Max's Kid Friendly Blog

Feeling better!

2007-10-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't been eating anything by mouth lately. Everything tastes bad and I've been feeling really tummy-ache-ish, but I didn't really know how to tell my mom and dad about it until I really got the throw-up feeling or I just threw up. My doctor, Dr. Roberts, told mom to pick-up some green medicine for me to take with my other throw-up medicine. And guess what? It worked! After mom gave me the medicine I ate 3 carrots and a hotdog. Mom and Dad said they're going to make sure I get my two throw-up medicines all day/everyday so I don't have that yucky tummy feeling anymore. Whew!

New Star Wars Lego Commercial

2007-10-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

Pills, pills, pills

2007-10-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

This week I got really tired of taking all my dang pills. I have to take 6 pills in the morning and 3 or 4 pills every night. It wouldn't be so bad, except some of those pills fall apart on my tongue and they taste really bad so I spit them out - then I have to try to take them again until I get them down. I really, really hate that. It really makes me feel awful. The other morning I was so freaked out by having to take my pills that I accidentally threw up. That felt pretty bad, too. Mom told me that she would find another way to get the medicine in me and give me a break. I said, "one week with no pills would be great!"

This is a picture of all my medicine bottles. I get all this stuff every day - and my mom wonders why I'm not hungry?Oh yeah, and nothing here tastes good like Flintstone vitamins or cherry Tylenol.

Skateboarders ROCK, man!

2007-10-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Last Friday a special surprise came my way. My buddy, Sam, and I were invited to a special skateboarding demonstration with the one and only Tony Hawk, skateboarding legend and ultra-pro-awesome boarder.

This is me and Sam waiting for our turn to do some backside ollies and 720's. I could tell it was really easy to pick this stuff up, because the skateboarders doing the demo were having no trouble at all.

Bucky Lasek is showing off in the upper left corner of this shot. See how high in the air he is? The top of the ramp is 13 feet high - he's even higher. Ask an adult to show you how high 20 feet is and you'll get an idea of the air these guys were catching.

We sat at one end of the 1/2 pipe right at the edge. We had to look up to where the guys started. They would just push their boards to the edge and drop right down the side. CrAzY! It was straight down!

I was absolutely amazed by the things they did on those boards in that 1/2 pipe. Tony Hawk is totally the best skater ever. Did you know that he's the same age as my Dad? He is! My dad can't ride a board like Tony.

This is Sam and I after a wild session in the pipe hanging with the guys. There's Shawn White (of Olympic Snowboarding fame), an 18 yr old guy from France, two more guys that did awesome stuff during the demo, and Tony Hawk. Ahh Mooooom! What's that white glare on Tony's face! Nice... (Mom is hoping Sam's mom will email her a picture without the big white splotch on Tony. Mom is also hoping someone will tell her the names of the guys in this picture as well as the blonde guy doing the trick in the following video clip. Bueller, any one?)

Here's a cool video clip of an awesome trick Tony did with Bucky and another guy whose name my mom can't seem to remember. More cool video clips are below. Tony Hawk in the white T doing the awesome tricks. For more cool photos you can check out Sam's website, too.

This was the coolest thing I've ever seen... ever. Thank you, Tony Hawk for letting us hang out. You Rock!

Other Stuff I've been doin'

2007-10-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Mom hasn't been posting much about my life lately, so let's get caught up!

Uncle Brian, my Dad's best friend, came for a visit. This is him pulling into his parking spot (ha ha). Uncle Brian is a Navy fighter pilot. We got to go with Dad to pick him up on Coronado Island.

We even go to check-out his plane.

Unfortunately, due to an unfortunate incident where a two year old accidently hit a button in the cockpit and dropped one of the fuel tanks, we were not able to actually get in the plane. Being on the tarmack right next to the plane was pretty cool though!

Nic and I are practicing for Jedi school. He's Darth Vader and I'm a Jedi. You have to have a bad guy to praactice with!

One of our last summer days at the beach! Uncle Kevin came down from Ventura to hang with us and get sandy! He's a hoot!

Hannah, Nic and me having a good time at the park by the beach.

Nicky's 2nd birthday party with his first mate, cousin Katie!

Our Summer Vacation

2007-08-20T09:19:00.001-07:00

Hooray! Summer vacation! Hannah & I went to two summer camps this year: SportsJam at our old Preschool church and Camp Reach for the Sky with the American Cancer Society. Mom doesn't have any photos of these camps because she wasn't there, but I assure you we had lots of fun at both!

