Dexter Lawrence Authentic Jersey  Feb 27 - Mar 5, 2011

Ok .... so we had a great week off from chemo! Baby Nicholas' appetite comes back and he eats great without chemo.  We look forward to the next 3 cycles being done so he can keep that appetite. So we had our trip to Beaumont - The Rose Cancer Center for his monthly pentamidine and labs. We are bummed to report of his week off when his counts should have recovered somewhat, his remained at ANC 600.  His platelets 175 so they came up and his Hgb (red blood) 10.3 that also came up. We think he is still fighting that cold he caught to a certain degree and on top of that our home is quarantined because Nick got strep throat so he has been living in the lower level and not able to come up stairs at all for 3 days. This sounds crazy but Baby Nicholas barely has any white blood cells to attack anything viral and if he was to get this - we would be sitting in a hospital again until his counts recover and so we took extra precaution with his counts being so low. 

He slept through his infusion and everything went smoothly. We started cycle 4 today of chemo, this is erlotnib and the only good thing about this drug is that it does not drop his counts and in fact he recovers somewhat on this drug. Last time it destroyed his appetite so we are hoping and praying this was just the combo of radiation and the drug at that point and that it will not happen again.


Also our 9 year old son Christian is doing a Kick-A-Thon for St. Jude next week.  It's called 1000 Kicks for Jude. Bless his heart that he wants to do something to help in honor of his brother and for all the kids at St. Jude. We want to thank our amazing friends that have donated and sponsored him, and if anyone else is willing to here is the link to do so. CLICK HERE FOR JUDES KICK-A-THON  (you can see our sponsors to the left of this page - once completed we will add this to Nicholas' St Jude Honor Goal to the right of the page)

We got this message on facebook a few days ago and I just had to share this with you because in the 9 months of our journey this post was just beyond precious to me, you might have to read it twice to get it, it read  :::


I got a link to nickybear.com. It just broke my heart to hear what was going on with him. If you need help with raising money, like if he ever needs future surgerys for this problem, i earn a lot of money from dog walking and babysitting, and i would donate some.

-Caitlyn

When I wrote this CHILD back, I said my hope is that I raise my boys to be like you ... when I asked how she found us it was through Pastor Steve's facebook because I just posted on his page something about him being with us the whole 6 hours of the surgery and how grateful we were he was there.

It struck me as so profound  because a CHILD was willing to help   ... it amazes me how much we have been humbled and learned in the shoes we now wear .... a child will walk dogs and babysit to help. How humbling a child of all people would take her earnings and help a baby .... I told her that her parents should be proud of her but that prayers are all we ask for. She asked me if he would ever get better.

Here is my response:::

We pray that he does but that's where faith is created because only God knows if he is healed. His diagnosis has no cure, but his treatment can be a curative. We pray it has cured him!  We go back to St Jude every 12 weeks for scans to make sure he's ok. Pray and tell others to is our only request ... Thank you so much for caring

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Lastly, I must ask you to please continue to pray for our boy and that he remains cancer free. I also need to ask you to pray for a family whom I will never meet but to sum their story up the Thayer Family was struck with their 4 yr old daughter being diagnosed with Medulloblastoma (brain tumor) and she passed away after battling it for 6 months. She left behind 3 older brothers.  A year ago, their 14 yr old son Jalen was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Malforme (brain tumor) and his diagnoses trumps his little sisters. This family has faced this road not once, but twice and is faithful to God.  Here is Jalens story for you to read if you choose to, if not just take a moment and pray for the entire family while they are sitting in ER right now. Jalens Caringbridge.

God Bless you all ....

We want to once again thank all our friends and family for your unflinching support.  You have stood with us in the darkness. For this we are forever thankful.

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