CT scan, chest x-ray, and ultra sound clear!!

This post is long over due, I have wanted to sit down and blog but never seem to have the time. I'm so excited to let everyone know that Miss Sassy Pants tests all came back clear. Last Monday she went in for a CT scan, chest x-ray, and an ultra sound. It was so hard to keep her still for all of these procedures, luckily my Mom came to help me, sometimes it takes 2 people to keep Izzy's entertained and under control. The doctor look a long time to come into the room to discuss the results, which really had me on edge. Then Izzy's nurse came in and told us the doctor was running behind, but didn't want us to worry about the tests because they all looked good.

Here she is pretending to remove the picc line from one of her dolls. This helped her to understand how it works when they take her line out.



Then, here is her nurse removing the line that went straight to Miss Sassy Pants heart to give her chemo, anti biotics, and anti nausea medication for the last 4 months.



What's next you ask? Well we get a little break from having to go to PCMC on a weekly basis and don't have to go back until July. Then for the next 36 months Izzy will go in for scans, xrays, and ultra sounds to make sure the cancer doesn't come back.

I don't know if I will ever fully believe that Izzy is safe from cancer. It may sound dumb to some of you, but this experience has rocked my world so much that I feel like I will always worry that it will come back. Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that the relapse for Wilms tumor is low I just can't help but think that we will forever be affected by this terrible disease.

If there is anything I can hope it is that people stop being so naive about childhood cancer. It's real and it really sucks! I never thought a child of mine would have cancer, in fact I don't know that I knew anyone under the age of 18 who had cancer. Cancer stole many things away from Izzy and our family during her treatment and it will forever be a part of her life, she has scars all over her body to prove it. I know her hair will grow back and she may forget a lot about this whole experience, but me I don't know that I will ever be the same person. I do know I will forever be an advocate for childhood cancer research though. And I hope that those of you who still follow Miss Sassy Pants blog will be there with me. Izzy isn't the only child I know now that has had to battle this ugly disease, you can look at the side bar and find blogs of Izzy's friends who are still fighting and it's not an easy fight.

For those of you who are on facebook you may be tired of my status updates about the CureSearch walk on July 9th, but I am bound and determined to bring awareness about childhood cancer and how important it is. The walk is a 5k (3 mile) or 1 mile walk around Liberty Park. You can bring wagons and stroller to the walk and kids can register for free. Adults are only $10. This walk isn't just about walking, it's about supporting a cause to help reach a day when there is a cure for childhood cancer. It's a day to celebrate and honor children from Utah who have been affected by children's cancer. The event will have prizes, music, food, and fun activities for the whole family. My dream is to one day have as many participants and support as I saw at the Susan G Komen walk/run for breat cancer las Saturday. If you would like to register for Izzy's team please click on the link below and select the Register button at the top of the page. If you can't attend the event or you live too far away you can be a virtual walker. Please help me make this event into something to honor Izzy and other children who have battled cancer. They deserve it!

http://www.curesearchwalk.org/saltlakecity/misssassypantssupporters388

Much Love,

Jennie

No More Chemo Party at Classic Skating!

Izzy is done with her chemotherapy and we want to celebrate with everyone. Izzy had 4 1/2 long months of mostly weekly chemo that would wipe her out and make her loose her appetite. There were times when all she ate was Trix, S'more granola bars, Lucky Charms, or Ramen Noodles. Oh, and you can't forget the M & M's and Hershey bars compliments of Pa. So here's to NO MORE CHEMO and hopefully getting her to eat a little better....

Time Saturday, May 7 · 5:00pm - 8:00pm

Location Classic skating
9151 S. 255 W
Sandy, UT

Please come out and have some fun with us at Classic Skating in Sandy. We will have a room reserved where kids can play Wii, get a picture with a real life 4 year old cancer survivor, and even an autograph picture from Miss Sassy Pants herself. Izzy will be signing pictures for $2 with the proceeds going to her fundraiser for CureSearch walk on July 9th at Liberty Park. You can also purchase a pink silicone wristband for $2 that has Miss Sassy Pants/Izzy Abernethy on it.

You can also register at the celebration to join Team Sassy Pants Kicks Cancer for the CureSearch walk on July 9th. We are trying to hit 100 team members.

We will be providing the pizza, drinks, and dessert!!

If you would like to go skating the price for a wristband for the skating rink is $7, plus $1 for skates, or $3 for scooters or blades. If you would like you can bring your own skates, scooters, big wheels, or small bikes with training wheels from home. Please feel free to do any other activities at Classic that you would like. Below I've included a link to the website.

http://www.classicskating.com/sandy/sandyhome.html

No gifts please! Please RSVP on the facebook event or as a comment on the blog so we know how many people to plan on.

Much Love,

Jennie

No More Chemo!!!

I'm a little behind with updating the blog about Miss Sassy Pants, but I am excited to announce that Izzy had her last scheduled chemo appointment on Monday. We go back in on May 2 for scans and xrays and if everything looks great then they will remove her picc line. Then after that we will continue with scans and xrays every few months for a few years.