When Daddy finally took his vacation in August we hit the beach everday! One day we even went to the Water-Rock Park (Cottonwood Creek in Encintias) one day for a change of venue.

We hit the Wild Animal Park at Dark one evening. I highly recommend that trip because we were at the Lions enclosure at sunset and the Lion King started ROARING! It was so cool! We did Nightime Zoo, too. The animals at both parks are way more active in the evening. There was lots to see.

One day we met our neighbors, Melissa & Jenna (and their mom) at the beach. Our lucky day: the lifeguards took us for a ride in their boat! (It's all about who you know...) We did doughnuts out past the waves and zipped up and down the beach. The best part of the ride was when the lifeguards let Hannah drive. She grabbed the throttle and gave it a big, quick turn! The boat took off so fast that Hannah and one of the lifeguards flew out of the back of the boat! It was crazy! Hannah found out how life vests work.

The second week of Daddy's vacation we went to Disneyland and California Adventure for FOUR DAYS! WOO-HOO! This was our first trip since Nic was born, therefore, Nicky's first time at D-Land.
Hannah made it a ritual of eating at least one bag of cotton candy each day.

Here's Hannah after cotton candy on here very first ride on a big-kid rollercoaster: California Screamin'! This is her white-knuckled at take off. She said she was a little scared at the beginning but loved it!

Nicky & Mommy rode Heimlich's Chew-Chew train,

while Hannah, Daddy & I did the bumper beetles.

Here we are hangin' out with Sully, Mike and Boo at the Monsters Inc ride.

We spent some time at the pool - it was very hot while we were there!

Nicky fell in love with the water slide and must've slide down it 100 times!

We were able to enter Disneyland early (hotel guest privledge!) and we went on about 8 rides before the park opened. No lines anywhere - oh, except the Nemo ride because that's where all the hotel guests went. We'll see about that ride next we visit.

Even the Dumbo ride had no wait!

Me, Hannah & Nicky on the Princess Carousel.Just after breakfast overlooking the Mark Twain paddlewheeler and Tom Sawyers Island.

Hannah getting a little Pixie Dust!

Bad parking job, Nicky!

Ahhh... cooling down in ToonTown with a quart of slurpee. Can't beat it!

Yeah... Radiator Springs has arrived.

That's us on the left side of the boat. Mom's in the white-t, I'm leaning forward on her right, Hannah's on her left. This ride is totally fun! We got a little wet this trip. When Dad went with us we got drenched by a geizer! It was hilarious!

Kasey Jr.'s coming down the track! Carrying popcorn and cracker jacks! My family in the monkey car!

No. I didn't go on the Matterhorn. We're in line for the Storybook Land boat ride.

It's a Small World after all! Nicky actually liked this ride!

Oh yeah - I'm driving a car at the autopia!

Here's a ride Nicky really didn't like: the Jungle Cruise. This is him freakin' out when the boat driver shot at the hippos. Hannah & I think this is a great ride.

I don't have pictures of my favorite rides: Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours. This was my first year to be able to go on Star Tours and it is wicked! We had a crazy droid driver in our star-tour bus who over shot the moon of Endor; he flew us through a comet; then somehow we ended up helping the rebels blow up the death star! Oh my gosh - I was in love from the get-go!

Today was the last day of vacation. We went to the beach with Stephanie & Ben and met more friends while we were there. It was great. But I'm glad school is starting Monday! See ya there!

SWCC

2007-07-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

This week I spent 3-1/2 days in the hospital because I had a fever on Monday when I went in for my blood check. Yuck.

I didn't actually feel very sick so it made the days extra long. Especially since I couldn't even leave my hospital room to go to the playroom or anything! You see, my germ fighting white blood cells were low so the nurses and doctors didn't want me to catch something from anyone else and since I had a fever I might give some bad germs to another kid. No fun.

Hannah and Nicky came to play with me on two different days.

Also, my big cousin Jake came all the way from Minnesota just to play Break-the-Ice with me. Isn't that great? Actually, Jake is a SWCC. Also known as the "Boat Guy" for the Navy Seals. He drives the boat and drops those Seal guys off for combat in far away places. (Man, I hope my mom has her facts straight!)
SWCC = Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crew

Cousin Jake made a few phone calls and set-up a ride on a SWCC boat for me! This is me and Jake cruisin' San Diego Bay. Look at the wake this boat throws up! I thought we were really moving fast, but Mom said they took it nice and easy with me onboard.

