Grier finished his week of chemo last Friday.  He had a pretty uneventful week in the infusion room... his best part was decorating a gingerbread house... It was a welcome break from tracing team logos for me... I am so glad he wanted to change up the routine we have been in for the last 6 weeks of chemo!!  Here is a fun fact-- I got a THIS IS NOT A BILL from Blue Cross/Blue Shield today-- last week's 5day chemo aka as 1 1/2 hour infusion each day cost $15K!!!!!    I am sure they LOVE us... we have done this 6 times!!!!  Tuesday he got nauseous as we got ready to leave the clinic but we just hung out for a little bit until the wave passed... and then went home and he never mentioned it again.  He had his kindergarten Holiday program that night and dressed up and sang songs with this class... He was very proud of himself and I was just amazed he just kept going after the week he had with the infusions.  We went to the clinic yesterday to check his counts and so far he has not really been affected by this chemo--- I am sure it is doing something in his body... well, I hope.. because we are infusing him with poison.  Our friend on the same chemo has had low counts and hair loss again... it is just crazy how the same drugs affect everyone differently... I still can not believe that we are up to the 17th week of chemo since this HELL started over 3 years ago--  Yesterday at the clinic was another milestone.... Grier sat in the IV procedure room in a chair by himself and had his finger pricked.... THIS IS HUGE in our world--- I can not tell you how many times I have had to hold him down while he screamed and BIG tears came down his cheeks.... He was very proud to share this news with his brother and sister.... they were not so impressed.  Last week we mailed a vial of blood to NYC to be tested for HAMA-- I think that 3F8 may be an option for him again-- now we just wait to see if he is HAMA negative again.  I am reliving last year a little... it was last December that we lived in NYC -- Grier did 3F8 and radiation so we were there for almost 4 weeks... Christmas in NYC is fun... I was wishing we were at Radio City Music Hall watching Christmas Spectacular again.... and walking the streets smelling the Christmas Trees as we walked around the city... This is actually the first December since we started this journey that we have not been in the city for a little while... I guess I should be thrilled but some of our new traditions are in NYC-

Other than school, chemo, doctor appointments and wrestling with his brother.... Grier has added Golf after school... he seemed to love it today... but also said it was boring because he knows it all-- LOL!!

I have been very busy with Lesa wrapping up the bake sale.  You would not believe the donations that are still coming in daily for Cookie For Kids Cancer.  I have to keep recounting our total..... Today we heard the total from Birkdale ( our satellite location) and they did an awesome job-- almost $10K-- considering the weather was much worse than ours and they were not covered it is more than great!!! I am so glad Julie helped us make that happen with all her friends--  Julie's son, Adam even had a hospital stay for nutepenia days before the sale.... and she still pulled off a great bake sale!!!
We have lots of stories from the bake sale... My favorite is the email I got from friends that told us they had a donation to give to CFKC at the bake sale.  Their kids had been given money from their Grandparents to make a donation to a charity of their choice and the girls chose our bake sale--- I also got an email from friends that moved to PA and wanted to do something to help but since they were not in town they decided to have a HOT CHOCOLATE stand for CFKC-- Needless to say it was very successful and they helped spread lots of awareness and raised a lot of money to go towards our total donation.
T-shirt sales have been picking up too--- We are almost out of Adult T's BUT have tons of kids T's--- nothing would make me happier... than to sell all of these before we send our check to CFKC this week! Want one or ten??? email me .... amychristenbury@att.net

I am looking forward to saying good-bye to 2010!!! I think this year has been one of the toughest since we started this journey.... not just from a personal standpoint but also from watching what our friends from both clinics have gone through.  I hope 2011 brings better luck for us and maybe gives us the courage we need to make some changes --being "stuck" in quicksand is getting old!- and gives us a well-deserved break from the roller coaster ride called NB--- I know... we have to stay in top of it ... but it would be nice to be in control again.