Carter turned 5--on December 10th!

I swear I remember posting about Carter's birthday--but it must of been a dream, because I haven't. It wasn't his year for a friend party, but I am getting lax in my old age and he was able to invite some friends over for "lunch" on his birthday, but since I didn't do treat bags it wasn't a "party" right?! When Jackson and Tanner Christensen (our other son) were little guys and played, it was nothing but sports, they would fight over who was Jeremy Scroggins or Michael Jordan (how does that make Jeremy feel!!) they would usually play, basketball, football and baseball all in one play date. But when Carter and his buddies play it is one superhero dress up after another. Epic star wars battles are fought and Iron Man and Spiderman are searching for Darth Vader and Black Spiderman. But the greatest part is they are so busy trading costumes and describing the "scenes" ahead they usually never get to that part!! Carter has great buddies and I am so glad.

Jaren Hebdon, Tanner Callahan, Caden Allred, and Carter December 10th, 2009




Then for his birthday dinner we had the whole fam-dam-ily over for Carter's requested feast....Chicken on the bone and Crabby Patties (hamburgers) he also wanted Crab but I told him the store was out, I just couldn't face that seafood, poultry, beef mix all in one meal!
Carter at age 5 you can, make your bed, pick up your messes, write your first name and most of your last name it usually comes out Nofterel (why make it harder son?), you love preschool days and beg everyday to have a friend over. You love the color green but since you love Caden more, you have changed your favorite color to red! You want to be a superhero when you grow up, just not sure which one. Your favorite songs are "Iron Man" which you sing wrong; "I am iron man running over bad guys in my van!", and "Once there was a Snowman". You are so excited to be a big kid in Kindergarten next year and have school every day. You still get in bed with Mom and Dad every night(sigh). You scratch my arm to fall asleep and you don't allow us to kiss you, if we do you immediately wipe it off! Jackson and Sammi can always get you 'going' by telling you they snuck in your room and kissed you while you were asleep. You are so funny and so "boy" and we love you so much, thanks for making the worst pregnancy ever--worth every second of it!

Blood Counts for week 13 & Christmas Caroling

We were trying to remember how long this group of families has been Christmas Caroling at Nursing homes---any where from 5 to 7 years(I think), we have been singing along. The group swells and shrinks from year to year, and every year we go, during the busy month of December and it never seems convenient then when it's over we are so glad we did it! Some years we get together and practice, some years we have special musical numbers---this year we planned it and did it within a few days, had no piano and no special musical numbers. The elderly are the best, most uncritical, kindest audience ever! I love seeing our 20 plus children holding hands and talking to the residents afterwards, so sweet to see the wrinkled 90 year old hand holding the baby smooth, chubby 3 year old hand. After singing this year we went out to eat and I finally remembered to take a picture--I wish I had some of when we started this tradition but hey, better late than never! Thank you friends for keeping this tradition alive and one of my favorite parts of December.

And, drum roll, the weeks blood counts:
12/23/09: HCT 37.0 last week 36.4 normal 31-48
PLT 323 last week 460 normal 150-500
WBC 2.9 last week 3.2 normal 5.0-12.0
ANC 1,100 last week the infamous 630 the miraculous 944 normal over 1000

The normal ranges for Children's hospital are lower than the normal ranges for our lab. I went with Children's numbers because they make Jackson look better! According to the lab sheet I got today he is under the 'normal' 1800 for his ANC by quite a bit, but according to Children's he is above 1000 so---who knows!
I'm still looking into anything that can help boost his ANC but I found out this week that they don't like to give nupogen (sp?) shots to kids with Leukemia and Histiocytosis because it stimulates the White blood cells which have gone crazy and caused all the problems to begin with--makes sense but it also makes it nearly impossible to help those ANC counts stay up. I guess the Chemo is doing what is it supposed too. No one promised this would be any amount of fun, I see why!
Merry Christmas everyone and a happy, HEALTHY new year.

