2010 Seasons Greetings

2010 has been a year of ups and downs but now that we are at the end we can look back at it and claim it a success. The beginning of the year started off with a bang. We had a great trip to Disneyland, were visited by many friends and family, celebrated Grace's first birthday, and began the long process of IVF (in-vitro fertilization). However, by May, our ups took a decidedly downturn when it was discovered that Oliver was loading extraordinary amounts of iron in his heart. This came as a surprise to us and his medical team alike. Fortunately, GranPa Jim was in town and available to support us as we first began to make twice monthly week long trips to the hospital for 24 hour chelation (the process of removing iron from the body). This turned out to be an enormous strain on our family. It required Jill leave George and Grace at home to stay in the hospital with Oliver 24 hours a day for 6 days at a time. After two months of this routine the medical team agreed to teach Jill how to give Oliver his IV (intravenous) medication at home - something they very rarely do. This new routine has worked out much better for our family and has helped keep us all together.

By this time we received word that our first attempt at IVF was successful! The amazing consequence of this is that our third child, a boy, will be a cord blood stem cell donor for Oliver! We were grateful for the good news and, boy, were we ready for a holiday. At the end of August we packed up our new minivan (yes, a minivan) and took a three day drive down to San Diego. Hearst Castle, Venice Beach, and Lego Land were some of the fun stops we made along the way. San Diego was beautiful and warm and we filled our days with seeing the sights; it did much to revive our spirits to meet with friends during our stay. After our ten day southern California vacation we prepared for a fabulous trip to Kauai, Hawaii. We stayed on the south side of the island at an ideal location by the coast line. We came to affectionately call our "backyard" Teletubby Hill where the children could run out to play and explore. It was so nice to have these 18 days to spend as a family away from the typical stress of our daily life.

We anticipate that next year will be especially busy with a new baby (due February) and an impending Bone Marrow Transplant (probably in October) for Oliver. Therefore, we decided to recruit some help and have hired an au pair to come join our family in January 2011. Her name is Olga ("Ola") and she is from Poland. We very much look forward to meeting her and have enjoyed our interactions with her over the past couple of months.

The beginning of this year George began crossfit training and running. He has shown tremendous dedication to this regimen and it has paid off! He is looking and feeling great enabling him to keep up with Oliver and maintain a sharp mind for his business. His business, Sagespring Partners, celebrated it's third year in operation and, in spite of the dreadful economy, has thrived against the odds. Again, another example of George's dedication resulting in success. Comedy has taken a bit of a back seat this year but he still performs occasionally and hope's to never get too far from the stage.

Jill can often be found running after one or both of the kids. Her days are filled with taking the children to and from their activities, managing the household, and keeping up with the enormous task of managing Oliver's health care. Each year Jill learns new skills related to Oliver's care - and is wondering if a career as a nurse is in her future! She has been fortunate that her pregnancies have gone without a hitch and this time has been no exception. Our little bundle is due at the end of February next year.

It turns out that Oliver is quite the sport enthusiast. He enjoys his tumbling classes, playing soccer, baseball and golf. In fact, we were all amazed at his dedication to watching nearly all of the World Cup (soccer) and the World Series (baseball) games. He is also remarkably good at mazes - blazing through books in less than an hour when we thought they might last the week. His IV medication has prevented him from starting preschool but we have started working with the school district in the hopes of getting him into school this spring with on-site medical services. We believe that a boy as bright and energetic as Oliver will excel in an academic and social setting.

Grace is living up to her name and is an absolute delight. At birth it was discovered that she had hip dysplasia and was required to wear a hip abduction brace for a year. She took this in stride, as did we, and instead of crawling she learned to get around by scooting across the floor. As she got older and stronger it was amazing how quickly she could move from one place to the next! The good news is that the brace worked and this March we were able to remove it. Grace took a while to adjust is now walking and running all over the place and looks great. She is currently 20 months old, is learning new words all the time, and has a big personality. We think her most favorite person in the world has got to be Oliver. Everything he does she wants to do - and it turns out she is an incredible mimic!

We wish everyone a happy and healthy 2011. We are going to have our hands full, but we'd love to hear from you so please keep in touch!

Good Times

Since our last blog post many of you have thought that Oliver's challenges with anemia have resolved. Alas, it was just a lucky month that his system kicked in and made some rbs'c. We have yet to see this happen again, but it's nice to know that maybe it could.

We've had a great year with Oliver so far. He has been healthy, happy, and strong. The fall and winter months were trying, to say the least. Oliver seemed to pick up every possible illness going around and was sick for months. But since January, he's been the picture of health. It's been a nice break for us all.

I'll get some new pictures up as soon as I can.

Wow! What a day!!

Oliver was due for transfusion today - so he went in for a blood draw yesterday. As you know he doesn't make red blood cells so his 'retic count' - a measurement of reticulocyte, nascent red blood cells - is typically 1 or 2. But they called us to say that not only was his regular blood good enough that we didn't need a transfusion, but his retic count is 45!!!

They may have got the samples mixed or something else might be going on and it all could revert next week.

Its unclear and we aren't getting hopes up, but if this continues he might be going into a slight remission of the disease which happens VERY rarely. But happens. Stay tuned for next weeks lab report!

Waiting for blood

Hanging out at the Hospital - the plastic wrap holds the numbing agent to make access to the port less painfull. Its unclear why the blood is delayed - that's big systems I guess.

