Granny Jane has taken Tanner to his Oncologist appointment again today. This is three Mondays in a row that she has taken him which has been a wonderful help! Without her, I would have to take off at least half a day (if not longer) each Monday. It's been very nice of her to help out!

His face, chest, and back are breaking out and we think it's from the Revlimid since one of the side effects is acne. He's taken it for 21 days now so he gets to "rest" from it for the next seven days so it will be good that he doesn't have to take it this week.

Tanner and I leave for my work trip to the Riviera Maya tomorrow and it couldn't come soon enough since it's suppose to snow again in the morning. This is Texas! What's up with all the snow?? I just hope it doesn't delay our flight getting out of here.

My nephew in law is re-doing my bathroom for us while we are out of town so it will be nice having someone at the house so I don't have to worry (too much) while we are out of town.

Now that the trip is actually right here upon us, Tanner is so excited!! I purchased him a water tight cast cover so that he can be in the water up to 45 minutes at a time. He tried it in the bubble bath and said it works. LOL! The resort has three pools so he can lounge in the sun (with plenty of sun screen) and get in and out of the water.

One of his doctors actually thinks that water therpay would be good for him so maybe he can have fun and strengthen his leg at the same time.

He's looking forward to the all you can eat! Sometimes he's like a bottomless pit!!

They also have these beautiful canopy beds along the beach and he tells me he plans to take his IPOD and just watch the ocean.

I know that he won't be able to do everything he would normally get to do since he's still in the full leg cast, but I hope he has a wonderful time.

After the last several months, he deserves a vacation of his dreams!

They have wireless internet there at the resort so I'll be sure and try to update so you can check out his fun first hand...

Well, the school administrator tells me that Tanner has passed all of his classes!! Guess this means my baby is truly a high school graduate! Now we just wait on the diploma and I’ll order the graduation announcements!!

Do you know how truly proud of him I am? He’s been through so much these past months and the fact that he buckled down and finished all of his school (ahead of schedule) is just outstanding!!

I’m so grateful to my employers for allowing (strongly encouraging - LOL) Tanner to come to work with me every week so that he could concentrate and get the school packets done. I think his concern over letting down the people I work with is what really had him sticking to the schedule and getting all the school work completed.
Whatever caused it to happen, I’m glad he finished and has it all behind him now.

If you had asked me in July if I thought Tanner would be able to graduate ahead of his class, I would have thought you had lost your mind! Everything was so uncertain and he had so many treatments in front of him. Now here we are over seven months later and he is in full remission and finished with high school!! Yea!!! Unbelievable!!

He and I are going to Cancun with my employer and agents next week to soak up some sun and for some much needed relaxation. When we get back, we will look into some online college courses so he can move on to the next phase of his life.

We went out to eat last night (On the Border of course) and I met his new girlfriend. She is very pretty, seemed nice, and was quite shy! We will have to get her to come out of her shell!! (Those of you who know me are chuckling at that comment! It takes quite a bit to get me out of my shell so I completely understand her shyness.)

I’m just glad Tanner is in a good place in his life right now and I’m looking forward to some time at the beautiful Riviera Maya with him next week. It should be a wonderful trip!

I’m sure we will have some beautiful pictures to share when we get back…

It's been a farily quiet weekend with Tanner spending lots of time with a new girl in his life. He'd probably be so mad at me if he knew I put that into the blog, but he's definitely embracing the life of a teenager these days. LOL!

I told him the other night that I miss him and he asked me what i meant and I explained to him that I had gotten use to spending most of my time with him these past seven months and though we are living in the same house, I've had to adjust to him moving on and leaving his mom behind.

Though I do miss our alone time, I'm so very glad to see him have the opportunity to just be a teenager. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he and I both didn't know what the future was going to bring and here he is seven months later driving, spending time with his friends, dating, and most of all FINISHING HIGH SCHOOL!

Granny Jane is taking him to his Oncologist appointment again tomorrow morning so I won't have to leave work. I am so very grateful to her for all the help - plus it gives Tanner some "granny" time!

His hair is coming back in and he looks really good. The PA at Dr. Davis' office told us that one of the side effects of the Revlimid could be hair loss, and during past treatments it took 2-3 weeks after starting chemo before the hair came out, so I guess we'll see here in another week or so if he'll lose his hair again. It's a good thing he's a handsome bald young man!

Other than a little nausea and stomach acid every once in a while, he isn't having any side effects to the maintenance chemo so things are going really well for him at this point.

I mailed his algebra packet in last week so now we just wait for it to be graded and then we should be getting his high school diploma.

I guess it's time to start planning our celebration!

TANNER FINISHED ALGEBRA! THIS MEANS HE IS THROUGH WITH HIGH SCHOOL!!

He came into work with me this morning and by 3:00 p.m., he had algebra finished. Now I just have to mail in this last packet and wait on his High School Diploma!!

We are really going to have to celebrate. I am more than proud of him.

Cancer, chemo, stem cell transplant, maintenance, high school graduate...

Way to go Tanner!!

The funding came through on Tanner’s Revlimid so he’s been taking his medication for the last week. So far we’ve seen no side effects - which is a relief.

Granny Jane and Pop Jerry took him to Cook’s today for his Maintenance Chemo and they were only there a little over two hours. That was much better than the 5-1/2 hours that it took last week.

It was very nice of them to help with the appointment so that I could stay at work today. I appreciate the help very much!

Tanner is working on his algebra packet after which he should be through with high school!! Yea!!

We’ve saved the worst class till last and I will be of very little help to him. I haven’t used algebra in the thirty years since I’ve been out of school (and math was my worst subject) so I don’t remember it at all. Hopefully the people I work with will be able to help him if he needs any assistance and he can get this last class behind him.

I’m sure it will be all good. I’m so proud of him for buckling down and getting all of his work done!

We’ve been talking about him continuing to come to work with me and taking some online college courses. I don’t want him just hanging out at the house and with his leg still in the cast; it would be hard for him to find any kind of employment at this time. I think some college courses are the way to go! No need to waste any time. LOL!!

Forgive me for taking so long to update. Tanner took his laptop to his bedroom so I don’t have the internet in my bedroom right now. I’ve decided to just type the update in Word and then I will copy into the blog tomorrow.

I qualified for assistance on the Revlimid prescription from the Chronic Disease Foundation!! Yea!! I am so grateful because I sure didn’t know how I was going to come up with that 30% co-pay every 25 days.

The lady who helped me with obtaining the assistance told me when it runs out; she will help me find something with another foundation so I’m just going to trust that things will work out.
They started Tanner’s Velcade treatments Monday at the doctor’s office here in Fort Worth and we were there over five hours.

Being a Pediatric Oncologist, they had never given these meds so it just took a while for them to get everything sorted out. Hopefully, it will be a smoother process in the future.

He will take the Dex (steroids) every Monday morning and then we will go to the doctor’s office around 10:00 a.m. that same morning. Then for 21 days in a row, he will take the Revlimid prescription at night before bed (goodbye to the hair again) and then will “rest” for seven days and then start the whole process over again.

I have no idea how long he will have to do this but we go back to Arkansas the first week in March for more tests.

He hasn’t gotten sick or anything from the first Velcade treatment so that’s a good thing. When they first started the IV, he got pretty light headed and said the room was spinning so I don’t think I will be letting him drive himself to the appointments (as he was wanting to do).
Since treatment is just once a week, we are hoping for much lighter side effects this time!

Check out the before and after photos from the appointment Monday!