New meds, new worries

I just did something I wish I wouldn't have done; researched all the side effects from the chemo that Ian just started on Tuesday. Normally, I wouldn't freak out so much. However, due to our track record where we seem to be the small minority that has the undesirable rare side effects to medications, I am feeling very unsettled at the moment.

The new chemo that got added into his regimen is called Doxorubicin. It is nicknamed the "Red Devil" because of everything associated with it. One of the many side effects is that it can effect the heart and damage the muscles. He has to have recurring EKG's while on it and then an EKG every 2 years for the rest of his life.

Ian has had some very strange peeling of his hands and feet. He looks like a snake about to shed it's skin except there are also some deep cracks and stuff as well. This medication makes any healing that the body needs to do significantly slower so I am trying to keep it bandaged as well as I can so he doesn't get infected hands or feet.

Many of you have asked me what you can specifically pray for. These next few weeks, pray that Ian's heart will not be damaged from this chemo and that his hands and feet can heal.

I am so grateful to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. I know I rely so much on your strength. I know I'm not alone!

Ding ding ding - Round 3

Ian's counts are back up. He headed in for round 3 yesterday morning. He had to have another LP (spinal tap) and 3 different chemos given to him. In addition, he continues to receive his Lovenox blood thinner and is starting up the steroid for 7 days straight. This is going to suck! The doctor said to expect his hair to fall as if he were a cat shedding hair. It gets in the clothes, the bed, the mouth, yuck! They told us that teens have recommended the use of lint rollers to pick up the hair. If Ian has a problem with it and is too shocked I have agreed to let him personally have a go at shaving my head. Corie will video tape it of course.

The past two months have been almost 100% maintenance and have given Ian a chance to recover from his weight gain and painful joints. Take a look at the three pics below to see how much he has changed over the past 5 months:

April 22, 2008
Day after Ian was diagnosed with ALL

May 22, 2008
Ian's last day on the steroid

August 22, 2008
The most recent picture of Ian

It's been a long 5 months...definitely the longest 5 months of my life. But whenever I think of complaining about the long hours in the office, the hours spent stuck in traffic, the annoying extra trips to the gas pump to fill up after hospital runs, the additional money spent to entertain Ian and his sisters, etc., I sit back and remind myself why it's all worth it.

We are truly blessed to have this tiger in our lives. He makes it all worth while. Goodnight.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

It's been a while since I personally have written to Ian's blog. I want to take the time to personally thank everyone who has done so much for us and for Ian. Let's see if I can list them all (if I miss someone, please don't be offended, it's been a long 4 months and I can't possibly remember EVERYTHING people have done for us).

• "The Jeff's" who came to the hospital to give each of us blessings on the day Ian was diagnosed.
• BJ VanOrman who made us cookies and visited us in the PICU.
• Austin Lanning, Todd Furstenau, Dan Torrez and my next door neighbors who mowed our lawn so many times.
• Amy Stevenson and Laurie Furstenau who cleaned our house the first week Ian was hospitalized.
• The many friends and neighbors (can't list them all there were so many) who prepared meals for us.
• Our friends (Macarthur's, Stapley's, Furstenau's, VanOrman's, to name a few) who have taken our kids from us, fed them, entertained them, etc. while we were at the hopsital with Ian.
• The many rides home from work and to the hospital with my good pal Don Macarthur.
• All the gifts from just about everyone in the world (literally...even people we don't know) that Ian received.
• Bill Intrader and Tim Madsen for the fund raiser camo wristbands to help us pay for gas to the hospital and treat Ian's sisters to some fun activities (like bowling).
• My boss, Mike Fitzgerald and Scott Lynn for giving me the time off from work to take care of our family issues.
• Mat Ellis and his search team for donating a Game Stop gift card which Ian thankfully used to purchase the new Lego Indiana Jones XBox game (soon to purchase the Batman game as well).
• Arthur Esclamada for taking the time to attend the Ian Crabtree Benefit Race and for his entry donation.
• Melanie Burns from payroll for her gift to Ian.
• Tim Madsen for his super bear gift to Ian.
• Brooke Kimball (Corie's sister) for coming out here to help with the kids and fly with them to Nanna and Grandman Sattley's home in Southern Cali.
• Mom and Dad Sattley for flying out here and watching the kids, and for taking them to southern Cali for a week.
• My parents for their financial assistance to help us get a hotel room and pay for activities while in Utah for their 55th anniversary...It was great to be able to be there for the 55th when I thought it wouldn't be possible.
• The gifts from my sibblings and their families.
• Monetary donations from individual friends and families (I'm not going to list you to keep it modest, but you know who you are. Thank you soooo much!)
• Steven Bess and R/C Car Magazine or the Mini Losi (http://www.rc-car.com/) and free subscription to their awesome magazine.
• Team Associated (http://www.rc10.com/) for the 1/18 On-road racer.
• Carlton Eppes and R/C Pro Series (http://www.rcprosites.com/) for organizing 3 events in favor of Ian and other benefit auctions.
• Black Sheep Raceway (http://www.blacksheepraceway.com/ and http://www.utahrc.com) for raising $1000. Thank you Jason Craig for your auction items.
• Steve Hale and Real R/C Raceway (http://www.real-rc.com/) for raising $1400 for Ian.
• Jay Halsey and Jammin' Products (http://www.jamminproducts.com/) for auctioning the first new release of his X2 Truggy raising over $600 for Ian.
• The Radio Control Car Club of Spokane (http://www.rcccs.com/) for their donation of over $1000 raised at an event.
• JCP Auction and Donations for their donation of $1100.
• Mike Garrison from 247 Design Works (http://www.247designworks.net) for making the 'Ian Crabtree Leukemia Benefit' decals used at all the R/C Pro races and for letting Ian drive his car (http://www.real-rc.com/images/IanRace/IMG_4616.jpg)
• Ian's Crabby Girls and the running event they're planning.
• Lauryn's Brownie Troop for bringing us dinners.
• The Valle's who are throwing a benefit concert for Ian.
• Phadra Miller (http://www.harpsoul.com/) for the one month of free piano lessons for Emma and Lauryn and harp lessons for Corie.
• Everyone else who doesn't come to mind because it's 12:29AM and my mind is tired...you all know who you are.

