Travis went to school today and was able to stay about 3 hours.  Mrs. Roberts, and the entire class, has been so welcoming to Travis and accommodating of our situation.  Audrey sits next to Travis and when she saw him come in the classroom, she immediately jumped up and took his chair down from the desk for him so that he could sit down.  It is great to know that we have so much support at school and everyone is working to keep things as normal as possible for Travis.

Thanks,

Lynne and Tony

After having his port installed on Friday, Travis’ chest and arm were pretty sore that evening and Saturday too.  We just took it easy and waited to see if he would be up for going to church.  He was still a little sore on Sunday morning but we made it to church since it was the beginning of Holy Week with Palm Sunday and Tyler was Altar Serving with Olivia.  It was great to see Martine, Tiernan, Olivia and everyone else.  Even Father Don came over to Travis and let him know he was praying for him and that he is a strong little boy.  Of course we already knew he is a Warrior!

Thanks,

Lynne and Tony

Many people have been asking how Tyler is doing through this situation.  Well, the fact is Tyler has been a huge help through all of this! We have had to rely on him and trust him to be responsible while we are taking care of Travis. During these last few weeks, at various times, Tyler has: taken care of dinner for himself; taken care of Cisco, done his homework; gotten in bed on time; gotten up for school; helped Travis with physical therapy; helped Travis to be comfortable; and helped dad with the yard work. Before Travis’ surgery Tyler made a video for Travis. He did a great job talking to Travis, showing him Cisco (our dog), the play room and Travis’ room. Travis really liked it!  We have told Tyler over and over how much this means to us that we can depend on him to be responsible when we need to focus on Travis.

Tyler has said that he was nervous for Travis which is understandable.  But we try to reiterate that we are doing the very best we can to help Travis get better and that we will face everything head on as a family, one step at a time and we have faith everything will work out.  That is the best we can do!

Tyler’s School Notebook!

Thanks,

Tony and Lynne

Travis had his appointment to have his porta-cath installed today.  Our 10:30am appointment was changed to a 7:30am procedure and meant we had to be there at 5:30am which in turn meant a 3:30am wakeup call.  The actual procedure to install the port was about 45 minutes and Travis was so brave as he walked down the hallway with the nurse into the OR.  He asked for the bubblegum flavored gas and said that he didn’t remember anything after counting up to 3.  Everything went smoothly and we were on the road home at 10:30am with a McFlurry in hand.  We stopped by the Wave office to say Hi and let everyone know Travis was doing OK (and Mom/Dad too).  We rested in the afternoon since we were up so early and then Travis’ chest was kind of sore where they installed the port.

Sarah, Ellyse and Emily stopped by with Lilly (their golden retriever) to say Hi and check on Travis.  It is amazing how visits from friends and pets can brighten our days even when your chest is pretty sore.

We topped off the evening with a fantastic meal provided by the Nielson family…WOW!

Thanks for all of the love and support from everyone!

Lynne and Tony

Today was Mission Building day at school and Travis had set a goal of being there to help his project team.  He was there more than 3 hours and had a great time working with his classmates.  Sarah was working with Travis’ group and commented that he really enjoyed himself and seemed to forget about everything he had been going through for a while.  Travis said he was tired at the end but so were the parents who helped with the projects.

We also received a Yoga/Ocean Breathing video link from the class with a very inspirational and uplifting message for Travis.

“We are endlessly inspired by how brave and strong YOU are. And in the moments when you don’t feel that way, please know that WE are brave and strong for you.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08-WkBw8szY

Thanks so much to Miss Cristina (Yoga Instructor), Mrs. Roberts (Videographer) and all of the class (Video Stars) for creating this video for Travis (and us)!  It makes us feel like we can face anything knowing everyone is with us.

Thanks everyone!

Tony and Lynne

Travis had a McFlurry special delivery today from Kono, Aiden and Grant H.  How did they know?  It may seem like Travis has been having a lot of McFlurries lately, which he has, but we are just following the doctor’s orders.  We have been told that Travis is on a “see food” diet…if he sees food, he can have it!

Everything went very well today with our appointment for the lumbar puncture to draw spinal fluid. Travis’ words were, “It wasn’t as bad as I thought”. Always glad to hear that. Travis couldn’t have anything solid after 5:00 am, so he asked me to wake him at 4:00 am for a snack. I did. The procedure took place a little before 12:00 and he was getting a little hungry. He asked that we have an M&M McFlurry ready for him when he woke up. When he woke up, he was ready to eat. After eating half of the McFlurry, he asked for a Happy Meal. Music to my ears. Really. He ate everything and finished the McFlurry. As for the lumbar puncture, the area where they drew the fluid is a little sore, but he is doing great. Today is a great day and we do appreciate those.

We were able to attend our Faith & Works Meeting this afternoon with Travis!  This was a huge positive for us since our F&W families are an extended part of our family and they have been such an important part of our lives.

Since so much in our future is unknown and out of our control, we have been setting small, short-term goals so that we can remain focused on the near term and what we can do to help Travis get stronger.  For example in the hospital, in order for us to be able to go home, Travis had to be able to eat (and of course go to the bathroom) before they would let us leave.  So, we focused each day on anything Travis wanted to eat like pizza, tequitos and his most favorite, McFlurries.  When we got home on Thursday, we talked about setting a goal of being able to go to our Faith & Works meeting on Sunday, even if it was just to stop in to say hello, and Travis worked hard at continuing to do more and more each day so that we could attend.

At church the past weekend, Phil and Tracey said there was a group of Christians from Jerusalem selling hand carved items made out of 2000 year old oak.  They picked out a beautiful cross that had soil from Jerusalem encapsulated in it and presented it to Travis on behalf of the group.  What a very special and thoughtful gift!  It is now hanging right at the head of Travis’ bed.  It was great to get together with everyone and know they are with us supporting Travis and our family.  We are looking forward to our Works event helping to serve at Father Joe’s Village even though most likely Travis and Lynne will be in Houston during that time.

We arrived home to find a huge meal delivered by the Brucia family…WOW!

Thanks,

Tony

Travis was feeling good today and he insisted on mommy taking him to Barnes and Noble so that he could pick out a few books to read.  So, while Tyler and I were out doing some yard work, Travis and Lynne headed over to B&N for a little shopping spree.  We called it physical therapy and Travis scored!

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughtfulness!

Tony