Bark Like A Seal

Last Saturday night I was concerned I may have to bring Oliver into the hospital due to fever. Fortunately, it never reached 101F. I was able to let him sleep and by morning his fever had passed. Other than the occasional sneeze and cough it didn't seem like there was much going on. He has been pretty mellow the past couple of days so I did know he was not feeling great.

Well, last night Oliver woke up bolt upright repeatedly last night with coughing fits -- the sound is unmistakable: he has a mild case of croup. Poor dear. It was quite distressing for him. And no wonder. He was clearly having a tough time. He is resting for now; taking a morning nap! When Oliver takes a nap in the morning you know he must feel terrible. My goal is to keep him relaxed as much as I can today and watch how he progresses.

Saturday Night Fever at the Disco

I'm a bit behind on the blog so I'll try to catch up a bit tonight. The time line is going to be all screwy but how about I start with today and work my way back and see how that goes?

Today was the big day. We went to Baby Loves Disco! George is out of town right now (sad face) so our friends Caterina and Geoff said that they would love to go with me and Oliver. BLD is a nationwide event for kids under seven. It's a fun space (usually a local club) where they can groove, get down, and shake their thang! After being a bit overwhelmed at first by all the lights, bubbles, music, and activity, Oliver settled right in and showed us his stuff. Caterina quickly caught on to his moves and has, herself, perfected "the Oliver": shake your fists in the air and do bouncing squats! That'll get your butt into shape.

It wasn't until we were leaving that I noticed he had a fever. When I got home I took his temperature and sure enough - fever. This time it is under 101 degrees (F) which is a good thing. He has been coughing and sneezing all day so I figure it is just a cold. O is sleeping now and I am dreading calling the on-call hematologist about it. The last thing I feel like doing is dragging ourselves into the ER when I know it is just a cold. I'll see what they say when I call.

Oh, and here is something momentous...Oliver wore a hat last night for 30 minutes and today for 20! Anyone who knows Oliver personally also knows that he can't stand having anything touching his head. Until now. Huh. You just never know about that crazy kid.

Jump back to October with me for a moment here. I didn't get the chance to let you know what we did for Halloween. Turns out, not much. We had grand plans that involved a lot of construction for our costume idea (not telling!) but without any extra hands around to amuse The Vole our plans never got off the ground.

Oliver did dress up twice though. Once on Halloween in the clinic during his monthly transfusion. He was dressed as a skeleton. You can see him here with his friend Matthew who also has DBA. We finally got to coordinate their transfusions on the same day so they hung out in the pack and play together. It sure did make the day go faster. The hospital also sent out volunteers to bring the trick or treating to the kids. It was fun watching adults and kids parade in and out of the clinic in their costumes handing out goodies.

The other time Oliver dressed up was at the Parent Infant Program were we go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A giraffe! The beans kept him pretty distracted but he wasn't fooled for long and wanted out of the costume.

Now that I think of it....I suppose I can also include the Day of the Dead parade in the Mission district.

George's mom, Pauline, came to visit from November 2nd to the 12th. She arrived a bit weary from jet lag and I think looking forward to a quiet evening. But, oh... not so when you come to visit us having not slept for over 24 hours!

We decided that the only reasonable thing to do was to drag Pauline out for a night on the town. Does this photo convince you that we made the most reasonable choice?

In spite of the late first night carousing with the dead, Pauline managed to survive her visit with us. We had a great visit and consider ourselves lucky that we have such loving grandparents who are willing to travel many miles across seas and continents alike to visit with The Vole. Yes! Keep coming! We love having you all here. Especially Oliver. Visits with grandparents are unlike anything in this world. It's the best.

Before I sign off, I'd like to share two more pictures. They are from our trip to Portland and just crack me up.

I think Oliver felt like a cool cat in these glasses. He kept taking them on and off and looking at himself in the mirror and then laughing heartily.
This last one I love too. It took a lot of time to get this picture. I don't think that hat stayed on for more than 2 seconds at a time. We didn't buy it for him, of course, but I think it's a great look on him.

That Vole.... he can wear anything and look like a million bucks. Who does he get that from anyway?

P is for Potty

Before Oliver was born it had been my intention to pursue infant potty training with him. It requires a great deal of time, attention, and patience to apply this technique successfully but I thought I might as well give it a try -- I was going to be at home with the babe anyway, right? As we all know now, this was certainly not the case and my time, attention, and patience were being spent on issues of greater importance.

However, I did not give up on the idea of talking with Oliver about his potty and why it was there and what was done with it. We have been talking about it more and more recently particularly because Oliver has taken a fancy to his potty and loves practicing sitting on it. Another recent shift in his awareness is when I have him on the changing table and his diaper is off he will say "pee pee" right before or while he pees.

Well, tonight after his bath he would absolutely not let me put on his diaper or his pjs. We were playing on the bed so I was uncomfortable with the idea of him peeing on it, but we were having such a good time. Next thing I know, Oliver looks at me and says "pee pee". I quickly scoop him up and ask him if he has to go pee pee and would like to sit on his potty as I make a beeline straight for it. I plunk him down on his potty and next thing I know he is peeing in it!! Woo-hoo! I was thrilled, Oliver was thrilled, George was thrilled.

I've been wondering how all of this was going to play out. I know I have a long road ahead of me with potty training but it is exciting that we are on our way.