Hope4Peyton

Sharon is Pete’s mom, and I can’t possibly talk about today without giving her a big shout out for her contribution.

Today is Peter’s 36th birthday. I’ve really only known his 11 years of those 36 so I can’t vouch for his complete character, but what I do know is awesome. Yes, he’s prone to leaving his clothes all over the house and he does have a tendency to get REALLY involved in a video game…but those quirks aside, he is the most wonderful husband and one of those fun, loving, cuddly dads that you wished for when you dreamed of the man who would father your kids. He sacrifices most of his side of the bed so that Peyton can sleep comfortably spread eagle in the bed….he’s learned to make a fantastic pot of coffee…there’s nothing that he can’t do or isn’t willing to learn. He says the sexiest things too, such a smooth talker….”I just finished playing raquetball”…”I’m doing dishes”….”I have a load of laundry in”….this is a man who knows how to work a woman! I’m so proud of Pete for making the choice to go to ATL because it wasn’t easy, and as hard as everyone thinks I have it as the single mom, he’s alone without a family to go home to every night and he’s doing his best to prepare our life up there.

Happy birthday to Pete!

I spent most of yesterday morning contemplating the choice of spending a fortune to get the truck repairs done or just buy a new vehicle. I had to go to a car dealership. I hate doing that, and I’ve never had to do it alone. Without my dad or Pete with me I felt like I had giant “ATTACK here!” sign plastered to my forehead. Although I test drove a few really nice vehicles and got a little high from all the new car smell, we chose to just repair the vehicle we’ve got. Much like Joan Rivers it’s now had so much work done that it’s not the same vehicle we bought. But with an impending move, a house to be purchased sometime soon, we decided that the truck could make it a while longer. But now all the weird noises, bumps, shakes, shimmies and pings will be fixed. The only thing it won’t do is make waffles or give you that clean fresh feeling. The kids are disappointed that we are not getting a new vehicle and Peyton’s really upset that we’ve giving back the rental van.

Tonight is mom’s night out for the cancer gang. It’s going to be fun to get out with them and let loose and just relax. This is a great group of ladies and we do have a rockin’ good time together. Nathaniel and Rachael are both spending the night with a friend, Peyton’s spending the night with Grandma and I am spending the night in my own bed without anyone rolling over onto me!!

I was referring to Peyton on that one.

Peyton is doing a little better than last month. She’s achy and whiny, but she doesn’t look as rough. Her color is less than great, but if last month is anything to go by she’ll rebound by the middle of next week. We’ve already gone through an 18-count carton of eggs, 3 boxes of strawberries and a quart of Cracker Barrel green beens. Good times!

f.r.o.G.
–Anissa

I’m glad to report that Nathaniel found his lunchbox before school and was able to make the food transfer without any of his classmates any wiser. I think that he GETS it now and there will probably be no more issues with forgetting that. Now, I guess if I have to put him in one of Rachael’s plaid shirts to get him to bring home his clothing….that may be too mean for even me.

I would also like to thank everyone for their overwhelming support in the building of my nail salon clientele. It would appear that if I chose to open a shop I’d have plenty of business. I’ll keep you posted on that one.

Peyton didn’t go to school today. She was up and down all night last night, I could tell she was achy because she tossed and turned in her sleep. And that was after I dosed her with pain meds, still hurting. She woke up crying that her legs hurt, so I didn’t even bother to make her try to go to school. She was a little weepy and clingy all day long, but overall she’s ok. She had a lot of fun at the CCC tonight for group, but she did a lot of climbing in my lap for a snuggle. That’s actually sort of nice because normally she’s off and running the whole time and I don’t see her until I have to pry her out the door.

One big thing we had to do today was take the truck to the shop. I HAD to get that driver’s side interior door handle fixed, get the speakers checked out, have an oil change and check for odds and ends involved when preparing to take a trip cross country. I am getting ready to take off for Indiana to celebrate my grandfather’s 90th birthday. I’m picking up my sister and three of her girls to drive up with us and I need to make sure everything’s good for the road.

Yeahhhh, it’s not all good.

I thought it would be an extra tire issue or a tune up.

I have a natural knack for underestimating apparently.

Check out this grocery list of vehicular issues:

Door handle
Speakers
Oil change

and THIS is where it all goes crazy!

Oxygen sensors (which make the check engine light come on periodically)
Radiator leak
Cooling system flush
Oil pan leak
Alignment and rotation of the tires

AAAANNNNDDDD!

