100 days to DM

Tonight we broke our cardinal rule - mom, Eden and I attended a public event. It was a Dance Marathon event on campus at the University of Iowa. The event was to highlight that there is only 100 days to the upcoming main event for Dance Marathon (on Feb 5&6). We thought it would be okay to bring her out, since her counts have been pretty good, and we wanted to support the organization that has supported our family (and many others) so much and in so many ways since Jan 14th, 2009. Eden had an absolute blast tonight. The night started off with some crafts, then she met Herky, enjoyed the LOUD music in a ballroom atmosphere, watched the dancers dance, and got to spend some quality time with a few of our "regulars" from dance marathon. These same "regulars" have frequently spend time with Eden while we were on one of our long terms stays at the hospital.

One of the highlights tonight was that they introduced several of the cancer families that were present by having us walk across an elevated stage in front of all the dancers, and we were introduced. I wasn't sure how she'd do, being the absolute center of attention, with the big spot light blaring down on the stage. She did better than I hoped!!! Not only did she go up and onto the stage, but she was the very first of us onto the stage!! She blew kisses to the crowd, waved her arms, and did a little spin around dance - and the crowd of student dancers responded with loug cheers for her. Selena and I couldn't have been prouder of her. After our minute on stage was over, she rejoined a couple of our dancer friends (she actually asked that mom and dad stay back)!! So we did. Eden and two of our friends from dance marathon danced, and ran back and forth on the dance floor, pausing every 30 feet or so to lay down flat on the floor, then get up quickly to resume their run. (It reminded me of drills we did during 2-a-days to get into shape). Apparently it had that effect on all three of the girls, as they were all red cheeked and worn out. When it was time to go, Eden showed us her displeasure. She asked if she could "just stay".


After sleeping most of the way home, we changed her and gave her one of two oral chemos for the night. After the first chemo she took, we told her needed to take the pepcid too "to keep your tummy from hurting", we told her. She asked "does it hurt??" I said "well, we don't want it to hurt, so we're giving you this meddy". She said "does it have cancer in it?" I said "no, but you take lots of meddy's to kill the cancer". She looked me in the eyes, paused and said "yeah, we're killing cancer". I said "yep - and you're doing a great job". She rolled over and was asleep within minutes.

It's days like this one that make the stinky days seem like a distant memory. Thanks Dance Marathon!!!

We will be adding pictures so please check back . . . .