You Know You’re the Parent of a Kid with Cancer When….

A while back years ago with Tucker’s first round of cancer I received this list called “You Know You’re the Parent of a Kid with Cancer When…1-100”
When I read this list I laughed like I’ve never laughed before- I had tears streaming down my face, the next day my stomach felt like I had done 1000 sit ups! I could relate to every single one of these little statements.
I’m going to share my personal favorites on this list with you, and I also know that a few cancer moms are probably reading this- my hope is that you get that huge uncontrollable belly laugh from this list, not all 100 of them but here are just a few favorite chuckles…

2. Kids with hair look kind of strange to you
3. You can sleep anywhere, and anything that reclines more than 15 degrees looks “comfy”
6. You enjoy the drive at 3:00am to the ER because there aren’t any other cars on the freeway
12. You can maneuver a double iv pole with six boxes/bags and a kid riding, on a tour of the hospital, and make it back to the room before the low-battery alarm sounds and the kid has to pee. (I’m a PRO!)
14. The nurses stop responding to the IV alarm, knowing you’ll fix it anyway
16. Your 2-year-old knows where all of the medical equipment goes, and how to use it.
17. Your child’s first word is a medical term.
18. You keep a bag packed at all times like your 9 ½ months pregnant!
19. You can eat with one hand while you hold the barf bucket with the other.
23. You can read the doctors prescription word for word, and are asked to decipher it by the pharmacist.
25. There are 4 new Mercedes in the doctors’ parking lot due to your child’s payments
30. You have more meds in your cupboard than food
31. You can read your son’s chart better than his nurse
36. Medical students ask to borrow your notes
44. Your child uses Lego’s to build “MRI” machines
47. (love this one) You know you are the friend of a family with a child with cancer when you call to check the chemo schedule and ask, “How will the counts be on the 11th?” before you schedule a birthday party.
49. Your 4year old’s critique of the medical student’s examination skills is the same as the supervising physician’s.
52. You really think this list is funny, when most normal people either don’t get it or start to cry!
57. When the siblings want to know what the child’s counts are to see if they can go inside to eat at McDonald’s
62. You can reset the IV machines overnight, in your sleep, every 30 minutes without waking up once and still call it a good nights sleep!
66. When your kid asks for a Happy Meal you don’t say, “Wait unit we get home to eat.” Rather, “Really?!” (unless of course your kid is on prednisone-steroids-then you say, “A Happy Meal or a Super-Sized Value Meal?”)
71. You make Jell-O with Pedialite
73. Your kid has received enough get-well cards to fuel a small bon-fire.
74. Your child receives soooo many toys while in the hospital that at Christmas time you can now open your own toy store.
75. When you are thankful for steroids because there will not be turkey leftovers after the Thanksgiving meal.
76. Every little thing can make you cry in a heartbeat, but this list, on the other hand, has you rolling on the floor!

Ok, I’ll stop there…. There are so many funny ones. Please go to this site to see them all, the site is called The Never-Ending Squirrel Tale www.squirreltales.com and they have this full list, plus You Know You’re the Babysitter of a Kid with Cancer, and You Know Your’re a Teenager With Cancer.

Tucker has been doing ok.. We are officially on a 4 week break….. my definition of a BREAK and the doctors definition of a BREAK are VERY different. When I think “break” I think, no pills, no doctors, no pills,…. No pills…. (did I say no pills already?) And going somewhere where there is hula music and a sweet tropical drink. The doctors definition of a “break” is for us to not have to physically DRIVE to the hospital for 4 weeks. They said “here I’ll send this chemo home to you in a pill form and we won’t need to see you for 4 weeks, so take a “break”. So your telling me that we are going to double Tucker’s pills just so we don’t have to drive to SLC for 4 weeks?
But in my head I was thinking… Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, not driving in that horrible traffic, not having to battling out my road rage with Mr. Psycho in a huge truck with a nasty look on his face daily……and saving $ on gas!
Ok, DEAL- we’ll take the “break”.
So Tucker takes 2 more pills each day and then 12 more pills on Wednesday’s, that’s his methotraxite (the other 2 are 6MP). *sigh* but a break is a break.

