Treatment Update

Good Morning!

Jacob made it through the the night wonderfully well. He was up a couple of times going to the bathroom and having vitals taken, but other then that he got some good sleep - and the slight fever he was running broke in the middle of the night! He is feeling very little pain (3-4 on the smiley face scale) from his med port placement and is on no pain medicine right now. At this moment he is watching Saturday morning cartoons, playing with Indiana Jones Legos and waiting for his buttermilk pancakes to be delivered.

Brian and I both stayed with Jake last night and worked on mastering the skill of the sleeper chair. Our awesome night nurse helped us wrangle an extra one in and both of us were able to get some shut eye as well. The entire staff at P/SL (our hospital) is top notch and they are taking the best care of our entire family.

Last night we spent a long time discussing treatment options with Dr Odom (Jakes Oncologist). She reviewed the Bone Marrow Biopsy and it confirms that Jacob has ALL. The spinal tap fluid from his surgery yesterday shows no Leukemia cells on initial examination which is really good. During surgery they did administer the first round of Chemo into the spinal fluid. This helps to decrees leukemia cells from "hiding out" in the spinal cord as the other chemotherapy agents are introduced and start to work.

After a very lengthy discussion (our Dr is amazingly thorough and patient) and a detailed analysis of benefit / risk we have consented for and started Jacob on a standard risk ALL chemotherapy regiment. We started last night and for the next four weeks will be in the induction phase of this plan. Today is day 2. They are using 3 main chemo agents during this phase and expect to see by day 15 a reduction in leukemia cells from 100% to under 5%.

During this induction phase, we will see Jacob's immune system weaken and that does place him at a very high risk for infection. With that in mind Brian and I are trying to leap into our role as patient advocate and watch for any signs of infection in Jake and in anyone he comes in contact with. The Dr has OK'd visits - ALL VISITORS MUST BE HEALTHY AND INFECTION FREE!!! If you are fighting any sickness we ask that you call and pray but wait to visit until your health is recovered. We are also asking that visits be kept under an hour so that Jacob and family have time to rest. If for any reason Jacob needs to stop receiving visitors we will post that hear on the blog.

We had a packed house yesterday - both in the hospital room and across the blog. We are sharing all emails & comments on the blog with Jake and it has been very encouraging. He loves knowing (once he gets over a little shyness) that there are people around the country thinking about him, checking on him and praying. For those who were able to stop by the hospital he loves looking at all his cards on the bulletin board and the Legos, games, snacks, books and colors are helping to fill the time around treatment. Thank You for loving our son so much.

For those that I have not spoken to directly we are Presbyterian / St Luke Hospital. This is the Rocky Mountain hospital for children and has an outstanding reputation for patient care, especially for pediatric oncology care. They just celebrated their 125th anniversary and we are so thankful for God leading us to this site. Brian and I have complete trust and peace in the care Jacob is getting. The address for those of you who have been asking is

Presbyterian / St Luke
1719 E 19th Avenue
Denver, CO 80218

We are in room 802 and the room number is (303) 839-7802.

The earliest we could leave the hospital is Monday and they are currently expecting this visit to go to Tues / Wed.

Jake is getting concerned over the absence of his pancakes - so I will post more later.