We’ve had a lot going on since the last post, I didn’t realize it had been 6 weeks.  At Giovanni’s May clinic visit, he was there to get vincristine , which is administered intravenously into the back of his hand.  (Three months ago the vein did not hold up and the chemo burned his hand, there is still a visible scar there, that's how strong vincristine is.)  They could not get a vein, so they sent him home for a few hours to hydrate.  I took him back and they were able to get a vein on the first poke.  It took a while before the two nurses could see a vein that was poke worthy, but they took their time which paid off, no unnecessary poking.  Dr. Torkelson brought up the topic of getting Giovanni a port, since he has 2 years left of treatment and if it’s this hard to get a vein now, it’s going to continue to be an issue.  We got the call yesterday and Giovanni will be getting a port next month during his next LP (lumbar puncture), so as not to put him under general anesthesia more times than necessary.  The port is a device that is surgically implanted under the skin.  Here’s a link with a general description http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-a-Cath

            Giovanni’s other website has been updated with photos and video, as well as a new url.   www.giovannihartman.com

Photos:  4 new albums, Make A Wish, Spring 2009 and Old Photos

Videos:  Giovanni and Isabella playing together, there’s also a link to out YouTube channel, now that I learned how fun and easy my camera’s software edits and uploads to YouTube I’ll be updating regularly.  Fun. Fun.  Isabella's 1st steps can also be seen on our YouTube channel!

Later this week we are going to the Man and Woman of the Year fundraising finale for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Next month he will be honored by the L&LS again at the Reno Ace’s baseball game on July 5th, he should be throwing out the first pitch.  The game is the kick-off to the Light the Night Walk, this year Giovanni’s walk team is named Giovanni’s Troopers.  Here’s a link to the team webpage http://pages.lightthenight.org/sac/Reno09/GiovannisTroopers.  Please join the team and plan to walk with us on September 12, 2009 at the Sparks Marina.  Giovanni’s team goal is to raise $500 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, money which goes towards patient resources and research for blood cancers.  If you’d like to join us at the Ace’s game on July 5th to support Giovanni and celebrate a little princess’ first birthday, please e-mail me at piratetrooper@sbcglobal.net.

Giovanni will be starting kindergarten in two months.  The school seems really receptive to his needs.  We are of course nervous and excited.  He really needs this, but there are so many issues we are thinking of; socialization, behavior and germs, just to name a few.  The things we are excited about are that he will learn, make friends, not be bored; he’s so ready for all of this.  He finally wrote his name and phone number, now he’s working on our address.  I really think he needs school to learn this stuff.  He’s been learning letters for a long time and hasn’t shown interest in writing his name.  Once he decided to do it, he quickly mastered it, no easy feat, that’s a lot of letters and G is hard to write.  Numbers he’s hasn’t worked on so much, in one day he asked what his phone number was and on the second try wrote it all by him self without asking what numbers he needed to write.  I can’t wait to see him learn and grow in school.

Last week he attended a 4 day art camp, he had plenty of fun and had some experiences navigating interactions with other kids.  He also went to park one day with his Grandma for 4 hours, he learned a lot that day too.  There were a group of boys he was playing with and they were playing hide and seek.  He was IT when I arrived, he was very upset because he did not understand why they kids kept running away from him.  I did my best to explain the game; he wasn’t having it at all.  Finally, I urged him to tell the kids he didn’t want to play anymore – he finally did and the boys all went off together to play something else.  This made me sad; I couldn’t ‘fix’ this for him and it reminded me that he’s not like the other kids, or like he would be if cancer never happened to him.  What 6 year old doesn’t understand hide and seek?  Mine.

School will bring daily triumphs and tragedies, but we’ll get through it.  It’s going to be a big adjustment for all of us.  Bret and I will be attending some college classes this fall, beginning a couple weeks after Giovanni starts school.  Bret will be taking some general ed courses and I will be taking some psychology courses I need for a second major or second bachelors, since it was my minor, I don’t need that much.  Also, I will be studying for the GRE, participating in a couple of research projects and applying to graduate school, and looking for some kind of job.  I really need more time to do all the things I should to prepare for the graduate school application process, but I don’t have another year to wait, so I’ll do my best in the next few months and hope that it’s enough.

            That’s all for now, thank you for following Giovanni’s progress.