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Click here to go back to the main page. Friday, October 31, 2008 8:41 AM CDT HAPPY HALLOWE PEOPLE.HOPE YOU ALL HAVE ffffffffuuuuuuuunnnnn!!!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 10:52 AM CDT Well, we are fighting Zach's cancer once again. This time it is a secondary cancer most likely caused from radiation therapy. He has Papillary Carcinoma of the Thyroid. Zach is scheduled to have surgery on 11/3 to remove the thyroid and all affected lymph nodes. He will probably receive a radiated iodine treatment to kill any remaining cancer cells and then will be on thyroid replacement medication for the rest of his life. Monday, July 21, 2008 11:15 AM CDT hi this is zach i am at school right now i am on the computer cause i got 100 on my speeing test.I have a sincies test today not coool!Iam going in for scans on October30 pry and wish me luck. Iam starting baskitball soon.my doctor said they saw inproovment in my lung and she said partlly why is that i'm so actived..
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 2:50 PM CDT Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Zach has just surpassed the 9 month mark in remission. He had a CT scan and follow up visit with Dr. Shenoy yesterday and everything went very well. He has grown 1/2 inch in just three months and gained about a pound and a half. The initial read of the scan looks good and Dr. Shenoy said that she sees improvement in the lung and its capacity. He is scheduled to go back in October and then we will push the follow up schedule out to every 4 to 6 months instead of 3.
Friday, April 11, 2008 9:54 AM CDT Hello everyone! I am so glad spring has finally arrived and with the changes in the weather my family is going through alot of change as well. First, let me update you on Zach. His scan on 4/8 was clean and he has gained 2 pounds - up to 54 now!! He is doing well in school, still has straight A's and his Upward bball coach said he was a natural and should stick with it! Second, we are moving! It is only one door down but it is a big change for us, we will now have central air and a basement. We are all looking forward to the move (of course I am dreading the packing and upacking that goes along with it). Third, my oldest daughter - Beth - is getting ready to graduate from high school and is all set to go off to college in the fall. She will be attending Southeast Missouri State Univ in Cape Girardeau and is working toward a Bachelor's in Fine Art Theater. I am very proud of her, she has worked really hard to make this happen. My other daughter - Tiffany - has one more year of high school and then plans on taking advantage of the A+ program and go to Jefferson College. Pretty smart since she is not sure what she wants to major in yet. Lastly, I have started a new job at Command Concepts and am enjoying it. Thursday, January 31, 2008 10:35 AM CST Well it has been a month or so since I have updated so I thought I would let everyone know how Zach is doing...
Monday, December 10, 2007 10:43 AM CST Hello everyone! Hope all is well as you gear up for Christmas and the Holiday Season. I just wanted to let everyone know that Zach is doing great! He has been feeling well and eating everything in site. His eyebrows are just starting to come back in and his hair is trying to as well. He has been attending school regularly and seems to be enjoying it (even if he won't admit it). Over the weekend he went to a birthday party for his best friend Riley at Arnold Bowl. All the boys seemed to have had a great time.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 11:29 AM CST Zach' blood counts came back great! Hemoglobin 10.9, Platelets 241, white cells 2.6 with an ANC of 1508!!!!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 9:57 AM CST Hello everyone. Finally got the results from Zach's scan last week. Dr. Shenoy left a message that the scan looks clear. He is set to go back for his next scan in January. His red cell count was still a little low last week (8.5) so we went in to Quest to have his blood drawn this morning. When I get the results I will update everyone.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 11:30 AM CST Zach made it thru the weekend without getting a blood transfusion. Yesterday's counts came back good, his hemoglobin is still a bit low (only 8.5) but is recovering, his white count was high and his ANC was 16,443. We are done with his neupogin shots - which he is exstatic about. No more blood draws until he goes in next week for his first followup scan and clinic visit!!! He made it through all his treatments with only one fever and his last two chemo treatments his ANC did not drop below the 500 mark!!! He has come through it all with flying colors and no complications, God has worked miracles and kept him healthy as we have met the challenges of another round of cancer treatments. We are both excited and happy that we have reached the end of this journey and will be able to get back to a more normal existence. Friday, November 9, 2007 1:15 PM CST We have awesome news! Zach's counts did not drop as far as we thought they would after his last chemo. His ANC