Help

sooo totally unrelated,but I want to upgrade to a big boy camera.... I hope the price drops BEFORE THON so I can take really good pictures this year...

Any one want to help contribute in the mean time???

Please ?? anybody??

Any Country???


thankssss :)

100 Days

It is 100 Days until THON!!

Check out this little count down to 100 Reasons Why We Dance.

I am particular to the reasons #1, 64, and 95 :)

Why We Dance

This week the Four Diamonds fund unveiled a new documentary about THON.

The story behind it, the people, the students, the goal.

I don't think there could have been any better compilation of such an awesome event. This barely touches the surface, but I think it does a pretty damned good job!

You can watch the video below (if it embeds properly) or go to YOUTUBE to find it

Please watch it and share it with your family and friends.

Go to the Four Diamonds or THON webpage and donate.

Stand up to cancer, Stand up for courage and hope that one day we will defeat cancer!

OUR SON is at 34:42 ( the bald squeaker with the water gun)

THIS IS WHAT PENN STATE IS ABOUT. We are the same age as these students and to see our fellow peers doing something so amazing like this FTK is amazing.

They stood united not just for 46 hours but for many years end to end, raising the bar fighting childhood cancer.

Each step one at a time we WILL DEFEAT CANCER, WE WILL LIVE STRONG, WE WILL HAVE HOPE, WE WILL HAVE COURAGE!

THANK YOU TO ALL!!

Scares, cares and vacations

Most vacations are normal.

Most vacations don't require hospital visits either >.<

We went to Wildwood for a couple days over the holiday weekend. It was a much needed time off for both I us.... Him not so much lol


We got there Thursday night no problem, a little traffic from the Eagles Flight Night.

We enjoyed a "semi-non discipline" needed day on the beach. After the beach we headed back to the hotel for some time in the pool.

He wanted to misbehave and run into the ocean when we told him no.


The pool was going okay, we told him to stop jumping in the kiddie pool whih had a iron bar fence to prevent the kiddies from swimming into the deeper side.

Sure enough he does it one more time... And *SMACK* goes his chin into the fence.

Brit rushed to out to him and started telling me "he gashed his chin"

I could barely see and said, "no he didn't"

I get closer, she has blood on her chest and I go "holy $h!t!!" let's go.


We got in, I bandages it up, we dried an changes and sped off to the ER.

Thankful god the Cape May Medical center was real close, and the cops weren't watching.... Because my car registration was expiring that day!! Oops!

We get there and are in triage within 5 minutes, seen by a nurse/dr within 15 after that, and we're on our way in about an hour/hour.5 tops!!

That was the shortest and quickest ER visit ever!!

What?? Our stress levels are normal?? HAH!!

OK

I heard a funny thing today.

Apparently going to school full time and being a full time parent of a child with leukemia is "NORMAL STRESS"

hahahahahahaah I ROTFLMAO if i wasn't driving.... (readers please I hardly use those terms..lol.. haha)


Some people have no idea.....

Going to school full time, working full time, being a full time parent, now those are things that alone are not too stressful (if everything is ok)

But combine any of those three (or all three) and your more stressed than a hamster in a ball running away from the cat!

I will admit since finishing school my stress has been down but not as much as I would like. I still have to worry about getting a phone call either to rush back to Hershey, or something came up with his most recent test results and they needed him ASAP!

On top of that, were still seperated in living, how the hell is that "NORMAL"???

Very soon things will be better, we will have some what of a normal life. His mom will be done school too (thank GOD!!) so we will be able to get our own place.

I am already done school, I have a full time job, she will be getting a job after.

By time things really start rolling for us it will almost be Christmas (I am sure) but we will be through year #2 and that means we are one year closer to completed treatment, and less than 5 years from officaially cured.

BUT that doesnt mean we still wont have a little bit of stress lying around him.
For one, we pray that this will not happen, but relapse can happen at any time after final treatment.

We still need to worry about that.

TWO: HE is going to be 5 soon, that means school! DEAR LORD OUR CHILD IS ALMOST GROWN :-/

THREE: At this point we are only working off one income. We will struggle just like every other person out there to make ends meat. To pay our bills, and provide what we hope will be a better life for our children than what we had from our parents.


Then again... this stress we feel? IT'S NORMAL!!

Isn't it??......


LOL :p

Phillies game for a great cause

Hey Philly Phan Friends!!


The Philadelphia Phillies are doing a great promotion in August.