Better late than never

Sorry I never got around to posting about our Round 4 day 5 Chemo. Maybe because there shouldn't have been a day 5--darn low blood counts on day 1! Sunday at the hospital is even more quiet than Saturday--we finished our Ronald McDonald cleaning assignments by 9am (wish I cleaned my own house like that!) and our Chemo appointment wasn't till 11:00am. But I checked with the nurses and they said come on down. I guess they don't schedule as tight on the weekends because there is less staff, but the nurses said we can get you on the road much faster than 11. By 10 am we were done and gone! The roads that were horrific 5 days ago were just bare and wet on Sunday and we made great time. Jackson said Monday morning that he never appreciated his bed like he did last night! I feel the exact same. If you ever get the chance to buy a sleep number bed---DON'T do it. That's what they had in our room at the RMH and it is a fancy air mattress that slowly deflates on you all night long. It's great to be home, several times this week when I am getting Christmas treats made or delivered, wrapping presents, sending off cards for people who sent us some who never have before(!), I think, how would I have done Chemo this week?? So grateful I didn't have to. Thanks again for all the prayers and service.

Round 4 Days 3 & 4

this is Jackson, we couldn't get my Mom's laptop to get online yesterday, so today we are posting from the Ronald McDonald House Computer. Thanks for praying for me and I feel great, except for the beds here! Thanks-Jackson

Well there you go-the boys first post, painful for him. Yesterday went fine, we were at the hospital for almost 3 hours because they were so busy and backed up. Then after Jackson got his Chemo infusion going they had an emergency in the infusion area with one of the patients. When that happens all the nurses are required to go help and his Chemo had been done for 45 minutes before someone was able to flush and lock his line so we could leave. I'm not complaining--I certainly would want everyone to run if my child went emergent. When we got back to the RMH yesterday Jackson slept from 4pm to 10:00 pm. He was awake for an hour and a half before going back to sleep for the night. I couldn't get him to eat dinner yesterday but his appetite seems fine today. The hospital on the weekends is so quiet and the waiting time is zero, so we were in and out of there quick today. We plan on spending the day here and on going to "Candy Cane" lane tonight, apparently a neighborhood famous for their lights. You can't even buy a house in the neighborhood unless you agree to the homeover covenants of decorating for this every year! Maybe we will keep our wits about us and get some good pictures, that will have to wait to be posted!! Thank you for the dinners for Michael and the kids and the help with childcare. We are excited to finally be home tomorrow!!

Count Your Many Blessings

I am so grateful for all your prayers for Jackson last night and this morning. They certainly worked his ANC went up about 300 pts to over 900 today! He was able to receive his Chemo and we will finish up Round 4 on Sunday. I also found out that we get to return to our Wed. thru Sat. schedule after all--I am glad, I didn't want to miss a Sunday every four weeks. I need church to remind me to:
Count your many blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings see what God has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings see what God has done.
How could someone living my life forget that? Yet I did forget that, I forgot to be grateful for the previous 12 Chemo treatments he had to this point. I am very grateful he had Doctors who were willing to let us try today instead of sending us home for a 5 day break; which is the protocol in this situation. I am grateful to my cousin Kyle and his friend who gave Jackson a priesthood blessing last night. And I am grateful that my dear family and friends continue to pray us into miracles.

Waiting game

Tonight we are playing the waiting game, at the Ronald McDonald house. We finally get into the RMH and then we may have to turn right around tomorrow and go home----I hope not. Jackson and I braved the horrid winter mountain pass to make it to his Chemo appointment today only to be thwarted by a low ANC count. His ANC today was 630, it has to be 750 in order for him to get his Chemo treatment. The Doctors wanted to send us home till Monday, so Jax and I turned on the tears and they are kindly letting us take labs again tomorrow with the hopes that his ANC will be high enough to start----PLEASE pray that they are high enough to start. We really don't want to brave the roads again tomorrow, and then turn around Monday to come back here, and then not get home till Christmas Eve, yuck. I want to be with my kiddos during their Christmas break, not with the Mariners Moose (he came to the RMH today). Oh and a prayer for my pessimistic, negative, woe is us attitude wouldn't hurt either.

Blood counts for week 12

Not so hot:
last week HCT-30.0 this week- 32.0 norm-31-48%
last week PLT-190 this week-667 norm-150-500
last week WBC-3.2 this week-2.1 norm-5-12
last week ANC-1600 this week-400 norm-over 1000

An ANC under 500 means no school normally but I have a call in to the oncologist. I am thinking that if this is like last Chemo that by today (saturday) he is already back over 500, so we will see. Chemo is next week, I can't believe it is time again. I've got a cough to kick before Wednesday so wish me luck!

