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Collin's Corner

Welcome to Collin's Web Page. It has been provided to keep family & friends updated about him & his progress as he undergoes treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). He was first diagnosed 1/17/01 and finished treatment 8/23/03.
Unfortunately, Collin relapsed in the bone marrow & spinal fluid 5/28/04.
Collin successfully completed his relapse treatment! He is officially off-treatment as of July 26, 2006! Thank you, Lord, for watching over us each step of the way!

WAY TO GO, BABY! I am so proud of him!

Here is some general information on normal blood counts. You can get more detailed information at Patient Center Guides .

Hemoglobin (Hgb) 11.5-13.5
Hematocrit (Hct) 34-40
Platelets 160,000-500,000 mm3
White blood count 5-10 K/ul

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)
The absolute neutrophil count (also called the absolute granulocyte count or AGC) is a measure of the body's ability to withstand infection. Generally, an ANC above 1,000 means that the child's infection-fighting ability is near normal.









Journal

Friday, July 25, 2008 8:46 PM CDT

Hi, everyone! I hope you're summer is going well. Ours has been pretty good, overall. I'll give you the whole scoop in just a minute, but, the biggest news right now........(insert drum roll here!).......

COLLIN IS 2 YEARS OFF TREATMENT!!!! He & I returned from his check up at St. Jude on Thursday. It was a short trip with nothing but good news! His blood work was perfect & they don't need to see him for a whole year!!! WOW!!

So, if you're REALLY busy, you can stop there & I thank you for your thoughts & prayers as always. If, however, you'd like to know what this fabulous young man & his family have been up to since my last update several months ago.....then, please, read on!

Fifth grade finished out pretty well for our boy. He made A/B honor roll for the last two quarters of the school year and was given a special award for maintaining A/B honor for the whole year. He also received another award, the President's Award for Educational Achievement. This is a pretty impressive award. For info on the selection criteria you can check out this website: http://www.naesp.org/ContentLoad.do?contentId=1052. He received a lapel pin (as shown on the site), a certificate & a letter....both signed by the President of the United States. We all thought it was pretty cool!!

A few days after school let out, it was off to Camp Boggy Creek for a week! He had a great time, but can never quite remember all of the details to share with me. LOL! He swam, rode horses & participated in his favorite activity, archery.

Upon his return from camp, Collin started band camp for two weeks. For a hour every morning, he learned about the trumpet & can play some notes. He wants to play drums, but to get to the drums, you have to be among the best of the percussion instrument players. His motivation is a bit low right now, but we'll see what happens.

During the afternoons of the last two weeks of June, Collin would ride along with me up to Lake Sumter Community College for 'Kids College'. There are a lot of choices of activities for the kids to learn. Collin chose archery & code-breaking/puzzle-making. In the second, he would either work on learning about different types of code that can be used and making his own statement or creating his own puzzles. He really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, he had to miss the last day of 'Kids College' & the last 2 days of band camp due to a death in the family in Ohio. His great-grandfather, my grandfather, Bob Erich, passed away on June 24th. Luckily, I had a couple of vouchers for airfare. Collin & I were able to attend the visitation & funeral that weekend. We were able to visit with a lot of family that we aren't in close touch with and spent some time with Jay's family, too. It was good to be there, but too short of a trip.

Upon our return, we celebrated Jay's 38th birthday (June 28) & Collin's 12th birthday (7/1). We were in Ohio on Jay's birthday, unfortunately. We had a wonderful cake made by my mom. I can't believe my baby is almost a teenager! YIKES!!!!

Five days after our return from Cleveland, Collin & I boarded yet another plane for a planned trip to visit his great-grandmother who moved from Florida to live with her son, Rich, in Eugene, Oregon 2 years ago. Grandma is doing ok. She was thrilled to see us & we were very happy to see her! We also saw my cousin, Bill, who was up visiting from San Diego. Collin, Bill & I took a drive to the coast one day. Aside from the amazingly beautiful drive, we saw a coastline like nothing we've ever seen before. The rocky cliffs, next to sandy beaches, both abutting amazing forestry. It took my breath away. We saw a Sea Lion cave with hundreds of seal lions, saw a lighthouse, climbed some dunes & just soaked in the wonder of God's creation. We also did a little exploring in Eugene. Uncle Rich drove us around town & explained some of the history & expansion of the city. It is something else to see all of those houses built into the sides of mountains, almost on top of each other. I think I'd be afraid of sliding onto my neighbor!! We also took a drive with Grandma & Uncle Rich up into the mountains where my grandfather's ashes lay. It was another moment of wonder for me.....the mountains, the Cougar Dam, the drive through the woods....I felt so small in comparison. We were sad to leave the beautiful weather and Grandma when it was time to go.

So, add our trip to Memphis (St. Jude) and that brings Collin's summer up to date.

Throughout all of this, my mother has been hanging in there.....he foot still in a cast and slowly healing. She gets depressed and frustrated and some serious cabin fever, but who wouldn't in her place. Please, keep her in your prayers.....she will be having surgery on her other foot on August 22nd.

Jay has been busy this summer, too. Although he hasn't been having quite as much fun as Collin & I, he did start training a new team of cyclists for the Intercoastal Century ride that will take place in October. This is his first time as the Coach. He's having a good time, trying to be the best coach he can be. He worries over his cyclists like a mother hen! He's a good coach & has a good team.

Then there's me.....I finished up my college algebra course at the end of June with an A. It was a challenging class, but I enjoyed it. I have also been doing some work at our church office this summer. Our church secretary needed to take a week last month and two weeks vacation this month, so I fill in while she's gone. I will be covering for her until next Wednesday.

The next big adventure......before Collin starts Middle School on August 18th.....the three of us, Collin, Jay & I, are heading up into the panhandle of Florida for a little family vacation. Okay, so we have to give up a couple of hours to hear the bit about their timeshares, but it's going to be worth it! We are all looking forward to the trip. And, for anyone that didn't know this, not far from Destin is Florida Caverns State Park! Yes, there are caverns in Florida! We will definitely be checking them out!

So, there's the scoop! I hope you all enjoyed my tour through our summer! Take care & may God bless all of you!

Love,
Shanon




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Links:

www.stjude.org   Please support St. Jude
http://www.acor.org   Cancer Resource & Support Groups
http://www.basecamp.org   Support for our journey!


 
 

E-mail Author: legomom0701@aol.com

 
 

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