September 10, 2011

YEAH!!!! Jackson got to come home last night!!!!  I am so happy!  We are praying for an uneventful time at home!   He goes in next Wednesday the 21st to get a bone marrow biopsy and to check his blood counts.  We are so thankful to have time at home with our little man! :-)

September 7, 2011

Jackson is doing well today!  His counts are up a little bit...we are hoping this is a good sign and that they will continue to go up so he can go home really soon!  He is starting to show that he is a little sinner too...:-)   He is definitely starting to test authority, and will scream and cry when he doesn't get his way.  He also is like every other child and does not want to eat his vegetables.  :-)  Erik and I sometimes have these moments when we are stern with him or discipline him and he makes the funniest faces and we both have to look away or walk away or we will laugh.  ( I know that is terrible :-()  On Monday we had some bad weather here and while we were at the hospital they had a tornado warning.  So they moved every patient out of their room and into this central area....so many germs...Thankfully it only lasted about a half an hour.  Thank you to all the prayer warriors out there who faithfully pray for us on a daily basis....I know it is because of people like you that God gives us strength even on the hardest days. 

My Little Love

Erik Made this for me and I love it!!!

September 4, 2011

Jackson is happy and playful today!  His blood counts are very low, my guess is that they have bottomed out....praying they will come up quickly so that he can go home!  I have gotten another cold and so I have to wear a mask around Jackson....the fun of being a teacher...:-(  I am hoping I don't get him sick.   We are enjoying spending the day together.  Jackson sends out lots of hugs!

September 2, 2011

Today Jackson's blood counts dropped.  He received blood today because his hemoglobin dropped below 8(normal is 12 and above).  He has been very sleepy and mellow today because of his low blood counts.  He is currently still receiving antibiotics and will probably continue to do so until his counts come back up so that he doesn't spike another fever.  So far the blood cultures they took on Wednesday are still negative!!! yeah!  They have to monitor them for a little while more, but negative right now is on the right track.  Thanks for all of the negative thoughts! :-)  I can't believe in 3 days my baby will be 11 months old...however it kinda feels like he should be 11 years old! :-)

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.

July 30, 2011

Yesterday was one of those days where I want someone to pinch me to see if I am dreaming.  The doctor came in yesterday afternoon and said, "Happy day!  You can go home!"  What????  He has never come home that fast before.  It has always been 3-4 weeks and it has only been 2...I couldn't believe it.  So we quickly made phone calls and some willing friends helped us get all of Jackson's stuff home.  Usually he has to have platelets or blood but this time he didn't.  I am so happy to be home!!!  We were praying for some encouragement and the Lord blessed us with some.  Today I got to feed him sweet potatoes in his highchair at HOME! Happy Day!!!

July 29, 2011

Jackson is doing well...his counts are still very low, but he is feeling much better.  He is enjoying playing, rolling, sitting, laughing, and just being his happy self.  We have been working on getting him to eat solid foods as well as formula.  The last couple of days he has been doing pretty well opening his mouth and eating.  He is still really messy, but he gets some of it into his belly. :-)  This week his new food is bananas and he seems to really like them.  In a couple of days we will try green beans.  I can't get him to eat the rice cereal.  He hates it, even when it is mixed in with baby food.  I can't believe I already have to go back to work next week.  I am going to miss spending so much time with Jackson.  Please pray for Erik and I as we start driving separately to the hospital every day after work.  It gets very old very quick.  Thanks for you prayers!

Sweet boy!

At the hospital we put blankets over the sides of the crib so that it is darker and he will go to sleep without getting distracted.  Today he figured out how to pull them down and look out anyway!! Silly sweet boy! Peek-a-boo!

July 26, 2011

Jackson's counts continue to drop...hopefully that means that this time next week they will be on there way back up.  :-)  We are so thankful for friends, church, and family who are there to help us in our time of need.  We have found people to watch Jackson that first week I have to be back at school.  Thank you Lord!  Sometimes I feel like when we feel the lowest, God sends special people into our lives to encourage us.  Thank you Lord for friends!

July 25, 2011

"Fear not for I am with thee; Be not dismayed for I am thy God.  I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" Isaiah 42:10

July 24, 2011

Yeah we finally got moved into a bigger room at the hospital last night!!!!  Much more room for Jackson to play!  We brought in his excersaucer from home and he is really enjoying it today.  Eating is still a big concern for us....he eats, just not enough.  Please pray!  We are also asking prayer that we would work out who can watch Jackson when I have to return to work August 1st.  We have a nanny but she can't start until August 8th.  I don't want him to be alone here, but I can't take off the first week of school.  Thank you all for your continued prayers and encouragement to Erik and I.

July 23, 2011

Good morning!  I just wanted to share a funny story about Jackson! :-)  Yesterday after a miserable day I decided to give Jackson a bath.  Giving him a bath at the hospital is different than at home.  You have to do it on the hospital bed.  They give you this bowl about 12 inches in diameter and about 5 inches deep.  Not big enough for a baby to sit in.  So I just lay him on the bed next to the bowl.  I spread towels over the bed and filled the bowl with warm water about 3 inches full.  I washed Jackson's hair and then he decided that he wanted to be in the water I guess. He reached over and grabbed the tub with one hand and pulled it over himself and dumped the whole tub of water on top of him at once.  So he is laying there in a huge a puddle of water looking at me like, "what just happened??!!"  Our poor nurse had to change his bedding for the third time that day.  It just really made me laugh...I wish I had thought to take a picture! :-)