Mom here...

HA! Here I was, logging on after sending Elizabeth and Dad to the hospital for the start of her new chemo, all ready to post about her new treatment and how she's doing, AND DAD BEAT ME TO IT!! So I'll just say "ditto" to what he said... So if you haven't already read the post he put up yesterday, scroll down and take a look.

And I'll post some photos...

May 30, 2005: Disneyland! This was taken on our Disney weekend before Elizabeth's surgery. Thanks Grandpa and Granmary for the cool hotel room! Elizabeth was most excited to see Ariel--there was a little fiasco the night before this was taken when we went to Ariel's Grotto Restaurant. Elizabeth was dressed in her Ariel costume all ready to see Ariel, and Ariel wasn't there. In fact, she hasn't been there for some time, we were told, as they are in the process of changing the theme there. So we had to find her the following day. Elizabeth brought Ariel two of her Pray for Elizabeth bracelets... a small one for Ariel and a big one for Ariel to give to her father, King Triton. Ariel promised to wear it and be thinking about Elizabeth during her surgery. The girl playing Ariel was so sweet! She went to put on one of the bracelets, then had to stop herself because cast members aren't allowed to wear anything that isn't part of their costume. When we recently went to Disneyland we looked for her, but it wasn't the same Ariel. She had asked Elizabeth to come back and see her to tell her how well she was doing after the surgery. So we're still trying to track down THAT Ariel.




























May 30, 2005: Dumbo ride at Disneyland. That's Mike in the special 50th birthday gold Dumbo. Danny is taking his first (of many, I'm sure) Dumbo ride with Dad and Matt. Mom is sitting with Elizabeth, which is why Mom is not in any of the pictures. Smart people take the pictures so they don't have to be in them...





May 30, 2005: Posing on the Golden Carousel Horse. No, Danny isn't balancing on the horse's head... that's Dad holding him from behind.

May 30, 2005: Mike gets into the act at Madame Butterfly's School of Dance. He makes such a beautiful butterfly...











May 31, 2005: Children's Hospital Los Angeles, admitting lobby. Elizabeth was thrilled to find a Mickey on the carpet while we were checking her in. She had been on that carpet several times, but was never in a "Mickey" state of mind! When Mom mentioned it to our friend Maureen, an employee at the hospital, she told us it wasn't accidental... Disney Imagineers designed the lobby!





June 6, 2005: A few days out of surgery, still in the ICU. Yes, Princess Elizabeth is bored out of her mind, even though her bed is covered with all the things she got while in the hospital. Such is the life of a princess... one can never have too many toys or activities!










Later that same day... we were visited by Maureen and Julia. Julia happened to bring Elizabeth OREOs, which made Elizabeth happier than she had been since having surgery. Is this not a great advertisement for Oreo cookies? "Oreos even make kids in ICU smile..."














June 11, 2005: Children's Hospital Los Angeles Celebrate Life picnic in Griffith Park. This was Elizabeth's first outing since getting home on June 9 after surgery. Here you can see Matt, Dr. Marcio, and Dad with the Princess in the stroller. We love Dr. Marcio--he's a pretty neat guy and an incredibly gifted doctor. At a recent appointment, Matt jumped on Dr. Marcio's back when he was examining Elizabeth. He tickle-monstered Matt until Matt was out of breath! We haven't come across any other doctors that are so great with kids and treat the parents as equals. He is just the best.

June 11, 2005: Celebrate Life Day at the Park. Here is our friend, Kelly, holding Danny. We are so very grateful to her for being the first person to approach us about having a kid with cancer. She works at our pediatrician's office, and when Elizabeth was finally diagnosed with cancer, our pediatrician had her call us because she also has a kid who went through fighting cancer. She was the first person we met who really understood what we were going through, and she's been a wonderful friend to us. Kelly introduced us to the Michael Hoefflin Foundation, without which we would have lost our sanity by now, and then introduced us to Maureen, who works at the hospital and who has also become a truly great friend to our family. And yes, that is a tattoo on Danny's forehead.




Here is a close up of that tattoo--yes, it is temporary--that Danny got at the Celebrate Life event. It is a Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times tattoo, and since he's been there (even though he was still in Mom's tummy), we thought he would enjoy wearing their logo. Brian, the Camp Director, said he didn't think it would be child abuse when Mom asked his opinion, so there. And Danny obviously doesn't seem to mind!






June 17, 2005: Mike's first night performance as the Lion in "The Wizard of Oz". Here he is with Elizabeth (in her Little Mermaid Ariel bridal gown) during intermission. Yes, Elizabeth is eating her favorite... Skittles...















June 27, 2005: The Annual Boden Family Picnic. The idea was that all the branches of the original Boden family would wear a different color so you could tell who belonged to who... ten years ago there were four colors. We didn't go last year--we were otherwise occupied with Elizabeth's initial diagnosis. But we made it this year and noticed we were the only ones in blue, and all the yellow and purple seemed to disappear! So our kids are easy to spot... there's Mike holding Danny, with Matt on the right and Elizabeth on the left. The kids had a great time playing games and running around the park, and we even met a distant cousin who has a nephew with neuroblastoma, another childhood cancer. He was even treated at UCLA the same time we were there, so we probably passed him in the "cancer kid" hallway! Also like us, they moved to another hospital to continue treatment when his cancer came back. I'm sensing a trend...

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I'll be posting again by tomorrow to let you all know how Elizabeth is doing with her new chemo regimen. Take care and keep her in your prayers. We're hoping that she won't lose her hair again, since that seems to be the hardest thing for her to deal with, but so much more than that, we just want the cancer GONE!