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Friday, September 7, 2007 6:07 PM CDT

Jason is doing GREAT!! 22 months off chemo and no problems!! He has not even been sick, besides 2 bouts of poison ivy and a little cold he just got over! Jason has went to second grade now! 5 days into school he already tried to hide a note from me! He is playing foot-ball with Perryville Football this year, this is his first sport he has ever played! He wanted to play baceball but I missed sign up's. He is very, very active...full of energy, always playing either inside or outside. You won't see him watching tv, on computer, or playing video games very much here at my house, and boy am I happy about that! He reads soooooo well but sure needs some practice in hand-writing!
His brother James, now 15, in 10th grade at high school and playing soccor for high school! He's georgeous, happy and clowning around most of the time...or attatched to the computer screen or playstation or fighting with me(his mom).
His sister Megan is now 12, in 7th grade at middle school. She is cheerleading for her 2nd year and may I say is very, very GOOD! Meg Peg enjoys "hanging" with friends, taking pictures and you will find her attatched to the computer in-between James. Megan in growing into quite a lady and she is beautiful! We dyed her hair very blonde this year and she looks like a new girl. You will also find her fighting with me and pushing all my buttons!
Me, (Jason's mom) is still very alone, working very hard at work at a nursing home as a nurse, trying to keep up with all of life's stuff, worrying my heart out about my kids and their future and wearing myself down. Sure wish life could be a little easier and happier.
We did just get back from a little trip to Virginia, in the mountains over Labor day holiday. The most fun I've had because we were around loving kind people who were so friendly. I really enjoyed thier southern accients and hospitality. We enjoyed 2 full days of outside fun: swimming and playing ball, playing with animals, the kids making music in the rec center and climbing a big hill, fishing and playing at a park! It was awesome! No computers, no cell phones! How great! The worst part was DRIVING 8 hours!!!
Thats all for Now!! God Bless

Friday, July 13, 2007 4:34 PM CDT

Jason is doing great! off chemo 19 months now. He is 7 years old and going into 2nd grade. All counts have been good! We go for counts every other month now! We are enjoying summer break, just got back from Ocean city! We had a wonderful time. Jason hair in nearly white and he is as tan as a surfer dude! Jason enjoyd playing outside ALL the time and he is still very very active. I am so proud of him, He is very smart and keeps up with all his school work very well. He reads so well and I am very happy about that!

Friday, November 17, 2006 8:55 PM CST

**************** CONGRATULATIONS TO JASON ****************


The end of this month we celebrate 1 year off Chemotherapy!
WOO HOO and is well with Jason medically.

We have made it through the first marking period of school this year and I am proud to announce my oldest children have made Honor Roll! Great Job JAMES and MEGAN!! Jason gets the simple checks and all was well.


Well with Thanksgiving right around the corner ~ HAPPY TURKEY DAY~

Monday, August 14, 2006 6:38 PM CDT

FINALLY got to update journal!! Well here we are 8 months off chemo! Jason finished chemo November 2005 and had his port removed April 11, 2006. So far so good!! Jason has had no illness or mishaps since then! He has ha a busy summer, having fun and playing. He just got home from his 1st year of Camp Sunrise! He has a wonderful time. I was sooo excited for him to go for I knew he would have an awesome, excellent time, but before the bus left I just felt I wanted to get right on that bus and follow him to camp. I wanted to go with him and get his bed all ready and get all his things together, but actually I just stood there, waved and then prayed that someone would get his stuff all together, AND THEY DID!! He survived his 1st camp experience and did wonderful, came home with a bag full of sandy, dirty clothes which was proof he had a GREAT time. So here we are with the new school year approaching! Jason is going to 1st grade this year, James, his brother 9th grade (1st year high school) and his sister, Megan going to 6th Grade (1st year of middle school). We are all excited about getting ready for the new year, getting our supplies, shoes and new clothes together! Jason says he can't wait to go to first grade! Thats all for now!! Take Care

