home-sweet-home

carson was released from the hospital yesterday (saturday 11th) around noon! he (and I) were so thrilled to be home.  his brothers welcomed him home with signs and balloons which he thought was pretty cool.  looking at him you would never believe he had open heart surgery 5 days ago. we feel so blessed the surgery went smooth and grateful he is recovering so quickly.  if you or i had the same exact surgery we apparently would be down for weeks- not to mention we would need more then just motrin for pain-  it is so amazing how fast he is bouncing (not really... bouncing) back so fast. he is a strong little boy! now the hard part, part #2, NO running, jumping, biking, playing on the playground, or WRESTLING (a favorite of his...who woulda guessed with 5 brothers) basically anything a little boy loves to do for 2 months.  so it looks like we will be doing "boring" stuff according to him: coloring, reading books, playing with inside toys, and watching tv- (we did just order him all 5 seasons of his favorite show......the 80's a-team episodes- he did seem excited about this). 

right before we were discharged the nurse had to change his bandage (the two white squares on his chest) - with the meanest scowl i have ever seen on his little face he said to the nurse "i am NEVER coming back here" (she just smiled and said oh, i hope you are right) i just hope and pray he is 100% right too!!

once again we are thankful for your love, support and prayers for getting us through another stressful week.

battle wound # 2.....a vertical one

carson will be having heart surgery around 7 am in the morning.  he has a small hole in the wall (septam) between the left and right atrial. it known as an atrial septal defect or asd.  we have know about this small hole when he was diagnosed with cancer back in may 2007.  he is an amazingly strong boy! the surgery will take 4-5 hours and he will be in icu for 5-7 days. the hard part will be when he gets home....no running, jumping, wresting, riding his bike or scooter.....basically anything active! we hope this will be his last surgery ever! keep us in your prayers :) 

Take it as "no news is good news"

well i feel like a big looser since it has been forever and day since i have last updated.......i can come up with a ton of excuses (no computer for about 6 months) but i won't.

life has been great for carson, he is healthy and well and we don't take one day for granite!!
this year we moved from quarterly scans to semi-annually scans!  we are so grateful for this blessing, especially mom, whos acid reflux has improved TREMENDOUSLY!

carson had scans in janurary and then again on july 6th- and we are so thankful, yet again, that he is cancer free! 

he loves playing with his brothers especially if it has to do with guns :) yes ask him his name and chances are he'll say "Carson Matthew John Wayne Barney".

he has become quite the little swimmer this summer and enjoys watching the old A-Team episodes on the computer with his brother Dallin.

he is looking forward to staring pre-school in august.

All Is Well

Clean Scans!! Carson is happy and healthy.

Whooooo!! Clean Scans!!!

we met with dr. watanabe this afternoon and his exact words were "carson's scans look wonderful, except for the missing kidney that the surgeon took" for some reason he always reminds us of the missing kidney, i sometimes wonder if he thinks we think it is going to grow back or something :). my eyes swelled up with tears when he told us this wonderful news. just grateful for yet another miracle in our lives! we have been blessed with many. i was a little bummed, though to find out during carson's exam his left ear tube has already fallen out-he just got it put back in the end of january. other then the missing ear tube and kidney carson looks great! full of life and ENERGY! carson is due for scans, again, in july.

on a typical day carson is a cowboy, but today he wanted to be a soccer player. here he is in his "soccer uniform"

The Scan Day

well, carson and i headed down to phoenix children's hospital at 6:15 this morning. we checked in and had just gotten john wayne playing on our portable dvd player when they called us back for his tests. carson held real still for his chest x-ray, then he was given some contrast to drink (we put it in his strawberry juice). this contrast "lights" up the stomach and pelvis area so they can better see these areas when the cat scan is done. unfortunately, it took 2 pokes to get an iv going-let's just say carson was mad when they missed the first one in his arm. the iv was needed for a different contrast they inject into an iv 60 seconds before the cat scan is done. this iv contrast "lights" up all the organs to make sure they are clean of cancer. the nurses wrapped him up like a burrito for the cat scan, they drew labs and he was done! oh, don't forget - his 1st time to pee in the cup, usually i have to collect his urine on cotton balls. it is necessary to collect urine to make sure the kidney is working properly. he will most likely have to collect urine samples for the rest of his life. so the cup worked out very nicely! we were out by 10 am and off to saba's western store we went. since he did such a great job holding still for the x-ray, iv-poke, cat scan and drinking the yucky contrast he scored a new cowboy hat and black belt. he was awesome!! such a strong, brave cowboy!

we meet friday april 17th with the oncologist to go over the results. now i get to focus on an Easter talk for sacrament meeting :) talk about a stressful week!

carson's new belt

The anticipated phone call

i got the anticipated, dreaded phone call. each time i see 602-546-0000 pop up on my caller-id, my heart sinks. it is the same number that popped up on my caller-id back on may 24th, 2007. that was the phone call that informed us "there's a massive tumor growing off carson's kidney-and it is cancerous." that phone call forever changed my life, hopefully only for the better. anyways, on wednesday april 8th carson will have a cat scan of the pelvis and abdomen and just an x-ray of the chest. he doesn't have to be sedated this time! yeah! unfortunately dave is out of town this day so i get the lovely pleasure and taking him down to the hospital for his 7 am check in and tests. we can only pray and hope our little cowboy carson is still "cancer free" by looking at him and watching him run and play he looks nothing but healthy!

this was my conversation with carson the other day:

carson: mom can i have a sucker

me: sure, you can have ONE

carson: okay, mom ONE

(carson comes back eating THREE suckers)

me: how many suckers are you eating?

carson: THREE

me: why? i told you ONE

carson: well, i am THREE so i need to eat THREE of 'em

me: good answer carson! with a smile on my face and his, he enjoyed eating THREE suckers