Back from vacation

Man, I've been a terrible blogger as of late. I have gotten downright lazy and I have to apologize again to anyone still checking to see if I'm still alive. I do deeply appreciate your coming around and promise to do better.


I spent all of last week in the lovely city of Memphis, Tennessee, with my parents, my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew. We were there to celebrate with my nephew Tyler at St. Jude because he received his last chemo treatment for leukemia. Ty was diagnosed on July 1, 2003, at the age of 5, and has spent the last three years receiving treatments both locally here in
Baton Rouge and at St. Jude. I have to tell y'all that St. Jude is the most wonderful place on Earth. Ty's chance of survival is 85% thanks to the research done by St. Jude. When they opened their doors in 1962, the cure rate for ALL was only 15%.


Not only are they the world's leader in researching and curing children's cancers and autoimmune diseases but they also do not bill the families even one cent for treatment. If a child is covered by insurance, St. Jude will bill the insurance company but the family will never see a bill. Everything above what insurance covers is covered by donations made to St. Jude. If a child doesn't have insurance, they are not turned down and the family still never sees a bill. I can't say enough wonderful things about St. Jude. It was opened by actor Danny Thomas in 1962 and now his daughter Marlo has taken over as their spokesperson. All I can say is God bless them.


Ty crossed another milestone today as he had his implanted venous access port removed. For the past three years this is how he's gotten his chemo treatments and it has saved him from having to be "poked" every time they needed to access a vein. He was quite put out by the fact that they made him take off his shirt and pants and put on a hospital gown. But his mom brought him a Coke Icee and the doc told him he could start swimming again next weekend so his mood was improving.

Thanks to the bone density tests showing mild deterioration Ty still can't have a skateboard or play sports. But he's taking his prescribed vitamin D and calcium so that when his bones are strong enough again he can play hard. It's nice to see him getting to be a kid again. :-)