It’s been a wonderful Christmastime! We were home… still are! And let me tell you, the days leading up were filled with more than a little worry that we might have a Thanksgiving repeat, especially with Jake’s stem cell collection so close to Christmas day. There were tons of temperature checks to make sure we were OK and no one was allowed to go anywhere too germy. In hindsight, it was a little over-kill but keeping Jake from being hospitalized unnecessarily, was priority. We’ve had some fun days and lots of movie nights, even had a day that wasn’t too cold where we could get outside and play…that was the BEST! Jake actually rode his bike and that hasn’t happened in months. There was a point a few months ago when his legs were hurting so badly and they were so weak that he couldn’t even make the pedals go around. Yesterday he pedaled and pedaled! We were supposed to be admitted for Round 4 last Thursday but Jake didn’t make counts so now we are scheduled for this Thursday, Jan 3rd. The good news is that we will spend New Year’s home! Two holidays in a row! Woo hoo, getting the sparklers!!! We’ll head in for chemo this week and hope to be back home the day before the kids go back to school. At Jake’s appointment last Thursday we met with his Oncology team to go over the next couple of months. Henry had some hard questions (we weren’t sure we wanted the answers but they needed asking) and Dr. Foster was very encouraging, still. She feels that he appears to be responding to his therapies because of the way his counts recover each time. Sometimes they’ve been a bit delayed but she reminded us, each patient is different, and there is no exact time of recovery, only estimates. She reinforced thathis counts do recover to where they need them each time to begin each round of chemo – that is key. She and Dr. Zage are still optimistic about what they feel will be the outcome. We are so thankful for their attitudes, it’s so needed some days. There were a couple of changes to his road map (or treatment plan) but we are still moving along. The biggest change is that Jake will now have six rounds of chemo in this cycle, not five. And it looks like we could be ready for Stem Cell Transplant in April rather than this summer. We will have his MIBG after his counts recover from this chemo. This is the scan that lights up everywhere there is cancer. We hope to see marked improvement in the bones and a big reduction in the abdominal mass and liver. From there our surgeon will plan the surgery to remove that mass. If he feels that Jake’s tumor still needs a little more zapping, we’ll do chemo 5 before the surgery. Otherwise we’ll finish chemo 5 & 6 after he re-cooperates from surgery and then we’ll head into transplant; then radiation and accutane therapies. There’s still so much road to travel. Also, his hearing test did indicate some hearing loss due to the chemo so they will monitor that closely. A lot of information, right??? We have a few family and friends who are into the medical side, so that was for you! (The picture of Jakie above is him waiting to surprise his Docs and jump out with a big “BOO!”) For now, we plan to enjoy the next few days… and for Houston, we’re having a bit of a cold spell… not like many of you with snow, but it’s our version of brrrrrrr! We’re a different breed here, ya know? Our humidity and HOT summers make us wimpy. We’re not used to cold weather so we get out our gloves and scarves and big coats. We make a scene of it. For the Hickford crew, we’re mostly homebound with movie nights and popcorn, AND crazy kids making for

Great NEWS….. The official numbers are in and we got 13 MILLION!!!!!!!! Jake’s stem cell harvest was a success. The goal was 8 million CD34 cells. The catheters that they put in were not pretty. He did well for the surgery and with the catheter in but taking it out was not as easy as they said. We lived through it but there were stitches that held them in place and one of them didn’t want to come loose – and taking suchers out of an area that close to a little man’s parts is tricky, and was really scary for him. Plus, Jake has an allergy to tape. He must use cloth tape and it’s noted in his file but someone didn’t pay attention so his little area was burnt and beginning to blister… not fun when it came time to remove the tape. It was agony, he is the bravest little boy in the whole world and we are so happy that the first leg of the stem cell process is behind us! We have a whole week to be home… no shots, no accesses, no doctor visits, just be HOME! So today we celebrate… with a visit from Santa Clause. You should have heard the shrill when Jake saw Santa at our door. I must thank my very best friend Tracy for arranging this special visit. She made a little boy so very happy… and his brothers, sisters, mom and dad too. How magical to have St. Nick in our home. Sadly, Meghan’s family (our oldest) couldn’t join us for our little shin-dig, due to a little respiratory gunk running through their household but we’re hoping they will be on the mend by Christmas day. We also received the most amazing load of gifts through our church for our family’s Christmas. I will never be able to say thank you enough for the generous outpouring of love from so many friends. We are so grateful to our church family for all they continue to do for us. There is no way we could manage all that we must do without you. The constant meals, offers to help with the kids, gifts, donations and prayers have kept our heads above water when we have felt so close to going under. THANK YOU! And I must say a very special thank you to my dear friends Debbie, Jean, Sarah, Michelle, and Tracy for organizing our daily lives, for being involved, and for putting so much heart and time into being sure our family has a nice Christmas. All my love, hugs and kisses go to these amazing ladies and so many more that go un-named, who shower us with their help, their encouragement, and their never-ending love. They have blessed our family in more ways than I can ever write about and we are so, so thankful. From the bottom of my heart… thank you to EVERY ONE who played a part in our Christmas! It is such a relief and the most touching and beautiful blessing for our family. And to all of you who continue to follow Jake’s journey, we are so blessed for your daily thoughts and prayers. May the beauty of the season fill your hearts with joy and may Jesus fill you with peace as you worship Him this Christmas time. “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming into the house, they saw him with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and

When we can, our preferred drive into the med-center includes a drive through one of my fave parts of town… the Rice area. Driving down the tree lined street with the sunlight streaming through the trees is just beautiful. Seeing people walk and jog and push strollers on