Monday, August 14, 2006 6:38 PM CDT

FINALLY got to update journal!! Well here we are 8 months off chemo! Jason finished chemo November 2005 and had his port removed April 11, 2006. So far so good!! Jason has had no illness or mishaps since then! He has ha a busy summer, having fun and playing. He just got home from his 1st year of Camp Sunrise! He has a wonderful time. I was sooo excited for him to go for I knew he would have an awesome, excellent time, but before the bus left I just felt I wanted to get right on that bus and follow him to camp. I wanted to go with him and get his bed all ready and get all his things together, but actually I just stood there, waved and then prayed that someone would get his stuff all together, AND THEY DID!! He survived his 1st camp experience and did wonderful, came home with a bag full of sandy, dirty clothes which was proof he had a GREAT time. So here we are with the new school year approaching! Jason is going to 1st grade this year, James, his brother 9th grade (1st year high school) and his sister, Megan going to 6th Grade (1st year of middle school). We are all excited about getting ready for the new year, getting our supplies, shoes and new clothes together! Jason says he can't wait to go to first grade! Thats all for now!! Take Care

Monday, March 7, 2005 6:59 PM CST

Our last appointment on 3/1/05, Jason counts have all came up WBC's up to 6,140 and ANC of 2886. He had his 15th spinal tap and it didn't go as well as usual. He usually does real well, but this time I don't think he was numb enough because he screamed so hard when the needle went into his back. It was sooooo hard and heartbreaking. Then he said "I don't want to do this back test anymore" What am I suppose to say? How do you explain to your pecious child that you have to have this sinal tap and chemo to save your life? All I could say is "I'm so sorry little angel" He was given more liocaine but it still didn't smoothly, he was wiggling, crying and trying to look at his back, meanwhile the nurse is trying to keep him "curled up like kitten" as we say. I was so glad when it was all done! His doctors decided after the 2 hospilazations with low counts they would change him from Bactrim po 3 x week to the IV form of prophlactic antiobiotic, called Petamidine. Now he is on his 7 days of steriods, eating non-stop and emotionally distaught most of the time, crying, whining and being so mean. His face is getting real chubby (side effect of steriods). I am thankful his counts are back up. He is back to school and daycare and doing real well. James and Megan are doing fine as well. Just finished having a weekend at friends houses having a lot of fun! Me~(mom) hanging in here taking life day by day, praying for stegnth.



Jason:

JASON ON STERIODS:

Wednesday, February 23, 2005 6:41 AM CST

After spending 5 1/2 days in the Hopkins hotel with flu, ear infection, and ANC of 0 we are home with an ANC of 28. He was doing good otherwise so they sent him home for his counts to recover. I spent the entire night cleaning and sterilizing the house. I cleaned the kitchen real good, threw away all sippy cups that I cant get the crud out of the lids, wiped off door knobs, scrubbed the tub, toliet and sink, washed the shower curtain and disinfected toothbrushes then moved to his room, vaccumed his bed, room and changed the sheets then gave him a good bath and laid him in his nice clean bed and said, "stay here and stay clean." Today I think I will vaccuum some more and dust! Jason is feeling OK, a little cranky and taking an albuterol inhaler twice a day for his bad cough. he actually think is fun to put the mask on an breath in the little "puff" from the chamber. Back to work tomorrow UUG! My Aunt and Uncle will watch him untill we can get his counts back up to a decent number for him to return to school and daycare.

Saturday, February 19, 2005 6:32 PM CST

Jason was admitted into the hospital Thursday 2/17 after having what I thought was a stuffy nose, fever and ear pain. When I took him the Oncology Clinic his fever went to 100.0 and he had an ear infection and the nurse needed to get a sample of his snot for lab testing, Jason was screaming bloody murder because she had to run a catheter down his nose and I was telling him to blow thw snot out and when he did he blew out 2 wads of snotty toliet paper that he had shoved up in his nose! Thats my Jason! He said his nose was running so bad he put them in there. He had his whole nose blocked up! Once the blood counts came back he was admitted because of WBC'S of 600 and an ANC of 140. He then tested positive for the FLU. On Friday his WBC"S were 500 and ANC of 40. Today, Saturday he has an ANC of 0 and WBC'S of 600. He is now having diarrhea and vomitted once today. His color is crappy, he's losing weight but other than thet he is still playing and full if energy. We have a room full of toys, games, puzzles, colorings books, crayons and markers. Today he called on the nurses light and when they said "Can I help you?" Jason said "CAN I HAVE MORE TOYS?!" I just shook my head! When the doctors came in today, 3 of them and checked him all out, they were leaving and Jason said "Who are you guys anyway?" I was rolling in laughter and I said, "They are the new clowns in training" So here we are hanging out at the Johns Hopkins Hotel on Nuetropenic and Droplet isolation, waiting for blood cells to grow! Just another rut in the cancer road. Please pray for health and cells for Jason and stregnth for Me & Dad.