after yesterday's blood draw was 1659 and his hemoglobin was 8.1. We decided not to go in for a blood transfusion today and just see how he does over the weekend. He will still get his neupogin shots throughout the weekend and we will have his blood drawn on Monday to see how he is doing. Although he is a little bit more tired that usual today he seems to be doing well. Monday, November 5, 2007 9:41 AM CST Zach has finally completed his last chemotherapy treatment. He did very well at the hospital last week. On Halloween, he dressed up and participated in the trick or treating that Children's Hospital had set up for the kids. Grandpa dressed up with him and we had alot of fun!! Monday, October 22, 2007 1:02 PM CDT Sorry I didn't get an update in last week. Zach and I went to Branson, MO with his Grandma Barb and Aunt Tina. We headed down Monday afternoon and stayed until Thursday afternoon. Zach had a great time! We went to Laughing Rocks Cavern which is a vertical cave that was awesome. We also took in Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, rode go-carts, played mini golf, pool and basketball and went swimming. The last day we were in Branson we rode The Ducks which was pretty cool as well. On Thursday morning we had his blood drawn at a Quest Diagnostics down there and on Friday he went in to the clinic for a red blood transfusion. His platlets and white count were actually higher than expected and his ANC was 1254. I think this is the first time that his ANC did not drop below 500 after a chemo treatment! Boy, does God work miracles..... Thursday, October 11, 2007 4:57 PM CDT Zach has been at the hospital for his chemo this week and has done pretty well. Today, at about 4pm, was the first time he got sick, we should still be going home tomorrow. The medicine they gave him made him really tired so he is sleeping right now and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to put in a update. He is really looking forward to being finished with treatments and getting back to a normal schedule. His last chemo treatment will be in 3 weeks, starting October 30th. Thank you for all the love and support everyone has given us as we go thru this challenge. Monday, October 1, 2007 12:13 AM CDT We made it through another weekend of low counts with no fever and no hospital stay! Isn't God amazing?!! Zach did have to go to the clinic Friday to receive platlets and blood, we arrived about 9am and didn't leave until 3pm. His counts were still down over the weekend but I could see an improvement once he received his blood. We did go to church on Sunday and it was great seeing everybody. Zach even went to Kidspoint! Thank you to all of our church family, you keep me lifted up in spirit and make it so much easier to face this challenge.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 12:21 AM CDT Well last week and this week have been a challenge. Zach's chemo and scans were last Tuesday (9/18). Here is what we are looking at for his plan going forward. We are not doing another surgery (Dr. Dillion says he cannot get a cleaner resection than he has already done and the plural shadow on the scan is most likely scar tissue from surgery and radiation, Dr. Mansur-radiologist, agrees). Dr. Shenoy does not want Zach to go thru surgery again just for biopsies and since Dr.D feels there are too many little structures involved in the location of the tumor to get a more complete resection, she says no surgery - Zach is very happy about that. He will receive 2 more rounds of chemo and both will be 4 day in patient hospital stays. The next one is scheduled for 10/9 and if nothing puts us off schedule the last one will start on 10/30.
Thursday, September 20, 2007 10:19 AM CDT Zach did very well Tuesday with his chemo! He hasn't had an upset stomach or vomiting at all. He had a CT Scan first thing in the morning before starting the chemo, I hope to hear from Dr. Shenoy before the end of the week on the results. She said that she wants Dr. Dillon (the surgeon) to look at the scans as well. Depending on what they see and what they decide to do going forward he will probably have another surgery to perform biopsies and possibly remove any scar tissue, she wants to verify that there are no cancer cells present in the area of the tumor. If all looks cancer free, Zach may only have one more chemo treatment left - the 4 day inpatient. Dr. Shenoy is now hesitant to do all 8 chemo treatments, especially if he is cancer free - as she is worried about toxcicity to the chemo drugs and late term effects with a possible second occurance of a completely different cancer. Monday, September 17, 2007 4:12 PM CDT Zach's counts are good today which means we are set to go in for his outpatient chemo tomorrow. He is having CT Scans of the chest, abdomen and pelvis tomorrow morning then up to the clinic for his chemo. He is fighting off a cold right now so I am hoping it doesn't develop into anything more as his counts drop which would cause a fever. Tuesday, September 11, 2007 12:02 AM CDT We managed to get through the weekend without a fever!!!! and celebrated Zach's birthday at Grandma Carol's with cake and ice cream on Sunday with family.
