At the beach with my parents last weekend…

WOO HOO!!! Oh yeah! Last day of school is here!

It’s strange and hard to comprehend that one year ago tomorrow (5/26/05) we took Johnny to TCH. Some things I remember vividly, other things hardly at all. I do remember the first 48 hours like it was yesterday, even the smell of the hospital, and the color of the sky. Tomorrow I will be filled with mixed emotions, happy that we made it this far, happy that it is the first day of summer for us, happy that we will start living in Galveston, but also it will be a reminder of one year ago and how our lives changed forever.

Anyway… we were at the clinic yesterday to get counts, chemo and an office visit. Johnny’s counts dropped.

His counts from 5/10:
HGB: 11.1
ANC: 1,060
Platelets: 190

This week:
HGB: 9.3
ANC: 720
Platelets: 76

It doesn’t surprise me that his HGB (red cells), are down — he looks pale to me and his gums are light pink instead of bright red. His ANC NEVER ceases to amaze (or baffle) me — he has had cold like symptoms for well over 4 weeks now — since his birthday in the hospital, it hasn’t gotten worse, nor has he gotten any better. This platelets are a whole separate thing, probably due to his increase in meds. We were almost up to full dosage, but the doctor’s decided to cut back and hold his meds slightly until his counts stabilize. What he was at a few weeks ago, and what he is on now will probably be his perfect dosage for quite awhile maybe until he’s done with treatment (11/08). We also decided to give him some antibiotics and allergy meds just to see if that will help his cough and congestion.

Dr. Dryer said he can go to school today (he did) so he could participate in the award ceremony for the ALL A HONOR ROLL! He has had A’s all year, but this is the last award program for the year, obviously. Joey has all A’s too. I am really proud of him, all year he has had A’s and B’s, and I really wanted him to get all A’s at the end — and he did! This was the first year for Joey NOT to have straight A’s all year — it’s been a tough year for all of us.

Tonight we plan to head down to Galveston for the week. Mike will lay our new flooring too! WOO HOO — now I won’t need a flippin’ tetanus shot to walk on the carpet!

Next weekend, we are invited out to someone’s ranch about an hour outside of San Antonio. Mr. and Mrs. Faust (I have no idea who they are), invite a few families a couple times a year from the Cancer Center to their ranch all expenses paid — airfare, limo picks us up, and food for the weekend. I just received a call out of the blue and was asked if we wanted to participate — HECK YEAH! I think it will be fun, I have only heard good things about the Squirrel Creek Ranch and how generous the Faust’s are, so it should be fun.

Our friend Barry (the one who is making the giant skatepark in Houston) was on vacation in Oahu, just shopping in the local skate/surf shop and saw a Johnny Romano skate board for sale! Pretty COOL! Speaking of which, the local newspaper (the 1960 Sun) is doing an article about Johnny and his board in next week’s paper. I’ll try to pick a few extra up for you guys! Then the reporter who did the piece on him called and asked if he could give Channel 13 my contact info, because they want to do a story on him too. I won’t hold my breath though — People Magazine and the Today Show were both supposed to do something about Johnny, but it never panned out. I will keep you updated on any developments…

We go to the clinic again next week, I will update everyone then! Love Jules