I got a thing to add to the You Know You’re a Parent of a Kid with Cancer when..
*Amber list*
1) The pharmacist at Walgreen’s refuses to fill your prescription because he has to double check with the Doc first because he has “worked as a pharmacist for 20 years and has never filled this high of a dose before”…. (The dose was correct and we got our pills).
2) Thinks it’s a good day when my son can get away with only 1 morphine.
3) Lego’s are being stored in puke-buckets.
4) Didn’t actually have a puke-bucket handy when my child had to puke the other day in my car (but now have 5 buckets in the car just so that never happens again).
5) Got the fright of my life when I turn out all the house lights the other night and turned around and there was my ghost white bald headed kid standing in the shadows waiting for me to tuck him into bed…. (I jumped a mile!).
6) Have a multitude of “back up meds” in my purse “just in case”- ranging from nausea, to pain, to constipation.
7) Me wearing makeup is cause for a celebration.
8) When you’re asked to be used as “training” for the student nurses.
9) Not much can surprise you anymore except that American Idol is still popular.
10) Your child had a blast going to radiation on his birthday.
11) Your child is stumped at the meaning of some school spelling words but can tell you exactly (and spell) what… Methotrexate,ARAC, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Patikia.. ect,
12) Your child can’t seem to ever find his socks or books, but can find the perfect vein for blood draws.

Keep the suggestions coming and I will keep adding them!
*Other cancer Mom’s List's…

Wendy Burr: You know you're a cancer mom when you go into work to talk to your boss, dig around in your purse to find something, and out falls heavy duty surgical mask. =)

Yvonne Davis: You teach your home health nurse how to figure out the ANC

Love to all,
Amber, Justin…. And my lovable cancer-kid Tucker

Can You Help Us Take a Break?

This is going to be a very quick fast post & I apologies for that but we just found out yesterday that Tucker gets a 4 week break! He still gets chemo (in the form of pills) at home but as far as going up to the Oncology clinic we are on a BREAK! YIPPEE!!
We really just found this out on Monday- I’ve had no time to plan/prepare for anything fun. I feel like my whole family needs a big BREAK!
So, this is where you come in- we have Justin’s 3 kids for the next 2 weeks and Tucker being on his break and all- we want to go on a family camping trip!
What I need from all you people is this-
Does anybody at all have a cabin in northern Utah (far enough away to get out of here, and close enough that we can drive to) that we could use for a weekend?
My family needs to get OUT so bad and away from TV and away from Xbox and away from all the hospitals, doctors, nurses… blood tests… ect ect…, and just relax somewhere…. Somewhere with coconut oil and hula dancers with a pina colada in my hand………..OH wait, wrong fantasy… *sigh* one day maybe…
But as for now… a cabin? Anybody? Tucker would not hold up well in a tent and I know tons of people out there know a family who has a cabin who may not be using it this weekend or next weekend and would want to donate it for our use? Just for 2 days, because me and Justin still have to work.
Please please please… I know its short notice… but please email me:
amberlaughing@gmail.com
or email my sister
beautifultamy@gmail.com

Any info at all would be SOOOOOOOO much appreciated! I just want to do something NORMAL for once! Any help at all…. I just could not even tell you how much that would mean to me….. & Tucker’s blood counts on Monday were the highest immune system he has had since we have started!!!
Let us know… thank you all!
Love Amber, Justin, 3 kid-o’s (Jaired, Jaiden & Lily), and a camping (?) hopefully Tucker…

P A R T Y!