All donations and funds raised have been applied to the 'Ian Crabtree Medical Fund' at Bank of America. We have used the money to pay for hospital bills, medicine, and gas to and from the hospital. We will continue to keep the money in this fund for Ian's use only throughout the next 3 years. Any funds left over will be donated to cancer victims.

May God bless all of you. With all the horrid things going on in this world it's uplifting to see how much love, assistance, time, etc. is given from everyone we know and even those we don't know. We love you all and pray for you and your families.

Entry 48

We continue to be in a semi-quarantined state. We do have to let the girls go to school, but they have to wash their hands the second the come home and we just hope for the best. Ian and I don't go anywhere, no one comes over (unless they are willing to hang out on the deck), and when he has his Dr. appointments, he has to wear a mask.

Last night, we were eating dinner out on the deck. Our little neighbor kids were out in their backyard playing. Ian was super excited to see someone other than our family so he kept yelling "Hi....hi....hi...hi" after about 30 times the little neighbor kids said, "Will you stop saying hi?" Ian stopped for about 5 seconds and then I hear him say, "Hola......hola.....hola...." It was hilarious. He found a way to keep doing what he wanted while honoring their request to not say "Hi". He is too smart for his own good.

We have an appt tomorrow-another bright and early one. Hopefully Ian's counts will be up so he can get his treatment. It is kind of a weird thing to wish for I know, but the sooner he can get through this last month of treatments and the intense chemo stuff, the sooner we can go into maintenance therapy and then things will be pretty simple. I'll let you know what happens....

Entry 47

Today we woke up bright and early for Ian's appointment (we had to be there at 6:45). To many of you, waking up at 5:45 may not seem like a big deal, but Ian and I are NOT morning people. Despite disliking mornings and the fact that he had to be fasting, he woke up and was cooperative while getting ready. He knew where we were going and he didn't cry; he just let me get him dressed and he got in his car seat without fighting me on it. When we arrived, he walked in on his own; I think that is a first, he always has me carry him. Although he wasn't exactly thrilled about having his port accessed, I didn't have to pin him down and he didn't even cry! The nurse couldn't believe it either. So as far as going through the motions of the appointment, it was the best one yet.

Unfortunately, they couldn't give him his chemo because his ANC counts are too low. That means, we are back in quarantine. I can't take him anywhere unless it is an absolute emergency and no one can come over (I just realized how redundant that last sentence was- like you don't know what quarantine means; oh well, moving on). I guess in a way, it's a good thing. I have a lot of projects that I want to finish up and now I have no excuses. Another upside for Ian (me too, although it sounds to nerdy to admit so I'll pawn it off on him) the new Lego Batman game comes out soon so he'll have plenty of time to conquer it since he's already mastered Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

They want us to come back in on Tuesday, so we'll see how things are then.

Entry 46

The girls have started school and Ian had been sad. Thankfully, it's not a repeat of last year. When the bus would come, he would try to run out and get on it and then the screaming, kicking, and spitting would begin as I picked him up and carried him to the house. A few times, he unlocked the door and took off running down the street. I am not going to even tell you how far he got before I caught him, it's far too embarrassing. At the open house where we met the girls teachers, I happened to run into 2 of my neighbors who unbeknowst to me, witnessed this charade every day and asked me if I thought he was going to handle the girls leaving on the bus (not my proudest moment). I can say that although there are tears as they leave, he has not repeated any embarrassing behavior. Ian does continuously ask for friends to come over and he really wants me to buy him a backpack (he thinks that having a backpack is the golden ticket he needs to get on the bus).

Ian had an appointment tomorrow so I will fill you in after we get the results from his tests.

Entry 45

I know that many of you will be checking the site today since Thursdays are our appointment days so I don't want to disappoint all of his loyal friends by not writing anything. Ian didn't have an appointment today. We are on an every other week schedule right now. So, next week, we'll know more what his counts are and when he goes back in the hospital for the start of round 2.

He continues to amaze me with his energy and attitude about everything. I often forget that he is even sick at times. He threw the biggest temper tantrum today so things truly feel back to normal. His lego car broke into a ton of pieces when he threw it (imagine that being so sturdy made of legos and all). Emma tried to help him fix it and he thought she was trying to take it away so he hit her. I immediately confiscated the car and placed it on the highest shelf in my closet. He kind of looked at me like, "Yeah, so what" and shut my closet door so he could try to figure out how to get it down. It took about 30 seconds before I start hearing him crying, yelling, and beginning to melt down. I told him he couldn't have the car back until he apologized to Emma for hitting her. Well, as you can imagine, that went well and he freaked out even more. I completely ignored him (which made him even madder) and began spitting for about 5 minutes straight. There was seriously this big wad of spit on the carpet from him (so gross, yes I cleaned it up). He finally calmed down but it took him 3 hours to apologize. He also drank alot of water after that. I guess he really dehydrated himself between all the crying and spit.

Anyway, this normally would have really ruffled my feathers; but I actually found it entertaining. His strong will is exactly what we need to beat this and I am glad to have him so I'll put up with his fits. They don't last forever right?