Shingles, Surprises, and Sheeshes

Marshall has felt so well- the best I have seen him since he was diagnosed with ALL a year and a half ago. His blood counts have also been superb- his neutrophil number was the same as mine last week! The P.A. and doctor here told us that Marshall could go without his acyclovir and his mask and fly home for a few weeks while he had his mandatory break from the blinatumomab.

Well we took it and ran! We flew home on a Saturday without telling any family or friends. Julie did know I was coming (not Marshall) and I told Kelly because if anything went wrong I wanted someone to know.  We wanted to be able to enjoy time with family and friends while Marshall felt so well because we know from experience as soon as we are back for transplant he probably won't be able to do much. Also. Marshall had some trasplant work up he needed to do while we were in Salt Lake.

On Saturday Cyndi told the Jensen fam that if they wanted to do a video for Miracle for Marshall that was going to happen this was their chance. So after we surprised Tyrel at our house,

we headed to West Valley to surprise Marshall's parents in the middle of their interview with Cyndi. We stayed at a park a block and a half away until Tyrel texted us the code text to come. I wish I had that video, but we do have when we surprised Melanie. The next day we went to Barry and Julie's. Barry said he wasn't surprised because this is totally Marshall's nature. I agree with him wholeheartedly. After Marshall was diagnosed last year I told him I could go the rest of our lives without any more surprises, but Marshall loves to surprise! Let's hope he surprises all the doctors and beats this leukemia even after relapse.

Our next surprise was to drive to Miracle for Marshall in Idaho on Monday that was put on by my marvelous McKee family! YES we are blessed to have such marvelous friends and family. $7,000 was raised and we thank each and everyone that bid on items in the silent auction in Utah and Idaho and who have donated to our fund to help Marshall have a miracle! I wish I had my other computer with pictures and videos Brielle gave me, but you can check out more about Miracle for Marshall here: http://mattandbriellehunt.blogspot.com/2013/05/miracles-for-marshall.html

 

I also got to have some fun while I was in Utah! My wonderful sister in law Julie wrote an essay about our story and I won a Mother's Day makeover called the Beauty of Mom from Lunatic Fringe salon in Sugar House. They darkened and thinned out my hair. I actually wouldn't mind having a fro so I'm still getting used to the lighter feeling. It's nicer in Texas that's for shizzle!

That night we went to Alex's preschool graduation! I remember how small he was when I first met him and I am such a proud aunt for what a smart little boy he is! His teacher will have a challenge challenging him!

 

Kezzy sure loves his aunt Julie and cousins! I'm glad they have a special bond even if it was so hard on us to leave him behind when we first went to Texas.

While we were in Utah and in between Marshall's transplant work ups we also had a small birthday party for Kezman since we won't be able to do that afterward. I was so glad that Grandpa and Grandma Reese were able to join us for the occasion.

 

 

 Special thanks to Brielle for making such a cute Thomas the train cake! Kez loves trains! Marshall couldn't wait and put up the train banner in the morning and when Kezzy saw it when he woke up he was ECSTATIC! Shaking and pointing all day saying Choo Choo mommy choo choo! Also thanks to Sterling who helped Kezman blow out his candles. Kez is my careful boy when it comes to things like eating cake and blowing out fire and I am just fine with that. So glad we were able to celebrate with family and friends there and can't wait to celebrate on an even smaller level again.                

We have amazing neighbors in Woods Cross that helped us with our backyard and plant some tomatoes  and flowers the Saturday we were home. I hope they are alive and well when we get back :)!

 One of my best friends who is living in Wyoming but is in the process of moving to Washington state called me late one night saying she was driving to Primary Children's for her baby girl with her sister in law. We went to visit her while she was there and thanks to the Mortensens she even got some yummy dutch oven food that we brought to her at the hospital. Her little girl is great and I am lucky to have amazing mommies to look up to and hope to be like someday! It was also great to see our wonderful friends Matt and Megan, Teri, the Weilers, the Mortensens, and the Goalens while we were home and everyone else I didn't list we love you all!

Well as if we didn't have enough on our plate Melanie and I decided last minute to run the Woods Cross 5K on Memorial day. I am glad I woke up to do it because our awesome neighbor Styles won an award and was giving his speech at the service AND they were raising funds for our wonderful friends in Moore, Oklahoma who's house was leveled by the tornado! I met Chris Goelz at BYU-Idaho and took a trip with him to California my freshman year to visit the awesome Hunter family in Gridley. 

Tyrel was just trying to get more picture of his lovely wife Melanie and I was photo bombing his photos. Ha! Sorry. On top of all that my amazing sister-in-law Melanie loves interior design and is going to change up the house a bit while we are away for the next month. Love you Melanie!!

Well for better or for worse we are now back in Texas. At the moment I would lean toward the worse. We expected Marshall to be in the hospital for 3 days as he starts his second biotherapy regimen to keep the cancer in remission until transplant. They biopsied him agan as part of the study curriculum and afterward they found a rash growing near his biopsy spot. We found out it is shingles and is most likely from his previous donor's chicken pox when he was little. It has been a year since his first transplant now and Marshall has not yet received the vaccinations he will need.  I was glad Kez and I stayed in a nearby hotel while this was going on.

They released Marshall yesterday, but 2 days after he started the BITE again, he was feeling under the weather. They tested him and he's positive for parainfluenza. Kez also started with similar symptoms just a little while after Marshall had them. So today Marshall went into MD Anderson by himself since Kez is not allowed in or near because he is sick while I stayed home with Kez.  Good thing one of us has a good immune system! We were expecting a bag change and blood count review today as usual. They noticed his shingles have spread on his thigh so they are admitting him to give him IV meds instead of just treating it with pills. As I sit here typing he has been sitting in a waiting room for 3 hours. Oh sheesh!