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Friday, January 8, 2010

Spread the Sunshine

Even though it's snowing in DC, our house is filled with sunshine. After a barrage of scans before Christmas, Andrew and I and his parents traveled to Baltimore to see his doctor to receive the results. Last week we received this good news (also sent to us in an email from Dr. Thornton):

The soft tissue mass component of your disease which was quite prominent on your first MRI has resolved and the only deformity left is that of the bone, which is all consistent with treatment effect. keep up the good work! Katie

What this means is that the treatment is working and the cancer is beginning to remove itself from Andrew's body and the soft tissue mass that was causing him so much pain is now gone ....GONE ... can you believe it. We are overjoyed with these results and look forward to new scans in March to reveal the same and hopefully even better findings.

Andrew is currently finishing a five day outpatient treatment today (Friday). He has done well this week and continues to keep a positive attitude and looks forward to the end of his treatment. He has 8 treatments left and will be finished around the middle of June, and plans to take the bar in July. He will have his first base-line scan in August and will be followed every 3 months after that.






















But for now, he is enjoying being pampered by me. Here he is in the Infusion Center at Reston Hospital waiting his last 30 minutes of treatment for this week.

Thank you to everyone for the emails, cards, flowers and fruit baskets. They were all wonderful reminders that Andrew continues to improve!!

Until the sunshine comes for real .... we bask in the warmth of good news, love, family and friendships!!



A Grizwald Christmas

So I know, I know, I'm late in writing about our Christmas adventure but Christmas in Uniontown is always an experience with Linda and Pete... and lucky for all of you, I was able to score the pictures from Linda's camera ... and in most of the pictures, people have heads. On that note, at least cameras are digital these days so we don't have to worry about film. We all remember the 1987 Disney vacation where Linda took pictures for like 2 days with no film in the camera!!! Classic..... But I must say, Linda and Pete always do Christmas right ... they deck the halls, trim the tree and Pete shots anything that comes within arms length of the deck so 'the boys' can skin it, ground it and turn it into hamburgers and jerky. And speaking of the tree .... yes dad I had to mention it ... our tree this year had 'blue' lights on it. Yes blue... well they were L.E.D lights that dad bought at the store but not before he had checked all of the old lights and strung them from top to bottom. In an attempt to not loose his mind and his patience he took all of the old lights off the tree .... since one of the strands decided not to work from the time he checked them in the socket to the time he put them on the tree ... and dispose of them and high-tale it to Walmart to buy new. But much to his dismay, he was unable to find the normal yellow glowing, christmas lights we all know and love. Instead he spent like ten dollars a strand and bought the most high-powered, eye-piercing, long lasting-lights ever made ... without checking with mom first .... BIG MISTAKE. Needless to say the blue-tinted lights were used as a consistent source of jokes, laughs and overall amusement throughout the visit. Here's a picture of our modern, yet traditional looking head light tree (I think it looks like the lights on
the front of our Audi!)


But besides the sore subject of the lights, there were not to many other issues at Christmas. We had a quiet Christmas eve, that Andrew all but slept through. He was a tired bear since he had only finished chemo a week prior to Christmas but we more than made up for it with Christmas and the day after. Christmas at the Bozick's is always one for the record book ... and if you ever want to watch the day unfold, just ask ... Pete tapes them all. We have assigned spots where we have to sit so he can get all 3 of us in the frame. Now we never stay in those seats so one of us is always missing and he is always telling us to move over .... but let me remind you that we have never just stopped a normal day to sit down and watch these 30 christmas tapes that Pete has ... but they are there as models in case anyone would like to have a 'real Bozick Christmas' in their own house. Pete sells the box set at the low low price of 3 easy payments of $33.99 ... not including tax and shipping .. and if you call in the next 30 minutes, he will even throw Linda in for free. A real bonus, isn't that right Pete!!!!
Here are a few of the photos from gift opening on Christmas morning:

(me and my new PSU jacket)




















(Poor Adam and Andrew ... Linda still hasn't learned that they are not twins who were separated at birth. They always get the same things... even boxer shorts. Now they can wear their candy cane undies at the same time!!!)



















(Andrew's I'm the best Lawyer nutcracker.)

But the person ... or animal ... who had the most fun at Christmas is always our loving,
wonderful and not ever well behaved bulldog Winston. Nana Bozick spoiled him with a big stocking that he continued to growl at even after he had obtained and eaten everything in it. As you can see from the pictures he was the king of his domain all christmas long....






















And we also had a Christmas Miracle ... no I'm not talking about the good news we got from Andrew's doctors, which I will post in the next blog .... I'm talking about Adam Lowell's deer. I mean really ... Pistol Pete and his gun slinging buddies trudge through the woods for weeks on end and either don't see a deer, see one that not big enough, or are tracking the deer patterns from day break to dusk. Does anyone but me find it absolutely amazing that Adam can go out the morning after Christmas and before 10 am, shot a deer only steps away from the warm truck he was waiting in? And to boot, he only needed one bullet ... I guess Richard was right ... My Adam shots a bulls eye every time!!! I think the camo, boots, hats, gloves and warmers are all for show ... I think I could show up hunting in a pair of Jimmy Choo's and a black mini and have the same result. All I have to say it that its a Christmas Miracle .... one shot, one bullet and all before lunch ..... Miracles do come true!!! Or maybe its knowing the exact time, place and eating spot .... SSSSHHHHH ...don't worry Pistol, you're secrets safe with me!!!
But someone did benefit from Adam's deer. Despite first impressions, Winston would be an excellent hunting dog, minus the whole obedience, walking in the woods and waking up early thing. He's more like Adam .. just up for the kill. As you can see from the photo, his pappy gave him a deer leg to carry around. He kept trying to bring it into the house. He wanted to put it in his bed. That's were he takes all of his worldly possessions.




















But all in all it was a wonderful visit with mom and dad full of a lot of laughter and fun. It was great to see Grandma Bozick, Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Bob, Uncle Al and Aunt Janet, Stan and Michelle, Peppy and Char, Jennifer and Jimmy and Ellie and Dom, Jenny, Brian, Matt, Bill, Rick and Aubrielle, Erin, Donnie and Baby Dylan, Nathan and Garrett. Our life is full of great friends and family and we can't wait for next Christmas!!!!

Ho ... Ho.... Ho....