Saturday, February 19, 2005 6:32 PM CST

Jason was admitted into the hospital Thursday 2/17 after having what I thought was a stuffy nose, fever and ear pain. When I took him the Oncology Clinic his fever went to 100.0 and he had an ear infection and the nurse needed to get a sample of his snot for lab testing, Jason was screaming bloody murder because she had to run a catheter down his nose and I was telling him to blow thw snot out and when he did he blew out 2 wads of snotty toliet paper that he had shoved up in his nose! Thats my Jason! He said his nose was running so bad he put them in there. He had his whole nose blocked up! Once the blood counts came back he was admitted because of WBC'S of 600 and an ANC of 140. He then tested positive for the FLU. On Friday his WBC"S were 500 and ANC of 40. Today, Saturday he has an ANC of 0 and WBC'S of 600. He is now having diarrhea and vomitted once today. His color is crappy, he's losing weight but other than thet he is still playing and full if energy. We have a room full of toys, games, puzzles, colorings books, crayons and markers. Today he called on the nurses light and when they said "Can I help you?" Jason said "CAN I HAVE MORE TOYS?!" I just shook my head! When the doctors came in today, 3 of them and checked him all out, they were leaving and Jason said "Who are you guys anyway?" I was rolling in laughter and I said, "They are the new clowns in training" So here we are hanging out at the Johns Hopkins Hotel on Nuetropenic and Droplet isolation, waiting for blood cells to grow! Just another rut in the cancer road. Please pray for health and cells for Jason and stregnth for Me & Dad.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005 8:43 AM CST

Jason's 5th Birthday today! Happy birthday "JAY JAY".
We celebrated with a bowling party on Saturday night with family and friends. He had a great time except The last ball of the night, he decided to do a crazy move and the ball came down on his thumb and it is now broken. He got a broken thumb for his 5th birthday. it is now in a splint, very fat, tight and purple! All is well with treatment. We have made it to "long term maintance" and I love the MTX once a week now instead of every 6 hours on Mondays for 4 doses. James and Megan are doing real good, no new news and Mom is doing GREAT. Working on buying a townhouse, will be in by June! Only 5 months to go!!!! Only 10 months of treatment left... were on the home stretch now!
~Happy 5th Birthday Jason Matthew~

Tuesday, December 14, 2004 7:41 PM CST

Jason just got out of the hospital after spending 3 days in for low counts and high fever. He went in on Thursday and was discharged on Saturday. He was real sick the first day, slept mostly the whole day. He had IV fluid and IV antibiotics. He is better now and back to school and daycare. Just one of those "ruts" in the road on the cancer highway. I am just glad to have broken out of the "Hopkins Hotel", and to be home again and resuming a normal life.
Christmas is coming real soon and I am so excited. This has been the best Christmas I have had in a long time! Everyting is going so wonderful for me, I've waited a long time to finally enjoy life as it was meant to be.
James are megan are doing GREAT too Nothing new to report.

Wednesday, December 1, 2004 9:52 PM CST

Hello! Tuesday was Jason's #15th (yes 15th, not a typo) spinal Tap with MTX. He did it like a champ as usual. They gave him the good ole Versed and 20 minutes later he was asking to go to the "dream room". Once on the table, his nurse told him he was going to curl up like a kitten and he watched a slide show on the ceiling while the doctor did his thing taking fluid out and putting chemo in...Just a typical afternoon to a cancer Mom. Then we laid together on the bed and watched Shrek until her felt good enough to get up and not walk like a drunk. Home we went and he resumed all normal activities. I'm in for a rough week with the 7 days of steriods. Untill next time........

Wednesday, September 15, 2004 5:55 PM CDT

We are at the library to update Jason's site. We are all doing so great!!! It was a rough few months but everyone has settled into our new home, new schools and daycare, and my new job!
James (Jason's big brother) started 7th grade at a new school and is doing well! He just bought a new skateboard with his birthday money he save up! He turned 12 on 8/31.
Megan (Jason's sister) started 4th grade at a new school and is doing great. She goes to daycare with Jason at a GREAT christian daycare. SHe turned 9 on 8/29.
Jason started Pre-K on 8/31 and is doing real good. He just finished up a week of steriods and has been an emotional wreck! I have to end now my computer time is up!! Will do more next time