Tucker’s birthday was just- one of the craziest birthday’s I think we have ever had.  We started out waking up bright & earlier and ran him down to radiation 8am that morning, I was a little sad we had to do that on his birthday but when they found out it was his big “11” day… as he was getting radiation done the teck’s & nurses ran around the place gathering up little “presents” from him. It was cute, it looked like they had raided somebody’s lunch for that day LOL, they gave him candy & activity books and a blanket. One thing is for sure about Hunstman they don’t keep kids stuff around…. I found a little pocket calculator in Tucker’s “birthday bag”… but it was the thought that counts.

We went from there to my sister Tamy’s house- where her and her family threw Tucker is first ever surprise birthday party! It was SO cute! She had all the kids sitting on the stairs and when we walked in they yelled HAPPY BIRTHDAY TUCKER! She had decorated the house, banners & cake & presents! It was a wonderful surprise! So we hung out there & Tamy ordered Tuckers favorite food (at that time- it changes by the hour I swear!) was Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza.  After we were all done munching that down we started to do presents… when a surprise showed up at her door- she had hired a balloon artist guy… ya know, those balloon guys who can make “monkey’s on trees” or a “dog on a leash”… or big silly hats… he was there for an hour and the kids had a blast! I think this guy made everything that he could possibly think of, a few times over.  I had with me that day Lily (my step-daughter) and then Tamy’s 4 kids (yes even her new baby Steelie sat and watched the balloon guy & was entertained!).  So needless to say we all had every shape and size of balloons.  Even Tamy & I ended up with silly balloon hats.  What a FUN time, thank you Tamy for making that so special for Tucker.  Tamy also had a creative idea that turned out awesome; she “made” a shirt for Tucker for him to wear and everybody to sign.  I’m so proud of her crafty side, she doesn’t show it very often (haha) but when she does it is awesome! I think all of her kids have now had her make them a shirt. So cute.  With Tamy’s party & Tucker’s party later that night there wasn’t a spot left on that shirt to sign!

After we left Tamy’s house we came home and Tucker went to sleep- he was TIRED & he knew that we had big plans for that night. Angie- my guardian angel- showed up with her car FULL TO THE BRIMS of decorations, food & chairs.  Her & I worked on decorating the house from top to bottom for 3 hours straight we decorated…. It looked AWESOME.  Angie- I don’t know what I ever would have done without you in my life. I owe you so much. Thank you thank you thank you. 

At 7ish my coworker/good friend made Tucker a very VERY special birthday cake! She hand made a dragon Bakugan battle ball…. I can’t even properly describe it to you. Just look at the pictures it took her weeks to make and it looks like one of those cakes you would find on the cakes shows from The Food Network- it was THAT AMAZING!  Donalene, it was perfect- it was wonderful- it was amazing- it was more than I had expected- you are truly gifted, thank you.

Then after that it was a poring people! People just started showing up! I am absolutely amazed by how many people wanted to celebrate Tucker’s birthday with us. It brings me to tears every time I think of it.   Justin started grilling and stayed grilling for about 2 hours burgers & hot dogs & 1 steak for Tucker! Thank you honey!! Angie, Karyn, Donalene, Charity (my older sister), Lisa Call (a cancer mom from Provo & her boys showed up!!)& my mother-in-law Karleen, took over ever other task for me that needed to be done. The simple things like getting the lettuce ready, getting the tomatoes chopped ect… the tedious things that you don’t think about until the last minute. I cannot express enough thanks and love to these wonderful women in my life. I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT YOU!!!!  I feel so- at a loss to really express my feelings for these wonderful women.

On a sad note, I had hurt my back (probably just the stress) and was walking around in a daze for most of the night. I got to mingle with everybody (I sure hope I did)… Tucker- I can’t believe his strength… he sucked it up and walked around and around saying hello to everybody & making sure everybody signed his shirt… I was amazed; he told me nothing was holding him back tonight! After we sang to him and everybody was full- we moved to the front lawn and the fireworks show began! Everybody brought fireworks to “share” and we had TONS & TONS & TONS! And more than one family/person- bought the really expensive huge high blasting big sky fireworks! THANK YOU!!! It was AMAZING!

