In this week's episode...

Xavier says, "I love shoveling. More snow, please!"

Then, Tilly helps out.

And when the work is done...




And later still...Tilly discovers the glory of the Drumstick. "Thanks Uncle Donny!"

(We had a lovely snow day here. Hope you all are well too!)

4th dose of MDX -010

Everything went well for the fourth and final dose. No reactions, no vomiting. :)

Aimee will get a PET scan in 2 weeks, the doctors will compare these scans with the ones taken before this clinical trial, and then we'll meet with the doctor to discuss the effectiveness of the treatment. A couple of possibilities here:

1. Tumors have diminished-- our best possible result. This would mean that the MDX has been effective. And so she would probably continue on this regimen.
2. Tumors show no sign of growing or diminishing. This wouldn't necessarily mean a thing-- as the doctors say many times it takes the medicine an extra 4 weeks to show signs of working. If this is the case, we would wait another 4 weeks and check the progress.
3. Tumors have grown. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, the tumors grow first (due to inflammation), and then shrink. If this happens, then again we wait another 4 weeks and check Aimee's progress.
4. The cancer has spread inordinately or metastasized. This would show definitively that the medication has not worked, and so we'd immediately discuss the next option for treatment and begin it right away.

So, most probably, we will see the doctor in 2 weeks and then see him again in another 4, as Aimee hasn't noticed any change in her more palpable tumors nor discovered any new ones.

Some Pictures

Here are Tilly and Xavier...with sticker faces, a new-found hat, and new hair cut.

Baby Report

My sister Johanna and her husband Matt had their baby last week--a boy! Vincent Matthew. Mom and baby are doing great.
Pictures to follow...eventually.

Ash Day

Thank you everyone for checking up on us. We all are feeling much better; my dizziness is done and our colds (hurray!) finally seem to have run their course. So naturally, I have turned my attention to laundry. And in my ever-failing struggle to eradicate dirty laundry, I was trying to reach those tiny long lost socks between baby mattress and springs and guess what I found? Under the crib, at the bottom of the extra, extra sheet box, there was the box of winter hats! Three months into winter, four months after I started checking and rechecking the trunks in the basement and searching the backs of both of our closets, there it was. We've got it now! Hats, mittens, scarves, in every color! Don't worry, we each had at least one pair of hats and mittens all along, but next time you see us, even if it is in July, we'll have our best woolly hats on.
In other news, Tilly was very excited that it was "Ash Day" (as she insisted on calling it) and Xavier wanted to know if "Ash Easter" was coming soon. Only forty days, give or take a few, and then we'll be sporting our Easter finery, new patent leather shoes, freshly pressed dresses and suits...and our prettiest winter hats. Maybe by October, I'll have found the box with the Easter bonnets...

3rd Dose

The third dose went well. I am feeling dizzy but overall very well. My parents and sister Beth came down to Connecticut with us and took the kids to the dinosaur park and swimming at the hotel. Xavier and Tilly love Connecticut now; this is fast becoming their most exciting winter yet.

One more dose to go and then scans to see where we are at and what we do from here.

Of Plague and Pull Up Diapers

Forgive our silence, dear readers. (I have offended the muse by being silent. Apollo no longer regards me. * Perhaps deservedly then, ...) We have been sick, sick, sick. I think, in the last three and a half weeks, there have been three distinct cold viruses that have knocked us off our feet, and kept us off. Momma, Poppa, babies, and all. We have rarely ventured out into the cold. Instead, we have spent our time in the ever entertaining, ever frustrating, never ending job of potty training. Now Xavier spends all his days jockeying for m & m's; he reminds me that, "Auntie Beth says you should get a treat no matter how little you do..." He can use that room as much as 20 times an hour and yet still have an accident ten minutes later--but, I must admit, he is improving. He is covered in pirate temporary tattoos to prove it. And in the midst of all of this, I have constantly seen how wonderfully sweet he is about sharing with his sister. After an especially good job, I gave him four m&m's. I told him three were for him and one was to share with Tilly. He said he didn't think that was fair and gave her two. (Makes a Mom happy at least!) As for Tilly, she has entered into the game with gusto. She is doing a great job. But while Xavier is in it for the action (get in, get out, rack up candy points), Tilly is a woman of leisure. She prefers to perch by the hour, books piling ever deeper around her, yelling out every ten minutes, "More book, Momma!" refusing to budge before she is good and ready to do so. So wish us luck. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we succeeded in training the both of them?!? I'll stop revealing the darkest secrets of our family life now, but I'm pretty sure next time you hear from me, you may have to hear more about the continuing adventures of the Diaper Dude.

I'm off to teach tonight, back to school last Thursday. So far, so good. I hope you all are very well and have avoided this midwinter malady. With love

(* Tate's loose translation of the Vigil of Venus)