Jason, our driver for the trip, took us over by the big aircraft carrier that's having some work done on it.
Me and Jake again!

The Downtown Skyline.

My favorite: the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. I've never seen it from the water before. It's very tall!

Oh yeah... they let me drive the boat... (That's my cousin Mikey sitting behind me. Mikey and his Dad got to come with us!)

This is me and Jason... while I'm driving the boat.

This is my crew. back row: Mr. Shawn SWCC Instructor, Jake, Cary SWCC Instructor. front row: Jason and Me (driving!)

Thanks Jake and Mr. Shawn (SWCC Instructor) for letting me check out your cool boat. Next time can we set-up the guns on the front and the back?

Firefighter Max

2007-07-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

My family and I went to the La Mesa Fire Department today for a very special tour made possible my my Aunt Randee, her friend John from her church, and Firefighter AJ. I didn't actually get to meet Firefighter AJ because he was off fighting fires in Northern California.

Captain Steve and Firefighter/paramedic Justin met us outside the firehouse when we arrived.

Our tour started with a quick tour of the fire house. This is where the firefighters live for 10 days every month. Yup... they have to stay there overnight! We got to see their bedrooms, bathrooms, offices, kitchen and livingroom (they have a new flatscreen).

Then firefighter/paramedic Justin gave us a full tour of their spankin' new pumper truck and all the goodies that are hidden behind all the doors. You can't imagine all the stuff they carry around with them on that truck!

This is Captain Steve. He showed us all the cloths and accessories they have to put on when they go to fight a fire. Here he is here with all the gear - even an oxygen tank! He turned a special microphone in that mask and talked to us through it. (He sounded just like Darth Vader!) Very cool.

Then Captain Steve thought it would be funny to put the jacket on me. Uh... it's a little big!

Hannah put on the oxygen tank. It weighs 35 pounds! She could only hold it for about 1 second.

Of course we got to sit in the fire engine! Here's Hannah pretending to be the driver.

I'm sitting the passengers seat which is also the Captain's seat.

We learned that a fire engine and a fire truck are two different things: a fire truck has ladders - like a hook & ladder truck. An engine does not - like a pumper engine.

Then Captain Steve told us all to jump in... we're going for a ride in the truck! Mommy and Nicky sat up front.

Me, Daddy, Annee Ranee and Hannah sat in the backseat - four across! You can't even see me. I'm next to Daddy. It was totally fun riding in the fire engine! When we got back to the fire station Captain Steve said he might have trouble parking the engine because he doesn't drive it very often.

So he had me come up front and steer her in! First we had to enter the code to open the gate.

Then we checked all the mirrors for clearance and drove on in to the garage. He let me do everything! I released the brakes, shifted, steered! It was so cool!

We pulled into the garage... waved at our adoring fans (Uncle Mike and Mr. John, FF Justin)... but for some reason we pulled right through to the outside again.

We parked outside. Then Captain Steve told Hannah and I that we were going to have to put out a fire! Yikes!

We were ready for the task. He whipped a hose off the truck.

He showed us how to hold the hose.

Then left us and went over to the control panel to start the pumps!

We can feel the water coming...

Oh... here's a trickle!

Zoinks! This thing can spray!

We're doing a great job putting out the (pretend) fire on the light pole!

Wow! This is what you do when the fire is getting too hot. When you open up the spray it will protect you from the heat.

Sometimes the water pressure is so great it takes four people to hold the hose.

High Fives for Captain Steve!!

Nicky had a great time and loved his new hat and sticker badge!

So did Hannah and I!

And best yet: we got to have cookies with the firefighters in their kitchen!

Thanks for a great day, Captain Steve and Firefighter Justin! We had a great day that will be remembered for a very long time!

It's My Birthday!

2007-07-02T22:13:00.001-07:00

June 30
I'm six years old now!
My whole pre-birthday week was great even thought I had to spend everyday in clinic getting my chemo. Mom set-up playdates for me: my friends came to clinic to play with me! It was awesome and made each day go super fast. This is my friend Jack whol came on Friday when my mom had her camera with her. We're playing Lego Star Wars on my PS2. A big thanks to Dylan, Luke & Jake, Noah & Zoe for coming down and keeping me company. My best chemo week ever!

