Wednesday, December 06, 2006

the day after scans

This is Eunny Jang. She is a design genius. She just released her latest pattern. She posts some of her patterns for free, but this one is for sale and rightly so! Supporting artists with our $$$ is very important. (No, I have no ulterior motives for exhorting people to spend freely on art...[buy art! buy art!]...what was that? I didn't hear anything. [buy art!] There are no [buy art!] subliminal messages on my [buy art!] blog.)

So for the Stranded Colorwork KAL, I'm abandoning plans to do Baby Norgi first. Instead, since the pattern is now on my hard drive, I'm going to do these spectacular Anemoi Mittens by Eunny Jang.



I was a busy little knitter yesterday. We had a drive to and from Salt Lake City, plus an hour of watchful waiting while PeeWee slept off the sedation--well at least she slept off part of it... I don't often have that much time in one day to knit, so I must say that I surprised myself. I finished this on the drive down:

I keep forgetting to get some raspberry Cremesavers at the grocery store--that's what I plan on using to embellish it.


I started and finished this while PeeWee slept:
This meathead is tentatively titled The Lemonhead (even though it's lime). I used Lamb's Pride Bulky in Limeade. The lemon slice dried for about a week on a piece of wax paper on top of my fridge. This morning I coated it with some glossy Mod Podge. I will probably brush on a few more coats of Mod Podge before I call it good. It was knit on size 15 needles in the smaller size and I had about 7 yards left over.

The Lemonhead was knit in honor of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. This is a fantastic foundation which was started as a little girl's dream to raise the money needed to fight childhood cancer. The little girl, Alex, had the same kind of cancer that PeeWee had (neuroblastoma) and she was determined to do her part to save other kids. Her parents continued with her dream after she passed away and have worked to create an organization that is doing great things in the fight against childhood cancer. We are already planning our own 2nd annual Alex's Lemonade Stand in Honor of PeeWee. Come, drink lemonade, donate with satisfaction that your money is going to be very judiciously and effectively spent to help sweet little loves like PeeWee. (Just my little plug for cancer awareness for the day...)


And I finished this on the drive home: This is Cat Bordi's Moebius Scarf knit in Fleece Artist (or is it Handmaiden?) 4-ply cashmere in the Nova Scotia colorway. It's for my mother.

We were at the children's hospital yesterday for PeeWee's regularly scheduled followup scans (aka The Day o' Torture). The sedation she has to have knocks her out cold for about 2 hours, then she's drunk for the next 24. It would be pretty funny if it weren't sad to see her wobbling around, unable to keep her balance, alternately crying and giggling. That was yesterday. Today, she's just plain belligerent.

So what did the scans reveal? "No evidence of recurrent disease." Yahoooooo! I admit, I was feeling anxious. The greatest chance of neuroblastoma relapse is in the first year after completing treatment. Well, we are now past that first year. Combine that with the fact that PeeWee's tumor didn't have the gene amplification that increases likelihood of relapse and that puts her, statistically speaking, in the clear. So the great news from yesterday was that PeeWee's oncologists feel that further regular scans are unnecessary!!!!!!!! Did you hear that? NO MORE SCANS! We'll still have quarterly clinic visits with urine and blood tests for the next couple of years, but that's nothing! Dr. Afify, a most compassionate and understanding woman, even asserted that we could do every other visit with our local pediatrician! So that means visits to the children's hospital only every six months!

7 comments:

NB Warrior said...

Hello! I found your site through my Google alerts on Neuroblastoma. My daughter was diagnosed at 18 months of age and is now cancer free as well! It's really great to find another success story out there. My daughter is past the first year mark as well and hopefully we'll get the good news about no scans soon.

I love the hat you made in honor of Alex's Lemonade stand! That is awesome! I've been trying to organize a stand here where I live, but I never get around to it. I swear I'm going to put one together this next year.

Did you make all those items you have pictured on your site?

Feel free to stop by our site anytime to say hi. I frequently post about NB because I'm trying to raise awareness. =)

Anonymous said...

I am so so glad to hear your news! That's wonderful!!!! Having spent the day at a cancer hospital I can sort of imagine the pain you all went through. Our turn with cancer hopefully won't be nearly as serious but I feel for you all nonetheless.

YarnThing said...

*wipes away tears* I am so very happy for you and your family. What a blessing it must be to have a child who is once again healthy. God must have great things planned for her.

Marlyknits

PS...good choice on the gloves...I agree with your choice.

pamela wynne said...

Aren't the new mittens gorgeous? Those or the Endpapers will be my 2nd stranded project. The mitts you asked about on my blog are a modified version of these: http://www.sheeweknits.com/designs_free.htm (pics soon, I hope).

Also, huge congratulations on the one-year mark -- such a weight lifted!
I'm a 2-time survivor of adolescent leukemia, and I know lots of kids from my clinic who had NB and are doing great now -- they don't even remember going through treatment. Sounds like your kiddo will join them!

Anonymous said...

Hooray for Paige! Hooray for you! Both of you are such troupers! What a journey this has been. We are praying, and gratitude is the topic!

Ah, Wowie, what can I say besides, "Wowie!" I bow to you. I love ALL of your creations, and you are becoming so prolific. I love your raspberry-cream and limey-lemon heads. Oooooh, I love that scarf. Mom will love that. And you can show it freely, knowing that she won't ever visit the blog universe. But HAH! I just realized YOU HAVE OUR NAMES. Wah hah hah hah. Ooooohhh, I can't wait. Nah nah nah nah nah, if you post you will spoil the surprise! Okay, yes, I am making a big assumption here, but you are knitting, and I likey!

Cathy said...

WHAT ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy for you and your family to have heard such good news :)

Your knits are lovely and the hats are way too cute :)

Cathy said...

Oh, and is there someplace I can get the pattern for that hat? It is adorable!