The guys says to me “Your engine mounts are sagging”…really? I’m 34, I have 3 kids, everything sags a bit, why should my vehicle be any different? Is it possible that if I stick some Victoria’s Secret bra straps around the edges it’ll be ok? Or at least give it nice push up and cleavage? No, it apparently requires giving the truck engine a full lift.

So, Peter and I have been tossing around whether it’s a better idea to repair the issues or to just purchase a newer vehicle. But with the upcoming move and all the uncertainty that surrounds that, I can’t see now being the time to get into a new car payment.

However, the kids are getting inappropriately attached to the rental mini-van we got.

Cranky steroid-ridden preschooler…truck trying to croak on me….what a day.

f.r.o.G.
–Anissa

I forgot to let you all know that if you’re a Tampa area local and are interested in becoming part of the Bone Marrow Registry, there is going to be a BM drive at the Children’s Cancer Center Thursday night at 6 pm.

Some might hesitate because it is a mighty big responsibility, if you are a match it asks a lot of you. But as a donor, you have the ability to change a life…but giving them the gift of hope. There are so many waiting for donor matches, I just ask you to think about becoming a donor and making that commitment.

There is normally a 70$ charge to do the basic testing, which is nothing more than mouth swabs, but tomorrow night you can register at the CCC for free. We’re going to be there and if you’ve someone we’ve never met and are interested in coming down, please do, we’d love to meet you and get you to be a part of the registry.

One special person who could benefit from your gift of life is Emily Lester. Emily was diagnosed at 12 years old and after completing the full regiment of treatment, she relapsed. She received a bone marrow transplant with marrow donated from her sister and she was in remission and making plans for the future. Emily had just been accepted to attend Duke and she relapsed for the second time just weeks ago. Because her bone marrow donor was her sister, they can’t use her family this time around for the second bone marrow transplant. She is desperately in need of a match and she will be relying on the registry for that match.

Please please please think about what it would mean to you if you were the one in need of a bone marrow donor…your spouse…your child. If you can’t make it to our drive in Tampa, please take the time to contact a blood center in your area and become a donor. They will probably be able to tell you if there is a sponsored donor drive in your area and you can do it free of the charge.

f.r.o.G.
–Anissa

I had to drop off some prescriptions at CVS today and was chatting with Pete while waiting for the pharmacist. The clerk who came to get my info looked at me, then looked at me again. I'm figuring she's either been to Peyton's site or she knows me from somewhere, so I'm waiting for her to ask me a question.

However, it wasn't the one I was expecting.

"Which nail salon do you work at?"

Ok….seriously???

Pete enjoyed it.

I just want to send a huge thank you to a loving friend who provided my girls with the most gorgeous Easter dresses in the world. They’re pretty darn cute to start with, but this is just going to throw it over the top.

Peyton and I headed out for our weekly Little Tales time and got the chance to take our little buddy Andrew Gliddon with us. He’s a riot, the cutest little bundle ever. I forget how exciting everything is at 2..CLOUDS!….FOOTBALLS!!!!….a BLUE CAR!!! It’s almost more than my heart can take. What just cracks me up is the way he says Peyton’s name “Payyyyuuunnnn!” Look, Payyyuuunn, a bird! Look, Payyyyuunnn, a truck!

She in turn is not as captivated by his enthusiasm. A practiced look of “wow, was I ever like this” is thrown his way as she says “Yes, Andrew, I see it.” I guess it’s a pretty good thing we never had more kids.

Andrew’s big brother Mathew got to come to the CCC after his doctor’s appointment. He has gone home from the hospital and is doing his treatment outpatient for as long as he can. Mathew got to do some swinging, he watched a movie, we all ate some hot dogs and just loved having him with us again. That boy is such a fighter, it amazes me what kids can endure….and then still smile at the feel of sunlight on their face and wind in their wispy hairs. We continue to ask for many prayers for Mathew through his chemo and that the results of his upcoming bone marrow will show a full remission. He needs that remission so they can make their plans to head to CHOP for the bone marrow transplant.

Peyton spent the entire morning monopolizing the attention of one Cody Bertoch. He pushed her on the swing, they ate hot dogs picnic style on the slides and she adored him every minute of the time they were together. She would look at him and then look at me and give me the biggest grin….as if to say “Yeah, this one’s mine!” Cody is 13, an age when most boys could care less if a 4 year old is in the room, let alone if she’s happy. But this boy just lights up her world and she is non-stop smiles when they play. Thank you, Cody, for giving my girl a wonderful day.

