Hot, Hot, HOT!

Oh my, for those of you not in Minnesota, it was 95 today!  We just can't get a happy medium here.  It is either upper 60's and rainy or upper 90's and humid!
Aly is still holding her own.  Today Kevin left work early so we could get out on the lake and cool down.  Aly was sooo excited.  She's been wanting to go tubing.  Yes, she was feeling good enough to do that.  Her energy level is still up and down.  Mornings still tend to be a struggle.  She has been starting each morning still vomiting.  By lunch time she tends to have a bit of an appetite and eats a little.  Today, she surprised us all by pretty much eating a full meal at dinner time.  She had most of a subway sandwich with some apples and a juice box.  As Kevin said, that's more than she's eaten all week.  We haven't seen that in quite a while!
Tomorrow, we have a clinic visit.  They are doing an ultrasound just to rule out any stomach issues.  They will also being checking her blood counts.  We are hoping it will not take all day.  We were supposed to meet with a neurosurgeon as well.  His office called, as we were eating dinner, to see if we could reschedule.  We were hoping to get everything done in one drive to Minneapolis.  It never works that way. We shouldn't be surprised anymore!  There is never any concern about our time.  Our time is not as valuable as theirs.  They rule the world.  We just go broke paying medical premiums that pad their pockets.  That is the conclusion I've come to.  Oh, I've got a great story that I didn't share, from our last trip to the E.R.  The E.R. doctor figured out that our last name of Juntunen was Finnish.  To make a long story short, she said she recognizes Finnish names because she's had a couple of "au pairs from Finland"and most Finnish names end in nen.  Who calls nannies, au pairs and who hires them from Finland?  And do you really think we were interested in this story at 4 am when our daughter is laying in the E.R. and none of us has had any sleep?   Ok, I'll get back off the soap box.  Anybody want to back my campaign for president in 2012?  
We are meeting with the neurosurgeon just in case Aly needs to have surgery.  We do not know yet and a decision won't be made until they look at the MRI after her last chemo round.  They would just like to see Aly and start a plan if it is necessary.  It will just be next Wednesday instead of tomorrow.  Which means more time off from work and more long drives to Minneapolis...Yes, I'm hot, hot, hot...hot tempered.  

smooth...

Aly is at home!  This round went smooth!  Aly, amazingly, is feeling pretty good today.  No vomiting since early this morning.  She was out enjoying the pretty nice weather and spent some time playing with neighbor friends this afternoon.

First Day Done, 2 To Go...

The hospital stay is going good so far.  The first round of chemo is completed, two more days to go.
It was a bit of a challenge for Aly.  Her DDAVP medicine did not really kick in today.  It is the one that helps her not have to go to the bathroom so often and also controls her thirst.  They did not want to give her another dose because they do not want the chemo sitting in her bladder, so they wanted to make sure the fluids were moving and flushing.  NO problem there!  They made her wait until 6 pm to take another dose of DDAVP.  Before that time, between 10 am and 6 pm, she consumed a 32 oz gatorade and three 20 oz bottles of water.  Yeah, I know!  This was on top of the IV fluids they were giving which were also helping to flush out the system and her feeding formula.  By 6 pm she was wishing she had a potty built into the bed!  Poor girl!
She was also bummed about the nice weather today.  When she has to go into the hospital, it is guaranteed that the weather outside is gorgeous.  When she's at home, the weather has been miserable.  It didn't help that the nurses kept talking about it and saying that they had plans to do things outside over the weekend.
We watched a marathon of "Say Yes to the Dress" to pass a lot of the time today.  Love that show!  Aly also did some drawing, a little math, and made a hammock out of a mask for her monkey, Tiny.  She also made a long dress for Tiny out of a blue silicone glove.  Anything to keep her busy!

Aly had a terrific day today.  No vomiting, played with friends, swam with her swim team and ate some food!  WooHoo!  It really stinks that right when she is feeling great, it is time for chemo again.  It'd be nice if she had a little more time in between.
Please keep us in your thoughts and pray that this round goes as smoothly as the last 3 day round.  Four rounds down, 2 to go!
If any of you in the St. Michael area are interested, I posted volunteer opportunities to help at a meat raffle at Ditto's Bar on Saturday (They are actually doing a meat raffle EVERY Saturday during the summer).  If you don't want to volunteer, you can go and have some fun.  Buy some raffle tickets and possibly win some meat or drinks.  All proceeds will be split between our family and Maddy Wenner's family.  The meat raffle is sponsored by STMA Sea Devils.  Thank you!
Thank you to STMA United Soccer as well.  Coach Hoffman brought over a cozy, warm sweatshirt for Aly and a soccer jersey signed by many of Aly's team mates from last year.  Thank you for your support!

volunteer opportunities

I know we have many people wanting to volunteer to help Aly's family...here is an idea!

We still have some openings for the meat raffle. Any adult can volunteer it does not have to be a swim parent – it can be neighbors, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends. All the money that this fund raiser gets will be given to the 2 families where the swimmers have cancer (Aly Juntunen and Maddy Wenner). We’d like all 4 spots filled for each Saturday. You need to arrive a 1 pm and it goes until all the tickets are sold (can be up to 5 pm) at Ditto’s Bar in St. Michael.

Here are the openings

2 spots for this Saturday 6/25

2 spots for 7/16

1 spot for 8/6

4 spots for 8/13

Here is a link to the sign-up which is under the Misc. Volunteer Jobs (Apr 15 ~ Aug 15, 2011) event from the Events screen (the very first one on the events screen)

http://www.teamunify.com/EvJobSignup.jsp?team=mnsdvl&event_id=140261

This is being organized by Aly's swim team.  There are 2 girls Aly and Maddy who are battling cancer.  All proceeds from the meat raffle will be split between the families.  We would really appreciate friends and family filling these volunteer spots so we can make the most of the opportunity!

Thanks!

Beautiful Blankets

Aly has received several beautiful, meaningful blankets.  The latest was from her swim team, I wanted to share a pic of it.  The other pic is of the blanket that her classmate's grandma made.  I mentioned it before, but it had all the names of her classmates embroidered on it and Aly's name was in a heart in the middle.  All the blankets she has received have meant so much and have been special in different ways.
Aly is feeling really good today and currently has 4, yes I said 4, neighbor friends over to play.  So, I can comfortably say she is not lonesome or bored today!  She actually has been eating pretty well the last 2 days as well.  That makes me and the rest of the family extremely happy as it is a true sign she is doing better!  The only time she wants to eat is when she feels good.
We had a stormy (weather) morning here and are expecting more storms this evening.  It is a good day to stay inside!

quick note!

I am just getting home from taking time out to go scrapbooking with my good lady friends/neighbors (missed you Holly!).  Thank you Heather and Tiffany for joining me in my much needed break!
That should tell you that Aly is home and doing good.  She came home this morning, seemed to be feeling good and was back to her chipper self.  A drastic improvement over the past few days!  She ate some pizza rolls for lunch, so that proves even more that she is feeling better.
A home care nurse came out to show us how to use a medication pump that Aly will be hooked up to for at least the next two days.  It automatically doses the antibiotics that Aly needs.  The blood culture they took yesterday came back as negative for bacteria, so hopefully that means she is on her way back to better health and can enjoy this week at home.
Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

P.S. - I guess I missed Ronald stopping by...Ronald told Aly she must have hit the clown button instead of the button that summons the nurse.  He stopped by while Aly was waiting to be discharged on Saturday morning...