Thursday, June 3, 2004 6:58 PM CDT

****Update We celebrated Jasn's 1 year anniversary on May 9, 2004 with his favorite friend Andrew at Mcdonalds. We had icecream cake and I shook his little hand and told him congratulation in making it through your first year!
We are all moved into my mom's old home, and we are all doing great! He is attending daycare full time now since I have to work full-time to support myself and my 3 children. Jason is doing awesome, as usual! We are about week 56 of our 130 weeks. Jason is happy, healthy, and still acting like a wild child! Lets pray he stay like this. James and Megan are great too. They are looking forwrd to a fun summer. LIFE IS GOOD..........
WE ARE DISNEY WORLD BOUND IN 3 WEEKS!! Jason's MAKE A WISH trip. WE are going down 6/21 and will be back 6/27, we are all sooooooo excited.
Jason will start Pre-K in the fall!!! I m already buying school clothes, COME ON SEPTEMBER!

Saturday, March 27, 2004 10:03 PM CST

***Here is an update on our family. I have not been able to update this website since February. First of all, on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 my mother (Jason's Mam-maw) passed away very unexpectantly. Secondly, Jason's father and I are separating and we will be moving April 3rd, to a new town. I will be starting a full-time job on April 5th at our local nursing home and Jason will be in daycare.
***Jason is doing well as usual! He is on a steriod week and it is going better than any of the last! He is grumpy and only asking for peanut butter cups! He is growing well, eating well, and taking all his medications well. We are going to my mother's memorial service in the AM. More later. I have no computer anymore.

Friday, February 20, 2004 1:25 AM CST

WEll~ Nothing much to update. Jason and the rest of the gang here are doing just fine! GoodBye for now!

Monday, February 9, 2004 11:33 PM CST

Well it's like this: Our computer has been down for a long time and Owen (Jason's Daddy) had to have it totally re-loaded and I lost all my codes, contacts, and e-mail address. On a better note: Jason's GREAT! No problems. Acting like a typical little 4 year old boy, playing with his cars, trucks, men, playing playstation, wrestling with James, jumping on the couch, terrorizing his big brother, James's room and running around with MOM. I tell everyone, besides the 2 Chemotherapy's he takes at home, a biweekly run to JHH for a blood draw and port sticking out of his chest, he's a normal little kid! Which I am VERY thankful for and praise God for! His sibling are great too~James and Megan just got a package from supersibs~an organazation who sends the siblings little cards and gifts, and they were very happy to actually get something! Both did excellent on their report cards too. My word for this week is: grateful

~***Happy almost Valentines day!****~

A Long Time Ago (About 16 years)... My Mom, Mam-Maw to 10 and 1 more on the way that snuck right on into the grandchild count. :) She said to her oldest Grandchild, James Alan "I love you more than Ice-Cream" and that became a special saying to them, WELL~ I borrowed their concept and I tell Jason "I love you more than Chocolate Milk" and today he told me "Well, I love you more than an Elephant!" It was so incredibly sweet!! :)

Sunday, February 1, 2004 11:46 PM CST

HELLO! Changed the website to Valentines! I will have to get a new picture as soon as we get our good computer back. Jason has been OK. Trying to catch a cold! He still eats very little and I am really having a hard time gettng any pants to fit! Saturday, we attended the "kick off" celebration for Team In Training at Hard Rock Cafe. Jason is an honored patient for the Anchorage Team! It was great time and for such a great cause! We are all very excited we are able to be involved! Then we went over to the aquarium, where we had a great, great day! Jason was amazed with the divers feeding the animals. We got him a diver man for a souvenier and when we were leaving he got to talk to a diver. It was AWESOME. A very cute picture to be added to the photo album TOO, as soon as I can! Tuesday a clinic visit for MTX level and check counts. Here's to Happy Monday!!! Hope all is happy, safe and healthy....

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 7:14 PM CST

Hello! Ice and lots of lots of *SNOW* Took all the kids sleding yesterday! What a great time! Jason doesn't climb the hill very well which left me to either pull him or carry him, which left me short of breath and with sore legs! He has no fear and sleds right on down the hill alone! He fell off the sled once and rolled right in the snow and loved every minute of it!! We played for a very long time until Jason took his gloves off and fell in the snow and then his hands were freezing! Today was another clinic visit for blood draws~Liver Enzymes are down to the 200's. All other labs are fine too...ANC is in the 2000's. His older brother, James got his R tube out today at 7:45 am. He went through it just great and we were all done by 9:00 am. No bleeding or pain and he's all back to normal already! Next clinic visit 2/3/04, for MTX level & enzyme check again! Happy snow..................:)

