A Trip to the Hospital

For the last five days, James has been on steroids and with that comes nasty side effects. On Friday after Greg got home he was playing with James and they were having a great time. Greg went to pick him up and James threw himself back and hit his head on the tile. We watched him and he seemed fine. On Saturday he was acting more tired than usual and didn't have much of an appetite. We debated all day whether to call MDA or not. We finally decided to call around 6:30pm and explained all the symptoms. At 8pm the doctor called us back and she happened to ask--has he hit his head? Greg said yes-On Friday but he seemed fine. We truly thought he was OK but the doctor wanted us to bring him in to make sure. So about 9:30pm we head to MDA. Greg's parents were already at our house because we had gone to dinner with some friends. We get there, they check him out and take some blood. His counts looked great and the doctor attributed his symptoms to the effects of steroids. So we pulled up in our driveway at 2am. We were all exhausted but I am glad we got it checked out. We head tot he clinic on Wednesday for our regular appointment. James finished the steroids yesterday and has already begun to return to our sweet boy.

I do have to say-it never ends. This morning(Monday) during the storm the tree in our front yard decided to fall across our driveway barely missing our house--things wouldn't be normal without something going on:)

Steriod Crazed

Well we are right in the middle of James' 5 days of steroids and it is everything they promise it will be. The waking up in the middle of the night 5 or 6 times screaming, the walking around whining as you are trying to figure out what he wants, and the constant attention that he wants because he doesn't feel well all the while I am trying to take care of another baby. The positive is we only have 5 more doses to complete this round. Please pray for us because sometimes I find myself getting really frustrated and wanting to scream and then I remember-he has leukemia and he doesn't feel good and most importantly-this is just a season and we will move through it.

We covet your prayers-they lift us up and provide us with every ounce of strength we need.

Quite a Day

Today was a hard day for our little guy.

5:45-left for MD Anderson
6:45-arrived with a hungry and thirsty 16 month old and had to wait for them to open the clinic
7:15-accessed his port and got his blood for labs
7:20-back to the lobby to wait with a hungry and thirsty 16 month old
8:00-back to see the doctor and to get his counts-his neutrophils had gone up so he is not considered neutropenic at this time
9:00-take us for his spinal tap where he will get his chemo; by this time we have an irritated, hungry and thirsty 16 month old
9:30-wakes up from procedure and gets to eat!!!
10:00-head back to lobby of clinic to await more chemo and the flu shot-now we just have the irritated 16 month old
10:30- threw a fit in the lobby because I took a grape sucker away and he did his best impresion of a fish out of water, requiring dad to walk him out of the clinic to regroup
10:45-go back to get vincristine(chemo) and flu shot
11:30-finally got chemo and flu shot although he had to be stuck twice for the flu shot because he moved--lets just say he was not a happy camper
12:00-stopped by the pharmacy, gave him his first dose of steroids, and headed home

Once we got home we gave him some Tylenol around 1:30. He had a pretty good afternoon although he was a little fussy. At 4pm he got 2nd dose of steroids and had some dinner. At 7pm he got 2 oral chemos, Tylenol, and some Zofran(helps with nausea) and at 8pm we put him to bed. I have to say I am glad today is coming to a close!

A Great Cause

This year the Leukemia Lymphoma Society is hosting the "Light the Night" walk in the Woodlands. We are not going to be able to participate in the walk this year because of the stage of treatment James is in. My sister in law Steph got me connected to another mom whose son has ALL. Colin will finish his 3 year treatment this February. Colin's sister Maggie has put a website together to help raise money for the walk. I am including her link on here because this is the way we will be able to be involved this year and I wanted to give you the opportunity to be involved too.

http://www.active.com/donate/ltnHousto/2066_maggiecolin

A Great Weekend

This weekend proved to be quiet and relaxing. It is one of the few weekends that James has felt good. I wanted to share some pictures of him "helping" with his sister. He loves to go up and love on her while she is swinging. He also loves to take the pacifier out of her mouth and put it back in. Adrianne is not so fond of this play time. I hope your weekend was the same!

Not so fun times at home

Well we got home from the clinic and James seemed to be very tired and irritable. Even after a nap he wasn't acting himself. It wasn't long after he got up he got sick everywhere. The good news is he didn't get sick again but he obviously wasn't feeling good. I think he ended up going to bed at 6:40. I think the hardest thing for me in this "battle" is not knowing for sure if something hurts or he is nauseated. I find myself getting frustrated and then feeling incredibly guilty. Please pray for us-while he treatment is going well-things are pretty tough with the day to day activities. I spend alot of the day trying to figure out whats wrong-is he hurting? is he acting like a 16 month old does? is he still adjusting to Adrianne? Pray that I will be the mom that I need to be to him and Adrianne. Tomorrow is a new day:)

Fun at the Clinic

We are back from the clinic and it was a good visit. James ANC(absolute neutrophil count) was 800 which was up from last week. He is still considered neutropenic but we are able to proceed with treatment. Please pray that it stays up so that we have no delay in treatment. James also got his IV antibiotic. While we were there, Junction Jack (the Astros mascot) was visiting and so he came to James' room and signed a stuffed animal and Astros hat for him. James was a little apprehensive but he didn't cry. So for right now, its business as usual. We are beginning to adjust without Nana here. Granny(Greg's mom) has been coming over to help and keep us company. Greg and I are so blessed to have such wonderful families that are so supportive. I am including some pictures from the clinic playroom. James heads straight in there and goes to the kitchen to find the plastic chicken leg to hold on to. He walks around the whole time we are there with it in his hands.

Next week will be a pretty big week--he will have a lumbar puncture, get vincristine, and start steroids again(yeah!). Please continue to keep us in you prayers. We are truly grateful.