For 39 years.....

this man has been on the earth. For over 17 of those years I have loved him. For 16 years 8 months I have been married to him. For 14 years 5 months he has been a loving father. He has had 6 job changes in our married life, moved 10 times, owned 14 cars and of those only one brand new one!! He works over 60 hours a week for most of the year, for his wife, his five children and believe me they are a high maintenance, expensive crew! He faces his personal fears every appointment he goes to with Jackson(blood draws are not on his top ten list of things to do!). We love you Michael, so much, thanks for all you do for us -- and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

The "MAN" with his boys--who know where the girls had disappeared to at this point.

Blood counts for week 11

The good news brought to us in blood count numbers was welcome today--after last Chemo's blood counts I was shaking in my boots to get the results today. They were low but not critically low--in fact compared to where his counts were at the start of the last Chemo they are improved. Wish we could put our finger on how this all works. Is anything we do making a difference or is it just a roller coaster ride? This is not a rhetorical question---any insight is welcome!
WBC today 3.2 normal range 4.5-11.0
RBC today 3.64 normal range 4.5-5.9
HCT today 30.0 normal range 41.0-53.0
PLT today 190K normal range 150-400
ANC today 1600 normal range 1800-7800
I've noticed that labs at Children's hospital have slightly different ranges than the lab in Moses Lake does--these labs today are from the ML lab.
In other news basketball for Jax is moving right along. He amazes me that he can keep up-school is so hard for him right now and he has added 2.5 hours of basketball practice 3 days a week, and games 2 days a week. I know that in my responsibilities I am falling behind, he is managing better than I am for sure! Maybe my prayers for him not have Chemo brain have somehow transferred the Chemo brain to me instead!

The kids and I travelled to Connell this week for one of Jackson's games, I'm glad we did, his team won in OVERTIME and this was the highest scoring game so far this year. Jr. High basketball is fast paced man, hold on to your seats!!

#32 is my favorite player, not too brag or anything, but isn't he cute!

I know this post is all about Jackson (that seems to happen a lot actually!) but it's been a busy week for the 8th graders of Royal Middle School. Two basketball games, Survivor Friday and the SCIENCE FAIR. Of course this is also the week that Michael is gone to Texas for Irrigation Assoc. meetings, remember the old days (last 4 years) when I went with him---sigh. Anyway, the Science Fair was great and Carter decided he needed to dress up as black spiderman in order to attend this event--makes perfect sense.

Jackson and his partner in crime, science crime that is--Adan. How many pounds of dry ice did they go through---19 pounds of it. Of course you can only purchase it in Moses Lake too. Love the science fair --- being over!

Festival with tree, ends up Chemo round 3!

Don't you love it when things rhyme? I apologize for not posting about the last two days of round 3 but the hotel Internet and I did not get along. First two days we were friends then after that not so much. He got a nice distraction on Friday when 4 gorgeous ladies clamored for his attention. Or if you want the bare facts we picked Courtney, Avery, Adalynn, and Aftyn up in North Bend and dropped them off at the airport in Seattle.

Then day four was fast because we had to check out of our Chemo hotel before treatment and then find the new hotel and get unloaded before the "troops" came. Grandpa Kent, Grandma Louise, Michael and the rest of the kids came over Saturday to attend the Seattle Children's Hospital Festival of Trees on Sunday. Except for walking a few unnecessary blocks in high heels (fancy hotels don't display their names like say Motel 6 does) it was a neat evening. This is a fund raising event for Children's Hospital and we were excited Jackson got to be a part of it. Although; it was another moment that made me pause and think(you all know how hard I avoid THAT!). I couldn't help but contemplate that MY KID is sick, my kid is sick enough to be a story for a hospital fundraising event. I cried when I saw his tree and story sign. Then I started reading the stories of the kids whose trees were next to Jackson's, and I had to stop because my vision was too impaired. Kids---hurt kids sick kids, it's too much some days.







For those of you who worried that all the attention would make Jackson think he is a "ladies man" don't worry, Maddie put him in his place!! I wanted a picture of Royal City's very own "red ribbon" (patients had red ribbon jingle bell necklaces, siblings of patients had green necklaces)patients but she was having second thoughts about the boy she would forever be linked to in that photo op! Between Maddie and Jackson we are paying enough to get a Royal City wing of the hospital---I'll invite you all the ribbon cutting ceremony!


Last but not least, because of the holiday tomorrow we had Jackson' blood drawn today. ANC-900 (low) WBC-3.0 (low) HCT-33.2 (low) PLT-269,000 (normal range) Any takers on how many day's of school he will miss in the next 3 weeks? Jackson said, "just quit drawing my blood and you won't have to worry about it Mom"! Well, why didn't I think of that!

Round 3 Day 2

I had to drag Jackson out of bed at 9:30, he was muttering about calling the Commissioner of Seattle to complain about the non stop traffic noises all night. Hope he can find the number. His stomach hurts, and it looks like he has a sore on his tongue--lets' hope it doesn't get worse because right now it doesn't look too bad. I drug him to the mall so I could get some jeans that actually fit him and low and behold he still doesn't like to try on clothes or shop--he never has but I was still hopeful today. We had the "fun" nurses in Chemo today and I was asking them if they choose to work in Chemo and they all said "yes", they love it. I asked them why and they all basically said that kids are so hopeful and tough in Chemo. When you work in other areas of the hospital, like day surgery or short stay, the kids are whiny and grumpy because they obviously don't feel well, and they don't know how to deal with that. But the cancer kids are used to being tough and so positive. I am just so grateful for fun nurses that make the kiddos days better and more worth remembering.

Day 1 Round 3

The best thing about today is we are over the mountain pass! I never look forward to winter driving---and today I clearly remember why, sigh. Oh well, only 3 or 4 months of bad pass weather right?!
Oncology was way backed up today--over an hour wait just for labs. But we made it through the long day for the week. We saw the Endocrinologists, had lab work, bone age scan, saw the oncologist and had Chemo. His ANC was up to 1,143 and his WBC 3.7. Both a little on the low side for starting Chemo but the HCT and PLT were in the normal ranges. He picked to go to "Red Mill Burgers" for dinner tonight. You may remember it from my wedding anniversary in April--you the date when we ate there and then the GT lost it's transmission in the Target parking lot! It was yummy and the GT cooperated this time! Jax is tired, and sleeping, and has a mouth sore, but still eating and drinking fine. Tonight Sammi had a Young Women's' Evening of Excellence Program and she was supposed to play the violin for it but apparently the "e" string snapped, and cut Courtney's thumb and provided Sammi with a way to play the CD of her music instead of a live performance. Zoe cried to me on the phone tonight, broke my heart a little, if you see her tomorrow give her a hug from her Mom please. Thanks for the prayers.

Make a Wish First Visit

The brave women who found Royal City in the dark and then entered the Noftle Zoo at their own free will.

Turns out you can buy my children's love!

Last night we got some very welcome visitors--Tara and Lori from the Make A Wish Foundation. They brought a gift for each of the kids, which means they have Zoe's undying love and devotion. We filled out paperwork and they helped Jackson decide on a Wish and an alternate wish. They also got to see our kids pull out all their tricks that they reserve for new blood. Each of them had to choose which of Zoe's snowglobes were their favorite, Sierra displayed her talent of gluing herself to peoples sides and cuddling up, Jax and Carter showed how well they wrestle in the middle of the living room and Sammi pulled out her best one liners, and mentioned how if SHE had a wish the i-phone would be looking good in her hand! After they left Sierra wrote a story about "her life with Jackson" her words not mine and then told me I could print it in my blog!! So here it is spelling errors are hers--I can't take credit for those.
em>So I have a sibling Jackson he was diegnoast with cancer when he was 4. Now he is 14 and he is now having his second time of chemo. He is having a hard time butt I always remind him to go forwerd. He was cosen to have a tree at the hospitles festible of trees and he gets to have one wish. He can be all sorts of souper heros. He can go places like diny world or land and a foot ball game, florida, calafernya and thats not all of it. He can also viset somewon. We try as hard as we can to get him safe.

After Zoe heard me tell Sierra I would publish her letter on the family blog she ran off to Michael to dictate her letter:

So I have a sibling, Jackson. It is hard with four more siblings. There is Sammi, Jackson, Carter, Sierra, and Zoe. I am trying to remind him, don't let your heart fall. Keep it glowing. I am trying to keep this locked in my heart.

Pretty good stuff--I will try to remind Jax to keep it glowing every day too!!

New Scores....

Before she cries plagerism--I admit Brenda's comment on the last blog inspired the title of this one! His ANC is 800, so bye, bye, buddy get back in school. I am wondering if the next 28 days will have counts below 500 that keep him at home. I say that because before he always had worked his ANC back up to the 2000 range when it was time for Chemo again---don't think he'll get that high by Wednesday though. I guess time will tell---it usually does. Thanks for the prayers.

How low can you go?

Jackson can go low--too low. His counts landed him some isolation at home. He had his blood drawn Thurs. as usual and Thurs. night the oncologist called us at home (unusual) to say the lab had called him to let him know Jackson's ANC was in the critically low range of 200 (normal above 1000 -- below 500 out of school and public places -- under 200 possible hospital stay). This seemed strange to us as the boy had gone to school and basketball practice and was acting normal. So Doc. told us to run his labs again tomorrow to see if it was accurate. It was in fact accurate, labs below 500 again(400 to be exact) on Friday a.m. meant we had to pull him out of school on Friday, watch the Knights lose the playoff game from our Van on Saturday, and Jax missed church on Sunday. We will draw blood again tomorrow and I will run the sample into Moses Lake to get immediate results and hopefully the boy will be back in the game tomorrow. Pray for him. By the way Jackson thinks we are weird to keep taking blood from a kid who has low counts anyways!! Chemo this week if the counts go up--can you believe it's been 28 days already?!

A good old fashioned gripe session

Today was a bad day for Jackson, and so I have a grudge against today. First of all I don't know if I have mentioned that Jax is turning out for 8th grade basketball, against my better judgement. But he is and he has been pretty happy to feel a part of things, and not just the 'ball' boy. But things aren't easy for him, he is tired and run down from Chemo and low blood counts. He doesn't have the coordination he had before ND CNS LCH and I knew this, and I thought he did too. Everything is more of a struggle when your brain isn't processing normally, school-hard, sports-hard, emotionally-hard. I never thought he would make the "A" team and he, of course, didn't. He is on the "B" squad, and Michael and I are quite proud of him, how many kids are in Chemo with Neuro degeneration disease playing sports---we think he is great. But he doesn't, he is frustrated, disappointed, and confused. He has been shooting hoops since he was literally old enough to stand at 11 months. He used to have a beautiful shot and he is mad he doesn't anymore, he is sick of not feeling like himself. Then he got home and saw his report card, more tears---it's not that bad he had A's,B's and a C. But this too is not what he thought he should get, in his words he is working harder and longer on school work then he ever has and now he is getting worse grades than he ever has before. I almost started in on my "you are so blessed blah, blah, blah," speech but I looked at his face and just started to cry with him. Yes I know others are worse off, I know other kids get worse grades, don't make the team at all, but today I am just mourning for my sons' loss of self, for his disappointments and his frustrations. I guess it's o.k. as long as tomorrow we count our blessings and get on with it. I hope he can continue to count his blessings, I hope he will rise above, and not sink below, I hope he gets stronger from adversity, and not weaker. I think I better stop, this is a ridiculous pity party on paper.

Halloween 2009

Hope my title didn't spook anyone out too much! Well here they are in all their 2009Halloween glory. Don't worry Jax is still with us--but with this Mom, no costume, no picture. Sammi is with her friend Khrystal they had a "Partaay" to go to tonight, thank you very much preteen party thrower!! Better you than me!

Blood Counts for Round 2

Here you go you blood count junkies (I may be the only one---hmmm)
HCT this time-33.9 *last time-36.8 *normal range-31-48 PLT this time-252 *last time 448 *normal range-150-500 WBC this time-4.9 *last time-6.2 *normal range-5.0-12.0 ANC this time-2,600 *last time-3,447 *normal range-over 1,000.
So to sum up, a little low, but not bad--if he follow the same trend as Chemo Round 1next weeks will be lower still. Amazing how familiarity breeds comfort, but things don't seem as scary to me this time because I know his numbers eventually pull up in the 3rd week, or so the history of one other time tells us!! Happy halloween everyone--I hope tonight finds me posting about a great one with non-grumpy little kids and non-tired parents!!

Thank you carpet fairies!

Isn't it lovely, isn't it beautiful?! We could do carpet angels all day long, we love it!! So THANK YOU anonymous carpet fairies who made this home more comfy, and much more clean. If you are ever bored do not, I repeat do not go to the American Cancer Society, (caring for children with cancer) website and look up how to clean a home when someone in it has a suppressed immune system, you don't want the pressure. Have you bleached your, EVERYTHING today??!!

Hospital fieldtrip

This morning after waking up to the fact that we really did lose to Connell last night,(sob)we loaded up the kids, minus Sammi(she had a "previous engagement") and headed back over the mountain to Seattle Children's Hospital for Jackson's final Chemo of round 2--Chemo 8 to be exact. He is doing so well,(please knock on wood when you read that) he is very tired but so far no mouth sores, or nausea, or eye trouble. I'm hoping we have found the magic medicine course, start the mouth and eye meds 3 days before Chemo--we will definitely try that again next month. Right now he takes DDAVP twice a day, HGH shots once a day, Swish and swallow 4 times a day, Zofran every 8 hours, Colace twice a day, and two diffent eye drops , two drops of both meds in each eye twice a day. Oh--and Lupron shots every 28 days and Chemo infusions 4 days every 28 days. Oh---and Bactrim DS twice a day on Mondays and Tuesdays---please call me Monday's and Tuesday's in the AM to remind me of that--I couldn't sleep last night worrying I would forget that new med. I even got up and wrote it on the fridge calendar, and that should have solved that worry-- but it didn't. I don't list these meds for sympathy, I know kiddos who are on more, but I just find it AMAZING--all we can do to heal, and to heal the effects of the medicines we need that cause effects, which in turn need to be remedied. Also I decided that I wanted this down for us to read about in the future.
Anyways, I digress --we took the 3 youngest with us and Jax, hit Husky football traffic, ugh, and despite the traffic it was great. Saturdays are very quiet at the hospital, and when we went in Jax was the only kid in infusion getting Chemo. The Nurses pulled out a port for the little kids to handle and examine--they had the opportunity to watch him get accessed (Sierra was the only one who actually watched the needle go in--the others must be related to their Dad--who was also pointedly not watching)and they loved the "nutrition" station where there were goldfish crackers and drinks(technically only for the patients, but the nurses decided Jax needed them to be fed and hydrated too!)!! What can I say, Chemo looks O.K. to them--except for the needle-- Jax got lots of sympathy from them over that. After Chemo we took them to lunch at Red Robin and then to see "Astro Boy", Jax slept through most of the movie, not a reflection on the movie, more of a reflection on the Cytarabine! I also don't get mother of the year (and I'm pretty sure I was in the running)after all---because I forgot the Camera. They looked so cute intensely watching Jackson and the nurse grrrrr. I did scan in pictures of a port (nowadays they are plastic, although Jackson's first port at age 4 was just like that!) please know, Brenda, that I scanned the pictures from the port book the nurse gave the kids, and I did not take a picture of a picture---JUST FOR YOU!

What does Chemo look like....

It looks pretty cozy to me!

And after a nice nap at Chemo we go back to the hotel so Jax can:

Here are the promised count posts, sorry they are late, we had hotel Internet issues last night:
HCT: 36.8 last time 36.4 normal 31-48 PLT 448,000 last time 629,000 normal 150,000-500,000 WBC 6.2 last time 2.9 normal 5-12 ANC 3,447 last time 1,305 normal over 1,000.
We look good so far, and no mouth sores yet. This I attribute to all your prayers, every day someone new and sometimes surprising tells me they are praying for Jackson. I love faith, and family, and friendship, and prayer.
Interesting side note, when we got back to the hotel yesterday after Chemo we noticed a group setting up for a convention, and some interesting(to put it extremely mildly) looking folk around. That's right people, a convention for burlesque dancers (I'm sorry performers) at our hotel!! We heard and saw some stuff that I won't subject you to. In fact I almost feel like I best be making an appointment to see my Bishop after staying at that hotel!! A note was under our door this morning with a list of their "activities" for the day, oh and if anyone lost a diamond nipple ring check in with Candy, you know the guy who taught the fan class last night!!

Back in the saddle again....

Round 2 infusion 5 is complete. Jax did great, I will post his counts tomorrow. They are going to start him on a maintenence does of Bactrium which is an antibiotic that, in his case, is to hopefully prevent a particularly orniery pnemonia that he is most at risk for because of his low WBC. Thanks for all the help and prayers, they are working!!

Decorating Tips from Becky....

I am going for a new minimilistic feel in our home, more Fung Hey or Chi Wheee or whatever the hip cool terms are, do you like it?






The dining room is a little more eclectic, in fact my Mother thinks it looks like this because we are replacing the 30 year old carpet that is upstairs (not exagerating it is disgusting) but really it's that I just never get around to picking up in the dining room.

The kids have had a blast eating on the living room floor for 3 weeks. What go back and read that again we have been living like this for ---- 3 WEEKS! The first order of carpet came damaged, or so they say, I think they just thought it was funny to make a woman with 5 kids live this way. However on the upside when Carter kicked over his entire bowl of chili at dinner, no one batted an eye!

Counts are rising!

Jackson's counts on Friday (the 16th) looked better here is a run down:
HCT went from 35.8 to 36.4 in the normal range
PLT went from 376,000 to 629,000 now way ABOVE the normal range but the nurse assured me that when Platelets get low a sign of healthy bone marrow is that it overproduces and they sometimes get to high, they should settle back in the normal range soon.
WBC went from 2.0 to 2.9 normal is 5.0 to 12.0
ANC went from 800 to 1305 normal is 1800 to 7500

Thanks for the prayers. Chemo is next week---(sigh) Wednesday through Saturday.

In 313 days I suspect I will be very lonely....

Because in approximately 313 days Carter will start Kindergarten. This realization hit me today when he was once again my "backseat buddy" in the GT(minivan). He really unloads every thought he has on me during the day, and he especially knows he has my ear when we are in the GT together. Here are snippets of today's conversation:
"Mom did you know dat dare are Aliens?" Oh, really Carter, how do you know? "Tuz I sawed it on duh TV, and Mom do you know any stuff dats real dat people sink its not real life?" Ummmmm, ok how about Dinosaurs they were real once Carter. "(laughs)Uh no dare not Mom, I sawed dem on TV and dare tartoons and tartoons aren't real". OK Carter. "Ummmm Mom, dress(guess) what?" What Carter---"hot lava tould till you Mom". Yep that's right Carter hot lava could kill me, it could kill you too Buddy. "Nu Uh Mom tuz I don't eber touch hot lava". (Side note, do I run around NEARLY killing myself with hot lava??) "Ummm Mom dress what, you said dat I tould buy sumpin today", No Carter I did not say you could buy something today. "Ummm Mom tan I buy sumpin today?"

All this was from our house to the grocery store about a minute away---and it goes on and on. I will be so out of the alien, hot lava, dinosaurs myth loop when Carter goes to school next year and shares his knowledge with someone other than me. I'm going to miss my "lessons". Really I will.


My Buddy Carter is also very into his new breakfast of "champions"?? Eggo's with ketchup---gag! I must say though he finally is finishing his waffle, and he loves the gross out reaction he gets from the rest of us. He also talked his Mom into buying this $3.00 spider man Halloween bucket for him this week, his Dad was not happy with his Mom--something about already owning many Halloween buckets or whatever. Anyway, since Monday he has carried this with him non-stop, and if you are missing anything, TV remote, cell phone, paper you set down for a second, might I suggest you check Spidey's head. How can that not be worth $3.00?? Husbands can be so unreasonable sometimes!

HIghs and Lows

So what do you want first, the highs or the lows? Ha ha just kidding you don't get to choose, I'm writing this baby. Lets' get the lows out of the way and end on a HIGH note.
Low: Jackson's White blood count and absolute neutrophil count. In fact his ANC fell from 1643 to 800 this time. Yikers, anything below 500 keeps him home from school and crowds (ie: church, games, stores)
Here is the run down: HCT last time it was 33.7 this time it was 35.8 up is good! PLT last time it was 128,000 this time it is 376,000 very good. WBC last time 3.1 this time 2.0 bad. ANC last time 1643 this time 800,very bad. So ya got your good and ya got your not so good. They have decided not take any action, other than another blood draw this Friday. We did call the school to have them remind the teachers to wipe down desks, and keep sick kids as far across the room as possible. Not much else we can do except pray his white blood cell count and ANC count go up.