My super-fantastic birthday party happened at 10am Saturday.
Lego Star Wars Jedi Training

This is actually me in my General Grevious mask. I know, it's hard to tell the difference between the real guy and me.

This is Marianna & Audrey preparing for our light saber agility training. We had three tasks to accomplish to move from young Padawan to Jedi Masters.

Use the Force to find a meteor in the backyard. We each found one and then received points on our point badge.
Light Saber Agility: bounce a balloon as many times as possible on our saber and get more points!
Pin the control panel on Darth Vader's picture - more points! Three of my friends hit it right on target! 100pts!

When our tasks were completed we were prepped for a possible run in with the dark side.

Ahh, here it is now... Darth Sideous. Oh wait, that's just Jaden pretending to be him! Ha Ha - good disguise!

We prepared for the worst and dueled amongst ourselves.

And then it happened! We could all feel a terrible disturbance in the Force! The darkside was close!

DARTH VADER!!!

We all attacked at once. We knew that even though we were new Jedi Knights the combination of our Forces would be more than enough to overtake the evil Darth Vader!

Fight on brave Jedi!

Finally, Darth Vader realized that our training had been completed and he didn't stand a chance against us! He relinqueshed his light saber to me! and gave up. Our proud group of triumphant Jedi Masters retired to Dexter's Diner where we were able to purchase a prize with all the points we had earned during training. What fun!

D.V. was weakened to the point where we held him in place with the Force and posed for pictures with him as a captive.

An awesome ending to an AWESOME party!

Use the Force young Jedi! We shall meet again!

May the Force be with You!

2007-06-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

It's not what you know... it's who you know. Thank goodness those nurses at clinic are looking out for me, because my parents don't have a clue! Last week, nurse Amy told mom about Star Wars weekend at Legoland. Both Mom & Dad thought I might like it... are they kidding?

We ran into a legion of Storm Troopers at an Empiral Star Base.

Dad & I stopped off at NYC for a brief visit.
Then there was Yoda... I'm pretty sure he was a puppet, but I never saw that guys lips move!

Imperial Star Base made by some Lego star Wars Fan out of all kinds of his own sets. There is no kit you can buy to make this thing!

I saw the real Darth Vader walking around but I wasn't going near him. This is a life size Darth made out of legos.

These guys are totally cool. C3PO and R2D2. R2D2 makes the funniest noises!

This is giant picture that is made completely out of legos. Super cool!

My parents somehow got me to pose with a real life storm trooper as soon as we got into LegoLand.
The Millenium Falcon!

Hooray! Chewbacca! My all time favorite!

This is the coolest ride in the park. It's just for kids 6-12 and we can drive a car just like our parents do. There are stop signs and traffic lights. All kids of turns. And at the end we got a drivers license!

Job of the Hut! (Jabba the Hut to the rest of the world.) I just bought the Jabba Sail Barge on the Lego.com site with my very own money. It should be at my house sometime this week.

Nicky is looking at the Bricktona 500.

And finally, my light saber battle with Darth Vader! Take that!

Kindergarten, Room 4

2007-05-30T20:30:00.001-07:00

The best picture on the blog yet! Ms. Weitz's Kindergarten Class, Room 4. Modeling this years most wanted accessory: the hospital face mask! Ooo-la-la!

Max - Jack R - Jack M - Allison - Alyssa - Noah - Shayna

Max hanging on the kindergarten playground with his pals.

Having Fun in the Mountains

2007-05-29T11:12:00.001-07:00

My family spent the weekend in Big Bear. We all stayed in one big house with my cousins (Chase, Hallee, Kanan and Katie), Nana & Tata, Uncles & Aunts (Kevin & Reba, Mike & Randee, Ashley, Jarod & Bree). It was a lot of fun. Here are some of the things we did while we were there.

Cousin Chase and I played Star Wars with Hannah and Hallee.

We stopped at a Hot Rod Car show and saw some very cool old cars.

And this Army thing. (I'm holding my pretend rifle.)

And this super-cool low-rider that looks just like Ramon on the Cars movie!

Then we all rode up a mountain on a ski lift so we could ride down the Alpine Slide on tobbogans. This is Hannah and My Aunt Randee going up.

And this is me and Daddy coming down. We went really fast!

This is Ashley and baby Kanan on the Alpine slide.

Hannah was big enough to ride down by herself.

So was Chase.

Here we are at the Discovery Center. We went on a nature hike and learned lots of great stuff about Big Bear Mountain and Lake. And we made animal track casts. I made a racoon paw print.

