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Journal entries from 12/16/02 - 12/02/02

12/16/02

Things are going as good as could be expected so far with the chemo. He has been getting sick each day, but is still eating some and feeling pretty good. Usually, he will start getting sick in the next couple of days, so we will see. On Friday he will start the transplant and that is when they told us that the hard stuff will begin. Jackson is older than most kids with this type of cancer so a lot of what we are going through has no statistics. That makes it a little harder to predict how Jackson will react. Jackson had a lot of fun in Seattle before this started and he even got to go to the aquarium and see many things. He even said that he got to pet a starfish. Wyatt has been doing well and even went duck hunting on Saturday. We didn't see much, but he liked it a lot. He was rather disappointed though, when we weren't going moose hunting like he wanted. He also asked Santa for a chain saw and told me he could help me clean the ducks with his new chain saw. Wyatt will be bouncing around for the next few weeks from family member to family member, but he should be fine and usually does well when we are gone. When in Seattle we should be able to keep the updates on the website from the hotel and we will also give an address where we are staying. Staci is moving again tomorrow to a place with a kitchen and bedrooms. It will really help us to cook some meals and get sleep during the days.

12/12/02

Staci met with Jackson's doctor yesterday and conferenced me in from Lewiston. We went over the protocol for his treatment and how he is doing so far on his tests. He has done very well, his kidneys are functioning great, his lungs are at full capacity, his chest X-ray was perfect and his blood work has come back where they want it. Some of the tests aren't back yet, but we are sitting good. Jackson will start the chemo treatment tomorrow. It appears the hospital staff isn't as anxious as we are. Jackson will have four days of chemo and then three days of rest and then the bone-marrow transplant will begin. The chemo will be a very strong dose, in fact they said a lethal dose if he didn't get the transplant shortly after. The transplant will bring him very far down and they said he will feel like he was hit by a truck for ten to twenty days. They said that he will have high fevers, awful mouth sores, and not be able to eat or drink for several weeks. So we have a pretty horrible ride ahead of us, but we hope and pray that this will be the worst thing that he ever faces in his life. We try not to look at the big picture too much and take each day and challenge as it comes. We have learned more about cancer, germs, hospitals, transplants, tumors and most of all the church, then we had ever imagined.

12/09/02

Jackson and Wyatt got to watch the Seahawks play yesterday and they were very excited, but the Seahawks lost anyway. Wyatt actually fell asleep at the game. Staci and Jackson are making the most of their last few days of good health and freedom in Seattle. Wyatt went over for a few days and will come home tomorrow. It doesn't sound like he will get to see his mom until January so Staci has Wyatt and Jackson for a few days. Jackson is supposed to start his chemo on Wednesday and then around the next Wednesday he will start the transplant. He is starting to get a little hair back, but will probably lose that with the next round of chemo. The doctor told us that he will need mom and dad there from around the 15th to the end of the year, because of the condition he will be in. We are all ready to get this going so we can start checking days off of the calendar until we are all together again.

12/05/02

Jackson has been busy with tests all week and Staci has been in several classes on the different care Jackson will need during and after the transplant. The hotel that they were staying at was very dirty and in a bad neighborhood, so they found another that they like. Yesterday we found out that this is going to be harder on Jackson than we had previously thought. The chemo will be hard on him, but nothing compared to when he gets the transplant. The doctor said it will be 10 days to 21 days before the new marrow  takes, and that will be the worst part, much worse than anything he has been through so far. He said that he will run continuous fevers, vomiting, mouth sores and no energy until the new marrow adjusts. He also said that Jackson will have no immunities for at least six months after and we will have to be very careful with him and germs. Jackson will be at a very low point on Christmas so it looks like Staci and I will have to be over there and Wyatt will have to be in Lewiston with family. We will just plan on a great Christmas vacation next year together. As bad as all of this sounds, we are very thankful for how everything has gone so far. Every time we really wanted Jackson to come home for a special event, it worked out that he could make it. We have been very fortunate with the medicines and surgery also. At this time the doctors are considering Jackson in remission, which is great. But they also said that without the bone marrow transplant, the chances of relapse would be very high. So we aren't out of the woods by any means and it looks like the toughest part is still ahead. Jackson is still smiling and ready for his challenges ahead. We earlier referred to him as a warrior and I can honestly say he is so much stronger than I had ever hoped to be.

12/02/02

The day is already here. Jackson and Staci leave for Seattle today and won't be back for two to two-and-a-half months. We had a great holiday weekend and Jackson has had a lot of fun during his 10-day home stay. We quickly got used to everyone being under the same roof and in their respective beds. Jackson has put many hours on his new 4-wheeler and drives like a champ. He has been real careful and thinks he is on top of the world when he is riding. Wyatt is always following behind with his big-wheel, going as fast as he can go. It looks like Jackson will be testing all week and then will start the extreme chemo next Monday. This is the hardest chemo he will receive and the doctors say it will bring him so far down he won't be moving or talking for several days. They explain that he will have no energy, be vomiting, and have extreme mouth sores. We hope to keep his spirits as high as possible and then the following week he will start the bone marrow transplant. We know this is going to be rough, but we have been preparing for it for a long time. Jackson got to see Santa fly in on the helicopter and later even got to sit on his lap. We even got Wyatt to stand by him, but that was as close as he would get. He told us he will never sit on his lap and he will just send a list in the mail. We have decided to put off Christmas for our family until we are all together, hopefully in February sometime.