Tucker said “IT WAS THE BEST BIRTHDAY I’VE EVER HAD!” and that is saying A LOT! Each year I do big party’s for him, I can’t help it- he’s my only son and has been battling cancer since he was 4, it just seems like every year we celebrate another birthday is like a huge accomplishment and something to make a big deal out of.  I have NO idea how I’m going to top this next year.  Thank you to everybody who showed up & came to give your love and support! A special thanks to my brother& sister in law, Anthony & Hailey- they showed up & just started cleaning! Also, Karyn, John & their kids just started cleaning and cleaning! By the time the fireworks were over & I went out back to survey the damage- it was sparkly clean! I was soooooooooooooooooo grateful. I think there is a special place in all of our hearts to the people who see a need and get to work filling that need. 

Look at the pictures and see what fun we had.

Love to all, Amber & Justin & the now 11 year old…. Tucker-man.

sorry guys blogger did it again, flipped some of my pictures and I don't know why:(

The big Candy card the kids made for Tucker
Aspen (yellow shirt), Autumn (green shirt) and Xavier

His totally dorky but AWESOME shirt I made Tucker....

The totally awesome shirt Aunt Tamy made and I wrote "Aunt Tamy Rocks" on his shirt.

The kids waiting to be impressed by balloons. Steelie (7 weeks), Aspen, Autumn, Xavier, Tucker and Lily

Tamy and Amber even got one!

Tucker with one of the MANY balloon creations

The not so awesome store bought cake that Aunt Tamy got for Tucker. We added the Lego's on it to try and make it Cool. Oh that's right Tucker said nobody says "cool" anymore.....Tamy

The "surprise" balloon guy entertaining the kids

New Hat given to Tucker from Mom and Dad

Tucker's birthday Doggy Kisses

tucker @ radiation, that's his face mask that they use to hold him in place for his brain radiation.. yet, they decorated it for him

Tucker and cousin Xavier

Tucker's awesome cake by Donalene

Tucker's awesome cake by Donalene

Happy 11th Birthday Tucker!



Julyy 22, 2011 11 years old! Picture taken by Aunt Tamy

Dear Tucker

Happy Birthday my love. Words cannot express my love for you- and each & every day my love for you grows stronger, and its not just my love for you that grows- I'm so proud of you, I'm so amazed by you, I'm so in awe of your ability to smile each day, I'm so amazed by your bright upbeat attitude your giving kind nature- your sweet spirit that wants to play and laugh and live your life to the fullest. 

If you would have asked me when you were born- mom, would I ever have cancer? I would have said NO WAY! NO WAY WOULD MY ANGEL HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT.

And Then we did....  I was overwhelmed by your accepting nature, your love for life- I seriously believe that no other child could have handled cancer the way you did the first time. You never questioned anything, you do anything and everything that was asked of you- and you did WONDERFUL- I am so proud of you, You went through so much at such a young age but you made it seem so easy.

If you would have asked me when you were in remission- Mom, would I ever have cancer again? I would have said... NO WAY! NO WAY WOULD MY ANGEL HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT- AGAIN. 

But here we are, battling it again- and I'm amazed AGAIN by your accepting nature, your love for life, your passion for living, your funny sense of humor (obviously gotten from me), your mellow attitude and  again, accepting everything we have to put you through without hesitation.  Sure you have more questions this time around- but who wouldn't, I have a MILLION questions and they all start with WHY... WHY... WHY... ? And even though I can't give you the answers you want to hear or the answer I want to hear..... you just take it, and move on. I'm amazed by you. I'm so grateful for you.  Tucker, you are my one and only and never in a million years would i want it any other way. My life is perfect because I have you & Justin in it. What ever other trials life has in store for us, we will suck it up- and make our way through it- but rest assure we WILL make it through it, there are no other options. Happy birthday my darling.... you started out a big fat screaming baby and now your growing up to be such a young wonderful man. Please don't grow up to fast, please? I love you.