Best of all, we rented a pontoon boat and toured the lake! Here's Hannah sitting up front.

And Hallee driving.

Nic wasn't too comfortable in the lifevest he had to wear.

And, of course, I got to drive, too. In fact, all the kids got to drive! It was really fun. I made the boat go fast and slow. We had a great weekend!

Bessie & Mr. Inspiration

2007-05-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

Today Bessie came home with me from school. (She's our classroom bear and we all take turns taking her home for the night.) Tonight Bessie and I went to the big kid school, Solana Pacific.

Ms. Weitz was there!
So was my whole family, my Nana & Tata, and my Papa.
I wasn't sure what to expect and I felt a little nervous. My mom told me that Mr. Benson, our Principal, would call my name and I would walk to the front of the room (that was filled with like 100's of people!) and he would say some nice things about me that Ms. Weitz wrote.
And that's exactly what happened!

After Mr. Benson spoke I was given my award. It's real fancy and framed. It says:

The Superintendent and Solana Beach School District Board of Trustees

Recognize & Congratulate

MAX MIKULAK

Recipient of the Solana Highlands School

Kindergarten Student Inspiration Award for

Courage & Effort

One kid from each grade in our school received an award. Some kids received the same award as me, others received their award for being a great leader, a good friend or for academic improvement.

These are all the kids who got awards from all the schools in our district. They are all very amazing and have made great efforts during this school year. I was glad to be standing with all these great kids.

My Celebration Weekend

2007-05-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Celebration of Champions. It's a day when all us chemotherapy kids get to run in a race and celebrate our strengths together. I ran in it last year and had a lot of fun.

But this Saturday morning I didn't feel good at all. I felt like I was going to throw up all morning, so this year we skipped the big event. (I don't think I would've had much fun feeling like I did.)

Luckily, I have a very inventive family! We had a BBQ at my cousins house (Mike, Amanda, Chase and Hallee) and they set-up my very own Celebration!

Aunt Randee had a super cool banner made that says, "Live Life to the Max" and we all walked across the yard, through the finish line tape and had a ribbon ceremony!

It was totally cool!

This is me after cousin Amanda awarded me with my medal.

This is my cousin Hallee, me, my banner!, cousin Chase and Hannah after the big event. Thanks everyone for making me feel like a Champion!

Comments!

2007-04-23T09:50:00.001-07:00

We'd love to hear from you regarding your thoughts to our posts.

Please click on "comments" at the end of each post and give us your feedback, thoughts, feelings, etc. We love to read them and they're easy to look back on when attached to the blog.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Cousin Alaina & Project Max

2007-04-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

This is a story about my cousin Alaina. She just turned 9 years old and she's in 3rd grade. She wanted to do something to help me and make a donation to my hospital, Rady Children's Hospital San Diego. She decided to recycle.

First, she thought she'd collect the recycling from her house and family. Then she decided to ask if her classmates would like to help.
Soon, her whole school, Crestview Preparatory in La Canada, CA, joined in... and they ended up with three+ cars full of recycled bottles and cans!
My cousins, Alaina and Patrick, their Mommy, Daddy, and Nana drove their full cars to the recycling center and cashed in! Alaina had collected enough bottles and cans to make $600.

Alaina took the money from recycling and bought lots and lots of toys, books and gifts and donated them to the Hem/Onc Brave Box.

Miss Angela (the same Miss Angela who visited my class!) will give these wonderful toys and books to kids at the hospital who were brave.

THANK YOU, COUSIN ALAINA!!

My G-Tube

2007-03-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the hospital to get a thing called a G-Tube but on my tummy. Dad and Mommy say I need one because I don't eat very well right now. Chemo makes everything smell or taste funny and I just don't want to eat. Getting a G-tube means I have to stay the night at the hospital. This time is wasn't such a bad thing because my tummy really hurt.

I stayed in bed all day Thursday, the day I got my new button (that's what I call it). I also stayed in bed all day Friday. I didn't even get out of bed to go potty because it hurt too much to move. You'll have to ask my mommy how we managed to go potty without getting out of bed. I think you can only do it at a hospital - they have lots of interesting stuff in case you can't move.

