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Birthday Party!!!

Since Bryce was starting the dreaded Delayed Intensification phase we decided to have his Birthday a week early. We were afraid of him being down and not being able to enjoy it. Their actual birthday is July 6th so we had it yesterday.

We were worried about the rain all week but it held off and turned out be a beautiful but WINDY day. Most of their presents were outdoor stuff so we just had a everything setup for them and they got to swim and play all day. They had water balloon fights and slip and slide too!

They had so many presents it was ridiculous!!

They got:
a swingset
bicycles
scooters
2 pools one was a shark and sprayed water out of the head
sandbox
helmets, kneepads
championship belts
sea monkeys
coloring books
water guns
candy
money
movies
and a Van full of pretty girls!!! (Bryce goes to the ball park and flirts with the pretty girls so Michelle brought him a van full of pretty girls for his Birthday!!)

I think it turned out great and the boys loved it!! Last night they kept talking about all their presents and everybody who was there!! I really think they enjoyed playing with everyone more than their presents. Okay maybe they enjoyed playing with everyone with their presents

After the party cousin Kaine went home. He had spent a little over 2 weeks with us. We enjoyed having him. He kept the boys entertained the past few weeks. He is really good with them and they loved having him here. In all the excitement yesterday, I don’t think they realized when he left. They were asking for him later, they wanted to know where Kaine had went. I hope he can come stay again sometime soon!

Here are some pics:
More on Bryce’s Myspace page at www.myspace.com/brycebelt

Day 1 and Day 4 of Delayed Intensification

Sorry for the LATE updates… But last weeks appointments went well. Tuesday June 24th was Day 1 of his Delayed Intensification (http://brycebelt.net/delayedintensification.html). Tuesday we had the whole crew except for Blake. TJ and I, Ashley, Brandon, and cousin Kaine. Ashley, Brandon, and Kaine have not been to any of his appointments so they got to see what goes on.
He had Vincristine through his port, Zofram through his port for nausea, Doxorubicin drip through his port over about 30 minutes, and a prescription for his dexamethosone (steroids). We opted for the liquid this time which was a HUGE mistake. He never cries and comes willingly to the kitchen for medicine time. I even had it flavored for him and he HATES it. We will go back to crushing pills for him after this one.

We were told that he would be having a home health nurse coming out this month to give him chemo. He has two weeks in a row where he gets it four days. The first day he will have his port accessed and his chemo given at clinic and then he will be sent home with his port still accessed. The next 3 days the home health nurse will come out and give him his chemo. He will also have an all day chemo which will last 8-10 hours. We were told that he most likely will need blood/platelet transfusion towards the end. He has been lucky thus far not to lose much hair, but most likely he will be losing his hair this round.

When we were done there we went over to OMO for his spinal tap with chemo. It all went well and he had a visit from Michelle (Ashley’s boyfriend’s mom) and Christy (ashley’s boyfriend’s sister). He was happy to see Michelle and really hopped up when he got to see his pretty girl Christy. Michelle was on the 7th floor too with her daughter Nicki, she had just had surgery on her ankles. We stopped by to visit Nicki real quick while daddy went and got him McDonald’s. He seemed a little tired but not too bad after all the chemo on Tuesday.

Blake and I went with Bryce to his appointment on Friday. We went over to clinic and his ANC was 3600. He had been constipated so were given a prescription for a laxative for him to take. Then we were off to OMO for the PEG Asparaginase shots. These are deep tissue muscle shots, one in each leg. We got to OMO around 10:30 and he didn’t receive his shots until 12:30 and he had to wait another hour before he could go home. He did pretty well with these shots. He cried because he didn’t want them and cried for just a minute after. He met a little friend at OMO too. His name was Keeton and he was a cute little 5 year old that also had ALL.

Tuesday July 1st is his next appointment and he will have another dose of Vincristine and the Doxorubicin drip.

We have 50 of his Buddy Bears tagged and ready to go over to clinic JULY 1st!!

Our Friday the 13th appt!!!

Friday was our day 39 of Interim Maintenance. Wasn’t too bad as far as the procedures, he had his finger “poked” and they checked him over. His ANC was 1200 which is pretty good!! I don’t think I posted his last ANC but it was 4500 last time which is one of his highest. We got there at 9:30 and we didn’t get out until 12:00. It seemed like forever with two 2 year olds bouncing off the walls in a tiny room for 2 hours!! LOL We saw a resident first and he asked lots of questions on how he was doing. He asked about the brusing on his legs and asked if there was any more on him. I told him that it was mostly on his legs and he said it was fine and then pointed at Blakes legs and kinda laughed and said it’s just a boy thing. They are all boy and play hard. Bryce has not slowed down too much at all from all this. He plays just as hard as Blake and is more energetic than he has ever been.

After we saw the resident, we got to see Dr Ayaanar!! We haven’t seen her in a while. We saw her a lot probably the first two months. When he was in the hospital and then after at the clinic appts. She is really nice and was happy to see him. He didn’t really talk that much because he was getting cranky but she made a comment about how much more outgoing he was and how much hair he still has. He was SOOOO shy and backwards in the hospital. She was happy to hear that he hadn’t had any setbacks and was doing so well. She did tell us to be prepared for the next phase, he could likely be back in the hospital.

On June 24th he will start the dreaded Delayed intensification. On the 24th he will be accessed at the clinic and given Vincristine and a new chemo Doxorubucin through his port. I have read a little on the Doxorubucin and it’s nickname is the Red Devil. It’s nickname is because its red in color and it’s effects are pretty rough. He will also start the steroids again and will go over to OMO to have his spinal tap with methotrexate. This will be on a Tuesday and then Friday he should get his PEG Asparaginase shots. These are inserted in to his legs muscles and will probably make him pretty sore.

Then that weekend we will be having their BIRTHDAY PARTY!! We are doing it the weekend before their birthday just in case he’s not feeling well or his counts get too low. We bought them a playset for the backyard and we wanted him to have some time to enjoy it just in case he gets down. So it will give him an extra week of FUN! TJ put it up and Blake has already spotted it when we pulled up to the house one day… so we are considering just letting them go ahead and play on it. There is a big fireworks show and festivities at a local church on his birthday though if he’s feeling well we are going to take them to that.

We had their birthday pics made and they turned out pretty good. At least they weren’t screaming, crying, and terrified!! We haven’t had them made since their last birthday so we were happy with all the smiles!!

Bryce

Bryce on the left