Bowling

Kerstin, McKinsey and Annie were able to spend a few hours this afternoon bowling with the Lincoln Candlelighters. This group is for families of children with cancer or other serious diseases. We haven't been able to get to a monthly meeting since December, so it was nice to be able to go today and have a fun time!

A Day in Omaha

We were able to spend the day in Omaha today as a family. We ate lunch with some great friends at our favorite Omaha pizza place, Zios! Then we headed over to Children's Hospital with a wagon full of gifts for the 6th floor playroom. Kerstin and McKinsey asked their friends to donate a gift to the hospital at their recent birthday party. Stacy, the child life specialist, was thrilled with all the goodies for the patients.

We were also able to meet up with some other Omaha chums for some kid playtime and adult chit chat.

We finished off the day with a family card party in Lincoln. What a great day of socializing! We are blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Thanks so much for checking on us. Keep Kerstin in your prayers this week as she has to take her Atra meds again. We are hoping that a change in dosage will help the nausea. We do have some new nausea medicine as a back-up plan. God's blessings to you!

No Cavities

Kerstin had her 6 month dental check up this morning, and she remains a part of the "no cavity club".

Headache update: Kerstin's headaches finally went away over the weekend. We are hoping next week when she goes back on the ATRA, the reduced dose will help keep the headaches away.

Thanks for checking in, and we hope you all have a good week.

Doctor's Appointment

Kerstin had her scheduled doctor's appointment yesterday at St. E's in Lincoln. As a bonus, we also ran in to Lauren and her dad there as well. Kerstin's counts are holding steady at 1318. Our biggest concern are the increased headaches she has been having. After some discussion, we have decided that she will skip the rest of the ATRA for this week, and when her next ATRA week comes we are going to reduce the dose. The Zofran has worked great on the nausea, but the headaches it gives her are terrible. An alternate medication we talked about is Anzemet. According to the literature it appears to have about the same incident of headaches as the Zofran. If anyone has any experience with the Anzemet, we would love to hear from you. In the mean time if we need something for the nausea, we'll go with the Phenergan. On the bright side, Kerstin's headaches have begun to fade since she stopped taking the Zofran and ATRA.

We hope everyone has a great weekend. Take care and thank you for the prayers.

Feeling crummy again

Just wanted to give a quick update. Kerstin is on her "tough" medication week. She has had a headache since Monday that just won't go away. She has even asked for Tylenol, which we have been giving her, but it doesn't seem to help. Yesterday she slept in until 9:30 and then took naps at 11:15 and after school. She didn't sleep well last night (maybe too much naps???), continuing to complain of a headache. This morning she still had a headache, so I didn't give her any morning meds. She barely ate anything and even threw up this morning. She also said that things were kind of blurry. When she laid on the floor while we were playing Barbies, I knew that she just wasn't feeling well. She ended up sleeping for a couple of hours this afternoon which seemed to help a little bit.

Jeff is working today, but Annie was able to stay home with Kerstin and even called the clinic. Dr. G recommended skipping some of her meds today and making sure she gets lots of rest. We have an appointment to see him at St. E's in the morning (it was our previously scheduled appointment anyway). He plans to give her a check up including looking at her eyes. Thanks for checking on us and for your continued prayers. We know that days like today are just little bumps in the road. Thanks also for your prayers for our friends Abby, Hannah, Mary, Elissa, and many others.

RSS Feed

Now you can follow Kerstin using an RSS feed. To find out more, click on the "Helping Kerstin" link on the left side of this site. Next, click on the "RSS Feed" link on the left side. That will take you to a page with more information. Thanks.

Team In Training

Saturday morning Kerstin got to meet about 30 of the Team In Training athletes before one of their training rides. The Omaha team (pictured) presented Kerstin with a teddy bear and a t-shirt. Kerstin brought some granola bars to pass out to the athletes. It was a great opportunity for the athletes and Kerstin to meet each other. For more pictures, click on the title "Team In Training."

Back Home

No exciting pictures for this post. (Unless you wanted to see the piles of dirty laundry from the trip.) We made it back home this afternoon. Kerstin is feeling pretty good. We had our fingers crossed the whole trip hoping that she would stay healthy. It was also nice Kerstin had her "easy" medicine week while we were on the road. We're hoping our new game plan for the "hard" medicine week works next week to keep her from getting sick to her stomach.

