I can hardly believe our 2nd Annual Comedians for a Cure event is only 4 days away!  We are so excited!  I cannot tell  you how thrilled we are with all the support we have received from AZ news and radio!  We are so thankful that so many want to do all they can to help promote our event and make it so successful!

Tomorrow, Boomer Nichols (our MC of the event) will be on 101.5 FM with Luis Gonzalez at 4:00 PM!  Be sure to tune in and listen!!

Yesterday we taped a segment that will air on EVB Live (channel 12) on Friday between the 4-5:00 PM hour.  They will air the segment on Jack and our family followed by one of our amazing comedians, Jill Bryan going on live!

Saturday Luis, Jack, Boomer, and myself will be going on News channel 15 at 8:30 AM and then heading over to Good Morning AZ (channel 3) at 9:40 AM!  We have a jam packed schedule and we couldn’t be happier about it.

This whole week 104.7FM and XTRA 910 AM sports radio have been promoting the event and hosting contests to give away a few sets of tickets.

Don’t forget to click on the link about to purchase your tickets…I promise you don’t want to pass up on this night!  We are through the roof excited about it!

If you can’t make it and still want to help, be sure to text “HAND” to 50555 and a $5 donation will be added to your phone bill in support of our night.

ALL proceeds will be going directly to PCH for Neuroblastoma research!  Please help us make this year beyond amazing!!

Jack is almost done with his first week of Kindergarten and he is absolutely loving it.  He comes home in a great mood, shows me some things he has learned, sings songs, does sign language and chats about the kids in his class.  He is still not thrilled that they haven’t played many games yet, but I am trying to make him undertand that the beginning is to learn the rules and get into a routine and I promise there will be a time for games.  I recieved a note from the teacher yesterday letting me know that Jack is doing really well and isn’t shy at all (which was my main concern since he is shy when he dosen’t know anyone) and that he is doing wonderful and participates in everything.  This made me feel so good and, of course, so proud.  He brought home some worksheets they did today and he asked, “Are you proud of my work?” I told him, “Of course I am!  I am so proud of you!” With that he said that he was happy to hear that.  I asked if he was proud of himself and he said, “Yeah, I am.  I am really proud.” I told him that is even more important because if you are proud of yourself then you are doing something right.  He is such and old soul.

Speaking of old souls…my Grandpa passed away 10 years ago and if you knew my Grandpa, you LOVED him.  He was so happy, so positive, so completly everything.  Even in the last few days of his time here, we would ask him how he was doing and his reply was, “I never had it so good.”  There are many times, even before Jack was sick, that I would wonder if he was watching.  If he knows all that has gone on.  If he is proud.  If he watches over our family.  The other night I had a dream and it was all too real.  It was one of those dreams that you think about for weeks and truly believe it was true.  My mom says that sometimes God talks to you through your dreams and that is exactly what I am hoping.  To make it a short story I had a dream that my Grandma was coming to visit us with her old friend from Texas.  When Nikki and I opened the door to see her, she was laughing and telling a story and standing right next to her, smiling and laughing, was my Grandpa.  It took my breath away.  I told my sister that he was there and she said, “ummm, no…he’s not.”  I was so confused in this dream.  As the rest of the family came over I asked if anyone saw him and they all said no.  I asked him if he could see me and talk to me and he said yes.  I asked if he was always happy and always by my Grandma watching her and he told me, “I am ALWAYS with your Grandma.  Always.”  I asked if he knew about Jack and knew of all we had been through and he said, ” I know about it all.  I have been here the whole time.”  At that point Jack sat on his lap and my Grandpa made him laugh as if he was still here.  I woke up so many times with tears running down my face and kept falling back asleep with my dream picking up where it left off.  I woke up wondering if this really happened, but obviously I knew it was a dream.  I really hope this was God’s way of letting my Grandpa talk to me…

This week the kids and I have been listing to music a lot when they are home and keeping the TV off…especially during dinner.  The past few nights they will hear a song that they “LOVE” and Braden asks if we can dance…so that is what we do.  We get up, dance our butts off, and then get back to dinner.  They are a sweaty mess and full of way too much energy to stay seated during the rest of dinner, but they had fun.  They had me letting go and just truly having fun with them.  Have you done that lately?  Just let it all go and had fun for a minute?  Try it…I promise you won’t regret it.

It has been forever since we have posted anything but I think we needed a break for a bit.  Not from posting, just from everything….make sense??  Our air went out in the house and if you live in Arizona, you know how awful that is!  It was 110 out and we decided to ditch AZ for CA for a week and a half and it was well worth it!  We stayed with my parents for most of the trip and it was great!  We went to Sea World with the the kids and they really enjoyed it.  The beach is by far their favorite place to be and I wish we could have gone there more but weather was not the best for the ocean.  We had a good time just getting away from everything.