Friday, January 23, 2004 11:03 PM CST

Hello! Liver enzymes are on the way down HOORAY!! They are now in the 400's. (were 509 normal is 0-46) We go back for labs on Tuesday Jan 27. He is feeling better today~ Eating better too!
Our computer is still in the shop! I am ready to change this web-site to valentines! Even though it does match what's going on here.......*******SNOW****** It's snowing here and extremely cold!****

Thursday, January 22, 2004 0:31 AM CST

Tuesday's clinic visit went like this: Liver enzymes are still really elavted! Normal is 0-40 His are 507 :( But his Dr said according to protacol we can cont with the MTX po this week. We go back today at 1pm for a re-check if thay cont to be high they said his chemo will have to be lowered, if they cont to be high, then they will have to look into it further. He still isn't looking right. He will hardly eat. Here is what he ate today B~ 1 egg and 1/2 cup rice L~ 1/2 hotdog 3 chips D~1 slice of cheese He weighs 31 lbs. Still says his belly hurts when he eats. He is drinking OK. Mostly tea and milk. Until next time....

Monday, January 19, 2004 8:24 PM CST

Good Evening! Our computer is in the shop and I am using a friends. THANKS BRENDA! Here is an update~ Saturday 1/17, Jason threw up all day, and had stomache pain and by 9:00 pm we had to take him to the ER. WE celebrated his birthday on the stretcher with the ER nurses! We were home by 3am. He was alittle dehydrated bit counts were fine! We proceeded with the Cuck E Cheese party that Sunday at 1pm. All was well! He had a wonderful time. He got so many nice toys and Daddy got him a dirt bike Power Wheel! He loves it and has been sitting on it all day! We took him out to ride it for only a few minutes because it is so cold! Today he has felt pretty good but still having belly pain, and not eating well. We have a clinic appt at 1:30 tommorow!

Sunday, January 11, 2004 10:21 PM CST

Jason's Birthday in 7 days!

Jason is feeling just great......Everything has been feeling pretty "normal" lately. He is busy all day playing and we run around a lot. Next appt.Jan 20th for Blood work only! James and Megan good too! No problems to report. Me (mom) OK too! Dad~busy busy busy~ working with my brother, Kenny all weekend framing out our basement!! I am pretty excited about that! More room for toys!

Happy 4th birthday (soon) Jason, January 18th!

Thursday, January 1, 2004 1:32 AM CST

Here it is another Year! All is well with Jason! He is "feeling good, feeling fine" as he would put it. We kicked him out of sick bed in our room tonight and made him go sleep in his regular bed. (Now that I finally got the mountain of christmas toys all put away!) He was OK with it! Jason's Birthday in 18 days!!! OH GREAT More toys!! We are thinking of Chuck E Cheese party!

Sunday, December 28, 2003 10:55 PM CST

We had a wonderful Christmas~! The kids were all very happy and played all day on Christmas. Megan never even got out of her pajamas! They opened nearly every toy that day. Jason loved his remote control 4 wheeler. rescue heros, dirtbike toy, lincolin logs, elefun game and don't break the ice game and all his movies! Jason is doing real well, No problems! Just being your typical little wild child! Next apoiontment Tuesday 12/30 for blood counts & checkup. He starts more oral chemo at home every 6 hours every other Monday only. He still takes his nightly chemo.(6MP) and Bactrim (antibiotic) 3 days a week! A LOT to remember and keep staight! Happy New year!

Sunday, December 21, 2003 9:46 PM CST

Our LAST in-patient Chemo DONE!! HOORAY His DEC 9th admission was actually cancelled because his ANC was only 110 so we went back on DEC 16th (ANC only 527) and stayed until DEC 19. WE would have been gome Thursday but he spiked a Temp of 102.3 and started coughing and had runny nose. Thay checked for Flu and RSV, both neg. CXR showed no pnumonia. He got a liitle better, enough to come home and now he is just battling a cold. No more fever. We are all excited about Christmas! Almost done all the shoping! I wonder how can you actually be done?? I could buy the entire Toys R Us and then I could be done as far as the kids go......I just keep seeing more and more cool things for them. Then the who looks like they got more madness comes into play and keep buying more so everyone is even! Come on DEC 26th...All the kids were extremely wild today, and I told them it was not good to be acting like that this close to Christmas! Jason is feeling OK despite the cold. He wrapped a few gifts today and his little face was so happy. James, my 11 year old got student of the month at his school and we are all very happy and proud of him! WAY TO GO JAMES! Jason goes on DECEMBER 23 @ 1100 for his 4th Bone Marrow aspiration to make sure everything is going right! MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HANNUKA to ALL.