Thanks for the prayers, and please keep all those who couldn't enjoy spring break away from the hospital/clinic in your prayers as well.

Ice Skating

Kerstin and her sister got to strap on ice skates for the first time today. Both of the girls have been roller skating before, but they soon found out it's a lot different on the ice. We only lasted for about 45 minutes (which was long enough). The rest of the day was spent napping, going to the IKEA store, eating, and swimming. Tomorrow it's back to Nebraska.

Dinosaurs

After looking at all the fish, we went to the dinosaur exhibit. Kerstin's sister is studying dinosaurs in school right now so it was an excellent learning experience. (As well as a chance to sit down and relax.) Click on the title "Dinosaurs" for more pictures.

Aquarium

We visited the aquarium that is under the Mall of America. We even got to see them release a new sand tiger shark in to the shark tank with the rest of the fish. (Click on the title "Aquarium" for more pictures.)

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny even made it to Minnesota.

Flower Show

We took the "light rail" train to downtown Minneapolis just to check things out. While we were there we went to Marshall Fields to see the infamous flower show. (Click on the title "Flower Show" to see more pictures.)

Meeting Friends for Lunch

Tuesday we met Rose and Alex Bouvier for lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe in the Mall of America. It was a fun lunch and we were all glad not to be back in Nebraska scooping snow.

Mall of America

We spent the day (and I mean all day) at the Mall of America riding all the rides at what used to be "Camp Snoopy". Kerstin and her sister had a really great time. They should sleep really good tonight. :) Click on the title "Mall of America" for more pictures.

Back in the Water

This is the first time that Kerstin has been back in a swimming pool since she was diagnosed in October. In addition to getting the ok from her doctor to travel, he gave her the ok to use swimming pools again.

Birthday Party in MN

We visited some friends that live just east of the Twin Cities metroplex. In addition to a great supper, they had an impromptu birthday party for the girls.

Sick Again

Kerstin got nauseated today and vomited several times, so she missed another day of school. We can kind of see a pattern now with her medications and her getting sick. One of the meds she takes only every other week, and it seems about half way through that week she starts to get sick to her stomach. We called the clinic and talked it over. The called in a prescription of Zofran to the pharmacy. That seems to be the trick. Kerstin will now take the Zofran during her every other week of ATRA.

After the Zofran, a really long nap, and some supper, she was even feeling good enough to go to the ballet (Snow White) for which we had tickets for.

Fairies for Friends

We wanted to let you know about a wonderful opportunity our friend, Abby, is offering. For a donation of $5 or more, you can get your very own hand-made fairy. Abby, who is being treated for Leukemia at Children's Hospital, is making the fairies as a fundraiser for In the Arms of Friends. This brave 8-year-old is using her time stuck indoors with very low counts to benefit a wonderful organization. In the Arms of Friends provides all families of children with cancer a wonderful bag of items immediately upon diagnosis. The items include a treatment journal to keep track of all the mountains of paperwork you receive, gift cards, a disposable camera, a stuffed pet, and much more. This group also provided snacks for families at the Oncology clinic and much, much more. You can visit their website at www.inthearmsoffriends.org to find out more.

In order to get your own gorgeous fairy, go to Abby's website at www.caringbridge.org/visit/abbybridgewater and follow the directions. Tell them that Kerstin sent you. We are so proud of Abby and her mom, Kristi, for being so generous and giving. What an example they are for us all! Abby had hoped to raise $500. So far they have collected an amazing $1,825!!!

Thanks for checking on us! Have a blessed day!

Birthday Party

Kerstin and her sister had a combined birthday party this year, and this year they decided they wanted to have a movie theater party. They each got to invite five friends. The girls had ice cream and Barbie cake, opened presents, got a tour of the theater projection room, and then watched the movie "The Shaggy Dog". In addition to personal presents, each girl brought something to donate to the Children's Hospital arts and crafts room. (Thank you again everyone.)

Unfortunately, one of the invited girls was unable to make it to the party. Abby's (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/abbybridgewater) counts were not high enough for her to be able to join us at the theater. However, we were able to meet up with her and her mom for a quick present exchange while they were on their way back to Omaha.

To see all of the pictures from the day, click on the title "Birthday Party".