Izzy and I waiting in her room to meet with her doctor


Dr. Sato one of Izzy's incredible Oncologists. She has been so good to us. I can't tell you how many times we talked to her on her cell phone, she has been there for us with whatever questions small or large we've had. Plus, you trying getting Izzy to sit still while you listen to her heart, not an easy task.


We sat in the infusion room and Izzy got her last round of chemo. Once she was finished all the staff at the clinic came out to sing a song and congratulate Izzy with being finished with therapy. They gave her this basket of gifts and made the darling sign. I was crying my eyes out with tear of joy and relief. My heart was so full of love for these nurses and staff for making her feel so special.




The thing that really made our last visit so awesome was being able to meet Jessica and her parents. They were in clinic ironically enough and we were finally able to offically meet and tell our stories to each other. The Dads were tryig to get the girlies to lift up their shirts to take a picture of their scars, but they weren't having it. Izzy and Jessica are only 3 months apart and they share the fact they both had a Wilms Tumor and had their right kidneys removed.

As we walked out the door Izzy was able to ring the bell....one thing we've been waiting for since she was first diagnosed.


Much Love,

Jennie

Dinner, hair show, and silent auction in honor of Miss Sassy Pants

Anyone and everyone is invited to come out to a charity event put on by the owners/staff from both Life Aveda Salon and Spa and Rumrz Grill. They have gone to a lot of trouble to put together this great event to benefit Izzy. My little sister Jessi is one of the managers at Life Aveda and I know she's very excited about it as, am I. Below are more details if you are interested in attending.

Date/Time: Wednesday April 13, 2011 dinner from 5pm-7pm and hair show/silent auction to follow
Where: Rumrz Grill at the District in South Jordan- 11565 S. Main District Drive

The dinner prices are $20 for adults and you have a choice between the bacon wrapped steak or the pork chops and $15 for kids for chicken fingers. You have to purchase the dinner tickets before in advance and they are selling out so if you are interested please be sure to contact Life Aveda Salon and Spa at 801.727.2600. However, if you can't make it out to the dinner please come to watch the hair show and see the incredible silent auction items and raffle drawings. I have heard of a few of the items that will be there and they are amazing!

**If you would like to donate items to the raffle or auction please get in touch with Cindy at Life Aveda 801.727.2600**

Much Love,

Jennie

Make-A-Wish

Wow Sassy Pants supporters, Make-A-Wish was awesome. Magical is the word that best describes Izzy's first visit to declare her wish. I can't say enough about this amazing organization.

Here she is standing in front of the welcome Izzy poster


When we got there our Wish Granters introduced themselves and took us on a tour of the Make-A-Wish building. It was super neat. Liz and Derek are both volunteers for Make-A-Wish. You've probably drove past the Make-A-Wish building, it's located right near the RC Willey in Murray. They took us outside to the wishing pond and gave us each a wishing token. Both Tommy and Izzy threw there's in to make a wish, but Dustin and I held on to ours. Everything is going so well right now that I want to hold on to that token for when I really need it.



I don't know if you can see very well, but at the bottom of this pond are lots of tokens from sick little kids asking for a magical wish. This I imagine is suppose to get the children thinking about wishing.





I obviously need a new camera, but if you can tell there are stars at the top of the ceiling. Those stars represent each child who has had their wish granted.

They also have a big board filled with pictures of children who have had their wish granted and what their wish was. I'd have to say that the majority of the wishes were Disney, or Hawaii. Then there were some that were more unique like the boy who wanted to meet "he who should not be named" from Harry Potter or the little boy who wanted a pirate ship playhouse. Yes, both of their wishes were granted. We got to see our little friend Connor who recently had his wish granted for a Home Theater. His picture is on the second row very right.



We then went upstairs to play a game called "The Wishing Game", pretty fitting right? It was really fun, and Izzy actually has this game at home although she hasn't played it yet. She got it with her tree from The Festival of Trees. Our neighbor The McPhee's bought if for her and the theme was "Make-A-Wish". This game again helped to get Izzy's mind thinking about what she would wish for. The granters before hand told us that this is the one of the only times you really want to force your child to be selfish and think of themselves and what they would truly want as a wish.



I enjoyed hearing Tommy's wishes and Dustin's too, but most of all it was funny to hear what Izzy was wishing for. Then we got really serious and they started asking Izzy what she really wanted to wish for. They ask for 3 wishes in case they aren't able to grant the first or second one. This is what Izzy wished for in her words..."Disney World, a cruise with no parents (Tommy chimed in and said that's the Nickelodeon cruise) or Taylor Swift concert, and a merry-go-round in her backyard with only pink horses, because I hate purple." Yes, she tried to double up her second wish. Silly girl. Her wish granters wrote them down and put them in a metal capsule thing. Then they asked Izzy if she remembered her key to the wishing tower. She got all anxious because her Dad teased her and said we forgot it.





Dustin helping her get the key in so she could open the door to the wishing tower.


