Perspective from a toddler....

As we were driving around today, my cousin Virinda and I were talking about the mountain and how it looked big today, blah blah blah.  Grayson says, "Oh, the mountain got a haircut!"  It took Virinda and I a second to realize that it could seem that way to a little kid since the top of the mountain was hidden under the clouds.  We just cracked up!

Ft. Lewis Triple Threat Triathlon #1

Saturday was the first triathlon of the year at Ft. Lewis. Its a sprint triathlon consisting of a 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike ride and a 5K run. I did fine and may have PR'd (I have to check back on my old times)....but, I definitely went to slow on my swim. I think I may have shaved some time off the bike...which would make sense since that is where the majority of training has been. I did end up getting 3rd in my age group though....so a little hardward is always nice! My times were: 19:21 swim; 1 min 12 sec transition; 49:48 bike; 1 min transition; 24:20...which equals to be around 1:35:48 or so.

**I just checked back on my old times and I've pretty much plateaued with my times from last year. That sucks! Well, I guess I've been training for a longer triathlon (which is next week)...so maybe thats the problem. Boo.

Wow, isn't this a great picture of me!

Greg sprinting the last bit of the race. He has greatly improved since last year and took about 20 minutes off his best time from last year! That is crazy! I guess living in San Diego and training all the time really paid off. I'm only a little bitter!! :)

Our "fans" really paying attention to our race!

Blake and Ashley's visit

Here are a few photos from our week long visit with Heath's brother, Blake and his wife Ashley. We ventured up to Seattle the afternoon/evening before they left. Blake has been up to visit us several times before, but this was the first time that we did the whole Seattle thing with him. Even though we got up there kind of late...and most businesses were closed, they still got a bit of the Seattle flavor.

Grayson really wanted to ride the airplane, but once it started going up....he had a bit of a panic. After a some encouragement he got used to it and enjoyed himself.

He loved driving the cars!

Aunt Ashley taking a little ride on the trike

Pleasantly surprised

Heath's white count was 2.9 today....so, that means chemo starts today! Yay! Its funny we are saying yay to chemo. But I guess if we know its inevitable, lets get it done already.

A slight change of plans

Today was supposed to be Heath's first day of Round 3 chemo treatment....but that didn't happen. Last week (on Monday) they did his bloodwork and his white blood count was too low...however, they didn't give him any Neupogen injections because I guess they assumed it would bounce back up. Well....it didn't. I kept having a bad feeling about it too....I wasn't trying to be negative about it, it just didn't seem right that they weren't at least rechecking his bloodwork later in the week. So, when they did the bloodwork today....big surprise, it was too low at .6 (minimum is 1.5). The whole reason we scheduled the chemo when we did was because we knew that we had our annual Sunriver trip next week and wanted to make sure that chemo didn't coincide with that. It still shouldn't, but he will have less days to recover before we need to leave next Thursday. Today he got a Neupogen injection....blood draw tomorrow morning...and probably another injection. We will be pleasantly surprised if he gets to have chemo tomorrow...but we are hoping for at least for a Wednesday start. His doctor did apologize (after Heath told him that I would be mad)....so, I forgive him. I'm over it....fingers crossed for a quick WBC recovery!

On another note....I am getting excited for my triathlon on Saturday (at Ft. Lewis) and for my triathlon in Sunriver next week. The Sunriver one will be longest one to date. I'm feeling pretty good about it too. I'm going to try to treat the Ft. Lewis Sprint triathlon as a training one...but I know it will be hard not to get just a wee bit competitive.

Heath's brother, Blake and his wife Ashley stayed with us for a week (last Monday thru today)....and did a lot of work out in the yard and cleaned both of our vehicles. We had a really good visit...and I will post a few pictures later!

Check out Heath's blog....he finally did some posts!

A little funny...

I forgot about this cute little thing Grayson said the other day when Aunt She-She (Sheila) was visiting us. I was trying to explain to him that Aunt She-She has a baby in her belly, kind of like when Rune (Debbie and Gary's dog) had puppies in her belly...and then they came out to see us. So, he says later, "Aunt She-She's got she's puppy in she's belly?" Anyway, it made us laugh! Since then he has mentioned it a few other times even when I've told him that its a baby not a puppy. But...thats what he has got in his mind. Pretty funny!

Chemo: 2 down, 2 to go

Since Heath hasn't felt up to blogging lately, I'll update everyone on his health status:

Heath completed his 2nd chemo cycle this past Saturday. He has kind of had a rough go the since about Friday also. He hasn't had any vomiting, but I'm sure he has come close to that, but has had to work through it mentally so he doesn't. He pretty much can't do a whole lot but just recline on the couch and watch movies. I think he doesn't want to move too much because the nausea and "off" feeling comes in waves and he is super fatigued. He started his heavier-duty anti-nausea meds yesterday, but decided not to take that one this evening because it gave him quite a headache. The other ones only make him dizzy and light headed. Fun stuff. I ask him how he is feeling and he says "I don't know"....he can't really make words of how he feels...or he just feels to crappy too talk. Maybe both. He has also had the heavy quilt on him at times even when it has been in the high 70's in the house. Today he did go down to the lake with Grayson and I for a couple hours and was able to hang out. I think he feels a bit better today, but definitely isn't anywhere near normal. Eating is another thing...he doesn't have much of an appetite, but seems to do ok with certain foods and will still eat. I have to run through a list of different foods with him before he says "ok, I'll try that". I guess its like having the flu really bad. Or...like being pregnant! He has also been having issues with his stomach too....feeling too full and uncomfortable.

I feel like I have gotten a better handle on everything this time around. It was very helpful that we had some frozen meals that Heath's mom made us while she was here. We also had another person make us a chicken/broccoli casserole that we've (Grayson and I...since Heath doesn't have the stomach for it) been eating on for a couple days. The lady that made it is a vet (who we don't know) that is a business partner with a guy that is in Heath's men's group. Wow...talk about kindness! We've had a little other help this time...probably need more, but we should be pretty good the next two cycles. My aunt Ruthy will be with us for the next one and Heath's step-mom, Tammy will be here for the July one. We've got tons of guests coming before the next cycle also. Heath's bro Blake and wife Ashley will be here next week (for a week), then Ruthy comes, then Heath's dad will be here the weekend of Father's day, then my cousin Riley will stay with us a night....then we leave for Sunriver...then when we get back...Tammy comes! Jeez...we hardly ever get guests...and I almost took down the guest bed this winter also!

Anyway, we appreciate everyone's help! It really means a lot to us! We have a calendar thing that people can sign up to help...so I'll post the link here sometime in case anyone wants to join our "community".