Monday, December 8, 2003 1:07 AM CST

***WEEK 30 of 130***

GOOD VERY EARLY Morning~ I am making Jason a Christmas website~ All is very well. Jason is onery as ever! It snowed about 6 inches here and he's been out in the snow a couple of times so far against my better judgement, thanks to Good ole' DADDY! Were all getting excited about Christmas and we are almost done shopping! We will be checking into the Hopkins Hotel again for about 4 days, on Wednesday December 10, for his LAST (so I am told) "in patient" Methatrexate chemo. HOORAY! Also~We are all getting excited about our mini Christmas vacation to Ocean City on December 19, 20 & 21. Until next time

Wednesday, November 26, 2003 10:33 PM CST

HI ALL~ Week 29~ Jason doing real well! No problems. I buzzed off most of his hair today because it got to so long, it would just stick up all over! His cousins are coming up again, for a week next week and he will be having fun playing with them. Next impatient chemo is 12/8.

Tuesday, November 18, 2003 5:26 AM CST

HAPPY BIRTHDAY To my Mom **AUDREY**~AKA: Mam-Maw to the kids.

Monday, November 10, 2003 9:05 PM CST

We had Jason in ER again Sunday night for fever of 101.5 and cold like symptoms. His counts were all OK and they did blood,urine and throat cultures which are pending.
He had a dose of antibiotics and we were able to come on home. He no longer has a fever but a runny nose and cough.

Tuesday, November 4, 2003 9:47 PM CST

HELLO TO ALL~ We got Halloween over with! Jason was a clown and rode his tricycle to each and every house, stopped and then went up for the candy, went back to his tricycle and rode away to the next house. As you can imagine, it was TOO cute! He has been fairly good this week despite the fact he has been eating more candy than food. I look at it this way....The faster they eat up all the halloween candy the quicker it is all gone! He has even tried wearing real underwear and using the potty again, he does real good untill he gets mad at me for correcting him then he pees his pants. His next appt. is Nov 11th, he goes to just get his blood checked, then he will go for his 5th Methletrexate admission chemo on Nov 17th for 4 days. For more info on that chemo see this http://www.cancerbacup.org.uk/info/methotrexate.htm He also is currently on oral chemo we give him her at bedtime called 6mp. He will take that for 9 weeks straight! He takes it crushed in pudding or yogurt or even peanut butter! Until next time....Have a great day.

Thursday, October 30, 2003 9:58 PM CST

Jason is home! He did great with his 4th Methltrexzate Chemo addmission! I dressed him up in his halloween outfit and we took pictures of him with the JHH clowns. We decorated his hospital room up too for halloween! He is having fun with his cousins for a few days.

Thursday, October 23, 2003 10:35 PM CDT

Good evening~ Jason is doing real well since out of the hospital. If fact he's been quite a brat! Yes, I mean brat. Something has come over him and he is being very mean and really testing the waters lately. He has decided to be totally uncooperative. His friend Andrew doesn't even want to play with anymore because he won't stop beating him up. He told me tonight he wanted a monster truck so he could run me over. As I was tucking him in he kicked off all the blankets and threw his cup accross the room. This is so not like him and it is very, very upsetting.
On Monday, October 26, we will go in the hospital for his scheduled Methletrexate chemo admission. We will be in until Thursday. The chemo runs 24 hours then he is flushed with IV fluid until 42 hours after the start of the chemo and he takes a "rescue med" called Leukovorin every 6 hours x 3 doses. That clears him of the chemo so it doesn't get into the good cells...Thats how I understand it anyway. MY Mom,"Mam-Maw" will be here to take care of James and Megan, THANK GOODNESS! It takes a lot of stress off me! I hate being away from them for 4 days but Jason needs me more and Mam-Maw is the next best person to take my place. Untill next time.... HAPPY ALMOST HALLOWEN.............

Tuesday, October 14, 2003 5:34 PM CDT

After six days we are out of the hospital! We have had 2 very difficult weeks! Finally Jason is getting back to "normal". We were hospitalized for high fever & low counts. He was so sick! He didn't eat or drink for 7 days! He was in bed and sleeping most of the day until yesterday. He had an xray and CT scan, and nasal aspration senrt for cultures. Dr's couldn't find any infection so ruled it as a virus. He is going to have antibiotics here at home for the next 3 days and is in good spirits so far tonight.