Thursday, September 6, 2007 12:19 AM CDT Found out this morning that Zach's counts have dropped, his hemoglobin is down to 7.4 and he will be going up to the clinic tomorrow morning for a transfusion. His ANC (white cell) count is down to 336, he stayed home from school this morning as he was feeling very tired and was running a low grade fever last night. He is with Susie (our sitter) today and they are monitoring him for a fever. If it spikes up to 101 at any point today or thru the weekend I will have to take him to Children's to be admitted and he will receive IV antibiotics and we will work to lower the fever. I talked to him about an hour ago and he was feeling fine and his temp was normal. I will keep everyone posted on his progress as we go through the weekend. Keep him in your prayers that he stays fever free, his birthday is Sunday and he would hate having to spend it at the hospital. Thank you and God Bless. Tuesday, September 4, 2007 10:59 AM CDT Zach came home from the hospital on Friday morning and was able to attend the event held by Children's Miracle Network that afternoon out at the St. Louis County Fair and Airshow. We saw the Blue Angels perform and then afterward the pilots all came over to meet the kids and families, sign autographs and pose for photo opps. It was really alot of fun and Zach, the girls, Grandpa, Bruce and I enjoyed the event.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007 9:15 AM CDT Zach did great yesterday getting started on this round of chemo. We arrived at the hospital at about 10am, Carol got him accessed and started on hydration right away then we met with Dr. Shenoy. They have taken one of the chemotherapy drugs on this protocol, carboplatin, out of the mix. Dr. Shenoy said that since he is technically in remission and the carboplatin did its job in helping reduce the size of the tumor for excision and this is his second time being treated for Rhabdo she didn't want to push to hard. So his 4 day admit will consist of just VP-16 and ifosfamide. Friday, August 24, 2007 10:49 AM CDT Zach's white cell counts dropped dramatically yesterday, his ANC is down to 756 so we are starting the neupogin shots back up for 3 days. We will have counts done again on Monday and as long as his blood counts look good we will go in Tuesday 8/28 for his 4 day round of ICE protocol chemotherapy. We are hoping to leave the hospital early enough on Friday 8/31 to attend the special, private viewing offered to Miracle Families of the Blue Angels jetfighters. They are performing at the St. Louis County Fair and Air Show over Labor Day weekend.
Monday, August 20, 2007 2:04 PM CDT Update: Zach's ANC is 8091 today all of his other counts look good and we are done with the neupogin shots until after his next round of chemo which is scheduled for 8/28 thru 8/31 (4-day hospital stay). Monday, August 20, 2007 10:48 AM CDT We made it through the weekend without spiking a fever!!!! His highest temp was on Thursday evening at 100.6 and by Saturday evening it was down to 99.1 and on Sunday his temp was normal. We spent most of the weekend at home watching movies and grilled steaks on Saturday. Zach washed the car while I made dinner. Friday, August 17, 2007 2:09 PM CDT Zach got his platelets this morning, Thanks Grandpa!! He has been running a low grade fever since last night. We will have to monitor it through the weekend, if it spikes up to 101 we will head into the hospital for IV antibiotics. Keep him in your prayers! Thursday, August 16, 2007 4:55 PM CDT Well today we found out that Zach's ANC has dropped to 90 so we will be watching him for fever, anything over 101 and we head to the hospital for IV antibiotics. His bilirubin has come down but is still not in the normal range. His sodium was low indicating possible dehydration and his platelets had dropped to 19. His red blood count still looks good at 10.4, tomorrow morning Grandpa Dean is taking him to the hospital for me to get a platelet transfusion which will take about 2 hours. Over the weekend he has to stay out of public locations and watched for fever. Wednesday, August 15, 2007 12:28 AM CDT Sorry I haven't updated this week. We had a busy weekend, Friday night we went to the Cardinals game with Grandpa Dean and Bruce but because it was so hot we left at the end of the 7th inning. Saturday morning we got up early (along with Tiff - Beth drove down after her block dance class)and met up with Uncle Rob and his crew and headed to Clearwater Lake for the day. We had alot of fun on the water, in the boat and on the jet skis. We didn't get home until after 11pm that night and everyone was completely worn out!
