progress-report

July 15, 2010 - 7:34 p.m.

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:36:25 +0100

We are just about to leave the hospital. Grant handled this round of chemo very well and cleared his chemo perfectly. We expect his counts to drop some, but nothing too drastic. We hope to have a great three weeks at home before we check back on on Aug. 9.

I'll update more when we get home. Thank you for the prayers!

I am off to pack the car!!!

July 12, 2010 - 4:52 p.m.

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:06:14 +0100

After a wonderful weekend celebrating Grant's 4th birthday, we are checked back in. Grant received his spinal tap this morning and is now waiting to start his Methotrexate. This drug will run for 24 straight hours and then we will hope it clears his system in a timely fashion. We should be out of here sometime on Thursday if all goes as planned.

If you have not checked out the new pictures of Grant at the bottom of the home page, you must do so. I can't believe that Grant has now had his pic with three MAJOR baseball players. The funny thing is, he is too young to really care! Still, it is pretty cool!!! :) Earlier this year at the Shell Houston Open, Grant had his picture taken with Mike and Mike of ESPN Radio. David thought that was just too cool since he listens to them every morning.

I wanted to make everyone aware of two big blood drives that are happening in Grant's honor. I have the information listed below and on the Blood Drive page of this site. Thank you soooo much to Tiffany Hardwick and Holly Botyos for organizing these.

Also, I wanted to mention that we met a very nice waiter at Chachi's in Kingwood last night that has a son that is also being treated here at TCH for Leukemia. His name is Leo. If you get a chance to have dinner there, ask for him to be your waiter and leave a nice tip. He could really use the money. His wife also just had a baby and is unable to work right now so she can stay home and take care of their kids. THANKS!!!

Okay, the blood drive info is as follows:

UPCOMING BLOOD DRIVES FOR GRANT

July 16 from 10 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
TEXAS CONTRACT CARPET
9933 Regal Row, Houston, 77040
To schedule an appointment, please visit www.giveblood.org and log into Digital Donor.
Enter Sponsor Code Q569

Group to Center Blood Drive In Honor of Grant McTaggart
July 12th-26th
Visit any of the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Neighborhood Donor Centers during the above dates and request your donation be credited to Group Code-B984FS00
Appointments can be made by calling the Humble/Kingwood Donor Center(281) 446-5955.
9616 FM 1960 Bypass West
Humble, TX 77338
(located next door to the Deerbrook Movie Tavern)

July 10 2010

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:03:27 +0100

Grant's Daddy here. Today is Grant's 4th birthday! He is very excited about it. Needless to say its better than his third birthday which was spent getting chemotherapy in the hospital.

Last night was a great night. Grant, Claire, Melanie and I were able to go on to the field at Minute Maid Park for batting practice. John Mozeliak, the St Louis Cardinals general manager, set it up for us and showed us around. John "Mo" is Tom Walsh's first cousin. Thanks goes out to Tom for really helping get this thing put together. This has been Tom's mission since Grant was diagnosed and it really came together.

We had an incredible time. Mo was so nice and the players, coaches and trainers were equally nice. Grant and Daddy got to go into the clubhouse where Grant met and had his picture taken with Albert Pujols, Matt Halladay, Tony LaRussa and Mark McGuire. They all made such a big deal over Grant. Grant also got an autographed baseball.

Two funny things happened. First, when Claire, Mo and I were sitting in the dugout Claire banged her lip on the railing. The Cardinals head trainer provided first aid. Since she wasnt hurt badly it was very funny. Then, as Grant and Albert Pujols were having the picture taken, I asked Grant who is favorite player was. (Grant's favorite player is his buddy, Craig Biggio, but we'd been working all day on him saying "Albert Pujols") So, Grant blurts out "Craig Biggio" and everyone including Pujols died laughing.

It really meant a lot to us that Mo would go out of his way to do such a nice thing for Grant. As far as we're concerned the Cardinals are a class organization. We wont forget it.

