a happy birthday and a peg-asparaginase update

jasmine turned eleven on friday...

we celebrated by having dinner at islands with my sister, jessica, my nephew, angel, a. rocky, u. bob, and a. kim & robert. that was after the kids got to go see ratatouille (nick was the chaperone). in case you are wondering, yes, i gave jasmine a new eyebrow in photoshop for her b-day, since she decided to shave hers off. don't worry, that wasn't the only gift she received- she received quite a few things that she was very excited and happy about. all in all, it was a nice day. we didn't make it out to dockweiler, but there will be other opportunities to go the beach...  i can't believe she is already eleven years old! my, my, how time flies. not so long ago, she was the baby in this family, and now, here she is, almost a teenager...

as for my little buddy, ryan, he is doing much better. the raised, red areas near his injection sites disappeared after a day or so. i was a bit paranoid the first 24 hours, but things got better after that. i called the doctor on call @ coh at around 3 am the first night, to ask if i should take him in because the red area grew by a fraction of an inch. i was so anxious about the situation that i didn't want to go to sleep, lest something happen to him. the doctor was very nice and sooooo patient with me. [i just want to say that all his pediatricians at coh are just awesome!!!!! better than that- they are divine. so kind, patient and knowledgable.] she explained that after the first 12 hours, the chance that his allergic reaction can continue to progress into something more serious is very minimal or unlikely. she also said that  generally, this type of reaction progresses in phases, with red localized injection sites being the most preliminary and harmless stage, to having hives all over his body, and from there on, to shock. she said that the reaction usually does not skip steps. she assured me that it was okay to go to bed, and that ryan sounded like he was doing just fine... so i eventually fell asleep. but then i had to wake up in a few hours to take the girls to school on friday morning and to get to chemistry class... and there you have it... he has been running around all weekend, running errands with us, playing outside, even managing to sneak off to play at mcdonalds with uncle michael and nick, while i studied on sunday... i want to add that i am very proud of nick and grateful for his help this weekend. he spent so much time with his little brother on sat & sun, helping me out so i could study. in exchange, he earned some money to go out with rachel on saturday evening.

which brings me to where i am at today. i am stuck in chemistry land. i have been studying profusely. i have a midterm on friday, and my first and foremost goal is to pass this midterm and pass the class. my next goal is to do well or at least, "reasonably well," lol. i need lots of luck, so please send smart vibes and good luck vibes my way. lots of stuff going on this week- physicals for the older kids in preparation for summer camp, work for me on weds @ csun, another appointment for nick on thurs, and finally, after my midterm, ryan's appointment at coh for i.v. methotrexate & vincristine. now you can see why i need so much luck- what i really need is massive amounts of time to study and i am short on time, so lots of luck and diligence in studying as much as possible will have to do. okay, i'm off to the land of titrations & solubility.

i'll post again in a few days. hope you all have a swell week!