For being a good patient I got this cool new Lego Fire truck and trailer. It kept me busy while I waited and waited and waited for the doctor to say it was okay for me to eat. I didn't eat for 42 hours and I was grouchy and hungry.
Ahh... food! As soon as Dr. Roberts gave me the thumbs up to eat I went crazy. I ate Pirates Bootie, cheerio’s, bagel, sourdough bread, blueberry muffin, pretzels, choc-chip cookie and ½ a banana. Then I had some chicken noodle soup and half a cup o’ mashed potatoes for dinner. After that I felt much better!

I don't miss out on any school work while I'm at the hospital.

Here are two great pictures of my new button. You can see my belly button just above my pants waistband - it looks like a little line. My new button is about 2 inches higher and looks a lot like the blow up nozzle on a beach ball. It's clear rubber. I can turn it in any direction. At night I pull the little plug out and mom gives me a special tube to pop in to the hole. Then while I sleep a little machine pumps something like vanilla milk right into my stomach. Dad and Mommy say that it will help me get big and strong even when I have a hard time eating during the day.

This last picture is me in the hospital school room. I can't believe I've never mentioned this place before! They have lots of cool books to borrow and super fun computer games. I get to go here on the days I'm at the hospital.

Vermont, Sick, Snow

2007-03-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

My Dad, Mom, Hannah and I went to Vermont for my last visit with Dr. Sholler. March 14-17. I hope I don't have to go back there again, because the plane ride is way too long. (Especially since I was just coming down with the stomache flu.) As usual, there was hardly any snow when we arrived. The snow that was piled up everywhere was like great big crunchy ice-blocks.

We stayed at a hotel this time which was fun because we got to order room-service for breakfast everyday. We also had dinner in there for two nights because I just wasn't up to going out. We ordered a movie on the TV and watched "Open Season." Very funny!

Hannah and I got to visit the Ronald McDonald House for the whole day on Friday while mom and dad went to a meeting. This was Hannah's first time there. She had a lot of fun. I ended up sleeping for 5 hours while she and our really nice babysitter, Miss Vicki, entertained each other.

Friday night it started snowing. Little, teeny, tiny flakes all night long. When we went to bed there was little dusting of snow on all the cars. When we woke up in the morning, Whoa! Everything was covered with 10 inches of snow! It was beautiful! Fun, too... Dad and I went out driving in the car and punched through small snow banks and slid around a little. It was super freezy outside so I didn't want to go play, but Hannah did. She's a nut. She tried to make snowballs but the snow was so dry and powdery it wouldn't stick together. Isn't that weird?

Our flight home was canceled Saturday morning due to the snow, but we were able to catch a plane later in the afternoon. I slept most of the way home dreaming of getting back to school!

My Recent Stay in the Hospital

2007-02-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last week I had to stay in the hopital to get my chemotherapy. I was very excited to stay overnight there. I haven't done that in a long time.
Mom picked up a cool new lego Creator Kit. It makes three different robots. I had lots of fun learning how to read the directions and putting it together all by myself!

I brought my stuffed snake along to keep me company. He's fun to snuggle with at bedtime.

Mom and I made a bunch of balloon animals one day. I gave them to the nurses and doctors who came into my room to visit. They were a big hit. We made a flower, giraffe, parrot, swan, and an alligator.

I also did a little school work!

Staying overnight at the hospital four nights wasn't as fun as I had remembered. It got really boring. There are no kids to play with, the playroom isn't open on the weekends, and I have to be hooked up to the IV pole the whole time which means no running around or wrestling. I couldn't wait to get home.
When I got home Papa had picked up some Dungenous Crab for my dinner! I ate three claw-legs and half a body. It was delicious! I'm happy to be home.

Eating Crab

2007-02-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

I'm Getting My Chemo this Week

2007-01-25T21:30:00.000-08:00

This week I'm spending each day at the clinic so I can get my special medicine (chemotherapy). Chemo helps get rid of the bad cancer cells that are in my body. I will be here Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

On Monday Mom read me enough books to fill one whole blue-sheet for school!

Tuesday we played with Lincoln Logs. Mom said she loved these when she was a kid.

Wednesday and Thursday, Ms. Weitz, my teacher came to clinic! She brought fun school work and helped me with it.

Also on Thursday a Padres baseball player named Trevor Hoffman came and gave me and my friend Sam autographed baseball caps!

Friday I'm expecting a visit from my Annee Ranee (Aunt Randee). She's even kookier than my mom!

