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Journal entries from 08/08/02 - 07/30/02

08/08/02

It looks like today won't be the day for Jackson to have the stem-cell purge as expected. They need to wait for his counts to start to rebound and they haven't quite yet. He has had a fairly rough couple of days lately. He had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics and it caused him to turn very red, but they have that taken care of. He also has acquired a staph infection where his Hickman tube goes into his chest. For that he will be put on a separate antibiotic for the next 14 days. The worst of all for him is that the chemo caused him to have many sores inside his mouth that seem to be painful. They give him morphine and two kinds of mouthwash to help calm the pain. His spirits are as good as could be expected and he is liking cookie dough ice cream. As far as throwing out the first pitch at the American Legion Regional Tournament, we just have to see. He may have the purging done at that time. He would love it, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Wyatt headed for Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin's house for a few days. The hospital room gets very small after a few hours with him in it, he has a lot of energy. I'm sure he is having fun with four-wheelers and campfires. If you have a chance, please look at the thank you to the community that should run in the Friday and Sunday Tribune. We couldn't imagine going through all this without you.

08/05/02

As expected, Jackson's fever rose and last night he had to go back to the hospital. Saturday his fever rose off and on all day but never to 100.5, which is the level we need to get to the hospital for. Sunday evening he finally rose above that and Staci took him in. Scott had already headed home for Lewiston for the work week. Jackson's spirits are still good and continue to lift ours. His strength has been amazing, and his smile hasn't ever left for long. He occasionally shows the frustration of not being able to play baseball and rough-house with everyone, but as a whole he has accepted this all very well. Thursday will be a big day for all of us. Jackson will have his stem-cells purged out of his blood system. He will be hooked up to a machine and his blood will be filtered through and the stem-cells will be purged out of the blood. This will happen through a line in his femoral artery. After the cells are purged, they will be frozen and sent to Seattle and then they will remove the bad cells and keep the good ones to be replaced when he goes over for his bone-marrow transplant at a later date. This is all a bit scary for us, but they assure us that it's the best for him. We also wanted to thank the Nazarene Church for having a car wash fund-raiser for us. Once again, the community has done more than we could ever ask. We hope that those involved understand how much we appreciate their time and efforts. Jackson was also asked to throw out the first pitch of the American Legion Regional Tournament if he is in town. We are sure hoping that his health will be good as we know how much it would mean to him. Looks like it will be August 15th.

08/01/02

Jackson has had a very good few days. Wyatt is here and he always makes things a little exciting. We have gone to Riverfront park and Jackson and Wyatt enjoyed all the rides-- especially the Carousel. He is definately slowing down as the week progresses. He has been receiving  a shot in the leg every morning to help stimulate white blood cell production. Chances are he will be getting a fever in the next couple days, as this is when his counts will be at the lowest. When we have our good days it is hard to comprehend how sick he really is, and that we have such a long battle ahead. However, with his unbelievable spirit and sparkling smile, he helps us all to remain positive.

07/30/02

Jackson had good news yesterday. When he finished his Chemo at 4:00 p.m., he got to go to McDonald house. He didn't get sick last night and had a good night sleep. This round of Chemo was much more intense than his last and he got sick several times, but seems to be feeling much better today. The next couple days should be good but then his counts should drop toward the end of the week. Jackson will get a shot today in each leg because he was exposed last Thursday to shingles/chicken pox. The doctor was glad we found out and is taking precautions. As for the plans for the week, Jackson should be able to get out of the house for small doses and every little bit helps. We are sure that Wyatt will keep him entertained and a little irritated. As we said yesterday, Jackson didn't lose all of his hair yet. He lost all the dark hair, but has quite a bit of blond hair left. His friend Alex came to visit him right before he left for Spokane and had shaved his head. I know Jackson liked it and we sure were touched. We hope everyone knows how much their support has meant to us. The challenge would be a lot harder on our own.