I Can't Decide - HELP!

Carlie & I went Christmas dress shopping tonight and we found three that we like. So I bought all three. So I need help deciding which dress to keep. Look at the pictures below and then please vote in the poll the the right (or you can post a comment too!)

Dress #1

Dress #2

Dress #3

Twilight

I, Gina Jolley Aldridge, am so excited to go see twilight tonight with some of my friends. I can't remember the last time I went out with just the girls. So here's to a bunch of old ladies going to see a movie with all the crazy teenagers.

A Four Year Old Decorating Cookies

Carlie O loved making cookies this year. Her decorating skills

are quite interesting, but we all had a lot of fun.

Halloween 2008

Here is the Aldridge family on Halloween. We are the nerdy parents that dress up with their kids. The kids like it now, but they probably will not think it is so cool when they are teeenagers!

Corey Turns 35!!

Corey turned 35 a few weeks ago and I had a little party for him. I made a bunch of his favorite snacks like fruit salsa & cinnamin chips, black bean salsa, spicy cheese ball, spinach dip, bruschetta, and a cake decorated like an I-POD (I am not sure where that pic is). Then his brothers & sisters & mom & spouses came over to party. Corey got Rock Band for the Wii from me & Carlie & Berkeley. It was a blast. I could play on it all day long if I was a loser and had no responsibilities. He also got a shoe shine kit from my mommy (I think that was his favorite gift - seriously)

Carlie Turns Four (a long time ago!)

Carlie turned four back on September 19th and since our lives were still

falling apart at that time I opted for a simple, family birthday party.

We went bowling, had cake and icecream, and opened presents. Carlie & some of her cousins
Oh he is so adorable!

Carlie & Aunt Kimmy - don't they look alike!

My fabulous husband - isn't he cute!


Berkeley was so good the whole time at the bowling alley!


Carlie bowled one frame at the beginning and one at the end. The rest of the time she was cranky and possesive of her new rocket ship from Little Einsteins.


Corey can bowl - what a man!


Just call me "Princess Carlie"

Carlie's princess cake - kinda lame, but it is all I could come

up with at the last minute and with limited energy!

So many presents, so little time



Carlie's Grandma Froebe gave her a bunch of FANCY NANCY dress up clothes.

She loves them as you can see from these pics.

The Tests are Negative!

The doctor called us on Friday to let us know that Carlie's tests for cancer all came back negative!!! YEAH! They want us to keep a close eye on her for swollen lymph nodes, fever, and loss of appetite, BUT for now GREAT NEWS!!
Thank you to everyone who was looking out for Carlie with prayers and sending her positive thoughts. We appreciate it more than you know.

Carlie O Update

Well we went to the pediatric oncologist/hematologist on Friday at OHSU/Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland for Carlie. They don't "think" she has leukemia or lymphoma, but they find her case to be puzzling. 4% of her lymph node cells are clustered together with a special marker (this is not normal - this is what cancer does). They did some blood work and a chest x-ray to verify their diagnosis of no cancer. They will call us next week with the test results. Carlie thought it was really fun to go to the hospital. We got there early so we could ride the tram up to the hospital. She called it a rocket (those of you who watch Little Einsteins can understand why she thought it was so cool to be in a rocket ship). She also got a superhero cape (some lady makes them for the kid cancer patients and a Barbie for getting her blood drawn.
The saddest part was seeing all the kids there with cancer. Most of them at various stages of baldness and weakness. I suggest everyone say a prayer for these brave and strong kids who have to endure something NO kid should have to endure. It broke my heart.
Just an interesting side note. This is where they discovered and developed my cancer drug, Gleevec.

Pray for Carlie O

Here is another lemon life is throwing at my little family. I am not posting about this to freak anyone out, but I am posting because I want my little Carlie to have as many people praying for her as possible.

So here is the story...

When Carlie had her tonsils out last month the doctor did a biopsy on her lymph nodes. He sent it to the pathologist and didn't think much of it, he said it just was standard precaution. The pathologist then came back and said 4% of the cells were exactly the same size and shape which is a characteristic of cancer cells. He was confused by these findings and sent it to another pathologist in Portland for review. This pathologist's conclusions were also inconclusive and he sent it on to a pediatric pathologist specialist. This specialist was also puzzled. The next step was they were going to take the test results to their monthly board meeting to discuss with their colleagues. Our doctor kept saying no one thought it was cancer, BUT they were very puzzled.

Anyways, we had been waiting for these results when we got a phone message on Friday from the special children's hospital in Portland saying Carlie had been referred by her primary care physician and they needed to schedule her for next week. O.K. I was a little freaked out, especially since we couldn't find out anything until Monday morning since by the time we had got the message on Friday everyone was closed.

Monday arrives and Corey calls the primary care doctor and she knows nothing about it. So he calls her ENT that took her tonsils out and he is gone. So Corey calls the hospital to find out why she was referred, but they wouldn't tell him.

So Tuesday morning (today) the ENT doctor calls Corey and said he did not refer her (he would have called us if he had), BUT he had sent a question to them about what do we do now with all these inconclusive test results. They (the hospital people) in turn decided for reasons I do not know about that she needed to be seen ASAP.

So Carlie, daddy, and mommy (even though I have ZERO sick days) are going to an appointment in Portland Friday morning at 9 AM to hopefully figure out what is wrong with my baby.

I am hoping everything is fine, but I am pretty nervous.

Please pray that she is o.k.

It is Amazing! I am Loving My New Insurance Company!

