BYU Thursday's Hero Reunion

Coach Mendanhall and Trey

Dave, Trey and Juice

We received an email inviting us the BYU Thursday's Hero Reunion. I did not realize that they did this every year. All the football players were there and music was playing and they served dinner outside in the practice field. It was so nice and a couple of football players came and ate dinner with us. Trey loved that. I only remember their first names Dave and Juice. It was a fun event and we are glad we were invited to attend.

Trey has been doing well. The kids seem to be coming down with a cold and with Trey's medication increase, I've been a bit on edge wondering how he'll do. Tommorrow Home Health is coming to take Trey's CBC so on Tuesday we should know if his counts have dropped. If they haven't I won't be surprised if his chemo is increased again.

School is just around the corner and the kids can't wait to start. Skyler will be in 9th grade, Katrina in 7th (middle school here she comes!) Trey in 5th and Alanna in 2nd grade. Can't believe how fast the summer has flown by. We are excited for them and the new adventures that await them in school.

Family Time

We went on a family picnic the other day and we saw this cool tree. Katrina at once was climbing and then we had an idea to get all the kids up in the tree and take a picture. Trey had a hard time at first, but then once he was up, he climbed pretty high. The kids had a fun time and we enjoyed playing in the tree and playing Frisbee. I am so grateful that we live in a country that offers us freedom and choices. That I can be with my family and worship as I want. We are blessed with so much living in America. This is truly a blessed country. Happy 4th of July everyone!

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged, but with a new baby it's been a little busy. In June Trey had his spinal tap. He always gets nervous about it, but it works out okay. He didn't' get sick this time which I am grateful for. The picture above is of him not looking too happy. The child life specialist was super. She saw that Trey was pretty upset so she offered to play some games with Trey while we waited for the chemo. Trey had a fun time playing Connect Four. They also played another game while he waited to have the spinal tap procedure done. Trey was laughing and later after we were driving home he said that the child life specialist really helped him keep his mind off of what was happening. She made him feel better. I am so thankful to Rachelle and her kindness.

Trey once again showed his humorous side by singing songs and saying funny things when he came out of his subconscious sedation from the spinal tap. He sang the whole introduction song from Dinosaur Train and also some parts of You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi. He had the doctor and nurses laughing hard. Next time I think I'll record him. Got to have something to show his girlfriends in the future, right?!

He goes in on Tuesday July 5th for just the chemo treatment and to have his blood counts checked. So far everything is looking good for him. He did have one of his chemo pill dosage increase. We'll see if it has effected his CBC counts. Once again, we give thanks to all who have been keeping Trey in your prayers. We appreciate your continued support.

Visit From Grandpa & Grandma

Our family at Tiana's baby blessing. We decided to bless her at home. We had many family members there to share with us this special occassion. We are so glad that my parents were able to make the trip from Washington for this purpose. It was wonderful to see them and have them share some of the experiences we had while being apart of the Make A Wish family.

This is Trey's scrapbook page at the Make A Wish foundation. Anyone who knows Trey can sign this page at the Foundation. It's pretty neat. Trey will always be able to go back there and read what was written to him.

When we had the star raising, Skyler was sick and wasn't able to make it. So he came with us so he could sign the scrapbook too.

Picture with Grandpa and Grandma. This is in front of the wishing fountain in the gardens at the Make A Wish foundation. When you go to the wishing fountain, you can make a wish and toss in your golden wish token. The gardens are so pretty and peaceful.

My parents came out for our daughter Tiana's baby blessing. They stayed for several days and so we took advantage of that and took them to the Make A Wish foundation for a tour. Trey showed them the Wishing Room and they signed his scrapbook page. It was fun to share this with them since they could not be with us at Trey's Star Raising.

Update on Trey. He's doing great. He is back to school. For a while his teacher was coming to our house to tutor Trey. He's caught up with his lessons and so his teacher no longer needs to come over to tutor him. We want to thank Mrs. Billings for being so great and taking the extra time to come over and help Trey out! Thank you.

His medication was cut back for a few weeks, but now the doctor is slowly increasing it. So we are back to every two weeks having his blood counts checked by home health. So far his counts look good and he has been feeling great. I'm sure that as his medications increase, his counts will start to go back down. I just hope that they don't drop so much that we end up in the hospital again. We can only hope.

Thanks again to everyones wonderful and thoughtful prayers. Prayers are powerful and we have felt the love of our Heavenly Father through them.

Going Home...finally!

Last week was a crazy hectic week. We made it through and I want to thank our family because we couldn't have done it without them.

I was with Trey in the hospital until Tuesday afternoon when Shane came and took over. I went home to get ready to go in the next day to have the baby. Shane's mom stayed with Trey on Wed. so Shane could be with me...then that evening after baby was born, he went back to relieve his mom.

On Wednesday, Trey had a blood transfusion. His red blood counts had dropped. He continued to have a fever and the white blood count wasn't going up. His ANC was about 200 which didn't go up much either. We got the news he'd be in another day. On Thursday he received a platelet transfusion. He continued to be on antibiotics and antiviral medications. He also couldn't shake his fever off. Good news was that by Thursday, his counts were starting to move up. Shane could tell he was feeling better because he got his appetite back.

