Finding my inner prude

Saturday night Pete and I had our eyes opened to the least amount of clothing a person can wear while still being legally considered decent. Our eyes were definitely open and frankly, we were rudely and purposefully gawking at the display of flesh. Held at the Hard Rock Hotel poolside, the Blue and White party was one heck of a party. It is hosted by Ian Beckles, a former Tampa Buccaneer and sports radio show celebrity, and benefited the Children’s Cancer Center.

Many of the families in treatment were invited to come and celebrate VIP style. We got to enjoy the music, watch the dancing and just sit back and take people watching to a whole new level. It was a great time with some awesome friends and just another wonderful night given to us by the Children’s Cancer Center.

Today was Peyton’s clinic visit for her monthly finger poke. Because she just came off of her steroids her counts were high. Her ANC was 2200, her hemoglobin was 12.6 and her platelets were at 215,000! It’s awesome to see these great numbers, but they don’t want them quite that great. If her counts don’t stay suppressed to a certain degree it means that she’s not getting enough chemo. So, if they see a consistent pattern of high counts, they will raise her dosage of chemo. It’s needed occasionally because kids grow and put on weight.

Overall, she’s doing so wonderfully. Her hair is still coming in, thick and soft, long enough now that she gets wicked bed head! It’s even long enough to work into a little spiky mohawk during bathtime. She’s wearing her panties full time, except for bed and steroid week, and the potty thing is going well. Her binky is needed full time during steroid time (you see a theme there?) but otherwise she needs it less and less.

We had a long talk about school and what that meant binky-wise.

“You know, when you go to school you can’t take your binky.”

“Yeah, I can leave it in the car.”

“We could even leave it at home.”

Pause. Looooong pause.

“If I leave it at home, you aren’t going to throw it in the trash are you?”

She knows me too well.

I tried to talk her into donating it to some poor kids who need it. Her answer was that SHE needed it. I offered up the “Binky Fairy”….for each binky she gave to the fairy, she was sure to get a rocking present…she didn’t warm to that idea either. My hope is that with the whole school thing she’ll just get used to having it less and less and eventually give it up on her own. Much like the potty-training, she’ll do it in her own time.

She’s writing all sorts of things, she draws non-stop and her great love is still play-dough. She has a birthday coming up soon, she’ll turn 4 on December 5th. And before anyone gets any ideas about sending her a present, please don’t!! The child doesn’t need any more stuff. In fact, in preparing to organize a birthday party we’re planning to ask that instead of presents, donations be made to the Children’s Cancer Center. Her time there is so precious, they have been one great joy of her life and the place itself is a gift. If you want to make a donation in her name to the center, it’s a blessing to each family that is a part of it.

It’s not hard to remember the feeling of despair when I considered whether or not more birthdays were going to be part of her future. Would she make it to 3? 4? 25? But I have learned that each day is the gift God grants us. And as learned through the loss of so many precious loved ones, it’s not the amount of time, but the impact made in that time. Peyton has plenty of that.

Atlanta is still looming ahead of us. There are many things that have to be finalized, so we just ask for a lot of prayer through these days and plans.

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
—Anissa

*Two things to share

1. A fantastic lady named Jennifer Riviera is hosting a fundraiser at her restaurant in Kansas City. She has offered that anyone who brings in a box of Christmas ornaments will receive a free margarita, then she is decorating the bulbs with photos of cancer kids plus a brief bio. She will be displaying these in her restaurant and selling them for 5$ each. All the money raised will be donated to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation to further the search for a cure. Is that awesome or what!!?? If you’re a cancer parent (in treatment, out of treatment, or an angel) and would be interested in participating as….I guess we could call them “ornamental children” (that would be slighly different from my oriental children)…please just shoot me an email at Anissa (dot) Mayhew (at) Gmail.com and I’ll make sure you get Jennifer’s email address.

2. I’m updating “our friends” and I need your help! If you have a child on our page, or would like for me to put them on there, I need some info. I need a photo, diagnosis and date, hospital of treatment, info on remission, NED or end of treatment, and I’d love to post your favorite quote of your child. Email me at Anissa (dot) Mayhew (at) Gmail.com.

Thanks!!