July 8, 2010 - 10:16 p.m.

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:55:41 +0100

ve had such a great time at home the last couple of weeks. Claire and Grant went to see “Toy Story 3” last week, which they loved! Grant is a HUGE fan of the "Evil Dr. Pork chop." I had a few of the characters from when I was a kid and have given them to Grant to play with. He and Claire have spent the past week playing with them and having a ball.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We sure did! I think this was the best 4th we have ever had. On Friday, July 2nd, Claire and I checked into the Houstonian Hotel and Spa for a "girls only night." We had room service, tried to watch a movie and ended up watching WAY too many episodes of the "Suite Life of Zach and Cody," and painted each other’s nails. It was such a wonderful time for us to share. I get so much time with Grant that I wanted to have some special time with Claire. She loved having me all to herself with out any distractions and I loved being with her. She is such a little angel.

On the 3rd, David brought Grant up to the hotel and I took both kids to their amazing pool while he worked. After a great morning of swimming, we meet David for lunch and headed home for a much needed nap. That night, we went to the Kingwood Town Dance. There was BBQ, live music, and great people to talk to. Claire and Grant played with the toys we brought and enjoyed dancing and playing with friends. David and I enjoyed some tasty beverages and seeing my parents and old friends.

On July 4th, we took the kids to church, to breakfast, and then swimming at the club. After naps, we headed back to the club for the Freedom Festival where we ate more BBQ, had more drinks, watched the kiddos play with their friends and saw some great fireworks. Grant had the best time participating in the Limbo contest!! He was so cute to watch. Every time he came up to the pole, the sweet girls would lift it and he would duck his head and walk under it. He was soooo upset when the Limbo was over! Poor guy!!!

On Tuesday this past week, Grant went to school (camp) for the first time in over a year. He was soooo excited to go and see his old buddies. (On Monday, I took he and Claire to Target to pick out new lunch boxes and backpacks. That night, David and I had a date and our sitter said that the kids were so excited that they packed their lunchboxes and backpacks for school!) His first day was a huge success. He pottied on the big boy toilet all by himself and his teacher told me that his walking issues "did not hold him back at all." He had the BEST time. Today, he went back and could not wait. He got to bring cupcakes to school to celebrate his birthday with his classmates. He loved that!!

Tomorrow, Grant, Claire and I will hang out at home in the morning. I told them I would take them to CCs Pizza for lunch and then to the toy store before naps. Tomorrow night, Grant, Claire, David and I have an amazing opportunity to go meet the GM of the Cardinals and also meet Albert Pujols in person! We cannot wait!! Grant has been looking at his personalized autographed pic of Pujols and says he can’t wait to “slide the bases: and to "throw him a ball" tomorrow! We feel truly blessed to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After the game, we will meet David's parents out for dinner.

On Saturday, July 10th, my sweet boy turns 4!!! We are having a big party for him that he is soooo excited about. Last year he spent his 3rd birthday in the hospital getting his 1st round of "hospital chemo." Time has flown by...Thank God!! Anyway, all this good buddies are coming, as well as all of his family. I will post pictures of all our recent events as soon as things settle down - I promise!!! I am soooo backed up!!!

We will check back into the hospital for the next round of chemo on Monday, July 12. He is scheduled to receive a spinal tap with chemo in the morning and then he will get a 24hr bag of Methotrexate. We should be in the hospital through Friday.

Thanks again to all of you for your constant support, thoughts and prayers. Each of you makes this whole process more bearable. We could not do this alone. Thank you for holding us up!!!

June 27, 2010 - 12:15 p.m.

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:18:14 +0100

We are getting out!!! Grant needs platelets, so they will give them those and then we are running out of here. We will celebrate David's birthday tomorrow and go in to clinic on Wednesday to check his counts and get a possible transfusion. So, he has made it through another round of Etoposide. We only have two more rounds of Methotrexate and two more rounds of Etoposide and then we will be in Maintenance. Only four months till then! I can't wait!!!

