Rena's Very Last Chemo Treatment Today!

Rena had her very last chemotherapy treatment today.  Her good friend Giselle stayed over and went with us to the clinic today, which made the day so much more fun for Rena.  She hardly realized that she had been given the treatment! Below are pictures of Rena at the clinic with Giselle, with the nurse who gave Rena her very first treatment 2 1/2 long years ago, and with Martin Klebba, an actor who played a pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  It is such as relief to be done.  We are looking forward to a great summer and high school for Rena in the fall.

 

Only 3 Chemo Treatments to go - we'll be done in June!

Hello everyone!
We haven't posted anything in a while because everything has been going very well.  Some important things to note.  First Rena has been gaining weight and getting taller.  She is nearly 5 ft!  And her growth trajectory shows her moving out of the low percentile for her age group.  This is really great news since she struggled to put on weight for a long time.  Also, her hair is really growing and is passing her shoulders now.

The last 3 months Rena has had kidney stone issues.  In February she had symptoms suggesting a urinary tract infection, but cultures showed no infection.  An ultrasound revealed 3 kidney stones, one of which was passing from her kidneys and into her bladder and causing significant discomfort.  She was admitted to the hospital for a short time while the first kidney stone passed.  The stones have bothered her a few times since then, but fortunately there hasn't been a repeat trip to the hospital.  Subsequent appointments and tests have revealed that the stones are likely calcium based (meaning no strange issues etc.) and so it is likely that the kidney stone issues will be minimized if Rena just stays hydrated!

She has her 3rd to the last chemotherapy treatment tomorrow.  The end is in sight! After 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy Rena is on track to finish at the end of June!

Rena has an exciting summer planned.  She will visit her dad (and that side of the family) in Washington for several weeks in July.  In the beginning of August, Rena will go to a fine arts camp to spend two weeks drawing, painting and making friends.  Her friend Gizelle will also be going and they hope to be cabin mates.  Finally in later August we will be visited by my sister Katie and her family, who are traveling to the U.S. from Sydney Australia.

In the fall Rena starts her freshman year in high school!  Rena is so glad that she will be all finished with chemo and ready to start high school with a clean bill of health.

Cheers,
Ginger

hi,
 I just waned to tell everyone that my school is having a found raiser so I am selling magazines and if anybody wants to buy one call me.

Hi this is Rena. We went to Vista Verde Ranch in Colorado for a family vacation last week.  A lot happened! On Sunday morning we got up and went to the airport where we met other families from the clinic. We flew from Detroit to Denver and then we had a 4 hour bus ride to the ranch. 2-3 hours in we stopped for dinner on a beautiful lake. Some of the ranch staff met us and served us dinner. Reid, a wrangler from the ranch, asked each of us questions so that he could match us with a horse. My horses name was Chip. The we drove on to the ranch. When we got there all of the staff met us at the door.  One staff person, Cori, showed us to our cabin. Then we got into the hot tub and went to bed.



During the week we went horse back riding a lot. A man named Terri that was the "horse whisperer" taught us to ride and do tricks. We also went rafting (very wet), rock climbing (scary), cattle wrangling (fun); ice cream eating in a fire truck, trail riding, barn dancing, swimming, pizza and movie watching, camping out with the teens, ate great food, and we also trained the yearling foals (my favorite). Terri went with us to train the foals.  After they fell asleep one of the foals put its head in my lap.

Our Vista Verde trip was the best trip I've ever had. It was so fun and everybody was really nice. I wish I could live there so I would never have to leave. I was sad to leave, but I am looking forward to getting a dog soon.

Monday  I got school supplies and we are going school clothes shopping this weekend.
Love,
Rena

Hi. This is Rena. I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a while.  I had so much fun the last part of the summer. First one night I was about to go to sleep when I heard a knock at the door.  I went up stairs and Jen and her dog Major  were here.  We had so much fun while she was here.  We went to the the Jiffy factory, and later the Motown museum and moon-walked in the old studio where Michael Jackson recorded records. Later Leonard came for a visit.  He took me fishing three times.  We also went for a canoe ride.  Finally, my best friend from Oregon, Aubrey, came for a visit. We went to the Detroit zoo and a really awesome candy store. 

hormworm

Hello, two days ago we found a tomato hornworm in our garden, it’s about 3.5-4 inches long now but it’s getting bigger every day. They eat tomato plants and can decimate the plant in a matter of weeks. I put some large leaves and a tomato in its tank last night and this morning the leaves and half the tomato were gone. They’re really big and they have a large horn at the end of their body. They look really creepy but they are harmless (more or less). 

Love, Rena

 

This week I babysat for the first time! It was really fun and she was really easy to babysit, she just played and ate cheese. I also went to a family reunion, we ate, talked, and I met family that I didn’t know I had. To top it all of today we all went to the art fair it was really fun, we saw some really cool stuff, and I got an air brush tattoo. Finally tomorrow I am going to one of my best friend’s house to sleep over for her birthday. Have a great week end!

Love, 

Rena