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Journal entries from 05/20/05 - 07/08/2005

07/08/2005

Jackson appears to be doing well with his chemo, we are praying that it is working. His spirits and energy have been great.  His next round is on July 18th. Jackson has had a great couple of weeks.  We went camping and he played in the water and rode 4-wheelers and motorcycles a lot.  We went on a couple 3-4 hour rides and he was always ready for more.  This weekend we are going up the Snake River and trying to catch a sturgeon and some bass.  The boys are always ready for more.  Next weekend we will be on the North Fork for a few days.  We are trying not to cram in too much, but still have a great summer. In all that we have faced lately, we had a terrible scare on Thursday when my Sister-in-law and her mother flew to London and the terrorist attacks happened.  They were on the subway, but had not reached the bomb site yet.  It took them over eight hours to get a phone call back home, we were very scared and thankful they are o.k..

06/28/2005

Jackson started his chemo yesterday and it appears that it went well. It took around 7 hours and he had to stay up there in a hotel in case he had a reaction. We are praying that this medicine works as it is not as commonly used for Jackson's type of cancer. We are all very excited as we are going camping this weekend, if Jackson is healthy still. Four days of camping, fishing, and 4-wheeler riding is just what we all need right now. Now for the rest of the Baldwin struggle. My dad was thrown from his horse on Sunday and broke his pelvis and sacrum. He was flown to Spokane and will most likely stay there for a week and then a lot of physical therapy. We all went to see him yesterday and he appears to be doing much better now, but the beginning was very rough. He had to lay there for two hours and then six guys took him out of the woods by his house on a stretcher. So if you don't mind, please add him to the prayer list also.

06/23/2005

Yesterday was rough but we are glad that it is over and we now have a plan for Jackson. All of his test results aren't back in yet, but we know enough to get started. His tumor is back on his neck and growing fast, he has two lumps in his abdomen that weren't there, and we don't know yet about his bone marrow. We asked many questions and talked with the doctor for over an hour on what would be best. We all agreed on a different kind of chemo that will start Monday. We can't take the same chemo as last time due to his body not producing platelets fast enough anymore from all of the chemo. He will have this new chemo for one day and then off for three weeks and will do this for as long as we can if it works. We pray that we made the right decision but realize that we are grasping for straws here as none of the clinical trials or standard procedures have worked yet. We are doing our best to find a treatment that pushes Jackson hard enough but not too hard. Jackson has always been the happiest and kindest boy I have ever known and with this latest news, he didn't miss a beat.

06/21/2005

What we fear everyday has happened again. Jackson's tumor in his neck has come back and we are finding out in the next two days if the cancer has spread elsewhere. I am writing because tomorrow we are meeting with his doctor to decide what treatment to use for him. The doctor said that she needed to remind us that there is no cure for his  cancer, but we need to decide how aggressive of a treatment we want to choose. She said the extreme would be a stem cell transplant in San Francisco where he gets medicine that is so toxic that we can only see him for thirty minutes a day for three days. We already know that the stem cell transplant itself is complete hell. On the other hand she said we could buy time for the summer and give minor treatment. She said that we could do many things in between also, but remember that we are just buying time here and we have to remember the quality of life. Hearing these words have crushed us again and we are asking  for your prayers to help us make the correct decisions for Jackson.

05/23/2005

Jackson's CAT Scan, blood work, and urine tests came back the same as a month ago, that's good. So we had one heck of a scare and it doesn't appear to be what we had dreaded. We don't know what is causing his back pain still, but we feared the worst. He will be getting another bone scan on Wednesday and that should tell us more.

05/20/2005

Jackson and all of us had a great time at the Fairchild Air Force Base. We spent most of the day there on Wednesday and got to tour the base and do many things that were amazing. We got to tour one of the refueling planes, go into a debriefing room with top ranking officials, but the best part was Jackson got to fly a plane in the flight simulator. In a video game that cost over $24 million, Jackson got to take off twice and land twice. It was unbelievable how real it all seemed. At the end of the day, they awarded Jackson his wings for his flight suit that he had worn all day. It was an amazing ceremony with over 50 Air Force members and top ranking officers again. We are so thankful for the day and have the Sacred Heart Hospital to thank for nominating Jackson. For the not so good news, Jackson's back has been hurting him more and more for the past three days. We don't know what is wrong yet, but we are very scared about what is causing the pain. We will keep you posted on what they find, but please keep him in your prayers.