Stella is walking!

Here are some things we are thankful for from the last two weeks:

• Stella is finally walking at almost 15 months!  She took her first steps on Sunday as was walking across the room Wednesday night!
• A wonderful weekend with Aaron's brother Ben and his wife Pamela.  They were such a blessing to each of us.  
• My friend Lenay visited this week and was a huge help while Aaron was out of town.
• Aaron and I went on a date!
• Our dryer works..... :)
• Mary got to pick out a book and have a treat at Barnes and Nobel to celebrate a job well done at school during the second quarter.  
• Josiah had a short visit to the clinic for his chemo on the 14th.
• He had an ANC of 84 this week.  He received platelets in addition to his chemo on Tuesday and got red blood cells Wednesday.  His is still nauseous, but is having less pain.  
• Friends and family that love us and pray for us and continue to encourage us.  Thank you.

Grandparents and gazelles join the journey!

Hi!  Thanks for checking in for an update!  Though blogs can be so impersonal, they sure are a great way to help people stay current with how things are going.  Thank you for caring!

My parents visited the weekend after Christmas and Aaron's mom visited the weekend after New Years.  We are thankful for doctors and medicines, but there's nothing like the natural healing properties of time with grandparents!

Josiah went into the clinic on the 30th for treatment and tests showed his ability to fight infection at an all time low (ANC of 15).  Doing all we knew to protect him for getting sick, he still ended up getting a fever that warranted a trip to ER Thursday night.  The fever didn't last long and his counts were up so they gave him an antibiotic and sent him home.

Yesterday he received a lumbar puncture with chemo and had an ANC of 3648.  Yea!  Today he went in for all day chemo which really meant about 5 total hours of hydration, about 1 total hour of medicines, lots of trips to the bathroom, books, puzzles, toys, snacks, one movie, an attempted nap, and countless "oh my goodness, he is so cute" comments from clinic staff.  :)  Lately, he has had pretty good energy and poor appetite along with nausea and vomiting.  

Mary has a bonus week of Christmas break because her school has something called project week.  All of the children will prepare a project at home and present it to their class when they return to school on Friday.  She completed her poster about gazelles last week (because I knew this week would be crazy) and she did a great job!

Christmas Play 2013

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Week

 Merry Christmas!  Monday Josiah went to the clinic and hospital for chemo, some platelets, and another spinal tap.  His ANC, platelets and hemoglobin were all low.  I was surprised by that because his energy has been good lately.  He was back for red blood cells on Tuesday.  We got to meet the lady that makes Comfy Cozies!  You can read her daughter's story and find out more about these shirts she makes for kids receiving chemo treatments.

That night we headed to our community park for our church's candlelight Christmas Eve service then had cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birthday at home afterward.  This morning we opened gifts, had breakfast and headed to a local nursing home to help hand out presents.  The kids enjoyed helping unwrap gifts and the residents enjoyed having some little ones about.  It was special to see all the beautiful blanket and throws that had been made for the residents.

In one wing, most of the residents were out in the lobby and in the other wing, we took their gifts to their room.  After the first group, our little introvert Mary was shot and ready to go home.  She had a complete turn around in the second group and was having so much fun she didn't want to leave.  It was amazing to see the difference for her between being in a large room with a lot of people and being in a small room with one or two individuals.  And then there was brother who was totally in his element on the first wing and quickly got bored on the second wing!  :)

Our house is a mess and we ate leftovers for Christmas dinner, but our hearts are full and we get to celebrate the hope we have in Christ this Christmas!

A good story...

I met a lady named Christina and her son Jordan about two weeks ago in the clinic.  Jordan has four other brothers.  Two older, a twin, and one younger.  He and his twin were born with sickle-cell-anemia.  Several years ago, while in the middle of a divorce, she and her husband found out they were expecting a baby.  In addition, they were told the baby would not survive due to a growth that was pushing on his internal organs.  Though advised to terminate the pregnancy, they chose to continue carrying this life.  They proceeded to give birth to their fifth son and arranged to have his cord blood saved in order to treat the twins' disease.  They were heartbroken to learn that the cord blood was accidentally disposed of after the baby's birth.  Fast forward a few years, Jordan sat before me having recently undergone a bone marrow transfusion.  Neither of the twins' older brothers were able to serve as donors, but their younger brother was found to be a perfect match and was able to give both of his brothers a chance to be cured by donating bone marrow.  To hear Christina tell their story was such a joy as light was seriously shooting out from her face.  Jordan, though at an age where he might want to appear "cool", was misty eyed and nodding enthusiastically as we talked.  Their marriage was restored and they have five healthy sons.  Praise God certainly for their healing, but also for His faithfulness to use their circumstances for His glory.

define that big "R" word please!

Josiah  had a long but good treatment day today.  He went to the clinic for a blood draw and check-up, then to the hospital for a spinal tap with chemo, then back to the clinic for a blood transfusion because his hemoglobin (red blood cells) was too low.  

It has been brought to my attention that there is some confusion about the term "remission" that I used in my previous blog.  According to the National Cancer Institute, remission is "a decrease in or disappearance of signs and symptoms of cancer.  In partial remission, some, but not all, signs and symptoms of cancer have disappeared.  In complete remission, all signs and symptoms of cancer have disappeared, although cancer may still be in the body."

I'm not sure about all the technicalities, but I do know that during the first phase of treatment, the goal was to "force him into remission" and that was successful.  Assuming the best, he will continue weekly treatments for several more months before the frequency of appointments decreases.

Remission!

Josiah has enjoyed almost a week straight of "good days".  It has been so fun to hear him giggle and watch him run around having fun!  We decided to not participate in the clinical study.  Thank you for praying.  That was one of those decision where I didn't have much time to decide and had to go with my intuition.  I have continued to feel peace and confirmation since.  

This weekend we all got to enjoy a birthday party with friends, going to church together, taking cookies to the fire station with our life group, and last night we went to Mary's school christmas concert.  

He went in yesterday to start the second phase of treatment.  Now that the cancer has been knocked on its behind, treatment continues to keep it from returning.  Yesterday he received new chemo drugs in the clinic along with about 6 hours of fluids to decrease the concentration in his urine and protect his plumbing.  The nurse and I lost track of the number of trips to the loo, but I assure you it was near 30 over about 8 hours.  He also has new meds to take at home and none of us are looking forward to giving shots. :(

To leave you on a happy note, the kids were delighted by a surprise Santa drop off on Saturday thanks to a program for children in Phoenix Children's cancer center.  All three kids are uncontrollably giddy about a beautiful doll house that Mary received and Josiah has been living in an astronaut suit compete with boots, gloves and helmet.  So fun!