We came back Sunday night to a cool house because of a new air unit and it is much better in here!  Jack had two doctors appointments today…he had to get an Echo and a EKG as well as do a pulmonary function test.  He did good with both and I am sure we will hear from Dr Eshun in the next couple of days with results.  I don’t anticipate them being any less than great so let’s just go with that!

Tomorrow Jack has to meet with a urologist.  During his last set of scans they saw that one of his testicles has moved back up and not descended.  After seeing Eshun and his pediatrician, they both wanted him to go see a urologist to see if he needs a procedure to bring it back down.  Most of the time they will just wait it out to see if it falls on it’s own, but with Jack’s past we will probably opt for the procedure.  The treatment that Jack has gone through may affect his chance to have kids when his is older as well as increase his odds for secondary cancer so we want to always do everything to prevent all we can.  When a testicle is not in the proper place, the temperature is not accurate and can be damaging for his future for both kids and testicular cancer.  Of course these are worst case scenarios, but like I said, because of Jack’s past we will do everything to prevent any more damage to his body….sooooo off to the urologist we go.  Probably more info than you needed, but it is what it is!

Today marks the beginning of International Neuroblastoma Awareness week…do us a favor, take the time to share Jack’s story with someone you know who you haven’t shared it with.  Send them his website…let them know how awful this beast is and how we need to do everything we can to help spread awareness and raise money for research.  Let someone know how many children are affected by this disease every year and how we need to do something to change this.  Here are a few facts:

Neuroblastoma is a cancer that develops from nerve cells found in several areas of the body. Neuroblastoma most commonly arises in and around the adrenal glands, which have similar origins to nerve cells and sit atop the kidneys. However, neuroblastoma can also develop in other areas of the abdomen and in the chest, neck and pelvis, where groups of nerve cells exist.

• Neuroblastoma is a common and often difficult to treat cancer, the most common cancer in infancy.
• In the United States, about 600 children are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year.
• It is the most common tumor found in children younger than 1 year of age.
• Neuroblastoma is the most common extra cranial solid tumor cancer in children.
• Every 16 hours a child with neuroblastoma dies.
• There is no known cure for relapsed neuroblastoma.
• Nearly 70% of those children first diagnosed with neuroblastoma have disease that has already metastasized or spread to other parts of the body. When disease has spread at diagnosis and a child is over the age of 2, there is less than a 30% chance of survival.

We will share more facts as the week continues because we want to do all we can to help fight this disease.  As always, thank you so much for all of your support.  One day we will find the words to tell you how much we appreciate it…

Well it’s after 9:00 PM so obviously we won’t be hearing from Dr Eshun tonight….ughh.

Jack did really well today though so that’s a plus!  We arrived at PCH on time and all went really smooth.  We were really happy to see our favorite nucular med nurse, Angela, there and then to know that she would be taking care of Jack while he was under was an extra bonus!  We got to see the Amazing Mary and the rest of the nucular med team and that’s something we actually really enjoy.  The people that are down in this department are really top notch.  We really love them all and consider them part of our family so it is always nice to see them.  Dr Maze arrived and after chatting with him for a bit we got the show on the road.  Jack did well with the mask and went right to sleep.  Almost exactly 1 1/2 hours later, Dr Maze came out and said, “Well do you plan on coming back and seeing him or just sitting in this waiting room all day.”  Typical Dr Maze…love him.  He said Jack did well despite his cold and that was proven when he woke up within 5 minutes of my Dad and I being back there.  Usually he snoozes for a bit, but not this time!  He was up very fast, had his purple popsicle, apple juice, and grabbed his gold fish for the road and we were off.  By the time we got home, he was running around like a crazy man and ate a wonderful dinner so it seems like he is getting back to his old self already.

We are sitting and waiting now for Dr Eshun to call to give us final results but we feel pretty good about it this time.  I am nervous as all get out, but I feel good.

Tomorrow my Dad and I are taking Jack to see a new endocrinologist.  I didn’t get the best “vibe” from his last doctor so we decided to make a change.  We will meet the new doc tomorrow and see what he thinks about Jack’s thyroid and were we need to go from here.  Hopefully we will hear from Eshun tomorrow but we may not until we see him Friday morning.  We will keep you in the loop as we get the news.

I am attaching some pics from the last couple of days…some are of Jack falling asleep at scans so I just wanted to give you the heads up about that.  He is always safe with Dr Maze and that is why we feel comfortable showing pics of him being put under.

I also want to take a second to say thank you to all of you….old friends, new friends, some we have never met for all of your encouraging words of the last week.  I have recieved so many wonderful texts, emails, Facebook posts, Twitter messages…it is all just so comforting.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart…

Day 1…CT Scan…

Day 2…reading before Dr Maze arrives…

and here he is…cracking jokes as usual!

Here you go!  These are a few pictures form the other day at the Cardinals stadium for the Children’s Miracle Network!  The pictures not only include myself, Jackers, and my mom…but it shows you who the amazing people who I talk about are…Adrian, Alicia, Garett, and Evon…and Jack’s girlfriend Megan!