ALL Lukemia

What is acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)?
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells in the body that normally fight infections. There are two main types of white blood cells—lymphoid cells and myeloid cells. ALL affects lymphoid cells.
Leukemia cells are abnormal cells that cannot do what normal blood cells do. The abnormal cells are immature white blood cells that cannot help the body fight infections. For this reason, children with ALL often get infections and have fevers.
ALL is also called acute lymphocytic leukemia. It is the most common leukemia in children.
What are the symptoms of ALL?
Like all blood cells, leukemia cells travel through the body. Depending on the number of abnormal cells and where these cells collect, patients with leukemia may have a number of symptoms. Children with ALL frequently have low amounts of healthy red blood cells and platelets. As a result, there are not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen through the body. With this condition, called anemia, patients may look pale and feel weak and tired. When there are not enough platelets, patients bleed and bruise easily.
Some of the common symptoms of ALL include:
fever
fatigue
frequent infections
swollen or tender lymph nodes, liver, or spleen
paleness or pallor
easy bleeding or bruising
tiny red spots (called petechiae) under the skin
bone or joint pain
In ALL, the abnormal cells may collect in the brain or spinal cord, also called the central nervous system (CNS). The result may be headaches with or without vomiting, although most children with the disease do not have these symptoms. Leukemia cells also can collect in the testicles and cause swelling.
Is there a screening test for ALL?
No. Screening is a means of detecting disease in people who have no symptoms. As described in the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Screening Overview (PDQ®) (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/screening/overview/healthprofessional), two requirements must be met for screening to be useful:
(1) There must be a test or procedure that will detect cancers earlier than if the cancer were detected as a result of the development of symptoms, and
(2) There must be evidence that treatment initiated earlier as a consequence of screening results in an improved outcome.
These two requirements have not been met for childhood ALL.
In cancers such as leukemia that appear throughout the body during their earliest stages, screening does not appear to be useful. Rather, children with any symptoms that suggest the possibility of ALL should be seen by their physician. The physician can then examine the child and determine if further testing is needed.
How is ALL diagnosed?
If a child has symptoms that suggest leukemia, the physician may first order blood tests. A sample of blood is examined to determine the number of normal blood cells, to see what the cells look like, and to find out if any leukemia cells are present in the blood. For a definitive diagnosis of ALL, a doctor who specializes in leukemia examines a sample of bone marrow under a microscope. The sample is obtained by a procedure called bone marrow aspiration. In this procedure, the doctor inserts a needle into a large bone, usually the hip, and removes a small amount of liquid bone marrow for examination.
If leukemia cells are found in the bone marrow sample, the patient's doctor orders other tests to find out the extent of the disease. For example, a spinal tap, which is also called a lumbar puncture, checks for leukemia cells in the cerebrospinal fluid—the fluid that fills the spaces in and around the brain and spinal cord.
Are there different types of ALL?
Although leukemia cells from different children with ALL often look very similar under the microscope, there are actually many distinctive subtypes of ALL. Most cases of leukemia are associated with changes in genes and chromosomes in the cancerous white blood cells. The various subtypes of ALL can be identified using special laboratory tests that look for specific changes in genes and chromosomes. It is increasingly important for doctors treating children with ALL to determine their patients' subtype of ALL, as some treatments work better for some subtypes than for others.
How common is ALL?
Cancer in children and adolescents is rare. But, ALL is the most common cancer in children, representing 23 percent of cancer diagnoses among children younger than 15 years of age. It occurs in about one of every 29,000 children in the United States each year.
What causes ALL?
With the exception of prenatal exposure to X-rays and specific genetic syndromes, such as Down syndrome, little is known about the causes of and risk factors for childhood ALL.
Scientists know that ALL in children occurs slightly more often in boys than in girls and in white children more often than in black children. However, they cannot explain why one person gets leukemia and another does not.
What treatments are available for the disease?
There are treatments for all children with ALL (see http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/childALL/healthprofessional). The primary treatment for ALL is chemotherapy. The specific drugs used for chemotherapy are different for the various subtypes of ALL and are not the same for all patients.
Treatment for children with ALL is complex and involves multiple drugs given in precise schedules over a period of two to three years. Because of this, children with the disease should be treated by doctors with experience and expertise in the treatment of childhood leukemias.
Many children with ALL participate in clinical trials. These studies test a new drug or a new combination of drugs, often comparing them to the current standard treatment. A participant will usually be assigned to the standard group or the new group by chance, a process called randomization. It is not known at the start of the trial whether the new treatment is better than, the same as, or worse than the standard treatment. Clinical trials for children with ALL often enroll large numbers of children and are conducted at children's cancer centers nationwide. Much of the success in curing children with ALL is the result of better treatments that were identified in such clinical trials. Still, doctors are doing clinical trials to try to improve ALL treatments and reduce side effects.
What is the survival rate for children with ALL?
The improvement in survival for children with ALL over the past 35 years is one of the great success stories of cancer treatment. In the 1960s, less than 5 percent of children with ALL survived for more than five years. Today, about 85 percent of children with ALL live five years or more.
We are thinking about Addison every day. We know she is a strong little girl and continues to fight as hard as she can to become an ALL survivor.
Addy's Grace
*all information is from cancer.gov.