We got home so late after clinic and Peyton and I were both beat. We picked up the kids and went to Chili’s for dinner. Chili’s is a huge supporter of St. Jude’s hospital and our local Tampa Chili’s are HUGE donators to the Children’s Cancer Center. We walk in and there at the hostess stand is an enormous poster with the CCC logo and their upcoming golf tournament. Rachael sees it and announces in her opera voice “Hey!! We know the Children’s Cancer Center!” The hostess…probably 18-19 years old smiles at her and says…bad idea…”How do you know the Children’s Cancer Center?”

Rachael turns, points at Peyton and pretty much screams “She’s my sister and she has THE cancer!”

That poor hostess looked like she wanted to faint, she actually turned white and had a horrified expression. I don’t know if it was Rachael bellowing about her sister’s cancer at dinnertime, the fact that there was a child with cancer in the restaurant, or if she’d never really thought about what the phrase Children’s Cancer Center implied. Because it’s not like they named it that because the Boys and Girls Club had already been taken. After she seated us, I told her that yes, Peyton had cancer and that we do spend a lot of time at the Center. I explained a little about what the CCC does and how much our family had benefited from all the generosity of Chili’s. You could see that she was actually making a connection between idea of supporting that charity and being face to face with one of the kids that her company helps. I guess that’s a good thing. We had a steady stream of waitstaff and managers come over to say hi, they gave us our dinner for free…BUT before you go in and announce that you’re a CCC family, you got to set up the whole scene first….so it looks natural, ok? If you want, I can send Rachael over to go with you so she can tell each and every person there that your child has “The cancer”.

Peyton’s clinic visit went well. She breezed through getting her port accessed, her counts were good (ANC 2000, red blood count 11, platelets 225000) and she got her Vincristine for the month. Her steroids also started last night. <-Can you hear the excitement in my voice? She woke up last night achy, crying that her legs hurt, so we curled up in bed after some pain medication and she told me that her tummy hurt and it was making her legs hurt. Her powers of diagnosis lead me to believe that she won’t be going into the medical field any time soon, but I hated that she was hurting.

She did stay at school today, after many tears, a lip stuck out so far that at least two kids tripped trying to walk past her, and a promise to pick her up early if she felt bad. No call so far.

There were also issues with dropping Nathaniel off at school today. That’s just because I’m a MEAN MEAN mama. Nathaniel is a typical 10 year old boy. He forgets stuff, he leaves stuff, I have to go to the lost and found box every week to pick up his gym clothes, his sweatshirt, his jackets….and his lunchbox.

This morning was a breakthrough morning for the two of us and the lunchbox issue. Normally, I would threaten him with bodily harm and then brown bag him a lunch, but there were no bags and it brought on the perfect “remember your lunchbox” plan. I pointed to the hooks where they hang up all their school stuff and it started.

“Give me that lunchbox, you’re taking that one to school today.”

“Which one?” Clearly ignoring the ONLY lunchbox left on the hook.

“THAT one, the pink one with the big supergirl emblem on it…get me that lunchbox.”

“I can’t take that one to school!”

“Well, you ARE taking that one to school, and when you sit there today with a pink lunchbox, you’ll remember to bring home your lunchbox, won’t you?”

“Can’t you just put it in a bag?”

“Apparently a bag doesn’t get the point across, you NEED to remember to BRING HOME YOUR LUNCHBOX!”

“But it’s pink!”

“And today, my son, it’s yours.”

He was unhappy with me. He slammed doors, he kicked shoes, he gave several dirty looks.

I told him in no uncertain terms that I hadn’t forgotten MY lunchbox at school for the umpteenth time this year….the second lunchbox of the year, mind you, because he totally lost the first one. I let him know that if he didn’t stop with the attitude that he’d be taking that lunchbox to school every day for the rest of the year! I gave him the out that if he got to the lost and found early and found his lunchbox, he could put his food in it and no one would have to know that his food had dared to touch a pink surface. It could be tainted or something…forget about ecoli or samonella, PINK could kill you!

I don’t know if he found the lunchbox in time…I haven’t gotten a phone call from the school saying that Nathaniel has had a nervous breakdown from being forced to eat from a girl’s lunchbox.

But I guarantee you that red lunchbox is coming home today!

f.r.o.G
–Anissa