I realized this morning that I haven’t done a blog update since May!  I get so used to just putting up info on Facebook that I think I have done it here too…oh where has my mind gone!?

Let’s catch up on the past few weeks!  Everything has been going well for Jack since his scans.  We are so thrilled that he has crossed the 2 year mark post treatment!  While we don’t really live by statistics over here, we do know that “statistically”, Jack’s chance of relapse decreases dramatically after the 2 year mark so now that we have that on our side we can feel a little bit better about time passing inbetween scans.  Jack goes back on the 11th to see Dr Eshun for a checkup and then we don’t go back in until November for his next scans!  That is such a long time!!

A week or so after his scans, Jack celebrated his birthday with his buddies and family here at the house with his “Wipeout” themed birthday party.  The kids had a blast!!

Notice Braden doing a little photo bomb in the back!

After the party was over and the kids had all gone home, Jack was out back playing with his cousin when he decided to jump off the slide on his playset and hurt his right foot.  We ended up taking him in to Urgent Care and they took an x-ray and let us know he broke his foot!!  Since it was a holiday weekend they put his foot in a splint and we had to go and get a boot on Tuesday and then follow up with an orthopedic on Wednesday.  We couldn’t believe this happened again!  He broke his left foot doing almost the exact same thing last year.  We let Dr Eshun know that he broke his foot and he wasn’t thrilled with the fact that he broke 2 bones in a year.  Most say, “Oh boys will be boys!” and while that is very true, we always have to go back to cancer and treatment to see if it was a factor with really, to put it mildly, sucks.  So Eshun wanted the orthopedic to look at his bones and possibly do a bone density test since the cancer, and the treatment, can cause thinning of the bones.  Jack was still in good spirits even though he couldn’t walk and was in a bit of pain.

Jack went back to school on Tuesday and we had his classroom party for the end of the year.  We asked all the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up and most kids said teacher and doctor, but Jack said:

Of course I found this to be funny and just so Jack!

The next day was his last day of Kindergarten…notice the boot on his foot…and we are so proud of this little guy.  He has grown so much over this past school year that it really blows my mind!

So I couldn’t get Jack in to see the orthopedic at PCH so I went searching for a new doctor.  I wanted someone who was familiar with oncology and I found this amazing doc who is an oncology/orthopedic!  There are only 3 of them in AZ and she is located very close to us so I called and she said that she would never turn away a child and even though she was fully booked, she got Jack in.  I wanted to go and see her because she would be able to tell if there was any damage done because of cancer or treatment.  So off we went to see her.  Jack had told me that his foot didn’t really hurt anymore and that he felt fine now and I told him we would see what she said.  She pulled up the xrays from the urgent care and looked at them and turned to us and said, “Um, his foot is not broken. There is not a break here at all and maybe, if anything, he was bruised.  His bones look great and very healthy.”  She took off the boot and examined his foot and he let her touch and bend it all over the place.  I just sat there with my mouth wide open…seriously.  This kid has been on a boot or a splint now for 5 days and it wasn’t even broken!  She said we could take off the boot and see how he does…well, he was running by nighttime so he apparently didn’t need anything anymore! Thank God it wasn’t broke!!  I felt so awful that he was going to have to spend his summer in a boot!  The little Ninja got his wish…he gets to swim, do karate, go to the beach, and have fun this summer!

So all in all, everything is going really well.  We will have a few updates coming soon about some events coming up!  Jack had a great idea of something to do this summer and we want as many of you to get involved as you can so details to follow!!!

We will post more later but we wanted you to know…

Just a little update to let you know that Jack did really well yesterday with his scans.  We got to the hospital and he was in great spirits.  We were able to deliver some of our “Stronger Than Cancer” shirts to some of the PCH employees since we had a little bit of time on our hands.  Walking back in to radiology used to feel like you were walking into the hallways of doom because it’s simply terrifying but now, even though we are still nervous about it all, we walk back there and we are greeted by our second family.  The nuclear med team, the CT team, nurse Angela, and of course Dr Maze are all there waiting for us and with open arms.  They care so much about Jack and our family and knowing that they will take such amazing care of him while he is under, makes a huge difference.

Jack fell asleep well, with a smile on his face but with a very strong grip on to Zac’s shirt.  We gave him kisses and ran up to the oncology floor to deliver some more shirts while he was asleep.  The scans didn’t take any longer than needed and we were back in recovery in about 1 1/2 hours.  Jack was sound asleep and after about 20 minutes, he woke up well, ate his popsicle, and we headed home….with a small stop at Toys R Us of course!  Once we were home he had another snack and out he went to play in the backyard….all was back to normal again!

Now we sit and wait for Dr Eshun to call.  We know we won’t know full details until Tuesday but I am really hoping that we get some preliminary results today at some point.  My birthday is on Saturday and the only thing I want is for Jack’s scans to be clear and for him to be cancer free forever.

