Biking, Running, and Walking!

By far the most exciting news around these parts is that Mary is learning to ride her bike!  Thanks to lesson from Grandma Dee, she has steadily grown in comfort and confidence.  Last night she rode while Daddy ran alongside her.  The jury is still out on who is actually faster.  :)  

Speaking of going fast, we were joined with several friends on Saturday the 8th for the Run to Cure Cancer.  Several members of our team ran the 5k, some of us walked, taking turns pushing Josiah and Stella in the stroller, and Aaron set a personal record in the 10k!  Josiah was tired, but full of smiles and got to walk across the finish line of the 5k and the 1/4 mile survivor’s walk while sporting a yellow superhero cape.  

Here’s his latest treatment update, he went in again for chemo on Feb. 27th, then this week Monday and Tuesday he received 3 different chemo meds and some red blood cells.  He was delighted by three volunteers from PHX Theatre's "Partners That Heal" who told him a story about a boy named Josiah and his adventures with animals.  They are actors from the community who visit the hospital to sing, tell stories, be silly and bring smiles.  We were excited to hear his ANC was up to 3978 and he has permission to go and do whatever he feels up to for the next couple weeks.  He wants to go to church, the movie theatre, and life group.  

Every drop counts

Josiah was able to start his next phase of treatment this week.  His ANC was up to 1260.  This phase is called Interim Maintenance.  He went in for chemo and a lumbar puncture on Monday, then back for a chemo infusion on Tuesday.

I have heard someone say that a diagnosis of cancer can be financially crippling for a family without health insurance.  I can absolutely see how true that would be and I continue to be so thankful for God's provision for Josiah's medical needs through Aaron's job, our health insurance, and gifts.  Just for fun, on Tuesday while Josiah was hooked up for chemo, I decided to calculate the cost (original amount billed to insurance) of one drop of one (90 minute) infusion on one day.  Once I shared my mission, I let nurses place their bets.  :)  According to my calculations, since 97.9% of each drop was saline and the rest was actually chemo medicine, 2.1% of one drop had a price tag of $30.

Our family is participating in a race on March 8th at Grand Canyon University to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer and directly benefit Phoenix Children's Hospital and the Children's Cancer Network.  If you want to run with us, let us know and register under "Team Timmons" at http://www.runtofightcancer.com.  If you would rather make a donation, go to:  http://grouprev.com/team-timmons.  Every drop counts.

A niece, a wait, and a race

Today we celebrated the birth of our newest family member!  Aaron's brother Ben and his wife Pamela got to meet their precious daughter Zoe Kate this morning.  Pam and Zoe are doing well and we couldn't be more excited for the three of them!  

I was so pleasantly surprised with how well Josiah did in the clinic today!  Accessing and de-accessing his port were not nearly as difficult as usual.  Josiah even caught the nurse off guard when he shouted "One, two, three, go!" and the nurse wasn't ready.  :)  I was also surprised to learn that his ANC had dropped from 396 last week to 176 today.  That means we put off treatment for a second week.  I asked how long this can go on and they were vague in their answer so we'll just keep taking this one week at a time until his body decides to start making more red and white cells or until someone with letters behind their name gets concerned.  

On another note, our family has registered to participate in the Run to Fight Children's Cancer at Grand Canyon State University.  Aaron is signed up for a 10k, I'm signed up for the 5k, Josiah is doing a 1/4 mile survivor's walk, and Stella and Mary will be enjoy all the kid friendly activities when they are not cheering for someone.  Aaron is a runner.  I have the best trainer this side of the Mississippi behind me, but let's just say it is not going to be easy or pretty.  It feels good to be working toward this goal though.  Rumor has it that at least a few friends will be joining Team Timmons as well so it should be a really fun day!  Let us know if you want to run too!

A day in the life of child with cancer

Someone nudged me to give you a real picture of what Josiah is facing and how to pray for him.  

Tomorrow will be hard for Josiah.  He will wake up early and eat some cereal.  Then he will fast until his lumbar puncture in the early afternoon or until we find out his blood test dictates that he is still not ready to start his next phase of treatment.  Either way, the hardest parts of his day are getting his port accessed and de-accessed.  This brave little guy has to unzip his shirt and let someone poke a needle into a port that lies beneath his skin.  He had a spell where he could do it like a rock star, but lately he has been really scared and it is even worse when he is hungry.  The staff at Phoenix Children's are awesome and patient, but it is stressful for all of us when he is really scared.  Then we wait for results.  If his ANC is above 750, he will get two types of chemo, then head over to the hospital for a lumbar puncture.  Waking up from anesthesia is generally rough, except for the one time he was cracking jokes with the nurses in recovery.  He is hungry because he couldn't have lunch, but not interested in eating because of the anesthesia and chemo he's had.  He is tired because he got about 30 minutes of sleep when he would normally nap for 2-3 hours at that time.  Then they have to take off his dressing and pull the needle out of his port.  If his ANC is high enough, they might let him leave it in over night so we don't have to access it again in the morning when he comes back for more chemo.  All for now, mama needs to get some sleep.  

Kicking off February!

A brief update on Josiah:  Last Tuesday his ANC was something-teen, on Friday it was 18.  (This just means his body has a very low ability to fight infection.).  Friday he received some red blood cells in hopes of getting him ready for a new phase of treatment starting today.  Well, today his ANC was only up to 396 and it has to be 750 for chemo so they have delayed treatment for a week of recovery.

Here are a few things I'm thankful for this week:

• Thank you to everyone who donates blood and platelets regularly!
• Thank God we live 30 minutes from an excellent cancer treatment center.
• Our washer is being fixed as I type this.  Unfortunately, the dryer didn't survive loads of clothes that didn't have the water spun out as well as the wash machine does.
• Mary finally lost her first tooth (thank you Stella for sitting on her head) and pulled her second one out on her own a few days later.  
• People who pray for us every day.  Your faithfulness means so much to me.

I will leave you with an encouraging story I read this morning.  A regular guy was asked to do a very big task.  A job that would seem overwhelming to many.  Build a HUGE boat and collect 7 or 2 of every type of animal in the world.  God provided what he needed and Noah provided the elbow grease.  After working his tail off to build a huge boat, God "Shuts him in" with his family and the most diverse collection of animals in the world for 150 days.  Now I love my family, but 150 days????  I'm just saying…. And I enjoy going to the zoo, but 150 days locked in a zoo boat????  What might sound like punishment was actually God's grace.  Divine provision and protection for him, his family, and those animals.  This was a very encouraging perspective for me to look for God's grace in overwhelming tasks and difficult circumstances.  Oh, and at the end of the story he gets to leave the boat, eat meat and see the first rainbow!  Check it out for yourself in Genesis Chapters 6-9.

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!