Well I have some fantastic news. The state of Oregon made us (all the school districts) join a new insurance company and coverage started October 1st ( I was pretty annoyed about this because I liked my insurance company). I called this new company on Friday and talked to someone who could actually answer my questions. My cancer drug Gleevec still costs $700 a month, BUT I have a $1,000 maximum out of pocket prescription drug benefit. So the first month I will pay $700, the 2nd month $300, and then for the rest of the year it will be FREE!! So it will be painful the 1st month, but it works out to be about 84 bucks a month! YEAH!!! So much better. You can't believe the relief I felt when I found this out. Truly an answer to prayer! My old insurance company did not have this benefit!
I also did some research on Gleevec. The patent on it runs out in 2012. This means there will be a generic in 2012 and on my insurance plan generic drugs are only 5 bucks! They already have a generic in use in India with great results!

My Cancer Drug Costs How Much??????

Well I had some super news yesterday. We finally got my insurance company to approve my cancer medication. I have to take a drug called Gleevec everyday for the rest of my life. The speciality pharmacy (yes regular pharmacies do not carry it) called me to tell me they got me a "great" deal (can you feel my sarcasm?). I only have to pay $700 a month (no that is not a typo) for the medication that will keep me alive. They are giving me such a bargain since without insurance (heaven help anyone who doesn't have insurance)(and I actually have pretty primo insurance - as far as insurance policies go) it would cost $3500 a month. YIKES!!! What a great choice - stay alive and not be able to afford gas & groceries OR die. Awesome. I am having such a great day. They are going to try to qualify me for help through some foundation, but I am sure I am one of those people that makes too $$ much for assistance, but still really can't afford not to have assistance. Gotta love the lemons life throws you, but hey I am still alive and that is a miracle in itself.

I am so cool they make shirts with my name on them!

5 Months Old Today

Berkeley is 5 months old today. I can't believe it. He is scooting around and is soooo close to crawling. He is so alert and happy. He loves to play on the floor, play in his Jump-a-roo, smile, and play with his mommy & daddy & Carlie.

He is really loud in every way - he burps like an adult, shrieks when he is happy, grunts really loudly in church, and screams bloody murder when he is hungry, and boy is he hungry A LOT! He also spits up ALL the time and slobbers a crazy amount.

His big, blue eyes just melt my soul and I love him more than words can express. It is so amazing to watch him grow and develop. I am truly blessed to have TWO amazing children.

Carlie's Surgery Day

So here are some more photos from Carlie's big surgery day back on September 11th. We had to be at the hospital at 6:45 AM - way too early! She had her own room before and after surgery. While she was waiting for surgery they gave her the green care bear and a care bear DVD to watch. I think we have watched that DVD at least a million times.
Well, Carlie was happy until they took her away to the operating room without mom and dad. She was pretty scared and didn't know what was happening so she started to cry, which of course made mommy cry (what a baby). When she returned to her room she was really out of it. She also threw up everywhere. It was super sad. After a few hours with no throwing up and being able to drink some liquids she took a ride in the wheelchair out to the car. When we got home she put on her favorite Christmas PJs, complete with robe and slippers. She even got to steal mommy's chair (mommy must love her!)! Then for the next week or so she got to eat all the Rocks (Dananimals yogurt) and pudding she wanted. The first week was NO FUN AT ALL!! She is doing better now, except her voice is a little strange. The doctor said we would not notice a difference in her sleep apnea for about a month so I am really looking forward to October 11th!!!!

1st Day of Preschool

I am kinda of a loser, because I am way behind on my blogging. This is a pic of my beautiful girl on her 1st day at preschool this year. It started a couple of weeks ago and she loves it. Her favorite part is riding the school bus, singing songs, playing dress-up, and playing with her friends Shane & Dominic.

Back to Work

I guess it is time for an update on my recovery. Well people, I went back to work this week part-time and it is kicking my butt!!!!!! I can't believe how every muscle in my body just ACHES! I had weaned myself off the pain meds, but now I am back on. All of my morning classes are super awesome and my afternoon classes are psycho.

I saw my new cancer doctor on Tuesday and things went well. They ran some tests (no results yet) and we talked about my treatment. I am going to be taking a drug called Gleevac. Apparently it is crazy expensive so my doctor was going to make some phone calls to get the best deal possible for me. Once I start the drug they are going to monitor me at least once a week for a couple of months. One of the major side effect is edema (YEAH - I get to be all puffy). After the side effect calm down and there is no sign of the cancer then I will be seen once a month for the first year.

This drug is supposed to cut the rate of the GIST reoccuring down to 3%. Those are some pretty good odds. The drug is supposed to be the most effective on high-risk GIST patients - THAT"S ME!!! I guess when your tumor is as ginormous as mine you are automatically considered high-risk.

Well, that's about it - just waiting on test results and the doctor getting the Gleevac in stock.

Very Funny

This skit from SNL is hilarious - check it out!

Carlie's Tonsils are Out!

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Berkeley is Four Months Old Today!

OK people. I am so in love with Berkeley. He is 4 months old today. He has such big beautiful blue eyes that melt my heart every time I look at him. The past 3 weeks have been so hard because I can't take care of him. I am finally am to the point where I can hold him for short periods of time, and oh how grateful I am for that. He is such a happy boy that smiles alot and is ticklish. He is SO STRONG! He always wants to stand up and I swear he is just going to take off walking soon. So here are some pictures for you to get a look at my beautiful boy.