On Friday, August 3rd, the Phils V Diamondbacks game will have seating on the Pavilion and Pavilion deck (200/300 home) levels which will be sold with net proceeds going to the Four Diamonds fund!


The seats are cheap and it will be a great game (I am sure) for a great cause!!


So please buy your tickets today, the online offer and details are here!


Go to the Four Diamonds Website or Facebook and check out the THON page for more information about this great organization at Penn State Hershey Medical Center


ALSO


In October there is a Four Diamonds 5K to raise money for the fund. Check it out! If your a runner sign up! I am going to start training, I have never run one and am totally out of shape but this will be a great motivation for my first !!!

Shameless, unrelated plug

Sorry for this shameless, unrelated plug, but I am on a mission!!


Walmart is having a contest, The store with the most likes on Facebook will win a visit from Pitbull (the one and only!!), Singer of the song "Give Me Everything Tonight"

I would love to see the store I work at win a visit from Pitbull!!!

All you have to do is go to Facebook and LIKE OUR STORE!!!


My stores zip code is 19401. 


We are at:


Walmart 3565
53 W. Germantown Pike
Norristown, PA 19401


Thanks a bunch everyone!!!

Another birthday in the pot...another year to be thankful

Being the parent of a child who is being treated with any major disease/illness such as Leukemia (and so on) is such a stress on the parent. This is even more true for parents who cannot live together for various reasons, such as our case.

I cannot begin to describe how this stress has affected us since his diagnosis. Not just in our relationship but our general demeanor and outlooks in life.

Just about two weeks now, Jordan Lee turned 4 a big milestone in age. At age 4, most kids are:

• entering preschool/kindergarten
• potty trained, for the most part
• chatting away
• playing their hearts out
• overall being a kid getting ready to start on this journey towards growing up

For us, 4 is a count down. Jordan Lee was diagnosed at the age of 2 1/2 (I like to be exact, sue me :P ). His third birthday came while he was still under intense chemo to retain his remission. As a matter of fact he was scheduled to be in the hospital the week prior for a treatment of high dose Methotrexaite (how ever you spell it). I wont even get into the details on how those treatments were >.<


This year, he is now in Maintenance which only requires visits once per month (not including emergency trips for fevers, etc).

We are counting down to the end of year #2 in treatment, rounding the corner to year #3, and praying that we make it to year #5 completely cancer free. What is significant about that fifth year? Year 5 means he is technically cured and any chance of a relapse is slim to none.

So where is this stress you may ask? Hes in remission hes a kid, hes healthy!

True, all true...but its the waiting and watching game. Any slight infection that may pass through our normal healthy bodies might give us some sniffles for a day, no biggie. That same infection that may give you or me the sniffles could lead to a fever, pneumonia, wonder, worry, praying his body can fight it off.

We experienced that first big worry back in April. Everything was going great, then he started to have intermittent fevers, he wasn't feeling well and we had no idea what it was. His doctors at Hershey where he is treated had no idea what it could be, possibly a virus going at the time, but no test came back.

They eventually admitted him and after a series of tests and observation for a few days in and out of the hospital they did a Bronchial type of test requiring him to be put under to shove a tube in his lungs and sample them for cultures.

That resulted in a couple days of waiting and jumping every time his Oxygen levels dropped below a certain point to make sure he was breathing OK.

On top of worrying about him, I had to worry about my work schedule, calling off not aware I could use FMLA Leave for the time. His mom had to worry about school, apparently having a sick child in the hospital doesn't count as an acceptable reason to miss classes to them. Documented or not.

I am just shaking my head thinking about all the things that we discussed and concerns going through that... Details spared!

So what is so exciting in year 4 for us?? All suddenly in the last few months we have made leaps and bounds in potty training, all he wants to do is pee standing, he refuses to sit!

He talks a lot... Angry Birds this and that... Thomas and the Angry Birds... lol its cute but annoying I will admit that.
But on the other hand.... considering what the other possibilities were at one point for children with Leukemia, I will take it!

He still has not gotten an OK for pre-school, but I hope that will come soon, I hear it can work wonders on behavioral problems. Most of ours are defiantly "only child" related, not having any other children to interact with.

So what am I out-looking on? First of all, I need to get my energy back up that is for sure! But, I cannot wait until

1. We are able to secure a place of our own to live together.
2. We can spend family time together more than a day or few hours.
3. afternoon/evenings I am not working tossing a ball around, or just playing
4. normal parent child interactions with out worrying about getting sick

Until then, hang in there.  Take it like us, one day, one step at a time.

Its rough, trust me, but were all in this together some how.