Thursday, August 9, 2007 11:02 AM CDT Zach finally had counts high enough this week to go in on Tuesday for his chemo treatment. We arrived at the hospital about 8:30am. Kari - our nurse - accessed his port and we got started right away. He had to hydrate for 2 hours as well as get mesna and zofran before starting his chemo drugs. While hydrating and getting the meds we went down to get breakfast and wouldn't you know, it was in between breakfast and lunch. Zach picked chicken noodle soup to eat and we headed back upstairs. They started the chemo drugs about 11:15, Zach picked out "School of Rock" movie with Jack Black to watch and they finished his chemo about 1:30. Then I took him down stairs for his EKG and Echo tests. We stopped in the cafeteria and got some lunch, we shared a chicken fajita wrap but he didn't eat much. He started feeling sick about 2:30 and ended up losing all his lunch. After getting sick he did start to feel better. His nurse gave him some more of the mesna and zofran and then the home health nurse arrived to hook him up to his mobile pump and fluids. We were finally able to head home about 4:30pm. Zach has not gotten sick again but did not have much of an appetite yesterday. He said he would try to eat today for me. Tuesday, July 31, 2007 11:19 AM CDT Well, we are experiencing another delay. Zach's ANC was still only 576 on Monday so he will not be getting his chemo today. We are scheduled to try again for next week. Tuesday, July 24, 2007 9:49 AM CDT Once again our schedule going forward has changed. Zach's ANC (white count) was too low yesterday to start his chemo today. We have postponed starting until Tuesday of next week provided his blood counts on Monday are good. When I called to tell him he groaned and said, "But I drank a whole pitcher of Kool-aid already!" He has to drink as much as possible the day before his VAC protocol so that they can get started right away and do this on an outpatient basis.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 9:23 AM CDT Here's the newest info on Zach. He finished radiation on Monday. Yesterday he went into the Hem/Onc clinic for his vincristine and had to have a red blood transfusion as his red cell count was low. Tuesday, July 10, 2007 11:13 AM CDT Zach only has 5 more radiation treatments!!! Almost time to celebrate. Wednesday, July 4, 2007 12:32 AM CDT Zach's blood counts were low yesterday and after he and Beth got home from his radiation treatment and we had dinner, I had to take him back up to the hospital for a blood and platelet transfusion. We left the house about 6pm and didn't get back home until after 2am. Monday, July 2, 2007 3:57 PM CDT Zach now has 13 treatments finished with 10 still to go. He is doing very well still, he does have periods in the late afternoon / early evening where his energy levels drop and he gets a bit cranky. He usually gets a second wind and is good to go through the evening. Tuesday, June 26, 2007 11:53 AM CDT Another week of treatments done! Today is treatment #10 and Zach is doing great. He is just taking the zofran as needed now for nausea. No other side effects from the treatments so far! Yeah!!!!!!! Wednesday, June 20, 2007 10:34 AM CDT Zach has a week of radiation treatments under his belt and today is the first day we have seen any side effects. He was nauseaus and threw up this morning and complained of having some trouble breathing right before he got sick. We have him on is zofran again and it seems to be doing the trick. He is at Susie's (his sitter) today instead of running errands with Grandpa and then will be going in for treatment #6 later this afternoon. Friday, June 15, 2007 4:13 PM CDT Zach's first week of radiation treatments is under our belts and so far he is doing great. Everytime we run into someone we know he asks them if they want to see how to get to... (always a different location) and then pulls up his shirt and shows them all the markings on his back that were made with a blue pen (used to line him up everyday for his treatment). His counts are a little lower than we would like so he has to keep getting his neupogin shots through Monday night. Friday, June 8, 2007 4:03 PM CDT There has been an update to Zach's radiation plan after finding out that the insurance company would not cover the Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy that Dr. Mansur wanted to perform saying "it is experimental and remains inconclusive". Now we will be doing traditional radiation therapy and since this does not take as long to plan he will begin treatments next week. On June 12th we will do the dry run and if all looks good his first treatment will be 6/13 - he will still be receiving 23 treatments. I verified the change with Dr. Shenoy and the extra chemo that we did on the 5th (because radiation wasn't going to start until the 18th) and we are good to go. He will be getting weekly vincristine chemo treatments starting June 19th. Wednesday, June 6, 2007 9:26 AM CDT Here is the latest news. Zach had his radiation simulation yesterday, the doctors will get everything plotted and set up, then we will do a "dry run" on June 18th. If Dr. Mansur thinks everything looks good, Zach will start his radiation treatments on June 19th. He will be receiving 23 radiation treatments, this takes us to July 21st. Friday, June 1, 2007 9:14 AM CDT Zach is doing great today, he woke up and said he wasn't really hurting and didn't take any pain medicine. We had our follow up visit with the surgeon yesterday and the air pocket that they saw on the xray when they removed the chest tube is gone. Zach still has a small amount of fluid in the chest cavity below the lung but Dr. Dillon feels it will resorb on it's own.