The smell of burning hair is one of the worst smells there is.
Tonight we were doing our job as good Americans and getting ready to throw some beef on the grill. Brian had already fired up the grill and in answer to his wifes request - went out to give it a quick brush cleaning. Lifting the lid and not seeing any flame he automatically reached out and pushed the starter button.
Think ENORMOUS fireball.
And as bad as the smell of burnt hair is (eyebrows, lashes, hair) it is so much better then the smell of burnt flesh, which by all rights should of had us doing more then applying a little aloe.
You may call it luck... But I would like to say "Thank You God!" for protecting my husband tonight.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Fun Day Cancelled
Today at Jake's appointment, the Dr. suggested it was best that we put our trip to Elich on hold.
One of the things I forgot to add to the last post was that over the weekend Jake ran into some issues. He appears to have contracted a virus of some sort as Saturday he spent most of the morning dealing with a stuffed up head and plenty of vomiting. The Dr. provided an anti-nausea prescription that worked wonders. He was back to his chipper self in no time at all.
At the clinic today, he is struggling with some congestion and a runny nose. With the changes we are looking at making to his treatment, there was some concern that there may be some issued with the virus that he is fighting. Because of this, the Dr. postponed the start of the treatment for a couple of days to give his body a chance to rid itself of this "crud". She also asked that he not do any swimming for the next couple of days to help give his body the best chance to be able to handle the new treatment. She also said that it would be best to not spend all day out in the sun, getting exhausted; as this would just delay the time that it would take his body to fight off the virus.
As we have said from the beginning, we have the BEST doctors caring for him. Because we respect them so much and they have been incredibly honest and straightforward with us from the beginning, it would be foolish for us to not heed their suggestions.
His counts from the blood tests looked good today.
One of the things I forgot to add to the last post was that over the weekend Jake ran into some issues. He appears to have contracted a virus of some sort as Saturday he spent most of the morning dealing with a stuffed up head and plenty of vomiting. The Dr. provided an anti-nausea prescription that worked wonders. He was back to his chipper self in no time at all.
At the clinic today, he is struggling with some congestion and a runny nose. With the changes we are looking at making to his treatment, there was some concern that there may be some issued with the virus that he is fighting. Because of this, the Dr. postponed the start of the treatment for a couple of days to give his body a chance to rid itself of this "crud". She also asked that he not do any swimming for the next couple of days to help give his body the best chance to be able to handle the new treatment. She also said that it would be best to not spend all day out in the sun, getting exhausted; as this would just delay the time that it would take his body to fight off the virus.
As we have said from the beginning, we have the BEST doctors caring for him. Because we respect them so much and they have been incredibly honest and straightforward with us from the beginning, it would be foolish for us to not heed their suggestions.
His counts from the blood tests looked good today.
- ANC Count was 1950
- Platelet levels were back to a normal level
- Cell counts were all in the zone that they need them to be in order for the chemo to be effective.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Changes in Treatment
Tomorrow is the the final Dr's. visit for a couple of weeks. Jake will be getting an IV push of some chemo treatment as well as some blood drawn for testing. After tomorrow, we will be starting the next phase of treatment. Consolidation is the title of this next phase. The purpose of this phase is to kill off any of the leukemia cells that may be hiding. The medications that he will be receiving will likely be the same as the ones he has been taking for the last couple of months. The biggest difference will be the schedule of these meds. They will be adjusting the doses of these so that he receives some of the meds for 1-5 day stints a couple of times throughout this stage. This stage typically lasts 1-3 months.
In talking with the doctor last week, it sounds like they are going to want to have Jake go through another phase of induction in the fall. This will likely come just after school starts for him. We have not talked about this with him yet, mainly because I am not sure we truly understand what that will entail for him.
Because of the changes coming up in his treatment, the Dr is expecting his immunity to take a dip again. To help make sure we don't miss our chance, we are all going to Elich Gardens. For those of you out in MN, it is the equivalent of Valley Fair. The library that the boys go to had an incentive plan where if a child read 12 hours, they could submit a completed form to receive a ticket for free admission. Since we may not be healthy enough to get their later this year, we felt it was best to sneak our trip in now.
We'll try and post some stats from tomorrow.
In talking with the doctor last week, it sounds like they are going to want to have Jake go through another phase of induction in the fall. This will likely come just after school starts for him. We have not talked about this with him yet, mainly because I am not sure we truly understand what that will entail for him.
Because of the changes coming up in his treatment, the Dr is expecting his immunity to take a dip again. To help make sure we don't miss our chance, we are all going to Elich Gardens. For those of you out in MN, it is the equivalent of Valley Fair. The library that the boys go to had an incentive plan where if a child read 12 hours, they could submit a completed form to receive a ticket for free admission. Since we may not be healthy enough to get their later this year, we felt it was best to sneak our trip in now.
We'll try and post some stats from tomorrow.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Join Us
We have been so fortunate in all of the friends, family and even strangers who have rallied around our family and prayed for our Jacob. We would like you to join us today in extending that prayer for a special boy named Dominic.
Our good friend Kathy McShane has been sharing with us about 6 year old Dominic who has been walking the battle lines with leukemia for a lot longer then we have. Today (12:30 California time) Dominic will be having a bone marrow transplant. Please pray that God will be with the medical team, Dominic, the donor and the families of all. Also, please pray that this will be starting point of God's healing in his little body.