Have a great week and if I don't get a chance to update later in the week, have a Happy 4th of July!

June 27, 2010 - 10:55 a.m.

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:11:08 +0100

Grant's ANC (ability to fight infection) is starting to rise - finally!! I think they may let him go home today, but more likely tomorrow. Grant did end up getting another bout of C-diff - the infection that caused the colitis last time that handed him in ICU and unable to eat and drink for several days. They have already started him on the oral Vancomiacin that usually cures this. I pray that it works as well this time around. In the future, they plan on putting him on the drug early after he takes Etoposide to prevent the C-diff from returning when he hits an ANC of 0. He is in such a good and playful mood though! He is busy walking around and flirting with all the nurses - as usual!

I wanted to thank my parents for helping me out with Claire this past Wednesday and Thursday. Claire had a great time going to the movies and playing at your house!

Thank you to my sister for coming up to see us in ICU and for the wonderful breakfast tacos. Where did you get those??? Grant and I solo needed them. Also, thank you for the HUGE pancakes from Buffalo Grill. We devoured them!

And I wanted to say a big thank you to my brother and sister-in-law, Mike and Ashley, for the wonderful lunch and dinner. Mike - thanks for spending some time with Grant on Saturday and for reading to him. He loved it. And Ashley thanks for spending some time with me and enjoying "happy hour" with me! Lifesaver!!!! :)

And finally, thanks to all of you who have been praying for Grant this week. I really believe in the power of prayer and that it is truly helping Grant. Thank you soooo much!

I'll keep you all posted on when we actually get out of here. I sure hope it is today. I miss my Claire and my husband so much. And if not today, I hope to get out tomorrow - just in time for David's 43rd birthday.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:18:50 +0100

I have to make this a short one tonight because I am just too tired to do more. As I mentioned on my last post, Grant was released to go home on Friday. I have kept him inside and away from everyone since then. I disinfected the house every day and have set up hand sanitizer stations all over the house. And still, he spiked a fever yesterday afternoon. So, around 3:30 p.m. I loaded up the car for an extended hospital stay and headed to the ER. When we arrived they took him to trauma because his heart rate was too high and he had a high fever. They gave him a bolus of IV saline to bring his heart rate down, but that did not work. So they gave him another. They let him sit on that one for a bit, but still it was too high so they gave him a third. The protocol is that if they give three boluses and can't get the heart rate down, then the patient has to go to ICU and be treated for shock. So, we headed to the ICU around 1:00 a.m. Once we were there, they put in an IV and started to give him 3 different IV antibiotics. He also needed blood and platelets, which he received. His heart rate finally settled down, but then his blood pressure dropped, so they gave another bolus. That seemed to do the trick. I finally fell asleep next to him around 4 a.m. for about two hours.

He improved over the night, so they let us come to our usual spot on the 9th floor. He has no ability to fight an infection so they will continue to give him IV antibiotics until his ability to fight infection comes back - hopefully by the end of the weekend. He has not had a fever since midnight last night and is in good spirits. He seems a little shaky to me, but I bet that is just because of the chemo and it will resolve with time. He walked a bit tonight and did okay. He is a little weak, but that is to be expected, I guess.

Well, we are off to bed. I'll keep you posted on his progress. I am just soooo grateful to be out of the ICU. I hate it there! It makes me crazy nervous.

Thanks again for the prayers and well wishes. Good night.

Melanie

June 18, 2010 - 3:10 p.m.

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:24:50 +0100

Grant just finished his chemo for this round! He handled it so well. I am so proud of my little guy. It is amazing to me how he gets 5 days worth of bags of chemo and never once stops to feel bad. Kids are just spectacular. If an adult were getting this, they would act like they felt terrible, but not the kids - at least not Grant.

