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Journal entries from 05/24/04 - 06/25/04

06/25/04

Things aren't very good right now. On Tuesday we found out that Jackson's pain in his back is another tumor near the spine. On Wednesday he had many tests and they found another one in his thigh. The worst of it has been the terrible pain in his back from the tumor pressing on the nerves. The last two days have been very hard on all of us with the news and the worst part was his pain in his back that they couldn't get a handle on for some time. On Thursday they finally got a handle on it and he is now getting continuous pain medicine for it and he is doing much better. The previous medicine didn't help at all, so they operated and put a tube into his chest and started chemo on Wednesday. He was supposed to read the mission statement at the Relay for Life tonight, but this morning he developed a fever and won't be able to come home for at least a couple of days. We had planned on going to Mexico in two weeks to stay at a friend's condo and fish on his boat, but we will have to put that off for now.We are still praying as hard as we can for Jackson's recovery and ease of pain, realizing that we do need a miracle to get through this and that is what we are praying for.

06/15/04

This was another good family weekend. We went fishing out of the boat and caught lots of trout, bass, and perch. We even went up to the mountains on Sunday for a picnic and a drive. Jackson is still rolling along but seems to be getting a little more tired and seems to get hot easier lately. We don't understand how Jackson puts up with all this junk he has been put through, but he is still as happy, and smiles just as much as he did before this all started. He is certainly the strength that we all draw from. At church, the boys go to Sunday school and one of their assignments was to go up to the board and write down a gift that God gave to you. Jackson thought about it and walked up to the board and wrote CANCER. The teacher, Mrs. Bramlet, asked in amazement why he would write that down. Jackson said, "Cancer has made me talk to God a lot more and pray a lot more, it has made many people around me pray a lot more too." As several of the teachers left the room to hide their tears, Mrs. Bramlet (the pastor's wife) said that she was amazed at how Jesus-like Jackson is and she had to try very hard to hold back the tears herself.

06/11/04

Jackson is doing well, he even had a baseball game on Wednesday and went 5 - 5 at the plate. We were worried that his medicine would affect his game and it sure doesn't appear to at this time. Things have been good lately. Wyatt is running around and not letting his cast from his broken arm slow him down at all. We even caught several crappies last Friday and Wyatt could reel with his cast just fine and caught several large ones. Jackson on the other hand, preferred fishing in about 4 inches of water and catching fish about as long as his finger. As for how Jackson is doing, it is hard to tell right now. He is taking his medicine and for now we just wait and pray that it is working. His back has been hurting lately and that scared us, but the doctor thinks that it is from the medicine. His night blindness from the medication has started and he can't see anything in dimly lit places, so we keep a flashlight by his bed now. The good news is that Jackson is looking and acting as healthy as ever. We just take it day by day and pray that things don't get worse in the future.

06/01/04

Well, the weekend didn't turn out as planned. On Friday, Wyatt had his graduation party for pre-school and was playing on the monkey bars and fell and broke both bones in his forearm. It was pretty crooked and we spent most of the day in the ER. Staci and I stood there looking at another child of ours in two-weeks time, with an IV in their arm and sleeping from the medicine, and it was hard on both of us. He is doing much better now, but has a tough time sleeping  with the sling and splint. He will get a cast in around a week. So Wyatt didn't go camping but Jackson and I left Saturday morning. It rarely stopped raining for the entire weekend, but Jackson put on many miles on his 4-wheeler anyway. His helmet, raincoat, boots and face were completely covered in mud most of the weekend, but you could always see his white teeth smiling as he went by. We did get to see elk, moose, deer, turkey, and more and had some great 4-wheeler rides with many friends.

05/24/04

We have found that most of you know that Jackson's cancer is back and for the details you can view the last journal entry on 05/18/04. As for how things are going now, we are all doing much better than we were at this time last week. Jackson is taking his pills and doing pretty good. He has to take 11 with breakfast and 11 with lunch and 10 with dinner. They are the size of a Hot Tamale or a Mike & Ike. He is a champ at taking medicine and is doing well so far. As for how the family is doing, we are doing the very best we can at living each day and making the most of it, although sometimes that is much easier said than done. Jackson's spirits seem to be good, but we have seen in the past that he holds back a lot of what he is feeling. We have had so many tell us that they are praying for us, and that is just what we are asking for. Our church has helped us more than ever and we are so thankful that we have their support, we had so many unanswered questions that Brad and Sue Bramlet helped us with. Yesterday at church, we all prayed for Jackson and there was mention of his temperament and his overall kindness to others and that if you want to see Jesus working through a child, then take a look at Jackson. It was very hard to hear, but I was glad to hear that others can see him as we do. This weekend we are going camping with 20 to 30 people and plan on lots of 4-wheeler riding and bonfires. Jackson is happiest with many people around and riding his 4-wheeler.