Two pieces of good news…

1st off, we got the audiology report in the mail yesterday from Jack’s test he had last week and all looks great!  He does have some high frequency hearing loss from the chemo, BUT it has actually improved from his last test 3 months ago!!  They want to do another test in 3 months just to see how things are going, but they do not see him needing hearing aids as of now and that is wonderful!  We are so happy that his body has held up so well after all that he has been through.

Another good thing..he gets to stop his Acyclovir!  He has been on this medication 2 times a day since transplant and since we are coming up on the year anniversary of transplant (no, we cannot believe it has been a year already) we get to stop!  This means that the only medication he is on is his thyroid medication.  We will be going to see the endocrinologist in the next month or so to retest his thyroid function again to see if he really even needs it at all.  Hopefully his body has recovered itself and he won’t need to be on any meds at all.

More later!

It’s Monday again and Jack is back at school after another great weekend!  We were busy bees this weekend, but one of the highlights was yesterday because we were able to go to the Diamondback’s game courtesy of Joe and Shanel Saunders and Team Saundo!   We went with some family and friends to the game a little early and were able to take the kids out on the field and they loved it!  Jack walked on the field and said, “oooohhhh my gosh!  This is so cool!”  It was Jack’s first game and he was so excited.  We spent some time down there and got to take some pictures with the large bobble head guys and well as be able to do a meet and greet with Joe and Daniel Hudson.  They were so very nice and took the time to talk with everyone there and sign autographs for all the kids.  We gave Joe one of Jack’s bracelets and he immediately put it on and said he would wear it.  It was so nice of him and although Jack was acting pretty shy, he thought it was cool that he was wearing  bracelet just like him.  The guys signed the back of Jack’s jersey and Jack told me not to touch it because he didn’t want it getting ruined!

After meeting the guys, we were taken up to our suite and were all able to relax and have a great time watching the game and having fun.  The kids loved being able to run around instead of having to sit still in a seat the whole game.  The Diamondbacks won and we are convinced it is because Joe wore Jack’s bracelet…it should definitely be his good luck charm for now on!

Here are a few…well, actually more than a few, pictures of our great Sunday…

Jack and Abbey out front of Chase Field:

Jack in the administrative building:

Jack and Mommy on the field:

Our family:

jack

Autograph time with Daniel:

The guys and Cruz:

Joe Saunders…notice Jack is a tad shy now!

and Braden wasn’t shy at all!  He kept taking the baseball and pitching it at the guys:

The gang:

Game time!

Braden not happy about a bad call made in the game:

Still wearing Jack’s bracelet!

Of course I had to make a baseball sandwich this morning!

So waiting pretty much stinks…until you get great news!!  We are so thrilled that Dr Eshun called us with the news that all of Jack’s scans came back totally normal and it was an even better sign that the remaining part of his main tumor has continued to shrink to almost nothing!!  Perfect!!

Jack went back to school today and since he is the star student of the week, he brought his poster as well as his Beads of Courage to share with the class.  I didn’t really think that he would say too much to the class because he gets rather shy in front of people, but the teacher told me when I picked him up that he loved sharing his beads and he was telling everyone what they all stood for.  We still hadn’t heard anything by the time I got him from school and I can say that I felt like I was going insane.  Scan result days are really not fun.  You never know what you are going to hear.  We knew that Jack would be fine…we really believed that, but you always have that little voice in the back of your head that says, “What if…”  What if there is something new.  What if there is a questionable spot.  What if we have to check in on Monday to start treatment again.  You cannot help but think these things.  We try to block them out as best as we can but they will always be there.

Now that we know all is well, we can move on.  We don’t have to go back to see Dr Eshun for another 3 months.  We have decided to continue to do the urine tests every month even though we don’t have to, but it can give somewhat of piece of mind.

Anyway…all is good here.  We are having Jack’s favorite, salmon, tonight and have made a chocolate cake decorated with green icing upon his request.  I know there is more that has gone on today but my mind is totally mush right now.

Love to all…thank you for all of your support!!!

PS…thank you for all of the calls, texts, messages, emails that have been sent our way.  You have no idea how much they help! Erin…I hope you are reading this…your email to me the other day that you sent over Facebook totally set the tone for the day…in a great way.  Thank you so much…you are amazing.  You and Jack…kicking cancer out the door forever!

All clear!!  NED!!  Normal!  NO CANCER!!

Even his CT showed that where his main tumor was that the residual tissue has even shrunk and is almost totally gone!!

More to come later!!

Scan days are done for now…and hopefully they will be done for 3 months!  Today went well…my Aunt Carrie came over to stay with Braden while Nikki and my Dad went with me to the hospital with Jack.  We checked in and waited for about a hour until we were finally called back to get ready for his hearing test.  Thankfully we didn’t get there the recommended 2 hours early or else we would have been there forever!  Anyway, the tests were pushed back a bit because they were running behind, but good ol’ Dr Maze had it all figured out.  He took us…me, Jack, my dad, Nikki, and the hearing test lady through the back ways to the new part of the hospital and decided to have his MIBG and his hearing test all done in the same room.  Love that man.

Anyway, we finally got everything going and Jack decided that he wanted to go to sleep with the mask today instead of having a poke in his hand.  He did really well!  It took a bit longer than the Propofol took, but he still did great anyway.  About 15 minutes before the scan was done, our favorite radiation nurse, Angela, came out to say hi and let us know that she checked in on Jack (even though he wasn’t her patient today) and that he was almost done.  We saw Dr Maze bring him back to recovery and soon enough we were back there too.  Jack took a bit to wake up, but he did it well.  He had his usual drink and Popsicle and then off we went.  With another stop at Toys R Us and a bunch of Plum Organics and 2 Nintendo Wii games later (they were buy one get one half off!) we were on our way home.  Jack ate really well tonight and now he is in bed and sleeping so he can get up early for school tomorrow.

We ran in to Dr Eshun again in the halls on the way to scans (he said it was good luck) and he said he would call us tomorrow so hopefully we will have news for you in the afternoon sometime.  In the meantime, keep up the prayers and positive thinking!!

A few pics from the past few days:

Jack’s Poster for school…what he asked me to write:

Jack getting ready for his poke yesterday:

CT scan..such a big boy!

Getting ready:

In he goes…notice me holding his Spongebob for him:

His prize for doing so good!

On our way to Bone Scan:

Getting ready for bone scan:

Propofol in his hand…didn’t go so well, but Dr Maze was great making him feel ok…

Waking up…

Today…Grandpa and Jack playing air hockey before scans:

Jack getting a tad annoyed that he hasn’t started scans yet!

Dr Maze putting the mask on for the first time:

Falling asleep and right before his good luck kiss from Dr Maze:

Going back to recovery:

Watching the pulse machine and waiting for him to wake up:

He’s up and Grandpa insisted on a picture: