Merry Christmas

...a few days late:)

My buddy and a bob

My buddy....My T-rex and me



I have debated what to with Adrianne's hair and I think I have finally found a good style..the bob!

Finally.....

the drought has ended. This 3 kid thing has thrown me for a loop! Anyway we are still settling in to our new life as a family of five. James continues to do well. He went to the clinic on Wednesday and his counts are great and we are on half strength chemo. We will get blood work done again in two weeks to see if we can resume to full strength. He also started steroids this week so we would appreciate your prayers. Adrianne and Rachel are great. Rachel will be one month old on Wednesday...hard to believe! Here is the crew all watching TV together!

Settling in.....

FYI

UPDATE
James is home. His counts were great and they are guessing it is a bug. Rachel and I are home and getting settled in. Her bilirubin(sp?) is elevated so we will see the doctor tomorrow. Please pray for us as we continue to get adjusted to our new life!

I am still in the hospital with Rachel and the plan is for us to be discharged today after being here 24 hours. Meanwhile James has spiked a fever and Greg left me to take him to MDA. We would really appreciate your prayers! I will keep you posted.

Baby Rachel has Arrived!

Well, our precious Rachel Claire has arrived! She was born 11/16/2009 at 2:58 p.m. weighing 7 lbs. 12 oz., measuring 21 inches. She came quickly into this world (as it should be) and had moderate difficulty breathing until the NICU nurse whacked her on the back and cleared those lungs immediately! Here are some pictures of her shortly after her arrival.














We feel so blessed to have had things go smoothly today and know that Rachel will bring such happiness and joy! We will post more very soon.

Blessings! Greg and Joy

Halloween and other things.....

Sorry it has taken me a week to post but James is doing much better. We went to the clinic on Wednesday and he had his counts done. His ANC is up to 870 and his white count was 5700. They started him back on chemo but only on half strength. He has done well taking it again which is a huge relief. They discontinued Tamiflu because he was spitting it out. I am including some pics from Halloween and from James riding his bike. Halloween was low key and we didn't go trick or treating. I let the kids dress up and pass out some candy. They seem to be ok with it! We return to MDA on Wednesday for lumbar puncture and chemo plus we start steroids. My mom is coming on Tuesday and Rachel is scheduled for Monday The 16th unless she decides to come early. We will keep you posted. Thanks for all the prayers!

Headed back

Update..They are sending James home with a 10 day course of tamiflu and we can give him Tylenol/Motrin every 3 hours. Right now he is receiving IV antibiotic that will carry him through 3pm tomorrow. If after 3pm he runs a fever of 101 or higher we will head back to MDA where there will hook him up to an IV and send us to Memorial Hermann downtown because MDA has no beds. The good news is his counts continue to climb and his ANC is 170. Please pray the fever goes away, Tamiflu does its job, and James starts feeling better. Thank you.

Greg and James are headed back to the clinic. James feels crummy and his temp was 101. So when we called they said to bring him in. Pray that his blood counts are up and they can come home and that he starts feeling better! Thank you.

Reunited

It was a sweet scene. We are not out of the woods yet. James still has low blood counts. Greg will take him tomorrow to get rechecked. Please pray specifically that he would remain fever free. Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers.

This morning's update

The newest info-as we have found all through this process of James being sick, things can change quickly.They have decided to discharge him and we will take him to the local hospital tomorrow for bloodwork to make sure things are going in a good direction.My thoughts on discharge is that there are alot of very sick kids at MDA and since James seems to be doing good they dont want him to pick anything up. Keep praying.

The Latest...neutrophil count still zero but white blood cells are increasing which is promising. At least another night in the hospital. Pray his neutrophils come up so that they can come home tomorrow. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

Morning update..Greg said the night was pretty tough. They came in around 10pm and gave him tamiflu and he threw up everywhere. So at midnight, he started coughing again and threw up but this time Greg was able to get something in front of him so that he didn't get it all over him. At that point he asked for something to help James quit coughing and go to sleep. They gave him Benadryl and I think James slept pretty decent the rest of the night. Greg is exhausted because he hasn't had much sleep. Don't know what the counts are today..will know sometime this morning. Keep praying.

James

Update as of 7:00pm
Latest update..as of 5 minutes ago they are moving James and Greg to the pedi floor at MDA. James' flu test came back negative but remains on the tamiflu until the culture comes in(3 days). As long as James doesn't spike another fever and his counts begin to recover they should get to come home in a couple of days. Your continued prayers are appreciated.

Update at 1:00pm
Latest on James...Still in the ER and hopefully in a room soon. They are giving him IV antibiotics and Tamiflu. I don't know if he has tested positive for the flu so I think Tamiflu is precautionary. I will let you know as I get more information. Please continue to pray for James and Greg and for me-i am having a hard time not being there.

Update:
James is going to admitted to MDA. His ANC is zero. As of right now Greg and James are still in the ER waiting for a bed to come open. Please pray for him. He has had the flu test, rsv test, and will have a chest x-ray done. We don't know the results of any of those right but I will keep you posted. Thanks

Please pray for James...It's 12:25am and he is on the way to MDA. His fever is up to around 102. Greg just left to take him. I am home with Adrianne. I went to the Dr today because of a sore throat and low grade fever. Please pray for our family!

Light the Night

Info about Light the Night-Sunday October 25th

WALK LOCATION
Market Street-The Woodlands
TIME
5:30pm Festivities begin with music by The Kelley Peters Band
7:00pm Program & Balloon lighting ceremony-the walk will begin around 7:30

FOR THE KIDS
Check out the Kids area and meet our clowns, Dancer & Hugs, have your
face painted, grab a balloon animal and enjoy some popcorn. ***You are
welcome to bring strollers, wheelchairs and wagons to the Walk as well!

Clinic update

We headed to the clinic today for our monthly visit. James checked out great but his blood wasn't so good. His ANC came back 80-normally his is around 1000-2000. So this means we are quarantined in our house until he gets rechecked on Nov 4th. Please pray for no fevers or infections (fevers mean automatic hospital trip). I also want to ask that you pray for me-I am nearing the end and really don't want to have Rachel early. Thanks for checking in and thanks for praying.

The Oil Ranch

We went to the Oil Ranch today for a birthday party. The kids had so much fun! Enjoy the pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

We had playgroup today at the pumpkin patch in Conroe. James and Adrianne had a blast!