Sunday, October 5, 2003 5:09 AM CDT

On Thursday Jason had a fever of 102.7~ we took him to the ER and they could find nothing wrong. As of Friday at 12:00 noon he still was 102.6 so I took him down to clinic~Again they could find nothing causing the fever except the chemo (ARA-C) that he has had all last week! By Saturday morning he was OK~no fever! We all went to the Laccross for Leukemia game in Owings Mills. Jason was an honored team mate & Georgetown was his team. It was awesome! He has a lot of fun and all the guys treated him very well. We were even invited to the tail-gate party afterwards and we ate lots of good food! After that we went to my twin Aunt's birthday party at Sheraton. Again we had alot of fun and ate lots of great food! I noticed Jason was geeting flushed so I took his Temp~it was 102.7. He was running around having a great time but we called his dr's anyway and we were instructed to just wait for now. Anyway here it is Sunday morning & he is still having a fever~I stayed up most of the night checking it and worring about it!

Sunday, September 28, 2003 0:19 AM CDT

Jason gained 9lbs on steriods and is looking like a little line backer! His eating has decreased now. He is no longer getting excited at the site of gravy! I am calling him ROCKO (because he is as heavy as a rock) because Jason just didn't fit his new figure anymore.
On Monday he goes for a BIG day of chemo. We have to be their by 8am, He gets a spinal tap at 10am (His 8th spinal tap)with spinal chemo~ (Methatrexate).Then IV fluid to flush his system then the Chemo is IV (through the port) called Cytoxan, then more and more IV flush! I hope we will be home by dinner!

Jason takes all of his treatments and such so well! He goes to the OR for the spinal taps and is put to sleep, again he takes it so well! He puts his cap on and he makes them cut a disposable gown down for him to put on and he puts on the shoe covers. I think he thinks it's dress-up time! Once in the OR, one really awesome anesthesiologist tells him stories while he puts him to sleep. He is smiling and laughing the entire time. He goes to the recovery room after their done where he sleeps a little while then he wakes right up like as if he was taking a nap. He gets up, wants a drink and it's not that long he is up and back in the playroom at the outpatient clinic! I am still so amazed on how he can have a spinal tap (a needle stuck into his spinal canal and then spinal fluid removed & chemo placed back into the spinal canal) then about an hour later be up and running about! He doesn't have any pain either!
He is still going real good! No pain, no sickness, NO FEVERS! Praise God.
Jason has recently discovered the playstation! He is old enough now to play and work the controller. He's been playing it a lot now.

September 28, 2003

Jason Matthew Stuart was born on January 18th, 2000, weighing a very large 9.0 lbs. and had a head full of black curly hair. We brought him home in a snow storm wearing little navy blue snow boots! He was a good baby and by the time he could move around he was a wild child! For example: He and the dog took a walk once (with out our knowledge)and we couldn't find him and had to call 911 to help us look for him, he ran down the middle of the road on a side street in OC (running away from us), he got himself stuck in a heater vent from the legs down once, climbed a 10 foot ladder to get to a tree house next door, and we will never forget the night (around Christmas time) he woke up and soaked our kitchen and Dining room with the kitchen sprayer after smashing christmas balls into the Dining Room floor. All I seemed to say when he was real little was "JASON" and even now It's "WHERE'S JASON?" He is full of energy and always on the go! He started Kiddie Academy 2 weeks before his 3rd birthday to keep him out of trouble! He has a brother, James 11, and a sister Megan, 8 who love him very much and have learned well to dodge the items he throws at them...

