Cooper Strong!

Sunday: June 29, 2014

With the exception of Cooper not eating very well, he's had a great week. He has been in a very good mood and learning new things every day.  Due to spending so much time with Mommy now that I'm out of school, Cooper has been enjoying using the vacuum, mopping, washing dishes, and cleaning out the attic. He has also been helping me weed the flower beds and garden. Now every time we walk by a flower bed Copper says "weed!" with great excitement.  

Cooper and Mommy has started "Rock and Read" time each day. This is time I set aside each morning to let Copper pick out 3 or 4 books for me to read to him while rocking in the recliner. Today we got a little therapy in during this time. Cooper picked out 2 "touch and feel" books, so we used Lefty to feel the pages. One thing I've noticed about these books: Cooper thinks all books are touch and feel and gets disappointed when one isn't!  

Meal times have been a little difficult. Cooper isn't eating much at all. I think this is just a toddler thing this time because he is on a chemo break. Thank goodness for Carnation and Ensure! We will start his chemo pill this week. We are praying he feels well while taking it. 

I took Cooper to the doctor on Thursday. He determined that Cooper does not have peripheral vision in his strong eye. He wanted us to start patching his stronger eye to see if we notice how well he can see out of his weak eye. We were so nervous about this because when we were still in Norfolk and his eye was closed we had to tape it open and patch his strong eye. He struggled so much and we were pretty sure he didn't have sight. This time has been different. Cooper has been such a trooper. He hasn't cried or tried to mess with the patch at all. He has really surprised us. He does stumble at times, prefers to be carried while wearing the patch, and sometimes "feels" for objects. However, he has shown us that he has some vision. He has pointed out things when asked, he has found his favorite toys, and has reached for his Popsicles. The doctor told us if he does has vision, patching the other eye will strengthen his weak eye. He suggested 3 1/2 of patching a day and so far Cooper has done great! 

Cooper is amazing. He takes every new obstacle so well. My new favorite saying is a comment a co-worker recently said: I want to be COOPER STRONG!

      Cooper feeding himself

      Wearing his patch and showing us his ball

     Helping Dad clean out the garage

      

     So sleepy

      New Therapy: a vibrating toothbrush to help stimulate the nerves in Lefty

 

     When we walked by the trampoline Cooper said "JUMP," this told us he can see something! 

     Double Therapy

      Helping Mommy make labels for the storage containers in the attic

     Coloring 4th of July pictures

Sunday: June 22, 2014

Cooper has had a really good week. We enjoyed Father's Day, playing with Kendall, spending time with his cousins, walks, swinging, jumping on the trampoline, and a few thunder storms. We have been spending a lot of time outside because he enjoys it so much.

I've been working with Cooper on feeding himself. He has made a lot of progress this week. He fed himself mac and cheese, oatmeal, and cereal (he steals Mommy's every morning!). We also did an art project this week. Cooper loves to point out trees when we are outside. We read the book "God Made the Seasons" and then traced his hand/arm to make a tree. I let Cooper glue tissue paper down for the flowers. It was a great "following directions" activity for speech!

Cooper did amazing with therapy this week. I was so glad I got to be home to see it. He has been working so hard and has been very verbal.

The only unpleasant event this week was his blood draw. He didn't have Chemo this week which meant we still had to have his blood checked. Mommy and Daddy have the hardest time watching them struggle to find a vein. It's very hard to watch him in so much pain.

My favorite part of the week was this afternoon. Mommy and Daddy were both very tired and didn't feel like fixing dinner.  We decided to eat cereal. I got all three of us bowls and we sat together on the couch and ate. Cooper was so excited and fed himself the entire bowl. This is not a habit I want to start, but it was definitely worth it today!

We are looking forward to the week ahead. We have a few days off since it's Mommy and Daddy's 4th Wedding Anniversary. Cooper will be celebrating with us!

Spending time with Kendall

 

 He loves throwing rocks

 

Cooper was so excited to help wrap Daddy's gifts

and opening them!

 

 

 Helping Paw Paw open his gifts

 

 

 Cooper and Daddy dressed alike in their Batman shirts and Camo shorts

 

Going for a walk

 

Yum...Chocolate

 

 Walking again!

 

Cooper playing peek-a-boo with Mommy

 

This is how Cooper entertains himself while Mommy showers!

 

Cooper got the milk out of the fridge, I told him to put it back. I think he did a pretty good job!

 

Story Time: We read "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." He wanted to kiss the old lady!

 

Feeding himself some Mac and Cheese

 

Playing in the sandbox

 

Waiting to get blood taken

 

Cooper's Art Project: I love how he concentrated so well!

 

Cooper likes to "jump, jump, jump!"

 

He also likes to look at himself in the mirror. I'm cleaning out the attic and he's very pleased I pulled this out!

 

Enjoying our dinner of cereal!

Trying to Catch Up

The last time I posted a blog was 2 months ago. A lot has gone on in the last couple of months and I'm going to try my best to get everyone caught up.

