August 31, 2011 -Back to tubes...

Jackson spiked a 102 fever today.  So they immediately put him on antibiotics and IV fluids.  They also took blood cultures.  If the cultures come back negative he will have to be on antibiotics for a couple of days.  If the cultures come back positive, he will have to be on the antibiotics for another 2 weeks.  Which means a lot longer hospital stay.  Praying for negative cultures.  Please pray for Erik and I as we work through all this.  Thanks!

SO EXCITING!!!!

Ok, so Erik and I just saw Jackson sit by himself for a little while without help to be held up!!! Sorry about the quality of the video I took it with my camera phone.

August 30, 2011

So about 10 min ago they unhooked Jackson from all his tubes!!! As long as he keeps up eating well he can stay off the fluids.  He can now take walks around the hospital with his mask on.  Tomorrow they start taking blood to monitor his counts.  Praying they go down and come up quickly. 

August 29, 2011

Yeah!!! Jackson finished his 4th chemo infusion today!  Now we just play the blood count waiting game again.  He did about the same as he did yesterday, hopefully tomorrow will be even better.  I wanted to post a picture of his updated beads.  The last time we posted a picture it was in the middle of round one and I think he had about 3 and half strands.  This is what he has now:

August 28, 2011

Jackson seems to be doing a little better today! He is eating a teeny bit more and stomached some peaches without throwing up.  He is currently playing with daddy and smiling.  He is actually trying to get the computer screen from me and trying to read it.  Please continue to pray that he will feel better and eat.  He has 26 more hours of chemo to go this round!  

Standing Firm

I think today's title describes Jackson. Today he is fighting. Fighting for sleep, which the cytarabine (chemo(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytarabine)) is causing. Since he has been in the hospital, 2 nights, he has been accompanied by 2 fevers. Though in a normal case 101.4 and 100.6 are not to frightening, to Jackson this is a battle. Why? The Cytarabine and Daunorubicin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daunorubicin), which are two of the three chemo treatments he is getting, are helping to lower his counts whereby his ability to fight off infection become virtually non-existent. Everyday we see Jackson not only as our Son, but as our encouragement. Encouragement to make it through a 15 hour days with no slowing down or encouragement to fight our way through trials that seem to constantly show up no matter how small or how big they may be. Standing Firm is who He is day in and day out. He is an example to me in comparison of my relationship to God. Am I willing to stand firm day in and day out no matter what the possibilities may be or how high I need to jump to accomplish the task before me? No words describe the love we have for Jackson, only our actions do the talking. That is what he has shown me Today!

Hope!

Do you ever have one of those days where you realize or accomplish something that seemed afar off? I think today was one of those days. In the beginning of this process, the whole thought of this was long and drawn out, but now we only have 3 more rounds to go. This still seems like a lot, but knowing that the treatments get easier on Jackson make me feel a little better. As it has been before, Jackson is in for 14-32 days depending on how he responds to the chemo which started today at 6pm. What I realized today, was that in the beginning of the knowledge of Jackson and his complications, I had so little understanding of Hope, Love, Faith, and Trust. Now that we have been enjoying the laughter and love of this wonderful child, I have come to see how easy it is to get down in life's struggles and yet those darkest days in my life are still better than Jackson's.  He has been an encouragement to me, and my Family. My God has opened my heart and eyes more than I ever thought would happen and I see more joy in life than ever before.

Sometimes I just want to ask why???

Back to the ER we go....Last night Jackson's 3rd central line sprouted a leak.  Erik took him to the hospital where they successfully patched it, however one of the lines has a clot in it, so another new line may be possible next week.  Jackson will be readmitted to the hospital next Friday for round 4 of treatment.  We appreciate everyone's prayers.