pictures

Proud Fisherman at Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park


Mr. Yamazawa (ALL bone marrow recipient) presented Dale with a thousand cranes before having lunch at Grandma June's house.

Day +187

Dale has now officially passed the 6 month mile stone. He is doing well. His hair has grown in very curly and has lost 20 pounds since his discharge from the hospital. He is now looking more like Danny instead of Derek. Although lately Dale has developed allergies very similar to Dereks. He never used to sneeze or have the sniffles. Derek on the other hand is very sensitive to allergens and sneezes all the time. So interestingly, Dale's body is reacting now to different allergens much like Derek. I thought he caught a cold but his latest blood work showed 11.7% eosinophils (upper limit - 6.4%) . Dale is now off Cellcept. He will be weaned off the cyclosporine next. His labs are stable. 2 weeks ago , Dale joined his brothers in Las Vegas for a basketball tournament. Dale was allowed to participate in the tournament. He also joined his team in the river pool at the MGM after the last game on Sunday. Dale was good about wearing his mask inside the casinos as we walked through to go to our room. Meals were a little tricky since Dale is still not allowed to eat fast foods or buffets. Breakfast was cereal in our room and lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches eaten in the car as we traveled from one of his games to either Danny or Derek's games. We ate in non crowded restaurants for dinner and asked if they could microwave his food after it was prepared. One night, Dale and I ordered plate lunch from the "Cal" and brought it back to our room to microwave and eat while Derek joined his team at a seafood buffet . (Yes, we brought our own microwave) We came home Monday and in 4 days Derek, Dale and I were on a bus to Yosemite to meet up with Wade and Danny who had been hiking with the boy scouts (Troop 719) for the last 5 days. We spent 3 days in Yosemite. 4 boys(Derek, Dale, and friends Noah and Yoki) and I went fishing at Tenaya Lake as we waited for the hikers to come out. We caught 4 fish in about 3 hours. Each boy caught a fish which was very exciting. This was the first time fishing without a net for me so bringing it onto the rocks was quite a challenge. Derek was the only one willing to get his boots wet and catch the fish with his hands so the line wouln't break while bring the fish out of the water. Yosemite was beautiful and we all had a great time. The boy scouts and dads came out hungry and very dirty. Prior to leaving for Yosemite, we met a man who also had ALL like Dale and received a bone marrow transplant 4 years ago. The donor was Wade's cousin. Mr. Yamazawa is orginially from Japan and now resides in North Carolina. He owns a Japanese restaurant and is a sushi chef. He presented Dale with a thousand cranes, each crane folded after 3 hrs of chanting (Buddhist) first. So after 3,000 hours of chanting, 1000 cranes were folded, strung together and given to Dale. He said many of his friends around the world helped to make these cranes, again each person chanting 3 hrs before folding one crane. Each person also had a photo of Dale and some background information so they knew who and what they were chanting for. Dale noticed that some of the cranes were folded with christmas wrapping paper and other types fo paper. He explained that origami (japanese folding paper) is not available to everyone so they use whatever type of paper they had and cut it into 4 x 4 squares. Mr Yamazawa is a humble man filled with much gratitude. He now travels back and forth to Japan visiting other cancer patients trying to give them a glimmer of hope. It was a wonderful experience meeting him. Dale has now received over 5,000 cranes . We are grateful for the love and support he has received and continues to receive. I apologize for the long post. Grace and peace to you all......

FOR Golf tournament

Day +170

Dale continues to do well and has been quite busy the last 2 weeks. Thursday, Aug. 2nd was the last day of F.O.R. golf. Dale received a beautiful plaque for finishing second in the tournament. We were all surprised and Dale was very happy. Dale and Derek have also been attending the "Fundamentals" basketball camp with Coach Kitani and his staff for the past 5 days. Dale was extremely sore the first few days but as the days went on he felt better. Dale came home everyday tired yet happy that he made it through 3 hours of basketball. Yesterday was his once a month doctor visit in clinic at UCLA. The Hb went up to 9.4 and Hct - 29.1. Unfortunately the differential was not available so we were unable to calculate the ANC. The WBC however was 3.77. The liver enzymes remain normal and the cyclosporine level also remains fairly stable at 166. The cellcept is now down to one a day. ( he was initially taking 2 capsules three times a day) Once the cellcept is off, they will start to taper off the cyclosporine. The doctors were pleased with his progress and encouraged Dale to keep up the good work. During his free time, Dale enjoys reading "Naruto" comic books. Lately, he has been reading these books more than playing with his game boy. He also enjoys watching "Ninja Warrior", a competition of strength and agility among men who have been training for years. It is a japanese show with english subtitles. It is actually quite entertaining to watch. Dale has us all watching it. Thank you for your continued support and prayers. It helps us to stay strong and positive. Grace and peace to you all......