Till next time!

After THON

Okay, so I didn't get around to posting afterwards, sue me I ran out of phone and laptop battery on the last day :P

First I would like to thank everyone who donated to THON in any way, shape or form. I would more importantly like to thank the Penn State University Students who care, especially the dancers and our organization, the BEE HOUSE! Matt and Rob you two were awesome!! :)

Yes that is right! Over 10.7 Million dollars was raised by these awesome people. Now many people have said "Oh, I cannot beleive it, even after all that Joe Paterno, Jerry Sanduski stuff".

First off; NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!! SHAME ON YOU for thinking that, that all had nothing to do with what THON is about. Yes obviously it did not affect donations, however the only corelation Joe Paterno had to THON was his contual support of both dancers and families. But as I said, Those two had no affec



Overall I have to say that THON is quite an experience, no matter how many mini-thons at local schools I would  have gone to could have prepared me for this! If you ever have that particular weekend (or even a day) free next year I highly recommend you go as a spectator, yes you will sit in the nose bleed sections because the stadium is packed...but you have to go!

So for those that don't know what THON is, I will tell you. THON is a 46-8 hour "dance marathon" held at Penn State, in State College, PA. The dancers are Penn State students, all of them "THON"  because they care (among other reasons), but, why is THON held? It is held to raise money and awareness for childhood (pediatric) cancer. A full detailed history can be found on THONs website.


THONs efforts support an organization called the Four Diamonds Fund which helps families being treated at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Four Diamonds Fund was founded by the parents of Christopher Millard, who died from a form of cancer in 1972, that is now cureable. If The Four Diamonds sounds familiar, like a movie, you are not crazy, there was a Disney movie based on Chris.

Things that THON and the Four Diamonds Fund have helped to pay for in the last 40+ years:

• research for new treatments
• expenses that insurance does not cover
• Specialized pediatric oncology nurses
• Social workers
• Child Life Specialists
• Music Therapist
• Clinical Psychologist
• Clinical Nutritionist

Together, we'll make a difference in the life of a child!

28hours into thon and the energy is even higher!! Check the live webcast on www.thon.org
I will post videos when I can get to my computer later :)

Don't forget you can donate still, help beat the 9.5 million raised last year. Text THON to 50555 to have $10 donated, charged to your cell phone bill

**edited to combine split messages from text postings**

And so begins the start of THON 2012. I will be doing mobile uploads though text so the following postings will be short.
*********
It was a looonng but very pretty drive, I can only anticipate how it will be going to Appalachia!
It is a mad house here at tr Bryce Jordan Center! Dancers have been processing in for about 20min or so!
I've been in the registration line for that same amount of time too many people in such a small vestibule!!

**edited to combine split messages from text postings**

Coming soon to a weekend near you...FTK12!!

This coming up weekend is THON sponsored by Penn State Universtiy.

THON is a 48 hour dance marathon that is held to raise money and awareness for the Four Diamonds Foundation!

We are so lucky to be the first family sponsored by the Bee House this amazing group of kids....the funny thing is these "kids" are just about the same age as us, so it is a little awkward but means we have twice as much fun and things in common (minus the whole having a child thing).


This year THON is being dedication to one of the biggest supporters, someone whom I had hoped to meet at least one time in my life :) .

Count down commences....Lets beat last years totals of almost $9.5 MILLION DOLLARS!! its all FTK!!

Coming soon to a weekend near you...FTK12!!

This coming up weekend is THON sponsored by Penn State Universtiy.

THON is a 48 hour dance marathon that is held to raise money and awareness for the Four Diamonds Foundation!

We are so lucky to be the first family sponsored by the Bee house this amazing group of kids....the funny thing is these "kids" are just about the same age as us, so it is a little awkward but means we have twice as much fun and things in common.

The Days of Our Lives: Jordan Lee and Cancer: What is going on....

The Days of Our Lives: Jordan Lee and Cancer: What is going on....: So I began this blog to discuss my experiences as my son was recently diagnosed with Leukemia in December 2010 as a way to vent and talk abo...

What is going on....

So I began this blog to discuss my experiences as my son was recently diagnosed with Leukemia in December 2010 as a way to vent and talk about what was happening. Apparently I just got really good at holding it in and possibly forgot about it. I plan to re-continue this blog as he continues his treatments and into the future, as far as I can.

I will officially begin with a recount (possibly over a several posts) on what I experienced through this change over the course of the next few days.

so much has happened in the last year.... so hang on, it is going to be a rough one!