Malachi & Elias

Happy Canada Day!

This is Tom last evening (July 1, Canada Day, 2005)

Thank you!!

For everyone who contributed to my Bike-a-thon effort for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation : it was a great success!! The weather was wonderful, and I was able to raise over $1400!!! I really appreciate everyone's contribution. 

Here are some photos :

Memorial Day weekend

We kept Malachi and Elias really busy this weekend. On Saturday, we went first to an Asian cultural festival, where we had curry for lunch. Then we went on to the Stamford Nature Center  where they have a little farm.
Tom made a new friend

and Elias walked around picking up sticks and fun rocks

On Sunday we went to the New York Hall of Science which has a huge outdoor "science playground", as well as some rockets left over from the 1965 World's Fair.
This Mercury capsule was a big  hit.

Afterwards, we tried to go to Astoria for dinner, but the boys were too tired. We sat in a cafe and enjoyed coffee and Greek pastries, but Elias was no longer even making sense so we headed home.
On Memorial Day itself, Tom marched in a parade and then we went bicycling on the North County Trailway, which is one of these rails-to-trails things. Both Malachi and Elias loved riding in the bike trailer. This is the first time Elias has ever ridden in it.

Elias in a new shirt

Elias's Ant Laurie sent this cool new shirt. A long sleeved shirt is just what he needs right now, because the weather is wintry despite it being almost Memorial Day.

The Pediatric Cancer Foundation Bike-a-Thon is coming up

Just like last year, I am going to ride in the Pediatric Cancer Foundation
Bike-a-thon on Sunday June 5.

The Pediatric Cancer Foundation is a local charity that gives money
to 6 area hospitals that treat pediatric cancer. Memorial Sloan-Kettering,
where Elias was treated, is one of them. In fact, they have given
money to Dr. Cheung's research on antibodies, which Elias directly benefits
from when he does the 3F8 therapy.

This year, you can sponsor me online! It is really easy.
http://www.pcfbike.org/sponsor/pledge.php?pid=101

Here is more general info on the Pediatric Cancer Foundation
http://www.pcfbike.org/about.php

And finally, photos from the ride last year (when it
was pouring rain). I hope the weather is better this year.

Mother's Day cards

Here are some photos of the cards and flowers I got for Mother's Day

For some reason, Malachi drew slices of pizza in the card he decorated. It says "Malachi's pizza"

Elias chose butterfly stickers for decor

Happy Derby Day!!!

Have a mint julep, and don't forget to cheer for Afleet Alex. This
horse to raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stands. Alex Scott was
the little girl who started the lemonade stands to raise money for pediatric cancer.
She died last summer after fighting neuroblastoma her entire life.
http://www.afleetalex.com/
http://www.alexslemonade.com/

Malachi and Elias in Derby outfits

Bone marrow results are clear

There was a message on our phone last night, left by Dr Kushner himself (the main oncologist on the neuroblastoma team) telling us that the bone marrow results are in and clear.

This weeks marks exactly one year since Elias's last inpatient admission.

Here is a photo of him one year ago, when he got home from the hospital after that last admission for neutropenic fever :

And here he is in a recent photo :

A picnic in the bedroom

Malachi and Elias lined up lots of stuffed animals for a picnic the other night. Here are some photos.

Elias has a hearing test scheduled for 8am tomorrow morning. They are going to see if he needs hearing aids for the high frequencies or not.

Some results are in

We just got the word that the CT and MIBG scans look good. We won't know about
the bone marrows or urine test until next week.

Elias is very stiff and sore from the bone marrow procedure yesterday, and probably also
from all the immunizations that he got. He also spiked a fever last night, which we hope was
from the immunizations and not from being sick.