Hope

Kait: After a very long wait for Jake's PET scan on 2/4, he was discharged from the hospital, so Randy brought him home. We immediately piled into the car to go to Wendy's where the fundraiser was being held for us. We drove up and saw the sign with Jake's name on it and and we were excited for him to be feeling well so he could enjoy the night. We had a great time and had some delicious food!

Jake's oncologist reviewed his PET scan with Randy and he was very pleased with the results. The tumor is no longer lighting up on the scan like it was before. This means the chemotherapy is working. It's one thing to hear it but it's another to see the proof! We are very excited from this news and hope to continue on the path to recovery.

Jake went to school the next day but didn't feel up to going on Wednesday. He started feeling a little sluggish but not too bad. Friday afternoon he started running a little bit of a temperature but not enough to warrant a call to the hospital. He slept terribly that night and I was worried so I took him to the ER at Egelston to be checked out. They did an X-ray of his belly because he was complaining of pain and they found that he had a large amount of poop built up causing his intestines to distend. He was admitted and they started him on lactulose and an antibiotic (just in case). It was discovered that he also had a urinary tract infection. He spiked a fever that night and whenever that happens he has to stay in the hospital for a few more days. Plus his red blood counts went down overnight so he is getting a transfusion today. Ugh. I really didn't want to be here! So now it's Sunday and nothing has changed, except that he hasn't had a fever again. He can't be discharged until he is fever free for 24 hours, his white blood counts go up at a significant rate, and his blood cultures remain negative for bacteria for 72 hours. The white blood counts can jump miraculously overnight but the other two things we have to wait and see.

Randy took Ethan and Aubrey to the circus today and we found out that they will exchange the remaining two tickets for a different show date! Depending on how things go we may go to the circus next weekend instead. We also have a lot of things planned to do once jake is feeling better. The kids are going to choose whatever fun activities they want and we are going to spend a lot of time together before Jake's surgery on the 26th. My emotions have been going up and down lately even though we got the news of his chemo working. Don't get me wrong, it is good news, but I just want to be done with this. I want it to be gone and I want to close the door on this chapter. Unfortunately, this chapter will never be completely finished because once you have cancer you don't ever forget. There will always be follow up scans to worry about and long term effects of treatment that we won't know until he gets older.

This is really a pessimistic thing, but I saw it on Facebook today and I wanted to quote it because I have been all too guilty of it. If you have been guilty too, don't feel bad, just get even. Help us make a difference!

"What, children with cancer? I'd rather just turn my head the other way and pretend that doesn't really happen, said way too many people."