Day + 159

Dale is now 9 years old. We are grateful that Dale was able to celebrate another birthday. Every year of his life so far,except maybe the first year, has been a challenge for him. We were told down at UCLA that Dale now has 2 birthday's, his actual birth date and his transplant date. Dale spent most of his birthday playing at Grandma June's house and having a water gun fight with Derek and Uncle Mike. Earlier that morning, Dale received a surprise birthday present from Percy the penguin.(Thank you Percy! Dale really enjoys playing with his new water gun). The day finished with dinner at Grandma June's
house and lighting sparklers and fountains left over from the fourth of July. Danny will turn 16 tomorrow. You start to see how fast time flies when you see how old your children are turning. Last Friday's UCLA visit went well. His labs continue to remain fairly stable. The cyclosporine level this week was 176. ANC - 2100 Hgb is back up to 9.1 Hct - 28.5. Plts - 304,000
He is still taking Cellcept and cyclosporine for now. The Cellcept dose is slowly being tapered off. Dale continues to play golf every week at Dominguez as well as attend his weekly golf lessons. According to cousin Eric, chipping was the challenge last week so Dale snuck in an extra lesson on chipping. Hopefully, this week will be better. Dale also squeezed in some swimming last week too. We have not been walking Eski everyday like we used to and Dale has expressed concern over this.
Danny and Derek's busy schedules have cut into time with Eski. Today, Grandma Miya, Derek and Dale took Eski for a walk.
Thank you for continued support and prayers. Grace and peace to you all.......

Day + 142

Yesterday we went to UCLA for Dale's clinic visit. He continues to do well. The labs are still about the same. The hemoglobin dropped to 8.8 despite the lower dose on the Cellcept. They will watch it for now. Dale is by no means symptomatic at this point. We will now be going to UCLA every 2 weeks instead of every week for labs and will be seeing the doctors only once a month! We were suprised to hear that our leash was being extended but they said he was stable enough and not to worry. The Cellcept dose was again lowered and the cyclosporine level is now down to 139. Dale has lost about a total of 13 pounds since he was discharged from the hospital. Most of the weight loss is from the weight gained while he was on the steroids. Dale is quite happy with his flatter stomach. We are still working on Derek's . Although I must say Derek is trying harder to lose some inches now that Dale is so much slimmer. Danny, for some reason despite all the food he eats,does not have a stomach. The doctors were also very happy to hear that Dale is staying active. They told us the more physically active Dale is, the faster the recovery. On the Fourth of July , Dale and Derek went swimming and finished the night at our Uncle Butch's house for dinner and fireworks. There was a lot of smoke but Dale put his mask on was out there with the rest of the cousins lighting fireworks and watching the spectacular Takahashi/Yamane (our cousins) firework display. OnThursday, Derek and Dale went out and played their second round of golf (9 holes) at Dominguez with FOR Golf. Both boys claimed their putting was terrible which was why their score was 2 points higher than last weeks. Dale this week waited a day before calling his golf teacher with his score. Last week he called him as soon as he got home. Ryan, being the great teacher that he is, reassured Dale that he did well and 2 points is not big deal. Later that evening, Dale joined Derek's team at basketball practice. He had a great time. Dale grew up being around Derek's basketball team so they are all like brothers to him. He woke up the next morning suprised that he wasn't as sore as he thought he would be. The doctors told us practicing with ten "healthy" boys should be ok once a week. So far everyday this week the boys have been filling up water balloons and throwing them at each other until they are completely soaked. Well, Derek and Dale are soaked. Danny somehow manages to stay dry. Yesterday was the one year mark of our dear Grandpa George's passing. Our family together with Grandma June went to the cemetary. Grandma June is incredibly strong and has held herself together very well. As I watch Dale say his prayers every night, I think of all of you who continue to pray for Dale. We are grateful for your continued prayers and support. Blessings to you all..... Have a great week.

Day +133

School is out and we are now in summer mode. So far the days have been packed with summer activities for all three boys.
Last weeks clinic visit went well. Dale's labs are still stable. Last week Friday, the five of us (Wade, Danny, Derek, Dale and I) played 9 holes at Dominquez. We had a friendly family tournament. Actually, it was a dry run to see if Dale would be able to finish 9 holes on his own and carry his own bag. He started to get tired around the 5th hole so we helped him with his bag. He golfed very well. Derek came in first tying with Wade, Danny second,Dale third and I came in last. I was actually more tired than Dale. Today was the first day of FOR golf at Dominquez. Dale joined Derek and friends Cory and Grant in the summer tour escorted by our dear friend and distant cousin Eric. I watched them tee off on the 1st hole and I watched them finish on the 9th. Dale was still going strong and carrying his own bag. Eric probably had his hands full but they all claimed to have a great time. After golf, Dale and Eric went swimming. Derek went off to basketball camp for the afternoon. Dale was not able to participate in the North High School basketball camp this year. He looks forward to participating again next year. Dale , along with Danny and Derek, have really become interested in the show "Planet Earth" on Animal Planet. They watch it Wednesday nights plus they watch the DVD series that Auntie Millie gave them. Tomorrow Dale goes back to UCLA for his next IVIG dose. Thank you for your continued prayers. Grace and Peace to you all....