Loud & Clear

It’s taken me a couple of days to muster the “want” to sit and write this update. Jake’s MIBG was Thursday. The results were not what we expected or wanted to see. This is the scan that lights up everywhere there is cancer. While there has been progress, there is quite a bit of remaining disease, more than there should be at this point as we enter the second stage of his treatment. More than they are comfortable with going into Stem Cell. We are trying to get all of the information and options together before making a decision on the next course of treatment but at this moment, it is very unlikely that we will head to BMT at the end of the month. They want to do another bone marrow aspiration to check his marrow. If his marrow is mostly clean, they “may still go forward”. If not, we will look at other treatment first. They threw things at us like 14.18 and 3F8 Antibody Therapies and/or

MIBG Treatments. We are educating ourselves as best we can, as fast as we can, on all three in order to make the best decision. We don’t have a lot of time as we need to stay on track with Jake’s treatment. His next scheduled treatment, whatever that may be, needs to begin in the next two weeks. This cancer is vicious and you can’t let it sit long in between treatments. The insanity of all of the three treatments that are being discussed is that none of them are here in Houston. And we have to see if they have a slot we can jump into… fast. All of these things must align and this certainly puts a spin on things. Again, we find our journey taking a turn off course. It will be a week full of information, meetings and leg work. Also, Jake has two cavities… another ugly side effect of chemotherapy. Since he’s a cancer patient, he can’t just go take care of it at a dental office… it’s a surgical procedure… in the OR, under sedation. UGHHH! Enough right? Ok, how about some good news… sorta… Jake’s newest hearing test is done! Only took us a couple of attempts but we can check it off the list. He has “significant loss”. It will likely worsen before all of this is over but it isn’t enough to justify hearing aids at this time. Praises! We’ll revisit this when everything is complete. From a mother’s perspective, he hears me just fine when I want him too and especially when I don’t! (grins) Well, I think that’s enough for now and I’ll call it a night! We are so incredibly thankful and aware of all of the prayers you continue to lay before Jesus on our behalf. As hard as the past few days have been, we feel loved and surrounded by the angels God has placed here on earth that we call friends and family. THANK YOU!!! And please, please pray with us over the decisions we have ahead. The past seven months we have followed protocol and our doctor’s lead. This next step will very much be in our hands to hear where God is leading us. We need your prayers here that we hear Him loud and clear!