Mom.

Birthday/Yearly Pictures of Tucker!!!

July 22, 2000 Baby Tucker 10 pounds 6 ounces

1 year old Tucker 2001

2002 2 year old Tucker (pre-glasses)

2003 Tucker 2-3 years old

October 2004 4 years old

August 2005 1st round of Cancer Tucker 5 years old

August 2005 1st round of Cancer 5 years old

February 2006 5 1/2 years old

October 2006 6 years old with Amber

July 22, 2006 6 year old birthday

September 4, 2007 Make a Wish Trip to Disney World 7 years old

February 2008 7 1/2 years old

September 13, 2008 Amber & Justin's Wedding 8 years old

June 2009 Tucker 9 years old

July 22, 2009 9th Birthday with new puppy Raven

July 22, 2010 Cowabunga Bay Party 10 years old

October 2010 fall Picture right before relapse

It Was a No-Make-Up Day!

Every woman can relate to a no-make-up day. You get up & out of bed, you get your kids up, you didn’t sleep good, you have a grumpy husband, the dryer didn’t dry all your cloths now they are damp & wrinkled- the shirt you wanted to wear was in that batch- your out of creamer for your coffee, the garbage didn’t get taken out, the dogs were out of food, your kid is extra grumpy and complaining that he didn’t get enough sleep, the dishes weren’t done, the floors not swept, there are fly’s in the house and I’m pretty sure I just threw a red shirt in with the white towels in the wash-DANG-.... I burnt the toast, and ran out of butter anyways…. No orange juice was left, yet the container was still in the fridge…..

TUCKER, take your pills…now I need to rush and….

Feed the dogs…

Feed the Tucker…

Take out the trash…

Kill some fly’s…

Comfort complaining kid…

Pet the whining dogs…

Check the time- DANG, were late!

Double check the oven, yes its off- rush out the door, get in the car… DANG, ran back inside, grab the kid…  (as if I could forget him… but there are some days..), rush back out to the car- got the Tucker, get in car- DANG- need car keys… RUSH back inside the house- grab the keys- out the door… time to rush rush rush…get half way to SLC…. And DANG- I forgot to put on make up
*sigh*.
It was a no-make-up-day for sure.

I think it’s a telling sign when you see a mom at a hospital with no makeup on, to take some precautions around her. Handle her with care and be cautious….
1- Don’t point out she doesn’t have make up on- yes we know.

2- Don’t tell her she looks tired, please LIE and tell her she looks wonderful

3- Its probably best not to approach this women at ALL just to be on the safe side. And for those unfortunate people who do have to approach us- do so with caution…. And with some chocolate- and please don’t make any sudden movements….

4- Don’t point out the big bags under her eyes (LIE TO US-BETTER YET, DON’T MENTION IT- that’s the safest way)

5- Don’t ask us how our day is going- if we don’t have makeup on- then it didn’t start out great and it’s probably gotten worse- it may be a better day if you have chocolate- do you have some chocolate?

Radiation this month has caused a lot of no-make-up-days for me. Its been a hard month of daily trips to SLC is just hard on us & especially on Tucker. It’s caused a lot of jumbling work schedules and radiation schedules and chemo schedules….just to clarify, Tucker is getting radiation done at the Huntsman Cancer Institute that is directly behind Primary Children’s Hospital in SLC. The Huntsman is a beautiful hospital, but- they lack the basic ability to STAY ON SCHEDULE. We have a scheduled time daily for Tucker’s radiation at 4:30pm. For most days we show up at 3-3:30pm just so we are not late, and they are ALWAYS running behind schedule! There have been days when he didn’t get seen until 5:30 or 6pm! One of the most annoying things is waiting- when you were on time, you were prompt- you were extra cautious and showed up early- and then you have to wait HOURS! Ugh! That just tick’s me off. Tucker has the patients of a 10 year old- so that’s “little to none”. At this point we only have 6 days left- and I CAN’T WAIT for this to be over!

