, hummus and carrots). Any way's here a bunch of random pics and videos during this induction phase.
This is a block of cheese... hence my face expression... it was also 3 am in the morning and he was desperate for "cheese and crackers"
This is a Steroid Staussen face.
Staussen's medicine for induction.
One of the few times he wanted to walk (this was at the beginning of treatment) most of the month his bones were in too much pain.
It came time to part with his beloved Dino pinata.
Getting ready to leave the hospital!
And this was only the beginning.
This was only 1/3 of the things we brought from our room! We did two big loads before that. GOODBYE HOSPITAL, HELLO HOME :)!!!
My wonderful mother! Dropped everything to come help us for a month!!! She is a master cleaner/organizer. I'm so grateful for her!
Thank you so much to my amazing friends for the warm welcome and clean house :)!
I think being outside has been therapy for him. He often wants to be outside. Simba decided to come along.
Eating, eating and more eating! This really sums up the last month :).
My wonderful Mother in law coming out to help and play with sweet Daisy!
SEE! Something healthy, he loves hummus.
Before Staussen was diagnosed with cancer, him and his sister were two peas in a pod. Once treatment started he just kinda sank into his own miserable/depressed/emotional and painful world. BUT a FEW rare moments we saw glimpses of the Staussen we are use to. Staussen wanted to hold Daisy, it melted my heart. Especially since the last few weeks he has completely ignored her.
THIS MADE MY MONTH! This was a very rare occurrence this month.
ya.....
Was about to fall asleep on the ground :)
Sorry these are not in perfect order... you can probably tell by how his weight looks. This is Staussen stuffing fries and a wendy's frosty in his mouth.
This was a VERY COMMON face expression from Staussen during induction.
He probably should have the genius world record for a 2 year old eating the most cheese sticks in the world during a three week period. I'm not sure I want to reveal how many he ate.
Steroids can cause you to get extra sweaty... if you were wondering about his hair.
So great to have my mom here for daisy, so she could have extra love and attention :)!
Okay so this was pretty classic, it would happen at all times of day or night.
I love my cubby cheeks boy :)
Ron is very tired of me taking pictures :). The kids obviously could care less.
I'm not sure why he is dressed like this ha ha... his position and face expression remind me of a zombie... a cute one :)
Got green smoothie?
Bruising/scarring from his port placement.
So at first he was obsessed with salsa and chips... then we ran out. But we had spaghetti sauce?? We asked him, he tried it and was hooked. Kinda gross :) but he loved it.
He has been a BIG daddy's boy during this time!
He always did this. He didn't like it when I took pictures, recorded him, smiled, talked and tried to make him laugh.
ANOTHER RARE AND WONDERFUL MOMENT of staussen smiling. :)
These pictures and videos I took for my sanity. I already tried everything I could think of to do so I recorded him for my sake to keep calm. So most people would agree that being two is a hard time of learning how to deal with emotions and all that... now add cancer treatment to the mix. Of course he had moments and tantrums before this happened but so many great happy ones too. Now it was just whining, depression, desperate crying and OFTEN not knowing what he wants. The relentless consistency of it was very draining. We have been trying and learning to do our best at giving him comfort and love but also trying to set small but reasonable expectations/options for him. He will not always be sick with cancer and still needs to learn things, but this has made parenting even more complicated for us. Staussen has required a lot more energy and time then his 4 month old sister. It's the two year old keeping us up at all hours. So thank you Daisy for being an angel baby and not making this even harder :). And we love you too Staussen, I know all these things happening to your poor little/big body is super hard :(
About to CRACK a smile.... hold on to these MOMENTS :)
We love this little flower!
Family Home Evening FUN!
My awesome sister :)!
My talkative little princess
Classic moment. Dad studying while holding staussen.
We went to the hospital this friday for a bone marrow procedure and lumbure puncture. It was a long day. I'll ask ron to give more medical details of all that. But I saw this chair and had to take a pic.
Listen to the nurses comments.. I love her, she is awesome!!! This is him coming out of the anesthesia... the nurse has worked here for 7 years and has never given the dosage she gave for Staussen. She said he had a really high tolerance. Also she has never seen a kid sit up and eat so soon after the procedure. She was amazed.
Super BRAVE Simba came to the hospital to help Super brave Staussen out with all the prodding that needed to be done :(.