Our kids were amazing. They handled all of this in stride. My sister Kali was so great to bring in dinners and go grocery shopping for us. She helped make sure the other kids were taken care of. Thank you Kali. Also Shane's dad and brother were of great help in staying the night with the kids. It was comforting to know that they would be safe at night. I know there were so many prayers offered for our family and I can't underestimate the power of prayers. I felt a comfort and peace that everything was going to be ok and it was because of these wonderful and thoughtful prayers. Thank you to everyone for this great blessing.

On Friday, I was able to go home with baby. It felt great to be home. I was anxious to find out if Trey would also be able to come home. He hadn't even seen the baby yet. I called Shane Friday afternoon and asked if he'd heard anything and he said they had to stay another night. I was so bummed. Well a couple of hours later, in walked Trey and Shane! Trey wanted to surprise me and not tell me he was coming home. Well it worked! I was so happy to have my family back together again and for Trey to meet his new baby sister.

He has been so sweet with Tiana. He is in such awe of her...her small hands and feet...her tiny body and head. Because he is sick, we told him he had to be extra careful around her. He needs to wear a mask and wash his hands really well before holding her. He gets emotional when she cries...he doesn't like to see her cry. Trey is really tenderhearted towards Tiana. He's so soft with her. We are grateful that we have our family together and that the week is over!

Bottom Out-Hospital again!

Well we've had quite the adventure this month. About 3 weeks ago all our kids came down with some illness that made them quite sick for several days. Of course they were all spread out. Trey came down with it last and one Sunday his fever spiked to 103. We called right away and were told to take him in to Primary's. So off we went. We spent about 5 hours there in the ER. His fever broke, was given medication and had his CBC taken. Eventually we were given the ok to go home. He felt better, but continued with a cough. Two weeks later he went in for his monthly chemo clinic appt. His ANC counts dropped to 900 and his platelets count was a bit low too. They told him to take it easy and not to do much rough house play. The next day was his birthday and he went to school. Seemed fine but was exhausted after school. He slept alot. He didn't go back to school after that. The rest of the week he felt too tired, chilled, and weak to do anything but lay on the couch and sleep. On Friday, I called the clinic and they said just to watch him for changes and that home health would check his CBC on Monday the 21st. Well on Sunday the 20th, he looked so beat up, I took his temp and it read 102.7. Called the hospital again and of course they said to come in right away. So Trey and I went up to Primary's and the ER took us right away. They did an EKG and chest x rays. (His consistent coughing was causing his chest to hurt really bad.) Took blood work and started him on an antibiotic. Found out his white count dropped to 400 which is really low and his ANC dropped to 100. Basically he does not have an immune system right now. They admitted us and we are currently back on the 4th floor of Primary Children's. As Trey was wheeled up on this floor, he said "This looks familiar". Sunday turned out to be a long night. We got checked in upstairs about 9:30 pm and had several personal come and go that night. Trey was a trooper-although he was frustrated and just wanted to go home.



We are in here for a few days. His white blood counts need to go up. He was given a shot that will basically induce the bone marrow to make more white blood cells. He has been on antibiotics and an antiviral pill to help with his sore lips. He has bad cold sores on his lips that haven't been able to heal due to his low counts. His blood cultures have been coming back negative which is a good thing. Hopefully they don't show any signs of a bacterial or fungal infection. They have stopped the oral chemo for now so that his ANC will go up. Once his fever is gone, his white blood counts and ANC goes up more and his ingrown toenail looks better, then we will be able to go home. Maybe on Wed or Thursday this week. They are a bit concerned about the toenail, because it could turn into a source of bacteria and could potentially be harmful for Trey. He is on a special antibiotic for that specific case.



This has been especially challenging time because I am to go in to have the baby on Wednesday. With Trey in the hospital it kind of complicates things. We just have to go with it and somehow everything will work out. I've been stressed about everything happening, but then I just have to laugh about the timing of all this-there isn't anything else I can do but laugh and have faith that Heavenly Father will see me through it all.



We have been blessed that Trey hasn't had an episode like this before. He's been doing so well for so long. We are blessed to have an amazing support group of family and friends. I will forever be grateful for everyone for their love and support of our family. Thank you!

Star Raisling

Pictures are a bit out of order. This one shows Trey's star... it's the blue one right in the middle. This is after he raised it up.

Awesome Vikings Cake!! Yum Yum!

On the right and in the middle are Kim and Deven...Trey's wish granters. They are amazing! Also pictured is the gal who works full-time at the center. She is great too! Thank you guys!

Trey about to raise the star!

Writing on the star.

For the close of Trey's Make A Wish, he got to have a party-a Star Raising party. The party was on February 3rd. We invited family to come to the Make A Wish Foundation and they played a slide show, signed a scrap book page that will stay at the foundation for anyone to look at, and had food. We even had a Vikings cake! It was so great. Thank you to all the family that was able to come and support our family in celebrating the Star Raising for Trey. Towards the end, Trey had picked a blue star and was able to write a few things on it and sign his name. Then we all watched while the song Wish Upon a Star played and Trey raised the star up to the vaulted ceiling where the other Make A Wish stars are hanging. It was such a neat experience. We will never forget the wonderful experience that we have had. These will always be precious memories for me.