Justin & I have been trading off days on taking Tucker up, I went yesterday, Justin went today- and its been working great.. Karyn also had a day off of work last week and she took Tucker up- it was a huge help. Tori (Karyn & John’s daughter) has been going up with Tucker almost everyday- she is HEAVEN SENT! She helps entertain Tucker & just listing to him talk & talk & complain, or plays games with him, or just bugs him- but even that gives him something to do- bug her back! On one of our long waiting days when radiation was like 2 hours behind- she sat and played UNO with Tucker for what had to be the worlds LONGEST game of UNO I’ve ever seen- I told them if the just both stopped cheating then the game might actually END… 

I decided to trade Tucker’s 4:30pm time slot for 8am, so I showed up at 8am yesterday (Monday) and they had us scheduled to start the 8am slot on Wednesday….. see what I mean? Its been like a scheduling nightmare with them every time I turn around! But the lady looked at me yesterday, probably noticed my lack of make-up, she offered me some chocolate, and promised to get Tucker right in.

She must understand the no-make-up-day.

On the bright side, this Friday is Tucker’s 11th birthday. He has been bouncing off the walls so excited. I can’t believe my baby is going to be 11! Time sure is flying fast. We are having a BBQ & fireworks party at our house on Friday and my guardian angel ANGIE SANDERSON has been planning the whole thing for me! –THANK YOU ANGIE! I COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!!!!

I’ll take lots of pictures and let you know how it goes.

Love to all- Amber (yes, I have make-up on today), Justin (look out! He doesn’t have his makeup on today! LOL ) and Tucker- my almost 11 year old boy.

Tamy's Post*** It was a make up day for me and I still had a look that said *Approach With Caution*. Amber, Tucker and Tori came over around 9:30am and we decided to take a trip to the Living Planet Aquarium between Tuckers Radiation appointment and Chemo appointment. We loaded all the kids in the suburban, stopped by McDonald's to load up on carbs and caffeine and went to the aquarium. The kids had fun and it was pretty empty which was nice and the fish were being feed and were active which was fun to see. We had a little issue trying to get out without buying the kids toys from the gift shop. I was successful, Amber was not, lol. I believe Tucker left with a giant snake. Then it was back to my house where I turned into a Short Order Cook. I believe I made every kid including Amber something different to eat and boy did we eat. LOL. Tori and Amber ran to Target so Tori could get a Secret gift for girls camp and I helped her make it cute. Thanks for coming and hanging I really did have fun. Tamy, Aspen, Autumn, Xavier and Steelie

Tucker and Tori at Radiation

Xavier, Autumn, Tucker and Aspen in front of the penguins

Tamy & Amber we were trying to get a good picture

Amber and Tucker

Tucker, Aspen, Autumn, Xavier, Tori and Amber swimming in the boat

Chemotherapy & Radiation....It's like Strawberry Ice-Cream & Pickles

Aluminum foil… and microwaves…

Honesty… and politics…

Julia Roberts.. and Lyle Lovett

Dictionary’s…and teenagers…

Cats… and water… (They REALLY don’t go together, but when it does happen.. it’s very funny LOL)

Children… and cancer…

Green Eggs & Ham.. (LOL –it totally goes in this list!)

So today is the first day of our, what I like to call “wrong paring”. I honestly think that doing either chemo or radiation is enough for anybody out there, and that its just wrong to do both at the same time. Medically is it wrong? Of course not, we wouldn’t be doing it if it was wrong or it wasn’t safe…. I’m just throwing a fit right now because I’m scared. It just seems like SO much in one day. I mean a day long treatment of chemo is enough for anybody … and then to ask them to squeeze in radiation? Just seems wrong, but its right- its just a lot for the mind to absorb, correction….its a lot for MY mind to absorb… we all know my mind works WAY different than most, this blog is an excellent example of that.
I’m having a hard time putting the 2 situations in my head together, chemotherapy & radiation- but I have a lot of problems putting things together in my head that I think should not go together, yet DO go together (yes, my personal opinions follows… please skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to read my mental derailment),

*I don’t like meshing colored play dough with other different colored play dough they should never go together….

