Word of the day.....

Remission


re·mis·sion (rĭ-mĭsh'ən)
n.

• The act of remitting.
• A condition or period in which something is remitted.
  
• A lessening of intensity or degree; abatement.
• Medicine. Abatement or subsiding of the symptoms of a disease.
• The period during which the symptoms of a disease abate or subside.
• Release, as from a debt, penalty, or obligation.
• Forgiveness; pardon.

I just received a call from the Dr. with the results of today's bone marrow biopsy. She thought since she had gotten the news so quickly, she would pass it onto us so that we could have some good news to start our weekend.


I will have Tanya post later all the other info she received from the Dr.'s visit today, but I know there are plenty of people who are checking regularly for status updates - especially on Fridays.

We hope you all enjoy your weekend as much as we will!!!

Summer Vacation

It is official - Summer Vacation is here.

Or, as our littlest guitar hero would say, "School's Out for Summer!"

Before we get to far into summer I have to take some time and brag on Joshua. Last Friday we went to the end of the year assembly at Red Hawk Ridge Elementary School where Joshua received the High Flyer award. Each class selects one child that best displayed the SOAR characteristics.

• Safety
• Ownership
• Attitude
• Respect

After the ceremony Joshua received a booklet created by all of his classmates listing the reasons he was selected. Below are some of my favorites.

• Congratulations Josh for all the hard wark you have ben dwoing all through the year. I am riley praod of you.

• grajalashen josh you have ben chosen for the high flyer sum day.
  

• der Joshua you shud be happy and like osum as a hi flier.

• Congratulations Joshua! I'm proud that your a high flyer. I like the way you soar.

Brian and I completely agree with that last sentiment. It has been so awesome to see Joshua thrive in first grade, taking his energy and becoming a positive part of the classroom.

The decision to enroll the boys into public school was one that we wrestled with for a long time. Now, at the end of our first year, I can tell you that it was the right decision. It is also very clear that a key to this success is the teachers that worked with Jake and Josh.

Mrs Goodman, Mrs Von K, Mrs Green, Mr Gunnett and all of the staff at RHR - you are amazing. Thank You so much for a great year!

Tri Girls ROCK!!!

Yesterday some of my Tri girls took their energy and training to the McDonald's Womans 8K, or as we called it Jake's Race. I am constantly amazed with how much our friends are finding ways to support us, and now Leukemia - Lymphoma Society, along this path.

The shirts have a picture of Jake and the frame says Jacob is our superhero. In our book - the ones wearing the shirts are superhero's as well.

Dear Debbie, Daimi and Vicki

thank you for running the race for me. I hope you are not in pain.I hope you liked the t-shirts ms debbie gave you. sighned jacob

How big is your God?

I am not sure how many people who visit this site have a relationship with God vs. those who don't. But for those of you who don't, let me share a little bit about how big OUR God is.

Jacob went into the Dr. today for another round of Chemotherapy administered via IV. During this visit, he also had a blood draw done so that they could check his cell counts and immune levels. Not sure if you remember, but a couple of weeks ago we got the results and Jake's ANC level was up from 40-50 to 180. For a normal, healthy individual, counts will be between 1500-8000. When this level gets as low as 500, the body's immune system is incredibly vulnerable to infection as it will have a very difficult time fighting off the bad bacteria. Today's counts for Jacob were 1130.

In case you missed that - I said it was at 1130



Because of these counts being as high as they are, the Dr. gave him the OK to go swimming and he can be taken off of all dietary restrictions. With his body improving at this rate, they said that he is at the extreme high-end of expected recovery rate. He is improving at a much better rate than any of us could have expected. Because of this, we are celebrating this evening by going out for pizza and ice cream. Jake has had a craving for Old Chicago for a few weeks now, so we felt this was the perfect time.


So back to my initial question, how big is your God?

Our God DOES hear our prayers and the prayers of our loved ones.
Our God DOES take tough situations and turns them into good.
Our God DOES bring healing to the broken.
Our God DOESN'T leave us or forsake us when times get tough.
Our God DOES love His children
Our God IS a miraculous God.

He truly is the God of Jacob!!!!!

Here's to a great start to the weekend.

Friday Breakfast

It has been a few weeks since Jake has been able to start his Friday with some food in his system. For the last 3 weeks he has been scheduled for surgery on Friday morning, so he has not been allowed to eat any food after 2am.

For most of us, that is a small inconvenience and we can deal with it. However, for Jake this has been a pretty big deal. Most of us will eat 3 meals a day as well as some snacks in between. Jake eats about 6-10 "meals" a day thanks in part to the steroids that he is on. These meals are not just small things like a sandwich and chips. They are full meals with multiple helpings. Within an hour of eating, he is already looking for something more to eat. It is a very strange thing to watch someone of his size put away this much food.

He was blessed this morning by some very large cinnamon rolls. He said it was very hard to wait for them to be ready because they were smelling so good.

Today he will be heading into the clinic to receive an IV treatment of Chemo as well as having some blood drawn for more tests. We are hoping...No, we are EXPECTING to hear great results today.

The Box

The President may have an aide that carries "the football", but Jacob has a Mommy and Daddy that carries THE BOX!

It is hard to believe that it was less then 3 weeks ago that we were sitting shell shocked in the hospital listening to Dr Odom explain what Jacob's treatment plan would be. The sheer number of letters in each drug name made them impossible to pronounce - how would we ever figure out what drugs , when and in which amount to make sure that Jake was getting exactly what the DR wanted and when.

Then Brian created THE BOX.

Jacob is very good at swallowing pills and that has helped the whole process immensely. He has to take a lot of them. And for the most part with absolutely no complaining.

Morning Medicine

Lunch

Dinner Meds

Makes a daily multi vitamin seem a little puny. The good news is all of the medicine is working!!! The finale count from last weeks biopsy (Day 15) showed that the percentage of leukemia cells in Jacob's bone marrow was .2%. Please note the decimal point. His ANC (ability to fight of infection) was up to 180. The Dr is very pleased and we are ecstatic. This Friday we will be visiting the clinic for blood work and IV chemo but there will be no surgery!

God has been more faithful and more present then I could have ever imagined. Our friends and family have been more loving and supportive then we could have dreamed. Our pastor said in his blog last week, "Share Jesus and the gospel with everyone you know... and if absolutely necessary, use words." In the last three weeks we have seen people live like Jesus. Thank You!

message from Jake

Dear Mrs. Goodman's class,

It's me Jacob. Iv'e been very sleepy latley so iv'e taken naps every now and then. today, I have a lunch date with my dad. We are going to have Mcdonalds for lunch. I am having another lunch date with Mrs. G. next Wednsday some time after school.
Sighned,

Jacob Carlson