home improvements

when dan and i bought this house we knew we were going to have to put a lot of work into it. it was/is outdated in so many ways (floors, the old paint, cabinets, ect) so now that we've been here for almost two years it's about time we get on this job. dan's not too thrilled about all the projects.

i would like to get the short term goals done by the end of 2011, and dan ($$$) says they could all be possible as long as we don't bite off more than we can chew at once.

short term aspirations:

1. garage sale- i'm thinking june. i have SO much decor, frames and house type things that NEED. TO. GO. there's still things that we received from our wedding guests that are still in the packages, and don't have a place yet. gavin has toys and clothes that need to go, and i have an accumulating pile of clothes that i NEVER wear.
2. repainting the spare bedroom into more of an amber color.
3. NEW hardwood floors in the kitchen and living room (dan says this should/could be done by april, let's hope).
4. tiling the bathroom. new vanity, sink, mirror and a new fresh coat of paint. i've already got the paint and decor picked out so it will be an easy project, especially since dan can do the work himself.
5. taking down the rose boarder, replacing the pale pink carpet with new carpet and adding a new bed to our bedroom. as soon as we do this the new bench that's been sitting in my moms garage for three+ years can finally come home! i know this will be one of our last projects, as we don't spend anytime in our bedroom except for sleeping. dan would like to add on to our bedroom and add a bathroom (i think it might be a pipe dream, love you hun).
6. new dishes. which ties into getting new curtains and blinds for the kitchen. i LOVE the color of my kitchen, but want to get rid of all the red accents and made it more grey, green and yellow. so red dishes won't really fit... again, another "easy" but $$$ project.
7. gavin will soon be two, which means i want to get him into his "big boy bed" asap. i also am going to get rid of the safari theme and try for moster truck, dirtbike, truck, four wheeler decor. i've found stencils that i'm going to have my grandma paint onto the white part of his walls, hope it turns out. i had some spare time at target so his new bedding is picked out and my mom can make the curtains.
8. new blinds throughout the house, yes please.
9. putting another door in the back of the garage, adding a outside light and getting a patio set for the backyard. also, getting rid of the hot tub.
10. new kitchen table.
11. get pregnant? well before 2011 that is.

so pretty much every single room needs some sort of adjustment/update. thankfully all of these projects can be done by myself, my mom and dan.. actually, most dan. but since his school will be up and he'll be "grounded" for three months we should be able to start soon!

long term aspirations:

projects that don't need to be done in a timely manor. but we would like to see some of these get done so the resale of the house goes up, when we decide to sell.

1. turning the upstairs living room into more of a sitting room. mounting the tv on the wall and getting either a small sectional or just a sofa and a love seat.
2. new counter tops, cabinets and sink for the kitchen. dan just helped julian with this one so he could be an expert now, :) haha.
3. adding a porch onto the front of the house (in all honesty dan would like to get this done before anything else, but i don't find it that necessary).
4. remodeling the basement bathroom/laundry room.
5. new carpet for the basement. adding another room to the basement and making the basement living room more of a "living, loving room" instead of gavins mess of toys.

so there it is folks. might not be the most entertaining blog post but now i'll be able to remember everything i want/need to do. lets hope we can get this accomplished. :)

the best..

friends, ever.

i just put this picture onto my blog and an instant smile came to my face.

this is the most random picture out of all of our wedding photos, but it's my favorite. i love how smashed everyone is, and how camron looks as though he is leaning on the entire crowd :)

best friends made our wedding an amazing time, and their love was an incredible reassurance that we were doing the right thing by getting married.

and the best part of it is that we are still GREAT friends, all of us. now, three years later i'm sure it would be hard to pick a "new" wedding party, as we have a lot of new close friends, but this group meant so much to us, and continues to. maybe we could add in a few and ALL of our greatest friends would be in this picture. :)

sweet addy

addison is the sweetest four year old little girl. although we don't get to see her too often the times we do she always makes a great memory.
addisons mom is dans cousin, her name is nicole.