This week, all he wanted to do is go to physical therapy. He LOVES it now that he is walking so much better. He got to "play" in this room that had thick mats on the floor and practice jumping. He would climb up these soft mat-like stairs and leap into the air like a frog. Nothing about him seemed sick or like he just got big bad chemo.

His walking has drastically improved over the last few weeks. He is still a bit scared at times when he is walking on a hard surface, but give him a ball and a glove, and he soon forgets about it and just walks. He is still swinging his right hip a bit, so they have ordered Grant an orthotic to hold his hip still. He tried one on during PT and this made a huge improvement. He will probably need to wear it for about a month and then wean off of it.

All and all, it has been a great week. Claire has been in Waco with David's parents and we miss her so much. I can't wait to see my baby girl tonight. David is going to meet his parents 1/2 way this afternoon, and bring her home. I want to thank Shadlee and Dave again for watching her all week and for being her mom and dad when we can’t. I don't know what we would do without them!

Thanks again for all the prayers. Please pray that Grant stays healthy over the next few weeks and that he does spike a fever, get an infection, virus or a fungal infection that would land him back in the hospital. His counts are expected to hit 0 in the next few days. It scares me so much!!!

And pray that he has a wonderful 4th birthday!!! I can't believe he will be 4 in three weeks!!! He is growing up so fast!

I'll update more again later next week.

Thanks again to all of you!

June 14, 2010 - 6:31 p.m.

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:36:56 +0100

We are checked in! We had another lovely week at home and a great time with David's family over the weekend, but are now ready to continue our fight. I can't believe we actually managed to be home for 3 weeks without any problems that required Grant to be re-admitted early! We feel soooooo blessed.

Grant should start the 2nd of four rounds of his Etoposide tonight at 8:00 p.m. He will have his last dose of this round on Friday around noon and then we will pray that he does not spike a fever when he hits an ANC of 0 sometime next week.

David just brought us up some dinner, so I will write more later.

Prayers that things go well this week!!!

Yr 2 - June 6 - 3:25 p.m.

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:48:40 +0100

Life has been good at home! We went to the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort with David two Thursday’s ago since he had business in Austin. It was just for one night, but we felt so blessed to go! Then on Friday, after driving home from Austin, David and I attended a wonderful evening at the Manifold's home for a Mother's Against Cancer social event. We had the best time visiting with everyone and enjoyed some tasty food and beverages!

Last Saturday, we attended the "Bald is Beautiful" event before the Dynamo soccer game and watched as our good buddy Noah had his head shaved in honor of Grant. He ended up raising over $1000! We are so proud of him and cannot say enough about this event. There were so many wonderful families out there and even more cancer supporters! We are now big Waibel fans!! Thanks again Noah!!! We love you!!

Then on Sunday morning we headed to Waco and spent two wonderful days visiting with family. David was able to play some golf and the kids enjoyed some time in the pool. It was a much better Memorial Weekend than last year!

This past week was an easy one. We went to clinic on Monday and Grant's counts looked pretty good. Claire had her ballet recital on Thursday and did a fantastic job! David and I could not have been more proud of her. She looked so graceful up on the stage in her pink and green costume. After her ACT was over, she was greeted by her newly "bald" papa, (he also shaved his head in honor of Grant's 1-yr in treatment anniversary) her dad and brother whom each gave her beautiful flowers. She was so thrilled. It was nice that she had such a special day - she deserved it!

On Saturday morning we took the kids to the Moorhead farm to pick blueberries. This was our third year to do this with the kids and we have become quite good - or too good - at it. We came home with 7.5 pounds of blueberries! I have enough berries to make 9 pies!!!

This morning we headed to the zoo while David worked. It was HOT but the kids had a great time seeing Baylor, the one-month old baby elephant. As soon as the kids get up from their naps, we are heading to the pool. Next weekend we will head to a resort in Conroe with David's family. I can't wait to relax. Then on Monday, June 14th, we check back in for our next round of chemo.

Sorry for the brief update. We have just been having such a good time at home!