My Radiation Treatment

2007-01-12T20:57:00.000-08:00

Here's the new thing I have to do to help get rid of the bad cancer cells in my body. It's called raditation. First Mr. Wealthy made this crazy mask of my face and head. It was just a flat thing that he warmed up in water then he stretched it down over my face and we had to let it dry for 15 minutes. That was weird feeling.
No that it's dry it holds my head in the exact same position everyday so the radiation lasers hit the right spots each time.
This is Mr. Matt fastenting my mask to the table.
It's not that bad. I'm actually smiling in there.
This is Mr. Matt and Mr. V making sure all the lines drawn on my body are lined up with the lasers. When radiation is all done in 10 days I get to take the mask home! I'm gong to bring it in the Super Sack to share with everyone at school. Then my dad and I are going to paint it to look like Spiderman!

I'm Back from Vermont!

2007-01-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

Church Street in Burlington.

I spent another week in Vermont Dec 31 - Jan 7, 2007. This time with my Dad and Papa. This is me on the airplane. When we got here there was snow on everything! It was beautiful! But it rained the next morning and I woke up early to the strange sound of snow sliding off the roof top.
Ronald McDonald House with Snow & ME!

Of course, I spent a few hours everyday at the hospital getting my special medicine (chemotherapy),

having that crazy heart monitor test,

and wasting some time playing Mario Bros. Super Kart! Lucky for me, the nurses were super fast so Daddy and I had time to do some other stuff outside the hospital!

We made three visits to the Echo Center & Aquarium (I love this place!).
I'm standing up inside this fish tank. Cool trick, eh?
This a big lake trout - It's about 18" long.
These are my new pets. I hope mom let's me keep them!

These are the "lincoln logs" they had there to play with. They're really real logs!

We also made a visit to Shelbourne Farm. It was super close to town. This is what it looked like.

This is how you dress in Vermont - and they told me it wasn't even very cold there while I was visiting! Yikes!

Other Stuff I Do at the Hospital...

2006-12-30T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some things you won't see everyday!

Here I am going into the Cat Scan machine. No, there are no cats anywhere around this thing. I think they should call it the donut scan, don't you? I have to lay down really still, then the bed-part slides into the hole of the donut and a camera spins around in there and takes a wrap-around picture of my body. It only takes about 5 seconds! This room has pictures of jungle animals all over the walls.

This is me having a test done on my heart beat. Can you believe all the crazy wires they had stuck on me? I've learned that most of the tests I have to do aren't very long if I cooperate. And sometimes they can even be fun. The nurse let me stick some of the wires on myself and her -- and she let me peel them all off when we were finished.

And here I am when I got to spend the night at the hospital. They have these pajamas you can wear that tie in the back and pants that are almost always to big for me. The top has teddy bears flying in space ships and the pants are covered in tigers. It's fun wearing the hospital clothes.

Also, when you spend the night there, they have room service! You can order breakfast, lunch and dinner! I found out that their french toast sticks are really just like churros with lots and lots of cinnamon-sugar on them, plus you get to dip them in syrup. I loved them.

Hi Everybody!

2006-12-30T07:20:00.000-08:00

December 8, 2006
When I returned to school from my visit to Vermont my class gave me this very awesome poster they made for me. I love it. I sit on the couch and look at it a lot. Thanks, guys!

The Childlife Specialist from my hospital, Miss Angela, came to my class this day, too. Hannah's class joined us and Miss Angela told everyone about Children's Hospital and the clinic where I go every week. She explained about the bad cells in my body that we are trying to get rid of. She showed everyone how my "port-a-cathe" is inside my chest (using a doll) and how the nurses can use it to give me my chemotherapy medicine and take my blood for tests. (It doesn't hurt with my port.)

This picture shows what my port looks like when it's "accessed" or plugged-in. When I'm not plugged-in my port just looks like a bump under my skin. The green tube that you see is where the medicine goes in. I can keep this thing plugged in for lots of days in a row with the big clear bandage covering it.

Miss Angela also explained that my chemo-medicine makes my hair fall out. It'll grow back later! Then we got to watch a Charlie Brown cartoon about a little girl who had cancer. It was very interesting. I'm glad I was able to share all of this stuff with my friends. It makes me feel better that they can understand why I miss a lot of school and why I don't have hair right now.

This is me and my buddy, Sam, hanging out in clinic one day. There are lots of kids at the hospital with no hair just like me. Sam has the same cancer as me. Here you see us playing Nintendo and getting our chemotherapy.

I hope all your questions were answered about my being sick. If you think of more questions it's okay to ask me! I'm happy to tell you what I know. Thanks for bring my friend.