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Good news… we moved from the 14th Floor to the 9th Floor this afternoon!!!!  I never unpacked, so when Nurse Esther came in with the news I said, “Great… are you talking 30 minutes or a couple of hours cuz I’m ready, I don’t have to pack anything, it’s all bagged up”.   I think I startled her when she said about 30 minutes and I gave a “woo hoo”!   Then I had to appologize and let her know that it had nothing to do with her… she was great.  And she really was wonderful, but can I tell you the relief??!  And I have to say the 9th Floor really is a different floor in so many ways.  There is a homeiness here.  The kids play in the halls differently here. The family room is full of families and treats and Thanksgiving dinner brought by patients of the past who have lived this life.  There is a sense of family here.  There is a familiarity since the children are “regulars”.  Walking through the doors and onto the floor there was an immediate comfort in seeing the nurses that we are getting to know better and better with each stay.  The pity party of yesterday is over and today is Thanksgiving… and we are thankful.  As scripture states… Give thanks always for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ  …  Ephesians 5:20   We are thankful that TCH exists to care for our baby.  We are thankful that there is hope for Jake.  We are thankful that we have him here, with us, right now.  We are thankful that there is treatment and there are those who have the knowledge and the heart to heal.  We are thankful for our family and all of our children.  Although much is centered around Jake right now, we are so very thankful for all of them.  We are thankful for the celebration of Meghan’s 26th birthday tomorrow and we are thankful to celebrate Ryan’s 9th birthday on Saturday.  We are thankful for friends and family that have surrounded us and kept our world in motion these past weeks… without you, where would we be?  We are thankful for our church and the love and letters and support they have showered us with. We are thankful for all of those we know and those we’ve never met who continue to rally around Jake.  We are thankful that our precious little boy is bringing people together and reminding us that cancer strikes anyone, anytime. It happens to the boy next door – it’s real and it’s aweful.  Yet in the midst of this struggle there is beauty in the love and kindness and goodness that comes at the most unexpected times.  We are thankful for the gift of life that God grants each one of us.  We Are Thankful!  And our hearts are full… our bellies too!

Many of you have asked about the comment made in the last post regarding the transplant division.  In my non-medical way, I’ll try to give you an overview of Jake’s “road map” – the term they use for his treatment plan.  Jake will have 3 sessions of chemotherapy that include 5 rounds each – numbers to paper that is about 15 weeks per session.  Overall, that is 15 rounds of chemotherapy, 15 different stays in the hospital at about 4-5 days each (not including surgery and other things).  We are at #2.  The treatments are 3 weeks from day zero, meaning they are actually about 2 1/2 weeks apart (as long as his counts recover properly each time and there are no infections to throw us of – like recently).  During this first 15 week session, they will collect, or “harvest”, his own stem cells and freeze them to be put back into his body later, thus the transplant division comes into play.  This will be done somewhere between chemo 4 and 5.  At the end of the 1st session, they plan to take Jake into surgery to remove the large mass.  Right now the chemo is shrinking the mass in his abdomen (the one about the size of a small grapefruit).  They feel that after 5 chemo treatments, this mass will shrink as small as it is going to.  The remainder of the chemotherapies won’t really make that mass smaller, those chemos are to continue working on all of the cancer in the bones and liver.  After the surgery, Jake will have another session of chemotherapy – again, 5 sessions in Round 2 (another 15 weeks).  At the end of this time the stem cell transplant will take place.  This should take us somewhere into the summer hopefully, because we will need to farm out kiddos as Jake will be hospitalized in isolation on the 8th Floor for 30 days.  My understanding is that we will then go on to Round 3 of chemotherapy – another 5 sessions (15 more weeks), then radiation, followed by Accutane treatments.  This will finish up our first year.  At that time, we will come together, assess where he is, and pray for NED (No Evidence of Disease).  However, many children are not completely disease free in which case, treatments pursue. If this is the case, our discussions will center on if we can stay in Houston or head to one of four cities that continue with the next phase of Neuroblastoma treatments.  All of this can change at a moment’s notice… it is his “road map” and we’re told to expect detours along the way.  We’ve already seen how it truly is day by day.  It’s all just a big lab project and sometimes I feel like our son is the center of someone’s science fair.  I just remind myself that God gave us these things called science to do good, to heal, to allow life to pursue… that helps me close my eyes and comfort Jake when my baby is crying from all the pricks.  And this information gives us something in which to plan from… sort of.