We walked into this really amazing room with lights and a big cone shaped statue of some sort. The floor was like frosted glass.


During the wishing game we had all made a wish for Izzy. Once we were in the room we all told her what we wished for. Then lights started to go on and off and she was told she had to follow the bright light on the floor. It lead her to this...where she dropped her capsule in and then held the small cone shaped object that as she continue to follow the lights lead her back to the big cone in the ground.



It turns out that was the top of the wishing wizards hat. She put it on top of the hat and





Then the wishing tower went dark


And then got really bright, signifying that the wizard had got her wish.



Then we went downstairs to the party room and her wish granters gave Izzy a gift bad with a pink dog, some red vines, a book, a wand, a cute purse, and they gave Tommy a book too.


We had cookies and ice cream and then I filled out paper work with Liz. At this point they will talk to her doctor to see when he will give her clearance to go and start looking into granting Izzy's wish. As soon as we hear we will definitely let you all know!

The visit was so incredible and magical, I'm so thankful Izzy was able to go and that these amazing volunteers were so sweet with her and Tommy.

Much Love,

Jennie

To learn more about volunteering for Make-A-Wish click on the link below, they have a super awesome cook book you can purchase at the building and a big percentage if not all goes back into Make-A-Wish. You can also donate your sky miles, time, or do a fundraiser.

Ways to help Make-A-Wish

Time flies when Izzy doesn't have chemo

I have been meaning to give an update on Miss Sassy Pants, but to be honest we have been enjoying the time off from chemo.

Pa and Chelle flew Dustin and Tommy to Arizona for Spring Training over the weekend and Miss Sassy Pants and I had a girls weekend. Unfortunately on Friday when the home health nurse came to draw labs and change the dressing on Izzy's picc line they found that her ANC was very low. It hasn't been this low since we left the hospital on Christmas Eve. I had to do some rearranging of my schedule because when her counts are so low they like you to keep her away from kids and crowds. So on Monday morning Izzy and I went to clinic thinking that is was a high possibility that we would have to put off the chemo for another week due to a dramatic drop in Izzy's ANC. However, we lucked out and her counts were back up. It's kinda strange to say that we were excited to get chemo done, but it was more that we were excited to be a little closer to finishing up with the treatment.



Here she is enjoying some cereal while we waited for chemo. Miss Sassy Pants appointment was at 9:30 and we didn't leave the clinic until 1:30 so it made for a LONG day. Not more than a couple minutes into driving home I turned to check on Izzy and she was fast asleep. She was exhausted!

I have been so happy to meet some Moms of cancer patients these past couple weeks. Thank you for reaching out to me! It's true that sometimes the only one who can really understand how you’re feeling is another cancer Mom. I've learned a lot from Binley's Mom Kristin who wrote this amazing post on Brinley's blog about the things she has learned. I only wish I could write and express my feeling as well as she does. Check it out, but be sure to have your tissue handy. I have read the post over 50 times and I can't get through it without tears in my eyes and my heart not pounding.

We signed up a team in Izzy's honor for the CureSearch walk on July 9th. Curesearch benefits funding for Children's Oncology Group research. They hope to "Help reach the Day when every child with cancer can be guaranteed a cure." Can you even imagine? If you'd like to join the Miss Sassy Pants kicks cancer team click on the link below. If you can't make it to the event you can always be a virtual walker or make a donation.

http://www.curesearchwalk.org/faf/search/searchTeam.asp?ievent=452894

Oh yeah, and some very exciting news is that Miss Sassy Pants was nominated for Make-A-Wish!! Our little family gets to go meet with her wish granters on Monday March 28th. I have heard some amazing things about Make-A-Wish and we are very happy to get to be apart of such a truly incredible organization.

Much Love,

Jennie

Hollywood Connections with HopeKids

This past Saturday we got to go to Hollywood Connections with HopeKids, the HopeKids and their immediate family had it all to ourselves from 9:00am to 10:30am, then your family and friends were able to come do all the fun stuff at a huge discount price and half of it went back to the HopeKids organization.

Miss Sassy Pants has been really into wearing scarfs, but most of the time she likes them draped over her head and she pretends it's her hair. Sometimes I can convince her to let me tie them, but it just depends on her mood. She liked this horse the best she told me because it had jewels on it.





They loved going on the bumper cars, Sassy Izzy was pretty good at maneuvering I was impressed. She got to where she would purposely make it so she would go around in circles. It was pretty funny.


Here's the Hoggan's minus Kimmie (she was running a race in St George).


And here is some of the Burnside's.



All the little kids tried to roller skate, but it was kind of hard for them. Tommy was much better his second time around. Here's Lyssie, I wish I would have got more pictures of all the kids roller skating because it was so cute.


My friends Destiny and Melanie brought their families, it was so nice to see them.


I always wish I would have taken more pictures when I get home and look at my camera. We had lots of family and friends who were able to come spend time and enjoy the fun things at Hollywood Connection. Thanks HopeKids!