Now for the Highs: Soccer is over!!!!! OOPS, I meant to say Sierra and Zoe just finished a lovely soccer season! They had such nice coaches with John Klefbeck and Craig Gilbert, thank you guys. To my eternal shame the only week I remember the camera for soccer was the game Zoe was sick---so I took a picture of her soccer picture, didn't work out. But as we say in preschool, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Works for which color chair you get and lots of other things in life!! Sammi's 7th grade volleyball team is getting better and better. In fact last week they won all three matches against Othello!! If you haven't watched 7th grade volleyball lately may I suggest you catch a game? The girls are so great, self-concsious one second and so intense the next. And everyone cheers when any "volleying" occurs! I love going to her games, she really is a great player.

Today was another one of those days where four phone calls to nurses and doctors made me realize how much I took the "normal" days for granted. And I know better, because I have experienced this before! I long for a day where I am not worrying over blood counts, H1N1 shots, Chemo arrangements, hotel accommodations, insurance stuff, and guilt over things I am not doing because I am doing those other things. I am getting a little negative, which was not my intention. What I really just want to express, to myself, and anyone else who needs to hear, be grateful for every day, days that are mundane and full of housework, and caring for your family are a huge blessing. Days when we have to deal with harder things, and more complicated problems, are also a blessing and I am going to remember that also. Struggling through this next 12 to 18 months is wonderful, amazing, and heaven sent. Why? Because, I get the chance to help my sick child get well hopefully, and some Mothers don't get that blessing.

Bummer Blood Counts

Jackson's first set of Labs since Chemo came back low. I was completely undone by the results for an hour or two---Michael can verify my undoneness. But as I was literally picking up my cell phone and scrolling down to the Seattle Children's Hospital number the phone rang and it was the charge nurse from Oncology to go over his Lab results with me. I was sobbing and she was so nice. Telling me how I don't need to panic, she asked how Jax was and I said he acts fine, not tired, eats normally, and she said Becky what does that tell you, it tells you he is tolerating things just fine. She also said the counts didn't alarm her and that he would be needing another blood draw this Friday and that we will see then if they are heading North or South. I wonder if nurses have a word for Mom's like me on days like that? As teachers we used to refer to some Mom's as Helicopter Mom's, meaning it was never little Jonnie's fault, Jonnie would never not finish an assignment or pull Sally's pigtails, or do anything that was in the least incorrect. They were "helicopters" because they were constantly hovering never letting their child be the least bit responsible for anything. So what do nurses call Crazy Mom's?!
Here is a rundown of the counts we are watching:

The first number listed is the Normal range then the Counts on 9-23-09 and lastly the Counts on 10-05-09
HCT 31-48% 37.5% 33.7% PLT 150K-500K 316 128 WBC 5-12 5.2 3.1 ANC Over 1,000 2803 1643

I guess I just was surprised and disappointed to see his counts take such a hit after the first round of four treatments, I thought we would have a few months before we had to worry about that. But what do I know?! Not enough apparently. I still am worried though, regardless of what the nurse said, he certainly can't drop like that every time.
Oh, here is a key:
HCT=hematocrit red blood cells that carry oxygen to the body, give color to the skin, and energy to the body
PLT=platelets prevent bleeding and help the blood to clot
WBC=white blood cells fight infection
ANC=absolute neutrophil count Type of WBC that is the first to respond to potentially fatal bacterial infections
Oh--if any of you now how to make graphs or charts, or even color code on blog posts, HELP it took me forever to do the numbers, I had them all lined up with bright shiny faces and every time I'd publish, they would act like crazy people!

Pictures from Children's Hospital to You....

One down, 47 to 71 more to go.....

Thanks Aunt DeeAnn, I'd like to tell you he was doing his homework here, but I'm pretty sure he found a website with racing games. Sigh.....how is he going to support me in my old age with those skills?

Do we look like Doctors or fools with coughs? Don't answer that.

Do not put this on your "must read" list, it's not that good.

I'm hoping he is dreaming of football, in reality he is probably just hoping that this is all just a bad dream. He slept most of Tuesday, except when the pain was too bad he would wake up for some meds.

Can we leave yet?

All tagadermed up and no where to go.

Back from surgery, couldn't have been happier to see this boy.

Modeling the latest in hospital garb.