*I don’t think BBQ potato chips should be eaten with PEANUT BUTTER & JELLY SANDWICHES (*JUSTIN, I’m looking at you*),

*me & directions (got lost a few times last week with the so-called “directions”… whatever MAP QUEST! That was hard to find! Your “map” showed a straight LINE… LIAR! LOL)

*I don’t think Elmer’s glue and 2year old kids go together………

The point of my crazy ramblings is that even though I don’t think they go together, eventually they do- Justin eats PB&J with BBQ chips (nope, not kidding), I’ve seen plenty of 2 year olds glue in their mouth, hair, fingers & clothes… and I’m the only person on this earth that thinks colored play dough should not touch each other, which makes me feel like I’M wrong on that count… but things come together eventually (quicker if you have a 2year old with glue.. HA-HA)… I don’t think me and DIRECTIONS will ever mesh… but honestly every once and a while I get it right- except for last week, I finally broke down and admitted to Justin via cell phone, that I was hopelessly lost (I turned left instead of right & ended up in a different town- doesn’t everybody make that mistake?) and then finally Chemotherapy and Radiation… a very un-fun paring - kinda like- Freddy vs Jason ( ya know, Freddy Krueger & Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th scary paring!!!!) …. But the point being (yes yes, I’m making it) it’s a pairing non-the-less in our life, no not the Freddy Krueger thing *shutter*… the chemo & radiation thing…

Tucker did great- day 1 of 16, under our belts. His blood counts were great! He took the chemo great! I kept him on a steady dose of anti-anxiety meds today so he was extra loopy. I know you all want to hear about how the first radiation went… ya I can see how all my ‘blah,blah,blah’ about chemo could get boring.. LOL-

Radiation- nope I still don’t quite understand how it works or what it does, but we did it. They strapped on Tucker’s mask and lock him to the table… they (about 3 techs/nurses) get out their sharpie markers and mark all over his body… I think in August, when this is all over, at that time is when I’ll try to clean off all the black sharpie marks on him… until then, heck I don’t care.. Tucker here’s your own Sharpie… write your radiation techs a big message right on your stomach telling them what you think of it…. And lets surprise them tomorrow when they lay you out on the table and lift up your shirt…….. LOL, can’t you just imagine it? You’re lying on the table and a tech lifts up your shirt and he see’s this big message I HATE RADIATION, THIS IS NOT FUN- PLEASE BRIBE ME WITH CANDY- IT WILL GO SMOOTHER FOR BOTH OF US

Ok, I’m going to have to give that a try…. That was a brilliant idea! Man, I amaze myself. We ran into a couple snags today, but we got it done. It was quick also! Took about 15 minutes, I was surprised. His tummy hurts and he has a headache. Justin is taking him up tomorrow (Wednesday) for round 2. We have Tori, Karyn & John’s daughter staying with us now helping me watch Tucker, I’m very grateful. 
And I gotta wrap this up…. Poor Tucker has just started puking….

Love to all Amber, Justin and our strong kid….Tucker

Tucker at Chemo

Chemo

Tucker Getting Ready for Radiation

Tucker ready for radiation, but trying to forget about the big machine looming over his head...

This is the sharpie art work from the radiation techs today...

A HUGE thank you to 97.5 The Blaze

Today Justin was on 97.5 The Blaze to promote the benefit concert. Thank you so much to The Blaze for the generous gift of air time. For more information about The Blaze, go to their website at http://www.975theblaze.com/home or their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/TheBlaze975.