a couple days before christmas addy seemed to be a little bit pale to her parents. she has always been a little fair skinned with that milky skin, gorgeous blue eyes, and blonde hair i wouldn't mind being pale :) at christmas her parents (jared and niki) noticed that she had quite a few bruises all over her body.
i'll give you a little background information: addison has a younger and rambunctious brother, drik, so seeing bruises on her arms and legs wasn't something new.

so jared and niki looked at the bruises a little bit more once the holidays slowed down and decided to bring addy into the doctor. after a few questions and some blood work they discovered that addy has acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) B-strain.
last week addy started her chemo treatments at the childrens hospital and she will have to go in every thursday to receive more.
another sad fact about this story is that jared and niki were supposed to be getting married this weekend in mexico. they had been planning this for quite some time. thankfully, the airlines and hotel/resort gave back jared and niki their money so that they could refocus on their beautiful daughter. the rest of the family and friends are now in mexico trying to have a good time under these circumstances.
we are hoping and praying and wishing all the best thoughts for addy. she is so strong that we are only thinking about the best. LOVE YOU!
you can visit addy's page here:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/Addisongracehaynes

18 months

my little sweet gavin scott is 18 months old!

time has FLOWN by.

there are no words to express the love i have for this child.

actually, i was telling dan that i love gavin more than anything in the world.. i think he got a bit jealous.

gavin is wondrous!

he is at the 91% for height: 35inches

and

the 77% for weight: 28lbs

our own little linebacker :)

I'm bragging him up, cause it's my blog and I can, so if you don't want to hear me boast, don't read this. k?

at 18 months:

G is walking/running/skipping, and walking in his tippy toes

G is eating with a fork (kiddy fork), spoon and drinking from a big boy cup!

G is eating everything. he doesn't care for Bush's baked beans though or cake.

G is going "pee pee" on occasions in his big boy potty. he's done the #2 only once, but we're very proud!

G is a cleaner.. he helps mommy vacuum and dust all the time.

G is jumping off of the couch face first onto a pillow- it's scary.

G is climbing on everything, and by everything, I MEAN EVERYTHING.

G is saying words: mama, dada, papa, gaga (we think it means grandma?), bella, maddy, ball, bubbles, all done and milk.

G still has quite the temper which he get's from his papa Scott ;)

G LOVES to ride in daddy's big truck, sitting in the middle (in the back) so he can see out of the front windshield. he says "vroom vroooom" while the truck starts or the snowmobile.

G loves to shut off the tv, usually when i'm totally interested in something.
G loves to play in his room, by himself sometimes.

G has the most contagious laugh.

G is brushing his teeth, two times a day!

G's favorite snack is marshmallows???

G strongly dislikes the stroller. he's too independent to be pushed, he'd rather walk.

G will sit down for more than five minutes if we put in Shrek, and only Shrek..

G is soon to be in his "big boy bed" at the 2 year mark... MOM is scared :)

G's favorite friend to play with is Blaise. Gav likes to pretend he's 3 too.

G's favorite friends of mommy and daddy's would be Sarah by a long shot, and a tie between Anthony and Robbie/Jeremy for second.

G's favorite toy would be his Leapfrog LeapTop he got for Christmas

But Gavin's favorite people in the world would be mama and dada for sure. we are so happy with our little boy and are ENTIRELY grateful that he is a healthy boy.

slow down.

today i went to walmart to gather a few things we needed around the house...
seems like every single time i go there i have someone stop me and chit chat, urgh.. i say urgh only because usually when i run to walmart i have on sweats and no makeup (what i look like everyday ;))....
today i had some random woman stop me and ask me if was of Native American descent... odd.... and very rude if you ask me, but i've never heard that one before. when i was born my dad thought i looked Korean, and growing up people used to ask my aunt if i was hers... (we actually look a lot a like, it's crazy)... but hearing this Native American question was baffling to me. i just don't get it.

to add to this most recent walmart trip is the fact that i cruise through walmart as fast as can be. today i managed to get size 4 pampers insted of size 3... great. i didn't notice until after i opened them and was putting the diapers in the basket that they seemed a little large... great. i put one on gavin, it's SOOOOOOOOOOO big. so i'm actually debating on going back and getting another package (for $21... urgh) or just seeing if they'll work for now. gavin's taking a nap now so i'm hoping he'll be dry when he gets up.

i also meant to buy a wheat pizza crust and bought white/normal crust.
then grabbed the wrong scent of deodorant for dan.
to top it all off i forgot laundry detergent.
woo-hoo! grocery shopping failure award goes to, ME!
i need to slow down. i know.

i am making margaritas tonight and sarah and sam are coming over with guac and salsa, so my day has to get a little bit better!