Competitors and Friends

Today Mary and Sarah had basketball games against Herkimer.  I had heard that the Herkimer team had ordered "Battle Like Bruins" shirts but I was not expecting everything else they did to support her. Today was their annual "Coaches vs Cancer" game.  They had 3 big banners hanging and the Herkimer team was wearing Sarah's shirts to warm up in and headbands that said No One Fights Alone.  Even their cheerleaders were wearing the headbands. It was an awesome sight and again I cried.  It is so uplifting to see these kids who are such fierce competitors on the courts and fields pull together for a rival. It was also fantastic to see so many of our friends from our St. Francis family come out to support us.  We are so so lucky to have such great people in our lives and praying for our family.  In the end our Little Falls JV and Varsity girls won the basketball games.  With this win our Varsity team became league champions and continue to be undefeated. We are very blessed!

Feeling More Energetic

Over the past 2 days our girl Sarah has been a bit more like her old self.  She's still tired but much more perky. I guess it will be up and down like this.  Mary and Sarah had midterms this week and are happy to have a day off from school tomorrow.  Elizabeth seems to be doing well at school so far.  She went to downtown Buffalo this past weekend with a group of students to help at some kind of soup kitchen except they fed the people burritos or something like that. I guess it was a burrito kitchen then.  Sounds like she had a good time.

Happy Birthday Sarah

Today is Sarah's 18th birthday. We had a quiet night at home with chicken riggies at Sarah's request and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. She had a singing phone call from the Pidgeons that made us all laugh. It was a good day.

Sleepy Girl

Since her treatment on Wednesday Sarah has been incredibly tired.  We've never seen her sleep this much and she was a good sleeper before all of this.  She did go to work today (Sat) at the hospital dietary dept but she was wiped out when she got home.  Mary had her 1st indoor soccer game Sat. night at 9pm.  Way too late to be out in the cold and wind.  At least it was a successful venture out because they won 3-2 against Canajoharie.  Neil went to the Red Camp dinner with David and Bob.  David became an official member of the camp tonight which makes us all very happy to have a family member there again.  Dad would be very happy.  We really need to take the kids there to show them one of the places that Grandpa liked best.  Grandma and Grandpa Bruins made it to their winter home in North Carolina where I'm sure it's not as cold as it is here in NY.  They will be back to their summer home in the spring.

Chemo Day 2

Today was Sarah's 2nd chemo treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma.  There was no school due to extreme cold so she didn't miss any schoolwork and Mary was very happy to sleep in and laze around the house all day.  Sarah's boyfriend Derek was able to go to her treatment today because of no school.  Sarah did very well, her white blood cells are a little decreased but her oncologist is not concerned and she said that it is expected that they decrease some.  Her oncologist (Dr. Alicia DeTraglia) is happy with how she has handled the treatments so far and she thinks that she should go along without much difficulty.  She has been very tired, has had a decreased appetite at times (which is so not like our girl at all) and she is complaining that her head is itchy.  Dr. DeTraglia said that she may not lose her hair but it may thin out so I guess it's a good thing to have thick hair.  Everything else in Little Falls is going pretty well, Neil was unhappy that there was no school because that means no basketball for him or the girls. Elizabeth is back at Canisius College in Buffalo starting her 2nd semester.  She seems much happier with her new roommate Melissa. The photo's are from the girls winter semi-formal last weekend.