Number Four

Today was the day for Caeden Koop. Today was his birthday* (someday he will forgive us for this small lie). He woke up, all sleepy-eyed, and wandered into the kitchen. "Is today my birthday?" And then, "Can I have a cookie for breakfast?" (He did. With frosting. My teeth just ache thinking about that.)



Here was the big surprise from us and Mimi/Papa. A truck that he can take the girls cruising in. Complete with a working radio (that he wanted nothing to do with).



We had his party at Brunswick Zone - bowling alley/game center paradise. Seth was our party guy and he got Caeden to shake his goove thang' -- super cute. Caeden doesn't do that for just anyone (he can hardly tolerate music) - which, is really the only thing about him that gives me pause if he is really mine or not.


Click on the picture to see the score. Yes, Caeden and I had the same score. I managed to NOT hit a single pin 4 times in a row. I was trying to show Caeden it was okay to miss. (Not really. I just really am a horrible bowler.) It got to the point everyone was cheering for me when I'd hit just a couple. That p*ssed me off, so I promptly bowled a strike. Take that! However, apparently the strike was a fluke and not talent...



The gang was all there. Lindsay, Claire, Mimi, Donna, and Caeden.


Papa, Grandpa, and Jordan. (Lousy picture, but had to document them standing around. Very important to get that shot.)


Opening presents. A construction truck set from Grandpa and Grandma. The other thing was a giant monster truck that now trumps all other toys in his play room.


How old are you, buddy? FOUR!




*Official birthday is Monday the 13th, but since Wayne is going into the hospital that morning, we thought we'd whoop it up today.

Tomorrow ... Easter. With giant baskets full of toys and candy. A lot like today ... Someone remind me to make a dentist appoitment for Caeden.

But you know, he's like the kid whose birthday is on Christmas. You get jipped! "Here is your combined present, lucky you ..."

So, I know he might have a sugar induced high/go into a coma from over-doing it the past couple of days, but I just refuse to combine holidays. Just say no. Is that slogan still around?

Almost Famous

Nothing to write about today except that Claire is almost famous. :)

She's on the Matilda Jane website/blog. How fun!

We're getting ready for Caeden's birthday party tomorrow and Easter. Going to enjoy every minute and take a lot of pictures...

I came across a mega blog post about Easter traditions. Very cool. You can check it out here.

Happy Easter everyone!

Colors of the Rainbow ... and Camouflage

Today we dyed Easter eggs.


Caeden, on the other hand, dyed Easter eggs. And then dyed them again. And again.
I fear if I hide some of these outside, we'll never find them as they will blend into the surrounding landscape so well. Look at the one beside the yellow. Is that not the truest camo color you've ever seen (on an egg)?? :)



Here's Caeden, having a ball... "This is the best Easter EVER," he says.


I heart Lindsay. Such a creative girl.



And this one. Too young for eggs, but this girl LOOKS like spring, doesn't she?!


She's getting very close to crawling. Mom left me a note the other day, "Val, do you have a baby gate?" -- I remember when we waited a tad too much with Caeden, and he fell down 3 stairs before I caught him by his leg. Talk about a horrible moment. Yes, I must get a baby gate up, but who has time when there is dress up to be played??

Food

Seems like I have been spending a lot of time talking about food. I guess because when Wayne went through chemo, he didn't eat, couldn't stand the smell, and didn't want anything to do with food. So I quit cooking. Thankfully, we have friends who brought food, otherwise I would have fed Caeden cereal every night without fail.

So this week Wayne is able to eat. And is hungry. And I find myself rusty. What is there to eat? If it can't be popped into the toaster or microwave, you are out of luck. Oh, wait. There's always cereal ...

The Schwann man just stopped by and caught me at my most vulnerable time (an ankle biter whining about no food in the house ... what's a 4 year old to do?) so I just ordered a lot of food. Our freezer is unable to accomodate one more thing. I am not kidding.

So, to all of you coming to visit in the upcoming month, if you are hungry, look towards frozen paradise where chicken fingers, pizza, ice cream sandwiches, pasta and veggies all await you.

And the picture? I found it on this blog: Elizabeth K. Fresh fruit and cheese are such good ideas for snacks - and the fact that I found it inspiring tells you just how far I have strayed from the grocery store ....

