Merry CHRISTmas!!! It was so, so nice to be home for the weekend but I must admit, I’ve had a hard time getting in the 
Christmas spirit, it’s just getting here too fast and it doesn’t seem like we’ve had any time to prepare our hearts for what the season means. We are back in for Jake’s 3rd Round of chemo. We’ve been here since Monday evening and just squeaked in with his numbers… the main one that kept us from being admitted last Thursday needed to be at 75000, it wasn’t, but when we got here Monday it had made it to 79000, so we barely made admission. We’ll be released Saturday, hopefully. He’s done great and handling the new drugs well, the nausea has been well-managed and I’m so thankful and relieved. Today is the first day he woke up nauseous. We’ve upped his nausea meds, hoping that will help so he’s been sleeping a lot of the day. Eating is key and he wants none of it.. not even cheese pizza. When we were first getting settled Monday night, two of our nurses warned that this chemo combination has a tendency to be “the one” with lots of 
throw up. One of the drugs this time is Cisplatin “si-SPLAT-in”, Nurse Monica said with a good giggle. Until today, we’d been without a lot of “splatin”. The other chemo drug can have some respiratory side effects and he also woke up with a weird cough this morning, so we’ll be watching that closely. Jake’s hearing test has been moved to this afternoon, rather than tomorrow. Sure hope he’s cooperative as he really feels bad. We need this information as we never got a baseline on him prior to beginning his chemo – there were so many things they were trying to get done and this one didn’t make it. This will now be our base line. (Hearing loss of some sort is a one of the common, permanent side effects of chemo in kids.) The past 
few days have been busy with meetings with a team from Basic3 Genetic Study we’ve chosen to participate in and meetings about Jake’s Stem Cell Harvest. Our dates for harvesting Jake’s stem cells has been moved up. We start Saturday and the first 
part of the process are GCSF injections to build up his marrow fast and high… they will harvest in the millions of cells. Once his counts are where they need to be, they will put a catheter into his leg, hook him up to a big dialysis looking machine, and start pumping. It will probably take two days but they’ll go until they have what they need. Then they’ll freeze all of his cells until it’s time to put them back into his body. There is a lot more to it but that is the short of it. I’m NOT looking forward to it, I’m especially nervous about the shots. I don’t do needles well at all – I get really queasy. The plan is that Henry will play nurse and give the shots, and I will hold and comfort – they’ll train us on Saturday. As for the week… it’s gone really well. Jake has seen Santa twice while we’ve been here, played with HUGE penguins and a juggling elf, we’ve had visits to the floor by the FBI, a Texan football player, Miss Texas, the Houston Police. The playroom has been staffed almost all day each day (usually only open a few hours each day), we’ve had the Fun Cart and Snow Cone carts come by, and he’s had LOTS of energy to take the police car for a spin and try to arrest his favorite nurses.. All and all, a pretty good Round 3. Here’s to a really good “in-between” of Round 3/Round 4, with NO neutropenic fever hospitalizations. Especially since we were honored with a photo session from the Magic Hour Foundation to photograph Jake and our family. They are a wonderful foundation helping cancer patients and we are so looking forward to meeting our photographer Kelly Garvey. You can 
check out their information at http://www.magichourfoundation.org/ We ask you to pray with us over Jake’s stem cell collection process… that it’s smooth, quick and as painless as possible and we’ll be praying for all of you as we are so very blessed by your friendships and prayers. As the past two days have been spent with lots of kids rolling their chemo poles behind them with smiles and giggles, with Santa and Christmas carols being sung in the halls by visitors bringing encouragement and gifts and cheer, it reminds me just how precious our children are. How precious we are to Jesus. So my next few days will be spent trying to get there… wishing you God’s blessings and love… and a Merry CHRISTmas!