Monday,May 5th 2003, after being sick for 2 weeks with toncilitis and 2 given antibiotics, I took Jason to his doctor. They said it was a virus and sent us home. He was just so sick all week no matter what I did. He missed day care all week that week and just layed around all week, not eating and sleeping a lot. By Friday May 9th, I took him back to the Dr. He started having pain in his belly in the car on the way to the Dr's appt. I laid him on the table and said "He's not getting better, I just don't know what else to do." The DR did a quick check and sent us to the ER.
At the ER I told my story over and over. Jason was gragging his belly and crying out in pain. He was just laying there looking so sick. They drew blood (twice)and gave him IV fluid. After a couple hours he perked up and was talking and looking better! At this point we were worried, thought maybe appendicitis, but ever expected the upcoming news. Then the news came~ The Dr. came in and said "The blood work shows malignancies of the blood" As a nurse,I knew that meant cancer and I said to him, "Are you saying Leukemia?" He shook his head Yes. I felt my whole world had just crashed in. His Daddy and I were crushed and in total shock. We were in total denial, just knowing that hospital was wrong and didn't know what they were doing. I was so devisated my precious little son was laying their so sick and that he had just been diagnosed with cancer of the blood. My heart ached for him and I wanted it to be me and not him. We were mostly very fearful at what was going to happen from here.
They wanted to transfer him to John's Hopkins Pediatric Oncology Floor 8th floor that night. They let us drive him to the hospital that night because he was so stable. We stoped at McDonalds and got him Chicken Nuggets on the way, because he wanted them.
Once at John's Hopkins, we were greeted by a whole team of wonderful doctors, one in particular, who will always hold a special place in my heart,(Dr. V) for he was so calm, comforting, and reassuring that our precious little baby was going to be OK and he eased all our fears. From that point on, I felt (and continue to feel) that we were at the best place we could be.
The diagnosis of Luekemia was confirmed, Type ALL (Acute Lympocytic Leukemia) and he was admitted and set to have an infusaport (a little round thing put into his chest hooked to a blood vessel for him to get chemo in and blood draws through) on Monday, May 12, 2003. We also learned his blood count was only 1/3 what it was suppose to be. While in the ER at JHH, Jason was feeling much better so much so that he was running a monster truck up and down the stretcher!
On Monday May 12, 2003 he went to the OR for a Bone Marrow, Spinal Tap and a port Placed for him to get chemo through. His final diagnosis was ALL (Acute lymphocytic Leukemia) and he was negative in the spine. We spent the first 12 days of the 29 day Induction phase in the hopital. We quickly learned about counts, anc, handwashing, wearing masks, medication, blood draws, IV's, and Chemo. The nurses were great. They were so good at teaching us what we needed to know about his diagnosis and treatment. He did well with the first round (called induction)of Chemo, only had a little leg pain due to chemo called Vincristine. He had to have 3 units of blood to get his counts back up to an Ok level. His energy level never gave up, even as sick as he was all we did was play the entire time we were there. A special man volunteer even came and he and Jason sat in the window sill and played trains. (his favorite toy while we were there.)

Sept 10, 2003 Since then....We are in week 17 of Consolidation Phase. We currently are going to John's Hopkins Children's Oncology Outpatient floor for his treatment. His primary nurse, Colleen is wonderful, experienced, and excellent! She treats us soooo good and is the best 1,2,3 needle putter inner! All the Doctors, Fellow's and PA's are AWESOME too. I feel like my Jason's is in the best hands when we walk onto that floor. I truly love his Medical team and couldn't ask for any better. His total treatment course is 3 1/2 years, or 156 weeks! So far he is doing great! He never lost his hair, we just buzzed it off because it got so dry it would stick up everywhere. On his hospital admissions for chemo, he is the talk of the floor and is well- known. He rides toys all around the hall, running into nurses and doctors as well. He spends most of his day in the play room or out on the play deck. Once we raced down a hall, he on a red riding toy, me in a wheel chair! He loved it, he laughed ang laughed, even when I ran over his leg by accident! He loves to go see the huge statue of Jesus down in the old part of the hospital. Once we stole away in a wagon and walked all over the hospital! We learned to take a bath, (while hooked up to IV's), in the shower by plugging up the drain with a wash cloth and sitting in about 3 inches of water with lots of toys! He spider man webs all the nurses too.

Jason is doing so good so far. besides 3 fevers, a little leg pain in the beginning and some leg pain currently (due to a series og 6 shots of chemo in his legs). His steroids make him moody and eat A LOT. He is so strong and brave! His summer has been fairly normal. He plays outside all the time and wrestles with James. Jason loves his toy men, trucks, motorcycles, monstertrucks, and matchbox cars. He jumps on the trampoline with Megan and loves to play in a dirt pile he made under our tree out back with his trucks and 4-wheelers. He is so cute I can't stop kissing him and his hair is so cute everyone loves to rub his head! He smiles and laughs all the time and is a very happy boy. His smile make my heart light up. He keeps our spirits up and makes this Leukemia thing easier to handle. It sure hasn't slowed him down any! They warned me his treatment may not always be this good but so far it's not been that bad. I am truely thankful he is doing so well and I pray for God to watch over him, and keep him strong to fight this leukemia. I tell Jason he's my "Li'l Angel from heaven." And he is....


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