Chemo #12...WE MADE IT!

Friday was Allen's TWELFTH treatment! He has had a treatment every other week over the past 24 weeks (6 months) so it was hard for us to believe that it was finally the last one. It started off with a great meeting with The Cancer Ninja.  We really just went over all the next steps in Allen's treatment, starting with an appointment with The Radiator this Thursday, scans and a follow up meeting with The Ninja to go over Allen's scans next week, simulation probably the following week, and radiation to tentatively begin the week of April 22nd. Whew - that is a lot; oh, and we can't forget that there is a baby to be arriving at some point in the midst of all of that.  

All hooked up and ready to go.  His port cooperated for the most part during treatment.

The red blob in the foreground is Baby Braxtyn cheering Daddy on as he gets treatment #12!

Ringing the bell to signify he completed all 12 of chemo treatments! We LOVED that it was a HOG bell!!!

Daddy arrived home to purple balloons and awesome signs that the kiddos had made for him!

That night we celebrated ALL-EN style with some cool purple accessories!

Saturday morning Allen felt pretty yucky, but he wasn't going to miss his long run after his LAST treatment! (He needed some helpers to hold up 12 fingers!)

Many of you know that when we told the kids about Allen having CANcer, we explained to them that Daddy got a powerport like Ironman's.  (The powerport is where Allen receives chemo in his chest, and it sits right about where Ironman's light up button is.) Throughout treatment the kids have wanted to see and touch Allen's port, and we always talk about Daddy being strong like Ironman.  Braedyn has even told many of his friends at school that his Daddy IS Ironman! So, when a couple friends gave us the heads up that Ironman was going to be in town this weekend, we knew we had to stop by and say hi!

The kids were mesmerized!

And, we had to get a family shot with Allen's namesake too! Ironman meeting Ironman was quite the event!

 Wow.  What a busy weekend! With chemo out of the way, we have cleared a huge hurdle; however, we know that there are many hurdles ahead. We will update everyone on the latest after we see The Radiator on Thursday. Thank you for all of your support and prayers throughout the last six months and in the months ahead! It has meant and continues to mean so much to our family.

Chemo #11

Last Friday Allen had his ELEVENTH chemotherapy treatment.  It feels like Allen has been going through treatment forever, yet at the same time it is hard to believe that the last one is just around the corner!

Allen's white counts were down to critical levels at our meeting with The Cancer Ninja.  Definitely lower than we expected, but in a way we were a little relieved to see that the treatment is still greatly affecting his body even after dropping one of his medications.  The Ninja was also able to talk us through a rough timeline for the next couple of months.  Allen will finish chemo treatments next Friday (March 22nd), and then in two weeks he will have another round of scans.  We are hoping these scans look as amazing as his last ones and are of course CANcer FREE; it would be amazing if his tumor showed even more shrinkage too.  After those scans, Allen will be scheduled for radiation simulation so The Radiator can formulate a plan of action, and Allen will have more blood tests to see if his white cell counts are high enough to have the surgeon remove his port.  Radiation will start four weeks from his last chemo treatment (because some of his medications can interact with radiation). So, it is looking like Allen will start radiation the same week Baby Bates is set to arrive - we do nothing the easy way in this family, apparently.

The good news is Allen felt pretty good over the weekend.  He was tired, and he had his usual headaches to contend with but no nausea.  Usually, by Wednesday afternoon (tomorrow) he is feeling pretty good again.  And, of course he managed to get in two long runs this weekend; he is DETERMINED to run after EVERY SINGLE chemo treatment! This time however, he needed a helper to hold up eleven fingers:

Thank you again for all of your support! We are hoping for an uneventful, healthy rest of the week and weekend leading up to Allen's LAST TREATMENT next week!

Back in Arkansas!

Last Monday (two days after chemo) Allen left for a week long business trip in Orlando.  We had been prepping for this trip for a couple of weeks - remember the picture of Allen with the big yellow bag on his head?! He was a good boy and followed The Ninja's orders of wearing his mask on the plane.  Check out his super cool mustache courtesy of his co-workers:

In Orlando Allen attended the Year Beginning Meeting for Sam's Club.  And, guess what the theme was for the meeting:

Yep! You are reading that right ALL-EN - they just spelled it wrong! There was a powerful speaker, Gian Paul Gonzalez, (he came up with the All-In slogan for the New York Giants the year they one the Super Bowl) who came and spoke to the entire company about being All-In. He said, "being All-In is SCARY because you have to count on other people, you will be TESTED, and you have NO OPTION but to win."  Well, that about sums it up.  Don't think we could have put it any better, and Allen is definitely on the road to a WIN!

Allen arrived home to some AWESOME cards! Thank you to everyone who has been sending him notes of encouragement! If you would like to send him one email me at leahbates1212@yahoo.com and I'll send you our address.  Check out this one from The Austins:

This week brings treatment #11 on Friday. We are getting so close to that last chemotherapy treatment! This weekend we started planning a trip for later in the year, and Allen was saying how for the first time since he started this process he feels like he can look beyond the next treatment to life after CANcer.  We can't wait to start that chapter!