Thank you for sharing your love and prayers to help cover this little guy as well!
Our good friend Kathy McShane has been sharing with us about 6 year old Dominic who has been walking the battle lines with leukemia for a lot longer then we have. Today (12:30 California time) Dominic will be having a bone marrow transplant. Please pray that God will be with the medical team, Dominic, the donor and the families of all. Also, please pray that this will be starting point of God's healing in his little body.
Thank you for sharing your love and prayers to help cover this little guy as well!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Yeah for Valium and Go God!!!
So - in case anyone is keeping score
Philippians's - 1
Worry - 0
The visit with Doctor Odom (again!) went just amazingly well. Thank you so much for those of you who were and are praying for us.
Before we left the house Jacob took his Valium and we applied his emla (numbing) cream to both his port and the site where they will preform the tap. He is now healing so fast that I could not see the puncture from last week. This is really good news but it does make it harder to try and numb the right spot. That is probably why I tried to squeeze as much as possible under the tegaderm band aid to make sure we would have as little pain as possible. Of course, the side effect of that is once there is pressure on his back (ie. sitting in the car for the drive) the pressure made it kinda explode everywhere. Thank goodness for the travel bag and extra clothes that Brian put in the car.
Jacob was a total stud! Because of the emla explosion - Jacob's back was not as totally numb as we had hoped for and he did have some pain with the spinal tap. Even with the pain he stayed perfectly calm and in the perfect posture for the Dr to make the puncture. I know all the adults reading this understand how hard that would be for any of us - let alone for an 8 year old.
Joshua also deserves some all star recognition. As a child who craves the lime light he totally got that this morning was about his brother. He was soft spoken (yes, Joshua!) thoughtful and really focused on his brother. Josh prayed over our celebration pancakes at Ihop and it was so sweat as he thanked God for "giving Jacob a good day at the clinic and treatment to make him better".
Our lives are falling back towards "normal" patterns and I am so thankful for every window we get to see God in our lives. To know that He is, and that He is active and available is the normal we want to stay in.
Philippians's - 1
Worry - 0
The visit with Doctor Odom (again!) went just amazingly well. Thank you so much for those of you who were and are praying for us.
Before we left the house Jacob took his Valium and we applied his emla (numbing) cream to both his port and the site where they will preform the tap. He is now healing so fast that I could not see the puncture from last week. This is really good news but it does make it harder to try and numb the right spot. That is probably why I tried to squeeze as much as possible under the tegaderm band aid to make sure we would have as little pain as possible. Of course, the side effect of that is once there is pressure on his back (ie. sitting in the car for the drive) the pressure made it kinda explode everywhere. Thank goodness for the travel bag and extra clothes that Brian put in the car.
Jacob was a total stud! Because of the emla explosion - Jacob's back was not as totally numb as we had hoped for and he did have some pain with the spinal tap. Even with the pain he stayed perfectly calm and in the perfect posture for the Dr to make the puncture. I know all the adults reading this understand how hard that would be for any of us - let alone for an 8 year old.
Joshua also deserves some all star recognition. As a child who craves the lime light he totally got that this morning was about his brother. He was soft spoken (yes, Joshua!) thoughtful and really focused on his brother. Josh prayed over our celebration pancakes at Ihop and it was so sweat as he thanked God for "giving Jacob a good day at the clinic and treatment to make him better".
Our lives are falling back towards "normal" patterns and I am so thankful for every window we get to see God in our lives. To know that He is, and that He is active and available is the normal we want to stay in.
anxious
I am feeling a little anxious this morning - it is my turn to take Jake in for his spinal tap.
Brian had only encouraging things to say after the last visit - about how good Jacob did - but I guess I am worried about how good I will do. Needles and I have a long history including but not limited to me passing out. It has been a long time since having a blood draw put me on the floor - but needless to say my goal would be to help and support Jake today, not to have to be taken from the room.
Did I mention Joshua will be coming with us? Again, I am asking why Valium was not prescribed for all family members involved? I have these horrible images of him being silly (as he is wont to do on occasion) as the Dr is placing the tap. It looks a little like an episode of the 3 Stooges visit the Dr - only Jake is the one who ends up on the receiving end of all the ouches.
The other thought circling through my brain this morning (in the voice of Jim Ladd) is the verse in Philippians that says "worry about nothing - pray about everything. I am much more practiced in worry - but today I will choose to pray. For anyone out there who will be speaking to Jesus today - please add our names to that conversation.
Brian had only encouraging things to say after the last visit - about how good Jacob did - but I guess I am worried about how good I will do. Needles and I have a long history including but not limited to me passing out. It has been a long time since having a blood draw put me on the floor - but needless to say my goal would be to help and support Jake today, not to have to be taken from the room.
Did I mention Joshua will be coming with us? Again, I am asking why Valium was not prescribed for all family members involved? I have these horrible images of him being silly (as he is wont to do on occasion) as the Dr is placing the tap. It looks a little like an episode of the 3 Stooges visit the Dr - only Jake is the one who ends up on the receiving end of all the ouches.
The other thought circling through my brain this morning (in the voice of Jim Ladd) is the verse in Philippians that says "worry about nothing - pray about everything. I am much more practiced in worry - but today I will choose to pray. For anyone out there who will be speaking to Jesus today - please add our names to that conversation.
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