June 29, 2011

Wednesday-So we had a great report at the drs yesterday. Cody is very slowly gaining weight and we will continue the feeding tube to get him over the hump of his pre transplant weight. He is not officially off his steroid which is HUGE news. We have stopped his acyclovir and hope he does not develop chicken pox or shingles. (20-30% chance). Dr asked us to stop the anti nausea med too. There is really no need for it. He did well last night and today without it. He also began his immunizations. He is getting shots like newborns do now. Crazy. Today he went back to work at McDonald's. I am so proud of it. I went through the drive thru to get an ice cream and just to see him. It was so good to see him there and he seemed so happy. This will help him in a lot of ways. He worked just 3 hours and he will do that again tomorrow. His back was hurting a little but he did it.

We are hoping to hear from Casey again..missing him like crazy!!

June 26, 2011

Graduation day...it was a super day and full of emotions. The whole weekend was.

Friday night was prom for Cody. He did great and looked even better. He made it through all of prom and went to after prom for about an hour. The drinks and whatnot came out and he was done. I picked him up around 12. I went to dinner with my brother and we went to listen to my fav band, That 70s band. It was fun. Cody was pooped. On Saturday we went to Chinatown and had fun there. Then to dinner again. Then today, we were up nice and early for graduation! I am so proud and so emotional right now. It was such a HUGE accomplishment for him. He did not think he could do it and he did ! I could not be prouder. I wish Casey was here! Missing him and it was nice to have Nicole here too!! Love you Cody and Casey...xoxo

June 20, 2011

Monday-Today was a feel good day. A good friend from worked organized a dinner for the Ronald McDonald house in New Hyde Park next to Schneider's Hospital. It was amazing. Cody went with Nicole and got there before me and helped out with the prepping and cooking. It was a nice time and good to see so many of my SH peeps there. We stopped at Mc Donald's on the way home and Cody is going to start working again, slowly. He came home and tried on the clothes and is very excited. It has to feel good. I am proud of him.

Today was also the airing of the Sloan graduation, nationwide! There were several glimpses of Cody and his dr was on. It was cool!!

Looking forward to my brother coming on Friday. Good to have that family time. I think I need that more and more. Looking forward to that and to the last few days of school!!

Here is the link for the Today Show: Cancer survivors beat the odds, graduate high school

today.msnbc.msn.com

June 14, 2011

Tuesday-Well, the car is here! I did not think Cody was going to make it through the day. It is a nice car and a little scary too. He does better when I am not in the car. I think it will help him become more independent too. He is a little nervous but I think he will do ok with it. Now all we need is graduation!

June 9, 2011

Thursday-Well, today was an emotional one. After telling everyone about the graduation from Sloan and then seeing Cody's yearbook. Our good friends, the Reiser's did a whole page for Cody. They did a collage of photos of their son, Jimmy and Cody. They played soccer together since kindergarten. I saw a photo of Cody actually playing and that made me very upset. It has been a long time since he played. I remember his last indoor game like it was yesterday. It was the Wednesday before his diagnosis on a Sunday. He was not playing well and his teammates were yelling at him to move faster. He was winded and had trouble running. Little did we know how sick he was. And look how far we have come! I am so proud of him. One of his classmates wrote a quote and wrote Cody's initials underneath it: "We all take different paths in life but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere". Thank you, Jess Golden.

Cody is excited about his last day of high school tomorrow. It is bittersweet. He never thought he would get there and he did it! I could not be more proud of him!

June 8, 2011

The photo is Cody and his miracle worker, Dr. Kernan.
Graduation day at MSKCC. It was a really nice ceremony. The kids are amazing! Cody did really well. He had some family there from his dad's side and Nicole came too. I am so proud of him.

He saw lots of drs and nurses and NP's. It was a nice day! He has 2 more days of high school left and then he graduates on June 26! Busy few weeks for sure!

Missing Casey through all this. I know he is proud and smiling seeing his little brother graduate. I miss him!!

June 4, 2011

HAPPY RE-BIRTHDAY to Cody. Two years ago today he received his stem cell transplant. He is a fighter all the way!! It has been a tough 2 years and hard in so many ways, but look at him now. Graduating with his class, prom, driving and Dowling College. The drs at Sloan always gave us advice and when things were tough, Dr. K said, "In a year from now, you will not be worrying about this." She is so right. We worry about little things, piece of cake kinda things. Tough any way you look at it but it is all great in so many ways. Now I need to focus some energy on my soldier. He needs to get HOME! He is having his wedding in October and we need him home!

Thanks for all the support!!