Low Counts = Free Weekend
We’re HOME for the weekend!!!! Jake’s numbers didn’t make the cut so they sent us home last night. Of course the car was pac
ked and we were ready for admission but God had other plans. He wants us home this weekend! We head back in Monday afternoon and by then his counts will surely be ready. This chemotherapy is a four-day infusion so it will be a long week hooked up for him, but for now we’ll happily focus on these few days home. We have good things to look forward to… Kate and Emma are in their school’s talent show tonight (Emma is singing with a friend and Kate is playing America on piano). Jake and I plan to sneak in the back a little late so we can watch and then head out after they perform. Cameron and Ryan both have birthday parties to attend. Happy Birthday Blessings to good friends, Elliott and Alex. And, we will finish up Cameron’s science fair. God is good! Jakey is happy to be home as he slept till after 10am this morning. Nothing like being in your own bed. Now he’s cuddled up in the big chair with his dog… he and Gunner are in for a good day. Wishing you all a very good day too, and a blessed weekend!
Freedom & Cowboy Boots
Freedom – lots of meanings are tied to this word but today I’m thinking, lack of restrictions, to come and go and be… and the ability to stand on one’s own, unsustained by anything. This morning I sit here preparing for the weekend at TCH with a little hesitancy as last night we got a call from our Doc to talk about some things like the upcoming stem cell retraction, this round of drugs and their side effects, his hearing test tomorrow, and mostly the fact that although Jake’s counts were recovering well when we went in on Monday, they were low, and depending on today’s labs, we may not be admitted this afternoon, afterall. She wanted us to be prepared. Labs will tell. It’s Murphy’s Law, ya know??? We pack and counts will be low, we don’t and counts will be on target. So we pack and stay on plan. If we’re not admitted today, then we’re home for the weekend and we try again Monday. To be honest, I’m OK with that. It pushes our schedule back some, but actually, it would push it enough that we might not be worried with our near Christmas exit. This is a very busy month for Jake… 2 chemotherapy treatments and his stem cell harvest – that puts us at three different hospital stays for December. Anxiety is high. We have a lot going on this weekend too… Cameron’s science fair is due Monday. It’s a BIG deal, it’s not ready, and I can’t help him with it if I’m not here. The girls have Talent Show tomorrow night, Ryan has a birthday party to attend on Saturday and our church’s women’s event, Advent By Candle Light is on Sunday evening. Many things that I’d love to be a part of and things that Henry will have to do on his own. Things that a few weeks ago would have been just another weekend of activities… “no brainers” on how we would get 
everyone where they needed to be and enjoy the weekend. It’s freedom to come and go – something that we took for granted and are now very aware of. Last night I had to go
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to the grocery store… had to go since I’ll be gone for almost a week. So I bundled Jake up, put on his mask, had Ryan push him in the safety and confounds of his stroller, and I pushed the shopping cart. It’s something we haven’t done in what seems like forever. And I have to say, it was stressful. I bet the grocery store is one of the germiest places to go. Lots of people and everyone touches things to check labels. ~And on a side note… thank you to the very nice lady behind us who was so patient. We didn’t know her but she knew of us, she was at Jake’s Chick Fil A night and was kind enough to let us know that, and that she continues to lift us in prayer. I should have asked her name but I was in a bit of a frazzled state… I’m sorry and Thank You!!!~ (Detoured… “SQUIRREL!”) I really didn’t put a lot of thought into it previously but we had freedom. LOTS of freedom. To come and go on a whim, touch anything, go to the kid’s school and watch their performances with only the thought of will Jake sit still or will I need to be in the back where he can wiggle and play. I found pictures from just a couple of months
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ago… Jake in his cowboy boots, his chubby little legs and booty, running around in all of his half-naked, free-spirited and all-boy, gun slinging, down and dirty, goofyness. They made me think of FREEDOM. So, I’m kinda at a loss of what to pray for today… my heart wants to be home this weekend where we can have some freedom to be part of our family’s activities but I do understand the importance of keeping Jake on track so that he can have HIS freedom back. So I let go and we’ll go with God’s will. He knows best and what happens today, happens. Either way, we are pushing forward to the future… fighting hard for days of freedom and little boy’s dirty, fun-loving cowboy boots. “All battles are fought by scared men who’d rather be some place else.” – John Wayne, In Harm’s Way