On April 18th we left for Myrtle Beach, SC. My 7 year old niece rode down with us and she did a great job of keeping Cooper entertained during the long ride. We had a great few days, even though the weather wasn't the best. Just a few days before leaving a friend and I were talking about how we'd spent every holiday in the hospital since Halloween. Well guess where we were Easter? Cooper started vomiting really bad and became lifeless. His temperature spiked, so we called his doctor. He told us to head to the ER. They kept him for several hours diagnosing his symptoms as CDIF. Which, we later found out he didn't have. Instead it was a virus his body simply couldn't fight. We arrived back to WV late on the 21st. I was at work for the short time of 2 hours on Tuesday when Randy texted me to let me know he was on his way to Roanoke with Cooper, fever had spiked again. This time we were admitted to the hospital where they gave him fluids. Too many actually, which caused his eyes to swell shut. We were released Thursday afternoon. Cooper slept the entire evening and still didn't seem himself. We tried to wait it out, but at 9:30 his temperature was 102 and we knew we were heading back to Roanoke. This time we had to go through the ER, but they took him back pretty quick. They decided to give him another round of his antibiotic. We had to wait a long time for pharmacy to prepare it. After it arrived, it took one hour for it to pump. Luckily Cooper slept through this. At 1:00 a.m. the nurse came in to unhook him and told us we could go home. However, when she went to unhook him we realized the IV was NEVER hooked to his port and the medicine just dripped for an entire hour onto the bed! We had to repeat the process. So finally at 3:30 a.m. we were told we could head home. Randy and I got home in just enough time to shower and get to work on time. It was a long Friday!

After that sick spell, everything seems to be going very well. Cooper is continuing his speech, PT, and OT both at Roanoke and at home. He is repeating everything you say, singing along to the radio, and voicing his opinion! He is using only a few two-word phrases but that is a start. He has made tremendous progress with his walking. He actually got to where he was walking everywhere, however, after yesterday's Chemo he has had trouble with his left foot and is pretty unstable. His therapist has been doing restraint therapy by tying down his right arm and making him use his left one. He fights at first but then does a pretty good job. We are very proud of him.

Cooper did get sick at his Chemo visit yesterday, but had a great day today. He had an MRI on May 22, which showed no growth of the tumors. Of course we were hoping for shrinkage, but we will take no growth.

We spent all day today at UVA visiting with Cooper's neuro- Ophthalmologist. He gave us some very exciting news. Several months ago we were told that Cooper was blind in his right eye. However, today his right eye did respond to stimuli. That told us that he can see something. The sad thing is that we will not really know anything until Cooper is able to tell us what he can see. We still have a long wait and many obstacles, but we also have hope!


Our only concern at the moment is that our precious 21 month old has turned into an ornery two year old! He is set in his ways and will not give in! He pouts and throws fits! Even though this can be frustrating, I'm happy to know it's exactly where he should be emotionally! Or at least that's what the therapists keep telling us!

Here are some pictures from the last two months. They aren't in order, sorry!

Mother's Day

 

 Cooper looking all handsome!

Opening gifts from the Easter Bunny with Cousin Hannah 

 

Easter: In the hospital at Myrtle Beach

 

This is when Cooper received too many fluids

 

Easter Basket #2

 

Easter Basket #3

 

He was so excited to get spoons

Cooper outgrew his shirt so I framed it

 

Back in the hospital

 

Loving on Pup Pup

 

His loves his plunger

 

He is so cute!

 

 

Look at that hair

 

Helping Mommy plant flowers

Showing off our shovels

 



 

Oh he loved this

 

I think he loves her, look at the way he looks at her

 

Cooper loved Mommy vacuum so much he got one of his own

 

Working outdoors

There's that plunger again!

 

He dressed himself

 

Minutes before his MRI

 

Chemo with the plunger

 

Asleep, with the plunger

 

Bath time, with the plunger

 

Trying to walk, with the plunger

 

Going for a car ride, with the plunger

Shopping with mommy, with the plunger

 



 

Eating ice cream with Dad

 

On the way to the doctors, with the plunger

 

There they are again

Cooper got to see some animals and the goats were his favorite



Our hiking trip

 

Using lefty to eat a popcicle

 

Pool Therapy

 

Walking in to Chemo by himself, well with the plunger

 

Cooper showing the frog how he can pick his nose

 

Another Chemo day

 

I just love his face in this picture

 

He loves chocolate now

 

Using lefty!

 

He is so rotten, this was my first day of summer, how lucky am I to get to spend everyday with him?

 

Watching the cows across from our house

 

They were having a very important conversation

He loves the trampoline



 

On our way to UVA

 

Getting ready to head in to meet his new eye doctor

 

Bringing back some old memories, we found a hall with an incline, what fun!

 

Touring Charlotttesville

Cooper was very interested in the pine cone he found on our walk today.