Thank you all for your love and support…it means so much to us…

Well here were are…already facing another day of scans.  We go in at 9:30 with a CT at 10:30 and then the MIBG at 11.  Please pray that there is nothing in the area where they removed that mass and that nothing lights up on the MIBG scan.  Of course we are nervous, because that is what scans do to you, but we are confident that Jack will be ok and we will get the all clear from the doctor.  Once we get the good news, Jack won’t have to have scans for another 6 months and then that will be 2 1/2 years post treatment! That’s amazing!!

We send out another load of shirts the other day and we thought it would be fun to ask you all…literally 100′s and 100′s of you…to send us a pic of you wearing your shirt today in support of Jack and all the other fighters out there.  So, if you can, wear your shirt today and Stand Up for Jack.  Post your pic on Facebook or email it to me…whatever is best for you!

Thank you, once again, for all of your love and support.  We couldn’t do this without all of you!!!

NED!!!!!!

With Jack turning 6 this weekend and scans coming up next week, I find myself looking at the moments that changed our lives forever and the every day life moments that I don’t ever want to miss out on. (And yes, for some reason when it comes up to times like these I think that I know everything and feel that I need to stand on a soap box and tell you all, but half of the time I am just rambling on so here we go….)

Jack turning 6 is, of course, a huge “Take THAT cancer” moment for us.  I think we feel that more this time because we feel like we could have faced a relapse last month and knowing that Jack sailed through another surgery with such courage and strength makes us want to celebrate another wonderful year of life even more.  It makes you enjoy those moments of laughter, fun, accomplishments, success, and love even that much more.  I really want this years celebration with Jack to focus on just how grateful we are for having him…for having each other.

There have been a few times in this last week that I wanted to grab some people by the neck and tell them to wake up and realize what they are missing out on and how grateful they should be.  Last week at Jack’s baseball game, before the game started, the kids were out practicing catching, throwing, and hitting the ball.  I was standing there and watching Jack, and the other kids, while a father sat next to me in his folding chair and gave all of his attention to his phone.  He wasn’t on a phone call, but he was playing a game.  He must have downloaded the latest app on his iPhone and he was totally enthralled with it.  He had one son who was sitting under another folding chair with his face plugged into his electronic device while his other son was out there busting his little butt playing ball.  Every time he hit the ball, threw the ball, or caught the ball he would turn around and look at his dad who had no idea that the world even existed around him.  All this little boy wanted was for his dad to watch what he was doing and maybe throw out a “Good job” every now and again.  After about 10 minutes or so, the man pealed his eyes off his phone to watch his son for a second.  The boy happened to miss a ball that was thrown at him when he glanced up and the dad stood up and yelled, “oh come on!  Pay attention would you!”  Ummmmm…a little bit of a hypocrite don’t you think sir.  He then continued on with his annoying game and glanced up again a few minutes later when Jack was practicing hitting.  Jack swung and missed the ball…the man chuckled.  Yup, chuckled.  The inside of me wanted to smack him upside the head but I just sat there and kept watching the kids and letting Jack know that I was watching, not to pay attention to anyone else,  and just to keep trying.

A couple of days later we were driving home and passed the park by our house.  There were 4 kids out on the playground playing (they looked to all be related) and parked on the curb, was their dad.  In the car, with the air on, playing on his phone.  Seriously?!  Get out of the car and enjoy your kids!  Get some fresh air or something instead of being glued to your phone.

Do I think we all need to be totally involved at every moment of the day, no.  Do I think its important to be involved in the fun times of our kids lives, absolutely.  Do I think our kids need encouragement and praise when they do a good job, sure do.  Do I think that one day that dad will regret that he missed out on their sons baseball tournament because he was too busy scoring the highest points on Angry Birds, yup.  These moments of life are just as important, if not more, than those of tragedy.  I guess it’s all how you handle it though…

These “moments” that we have are all different.  It could be when we lose someone we love.  It could be when a family member gets sick and it knocks you back in to reality that we are not invincible but we are purely human.  It can also be when your 5 year old hits a double and gets so extremely excited.  It could be when your child performs in a school play, brings home a good grade on a paper, get’s accepted into the college of their dreams.  If you don’t have kids (or even if you do), it could be when you, yourself, accomplishes something that you never thought you could.  It’s when you decide to go outside the box and do something amazing.  Conquer a dream.  It could be so many different things, but if you don’t watch and listen to what is going on around you, you will miss out on it.

I struggle with this too.  Sometimes I find myself too focused on emails, daily chores, and such but all it takes is one look from your son when he wakes up, or a “you inspire me” from a long lost friend, or a “can you help me with something”, or Charlie the Roadrunner (most probably won’t get that one!) to bring you back to reality and realize that there are so many moments throughout each day that you need to be aware of.  Sit back, listen, watch what is going on around you.  Smile, donate your time, hold open the door, give your child a high five, a dance party, a note in their lunch box.  You only have one life to live…spend it doing what you love.

No one leaves this world and wants to be remembered as the one who conquered the most video games on his phone.  Just sayin’…