*** Edited to add: Does anyone need any stinkin' Schwann's food?

Look what just arrived -- a little piece of home! ...Thank you Randy & Mary!! You have saved us from chicken fingers. Bless your hearts.

Dear Mrs. Burns' Class

I came down the stairs to hear Wayne laughing. I thought he was watching "Family Guy" on t.v.
I hear him laugh again. And a few minutes later, again.

I turn the corner and see him, reading all your cards - spread out all over the kitchen island - one after another after another.

More laughing.

He loved them all - and I happened to catch him laughing hard at one card that said, "Happy St. Patrick's Day. I know this is late, who cares." -- You know who you are, you clever child, you. :)

All of the thought you all put into the cards is touching. We look at them often and will keep them forever. Thank you for being such compassionate, witty, and caring people. Your teacher and parents should be proud. I know they are.

To take time out of your day to make Wayne feel good, especially when you have never met him, is something we will never forget. Thank you, thank you.

Sincerely,

Val & Wayne Koop

P.S. If you want to get on your teacher's good side, talk to her about Elvis. She adores him.

Quality Time

We braved rush hour traffic and went downtown to grab Lindsay and Jordan (love their location!) for some pizza. We literally walked around their building, walked across the street, and ta-da! We were at the best pizza place in Denver. Marco's Coal Fired Pizza. Since we have small children, it is a given that we eat wayyy early. In fact, we were ready for dinner during happy hour, so we (excluding Wayne) drank house red wine for $5 and thought we were pretty thrifty. And, no, I did not drink that glass in about 5 seconds flat.

It was 7 seconds.

A little back story: When I was pregnant with Caeden, I was craving NYC pizza. So, we hopped on a plane and spent the weekend in New York. It was heaven. Ahhh, the days before children when we had disposable income to do that sort of thing ...

So, I feel qualified to say this pizza was THAT good. Thin, awesome cheese (but not too much), and great toppings. Going back soon.






Plus, how cute is this idea? They came out with a plate full of pizza dough for Caeden to play with.


It is safe to say he had a good time.

There's my sister, Jordan, and Wayne all full and happy.


And best for last: quality family time, sugar.

P.S. I swear Claire was not left at home alone. I have no idea why she did not appear in any of the pictures. Strange, illusive baby...

Morning ... without anyone around

What do we do when we have nowhere to go on a Monday morning? No one coming over? We play. We do not clean the house. We make bigger messes. The playroom is calling ...

We stare at baby Claire and wonder when she is going to get her first tooth .... (Notice her Microsoft onsie. We love Microsoft. A lot.)


We make our own cement trucks, even though there is a small fortune of high-tech cement trucks waiting on the sidelines...


Just when you thought it was all play and no work ... I introduce to you "take your son to the office down the hall day."

Caeden is usually in some state of undress. This picture just happens to be right after he got out of the bath tub, so at least he is clean. I have my standards, you know.

Weekend Update

Caeden was invited to a birthday party at McDonalds on Saturday. The kids had a blast, and so did we. It was great to get out of the house and do something social.

Have you ever noticed those red DVD rental boxes inside McD's? I hadn't (probably because we have not been inside a McDonalds in years and years). They were so busy! Who would have thought to go to a fast food restaurant to rent a movie? Apparently a lot of people.

The new Houston's restaurant opened this weekend in Cherry Creek. We're dropping off Caeden at school and heading there for lunch. Trying to get Wayne to eat as much as possible before surgery and another round of chemo. He continues to drop weight while eating as much as he can.

I've got some more pictures to post. Look for another posting here soon ...

P.S. Before you judge me on the photo quality ("Isn't Val taking a photography class for pete's sake?!") - the pictures were taken on my beloved iPhone. Cut me some slack, people.

Back to Regular Programming

This boy has a sweet tooth unlike anyone I have ever seen. The cupcake came from a new bakery located downtown. The chocolate frosting was amazing (or so I heard). Caeden Koop, I love you!

I cannot get over her. I adore her. Want to eat her up like Caeden and cupcakes.


Soooo.

We have a week before Wayne has heart surgery. That means, a week filled with possibilities:

We have Easter ... and Caeden's 4th birthday party. We have spring (with snow, but still...), we have a week with no doctor's appointments. We have each other.

For the next week, there will be no cancer talk. Just pictures of us doing our thing. Pictures of family, of fun, of everyday stuff. This week, we are back to regular programming.

A Great Day

Mackal (Wayne's boss) & Randy (Wayne's colleague) flew into Denver this afternoon to check up/check in on him. We've been looking forward to their visit all week, and this afternoon we picked them up from the airport and went to lunch. (Any Houston's fans out there? We went to Cherry Creek Grill, which is in the same group as Houston's. Gotta love their salads and veggies!)

Anyway, lunch was fantastic. It was wonderful to finally meet Mack. Not to embarrass you Mack, but you are just a wonderful person! Your laugh is contagious and it felt great!

Randy has been traveling alot lately and still found the time to come over today to see Wayne. Thanks for doing that, Randy. It was great to see you and catch up on your family.

We have great news!!!!!

The spot in Wayne's brain does not appear to be cancer. It is thought to be a blood vessel, and does not look suspicious. Isn't that amazing news?!

Second, Dr. Hinshaw reported that Wayne's CT of his chest yielded these results: The tumors have stabilized/shown slight improvement after just 1 round of chemo!!!!!

The medicine is working. Your prayers are working. Working!

We also have an official diagnosis. It is not osteosarcoma like we thought. It is Chondrosarcoma.
Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma to be exact. It is cancer of the cartilage. Mesenchyme are embryonic cells from which cartilage are formed. Chondrosarcoma is a malignant tumor originating from connective tissue. This really doesn't change Wayne's chemotherapy or course of treatment - as the plan is to see how well he responds to chemo in order to operate. So far so good because he is responding!

Back on Monday.

You know you wanted to see them ...

These aren't even his favorite pair, but he wears them enough that I feel like this is an accurate portrayal of what he wears these days (for those of you who conference call with him - sorry for the visual...)

Today Wayne had another MRI on his head, and a CT scan of his chest. We'll know the results tomorrow (we are looking for the spot in his head to stay the same size or decrease, as this might indicate a blood clot over a tumor).

Also, his open heart surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday, April 14th. He will be admitted into the hospital on Monday the 13th. This is a huge bummer because it's Caeden's 4th birthday, but we are glad to be moving forward and getting him into surgery.

For those of you who don't know, he has a large nodule on his lung that has grown a finger and has snaked it's way into his pulmonary valve and into his left atrium. Click here to see a picture of what I'm talking about. His surgeon, Dr. Parker at Presbyterian St. Lukes Hospital, is confident that he can remove the tumor; osteosarcoma tumors are "smoother" than other types of cancer, and are easier to remove via surgery.

His recovery time in the hospital is 5-7 days, and then he'll get to come home again and either start another round of chemo, or have the mass (if it turns out not to be a clot) removed from his brain.

We'll have more details after his appointment with Dr. Hinshaw (his Oncologist) tomorrow.

testing (for bigger pictures)

Taking It All Off

{The scar on his head is not from brain surgery. Wayne (and his entire family) was in a car accident when he was a child.}

Imitation is the best form of flattery.

Just when you think he is too busy playing to notice anything ... I realize he notices everything.

"Smile Grandpa and Grandma!"
"Gooooooood."
"This picture is awesome!"



Remind you of anyone? :)

Just Us.

You can tell we had an awesome weekend from the last post. We found time to sneak in some family pictures, too. As always, you can click on the pictures to get a better look.

Wayne's got a busy week. Blood work today, and a CT scan (lungs/heart) and MRI (for spot in his head) on Thursday to see if there has been any changes in 3 weeks. We know he has heart surgery next week, but we just aren't sure of the date yet (pending CT).

I feel like this week is the calm before the storm.

Wayne is busy working today, and Dave and Donna (Wayne's parents) are here until tomorrow (they came for a long weekend). I was hoping to do something fun with them, but we've got more snow today, so it just might be a pajama day.

By now, you know how fond we are of pajama days...

They Brought Medicine

They are the gang from Sturgis. The ones that Wayne grew up with - the ones that helped each other all survive their teen years (despite the odds - you should hear their stories!)

They know Wayne from before. Before Wayne knew who he was going to be. To become. They knew him then.

They swooped in, bringing a flurry of old stories, new stories, laughter, a ton of bull ... and with that, an afternoon of basketball to watch together.

