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October 14, 2003 - Aidan is really enjoying his new found freedom. He LOVES playing in the bathtub and asks to take a bath all the time. His hair is starting to grow in, although it is very short and fine right now. He's also growing his eye lashes and eyebrows too. In all, he's doing great and has never felt better.
This weekend we took the kids to the annual Katy Rice Harvest Festival in downtown Katy, TX. Aidan got to ride his first kiddie rollercoaster and had a blast on it. He got a new wooden sword and shield, and got to eat lots of fun junk food. Adam came in 3rd place out of 20 kids in a video game tournament, winning $10 and a bunch of cool PlayStation demos and promotional stuff. We all had a great time together.
October 3rd, 2003 - Aidan's central line removal went perfectly. Sorry for taking so long to update the site, but I had to create a new page (Page 4) to make room on this page. Hopefully the RoadRunner server will allow bigger pages. Anyway, Aidan is feeling great and is now officially on his "recovery protocol"!!
September 30, 2003 - Hello again to everyone. We had a fun weekend playing games and spending time together. Aidan is turning into quite a little sweet-tooth these days (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms, and Dum Dum suckers are his favorites). We have some work to do getting him back on a more healthy diet, but that's probably a good idea for all of us!!
Aidan's central line surgery is set for this Wednesday at 7:15 am; please keep him in your prayers. Finally, Adam's football team is 3-0 so far, with no points allowed by the defense. He's having a blast and making lots of new friends. Go Katy Texans JV!
September 22, 2003 - Not a lot going on these days for Aidan (we're not complaining!!). The surgery to remove his central line should happen around the first of October, with his final round of scans on Halloween. He had his last GCSF shot last night (hopefully). We'll see if he needs to continue them or if he's done for good after the next blood count. He's such a big boy that he doesn't even cry anymore when Corinne gives him the shot. Words cannot describe how proud we are of him!!!
Despite the reduced trips to the medical center, our lives are getting more hectic each day - but in a good way. Here's a sampling of our "non-Aidan" activities: football practice/game and Cub Scouts (Webelos to be exact) each week for Adam, ballet and Girl Scouts (Brownies to be exact; Corinne is co-leader too!) for Carrie, school and choir practice for both of them, bible study and Sunday school for us all. We are having fun and meeting tons of great new people in the process.
Finally, I may be moving this web site in another month or so. My contract with MSN expires soon, and I am also paying for monthly service with RoadRunner.net (cable modem). If I can secure some online space with RoadRunner, I will migrate Aidan's Journey (and all the other pages, pictures, etc.) and shut down the MSN site. Don't worry, I will put lots of reminders and new web addresses on this page so you don't miss a thing.
September 15, 2003 - The little guy did it! His chemotherapy treatment is officially over!
Aidan finished up his treatment last Thursday the 11th. As usual, the whole family went into the hospital with him, and everything went without a hitch (no fever, MAJOR sickness, complications, etc.). The cancer staff made him a "Congratulations on your last chemo" banner, which was hung on his hospital room door. We came home on Friday evening and had a relaxing weekend.
His doctor said we could have his central line removed in about 3 weeks when his blood counts come back up. Then Aidan can swim and really have a good time in the bathtub. If, God forbid, something else should show up, they would put in a porta-cath, which allows IV connections but is under the skin. His final round of scans are scheduled for October 31st. Please keep Aidan in your prayers and hope for clear scans.
PS - Potty training is going really well. He's pretty much got it down now and really loves wearing his big boy pants. He makes it through the night without accidents and yells out, "I gotta go potty" when he has to go. We are proud of our big boy.
September 3rd, 2003 - Aidan got a blood transfusion today and is feeling really great. Today was Liam's 1st birthday (and my 32nd). I added an album with pictures from the little party we had at home (Liam's 1st Birthday). I also updated Butch's Place and added some more pictures to the other albums - check em out. Finally, below is a cute picture of Aidan and Liam asleep in "the big bed" during one of their naps.
September 2nd, 2003 - Aidan will need a transfusion tomorrow, since his hemoglobin levels are really low. TCH was full today, so he has an appointment at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning. I think there is enough of my blood left over from my last donation to cover it.
Aidan's favorite food these days are Reese's Peanut Butter cups. We bought a box of the miniatures at Sam's Club, and he must have eaten a dozen yesterday.
So tomorrow will be another birthday at TCH. This time, it's Liam's 1st birthday! It's hard to believe he will be a year old tomorrow. The little guy has practically grown up at TCH...Hopefully his next year will include far fewer trips to the Medical Center!
Oh yeah, tomorrow is my 32nd birthday as well. :-)
August 24th, 2003 - Aidan finished his second to last overnight chemo treatment this weekend! Only 1 more to go! Everything went well, except for the standard nausea. The doctors found a little granuloma on the site of his central line. A granuloma is, despite the serious sounding name, just a collection of white blood cells underneath the skin, which have become vascular. It looks like a little skin tag. Anyway, the doctor used some silver nitrite to burn it (don't worry, they don't have nerve endings). It should go away soon, especially after the central line is removed near the end of September.
August 15th, 2003 - Aidan had his last Thursday chemo yesterday. Sure, he still has next week's overnight treatment, and the final one on September 11th, but the weekly chemo trips between them are done! Woo hoo! Below are some fun pictures from the yesterday's TCH trip (sorry for the quality; they are scans of Polaroids). Anyway, they were doing face painting for the kids, and Aidan wanted to be Charlie Brown with his head painted like a pumpkin (watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" to see the scene that inspired him).
August 13th, 2003 - I added a picture of Snoopy since Aidan is really getting into the famous beagle lately (he calls him "Soop Dee"). We have a few videos, which he asks to watch over and over...
August 8th, 2003 - As promised, I added some pictures to the site. They can be found in the Higdon Family Fun page. I added one of them to Butch's Place too. I'll try to post more pix there soon, so check back often.
