1/9/2012

One more long and brutal day is behind us. We arrived at the hospital at about 9:00 this morning and checked into same day surgery. Jake was supposed to go in for surgery at 10:15. They did not end up taking him back until 1:00. I think I was a little more frustrated than he was. He got his hands on a wii the minute we walked in and was in heaven with the 5,000 games they have on that thing. He was in really good spirits today, if you can't tell by the pictures below.


He woke up from surgery feeling great and ready to go. And of course milks it for all it is worth. Jeff said he would carry him, but the crazy kid wanted the wagon ride. Love him and his quirky personality.


His port placement went well, as did the bone marrow aspirate and LP. He was given a dose of methotrexate in his spine during the LP. We were not expecting to get the results from the bone marrow test until wednesday, but as we were getting ready to leave, our doctor called and asked if we were still in the hospital. We said we were, and she asked us to wait so she could run down and talk to us. For your information, that is never a good sign. I think I was ready to have a panic attack by the time she walked in. She informed us that the leukemia has in fact spread into his bone marrow. About 80% of the cells were leukemic. The good news is that his spinal fluid was clean. No leukemia there. Hooray!

Knowing tells us exactly the direction that we need to go from here on out. The next five weeks are now mapped out. We will go in on Friday to start chemo. Yay. Steroids. Yay. 28 days of steroids. Double yay. I am so excited about those steroids. They make life at our house so interesting. He will receive fluids, vincristine, doxorubicin (the drug that causes the mouth sores), and the PEG shots we loved so much... those can now be given through his port! SO excited about that part. Those shots were NOT fun. And very painful from what we have heard. In the meantime, Cole and Crew will be tested to see if they are a match for a bone marrow transplant. JUST IN CASE. This is not being pursued as of yet, but if for some reason, they cannot get him to go into remission, it becomes a possibility and we need to be prepared for it. Another maybe is radiation. I am just praying he can go into remission with just the chemo and we won't even have to think about the other two options.

This is not the news we were hoping for, but, at least now we know. No more waiting and wondering. We know what we have to do in order to fight this thing. And fight we will. We know what we are up against. We are scared. And nervous. But at the same time, feel a sense of peace. I know things will be okay. Even if they don't work out the way we want them to, it will still be okay. We will be okay. And that is all that matters right now. Just take it one day at a time.