If you would have been here, you would have seen Rick gesturing as he told a story to get everyone laughing. You'd have noticed Randy's tried and true "Spam" t-shirt. You would have seen Jeremy's wife and kids on his blackberry, you'd have seen Tom and Claire flirting. You'd have noticed that Shawn snuck out to call Tina - I suspect because he just missed her. You'd see Jennie, an old "cruising" friend of Wayne's, walk through the door and how wide Wayne smiled to see her. You would have heard Mike talking about the probability that none of them would lose any weight (they are competing in a weight loss challenge).

You would have heard more laughing. More stories. More, more, more.

You wouldn't have wanted to interrupt one minute of their day, because they were in their own world, and it was a world that provided a wellness for Wayne that was better than any medicine he took that day.

They.

Humbled & Thankful

Here are Wayne and Caeden playing Doctor. The first thing Caeden wanted to do was listen to Wayne's lungs and heart (he knows the "cancer germs" are in there).

Claire with her first dolly - Baby Stella.

Watching Caeden play ...


Over the past few weeks Wayne has received cards, emails, phone calls, texts, and care packages in the mail. We have received dinners and lunches made by friends and friends - of - friends who have been so thoughtful and kind.

We are absolutely humbled by the outpouring of generosity and support we have and continue to receive. There are not words for the way we feel each time someone reaches out to us. It is the love and support that keeps us going - giving us strength (well, that and wheat grass ...).

The above pictures were taken yesterday, as we unwrapped a huge care package from his friends at Microsoft. It is the first time I have had my whits about me to take pictures.

Here is a link to pictures of my friends in Kansas drawing pictures for Caeden and Claire. (I wish I had taken pictures of them unwrapping them!)

The generosity of many has given us the opportunity to hire help for the kids as Wayne is in and out of the hospital in the month of April. To be able to be by his side while he recovers from heart surgery and 2 more rounds of chemo means the world to me - to us.

And the prayers. All of your prayers and thoughts are so appreciated. Thank you, thank you.

We love you all. Thank you for everything - and know that Wayne is one hell of a fighter. Thank you for helping us fight.

Our Love,

Wayne, Val, Caeden and Claire

Hair Watch: Day 10

Wayne with a full head of hair. I'd love to comment on all the gray, but I'm afraid of what he'd have to say about mine (Not that I have any, mind you).

If we were in an office environment, I am sure there would be a pool going about when he won't have it anymore. But, since we're not, we've come up with Wayne: The Hair Watch. A daily picture of "will he or won't he have it today?"

If you're really lucky, tomorrow you'll see his pajama pants, too.

Grass.

Wheat grass. For 1.49, you too, can drink little green shots. From the extensive list of health benefits, I think I might start drinking them too. (The Ensure is just another item Wayne drinks. I'm using it for a prop since the wheat grass looked lonely on the fridge shelf).


I took the above picture with my iPhone, so click on the picture to enlarge it to read the list. (I know we are a Microsoft family, please excuse my total adoration for my iPhone. I just love this little piece of techno-wonder.) Trust me, the list is impressive!

{In other Non-Wayne News}

This is for the grandparents:

Claire had her 9 month appt. this morning. She's an itty bitty! 17 pounds and 27 inches. She's in the 15th percentile for both. She's healthy and took her shots like a champ.

Settling In

We are getting used to our new reality. We can talk about "it" without crying or avoiding each others eye contact.

Today Wayne had a great day. He wanted to work, he climbed the stairs to help me with the kids during the time of night all us parents know as the "witching hour," we sat at the table tonight happily eating hummus and chit chatting about stuff.

We are settling in.

We've got another week or two before his heart surgery, and then all of April will be about recovering, more chemo, recovering, more chemo ...

So, I'm trying to think of fun things that we can do, that wouldn't take too much out of him. Maybe a trip to the mountains?

It was windy all weekend, so we didn't get pictures taken like I had hoped. However, I am feeling like pulling out the camera, so look for pictures soon (blogs without pictures can be so boring - maybe you would all like to see Wayne's rotation of pajama pants?)

He had another appt today (every MWF) to check his coumadin levels (blood thinner) and everything is looking good. Wayne was researching nutrition today - trying to come up with things that will help his immune system. I offered organic fruit smoothies (thinking of you, Paula), but he is jumping into the wheatgrass arena.

He just walked in, and I said I was blogging, and he said, "it just feels good to feel normal."

Couldn't have said it better.