Andrew was able to have is 8th of 9 chemo sessions Monday night.  Yay!!!!  He has been doing pretty well, and we thought was ready to go home this morning, but alas, his water pooh has returned.  It started last night right before chemo, so they want to do some tests before he is released.  We are hoping for him to be released tomorrow morning.  I will update again when we are free!!!!

Because Andrew is such a big fan of Harry Potter, we made him his own newspaper, like in the movies. We called it The Not-Daily Prophet, have a look:

http://andrewvanderploeg.com/news/

So we have had a lot going on lately.  If you watched the video than you know that Andrew, Taylor and I attended the Mountain State Tumor Institute (MSTI) Prom on Saturday night.  Andrew asked a fellow cancer fighter 15 year old, Morgan to be his date.  Yes, he likes the older ladies.  We all had a great time!  Andrew and Taylor danced in the congo line and the YMCA was an event that will not be forgotten.  He was able to dance almost the whole night and we hope to attend many more to come.  To make the occassion even more special, Andrew, Morgan, and I were pictured in the Sunday newspaper.  They could not have looked sweeter. 

So Andrew was admitted for chemo Tuesday around 1:00.  I was very concerned about this round since the last one was so hard on him.  However, my worrying was unnecessary, he did great!  He did not get sick and we were released at 24 hours a new records for us.  He continues to do very well.

I also received the MRI results from his Thursday scan today.  There are still spots around the tumor resection site.  The spots are most likely either scar tissue or residual cancer, which we will be unsure of which it is unless they grow showing that it is cancer.  So as it stands all we can do is just wait.  It does not change any of his treatment.  His next scan will be in August. 

Thank you for all your kind words and support, we will just keep plugging along.

Andrew had his doctor’s appointment today and great news….he gained two pounds since last week! This is perfect timing since he will be admitted to the hospital for his chemotherapy on Monday. He went swimming at the YMCA with his cousins here visiting from Colorado on Thursday and he had a blast! He was swimming and attacking everyone he could get his hands around. He loved the water slide too. He is really into singing these days, and bursts into song every chance he gets, the silly boy. He is still throwing up almost everyday but keeps his spirits high. He is still on his feeding tube and gets formula about 16 hours a day, and at night he gets more calories by a solution via IV. He made a quick webcast enjoy!

Things have been going okay.  Andrew still has his feeding tube, and we feed about 16 hours a day.  Because he is still vomiting once to twice a day he is a little dehydrated so we are needing to give him saline via IV as well for 2 hours everyday.  He is taking it pretty well and just takes his little backpack with his fluids and pump around with him.  His blood counts look good so far, and we will go to the doctor tomorrow to double check them again.

And as promised here is the St. Baldricks speech.  ;0)