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:29 AM CDT Another update, after talking with Carol (his nurse from clinic) we found out his blood counts have gone way up - all on their own!! His ANC was 8,140. She also told us that Dr. Shenoy wants him to come in next Tuesday the 5th for his first dose of Vincristine. Monday, May 28, 2007 11:03 AM CDT Zach and I came home Saturday late afternoon. He is doing well, although a little sore still. Thursday, May 24, 2007 11:22 AM CDT Zach's PET Scan came back clean, we are seeing no cancer anywhere other than the original site. His CT Scan shows the tumor on his lung having shrunk from 2 cm down to 2 mm. Dr. Shenoy thinks it is possible that this is just scar tissue from the original biopsy. Today Dr. Dillon is going in and taking a look with the laprascope, if all looks clean then he will just do some biopsies. If there is anything that looks like cancer cells they will go do a full wide margin resection. Dr. Shenoy feels that if we do not need to do the resection and the biopsies are clean there is a good chance that we will not need to go forward with radiation. However that decision will not be made until she has discussed it with Dr. Mansur his radiologist. Monday, May 21, 2007 2:11 PM CDT I just spoke with Zach's nurse at the clinic, his counts are down some and it looks like we may be postponing his chemotherapy treatment tomorrow. His ANC is only 792 today (compared to 1562 on Thursday) and his white cell count dropped to 3.6 from 7.1, again from Thursdays results. We are still going in for scans and will go to clinic to talk with Dr. Shenoy, see what the scan results are and to discuss surgery options. I will keep everyone posted on what we find out tomorrow. Friday, May 18, 2007 10:43 AM CDT Zach's counts were good yesterday, his ANC was 1562 and all of the others were up from Monday. His class has a field trip today to a local park and he is really looking forward to it. He is also excited about next week being the last week of school.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 10:07 AM CDT Overnight Friday, Zach woke up with a fever of 105. We headed into Children's and they kept us for the weekend. His ANC was only 10 on Saturday morning and we were having trouble controlling his temperature. They started him on IV antibiotics and by 6-7 am his fever was coming down. Saturday night the fever spiked again and we were put in isolation due to the mouth sore he had that they cultured Sunday morning. Sunday his fever stayed down and his sisters came to visit us. They had fun playing games and painting the windows. Later that evening Zach's Grandma Barb brought us turkey and fixings and Zach ate it up!
Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:16 PM CDT Just got an update on Zach's counts, his ANC has dropped to 407, which means no school tomorrow or Monday. But his hemoglobin and platelets are still okay - yeah! no transfusions. As long as his counts come back up next week and he doesn't run any fever this weekend we should still be on schedule for his scans and round 3 of chemo on May 22nd. Monday, May 7, 2007 11:53 AM CDT Well, Zach has finished round 2 of chemo. We came home Friday, May 4th. Both of us were very tired and went to bed pretty early. So far his is doing well, he has had a couple bouts of vomitting but we were able to control it with the zofran and reglan he is taking. This morning he seemed tired and pale and after getting his blood drawn I tried taking him to school. The smell of the cafeteria food made him gag and he got sick so I took him to the sitter instead of leaving him at school. I should find out his blood counts this afternoon. Hopefully they have not dropped to much and he will be able to go to school later this week.
Thursday, May 3, 2007 11:37 AM CDT Hello everyone, here's the update on Zach's progress with this round of chemo. So far he is doing great, our biggest side effect right now is heartburn while the chemo is being administered. He still seems to have most of his energy and a decent appetite while off the chemo and just being hydrated. Our biggest obstacle is getting sleep at night, unfortunately our roommate seems to do worse at night than during the day. Friday, April 27, 2007 9:14 AM CDT Zach's counts were good yesterday. So we are set for his next round of chemo on 5/1/07, he will be admitted for 4 days. Since these are the 3 new drugs I am not sure how he will respond or handle them. He is starting to loose his hair now so we trimmed it. It's great I can see his face now! His spirits are up and he is feeling good. Hopefully that will carry through over the next two weeks. Thank you for all the messages Zach has enjoyed reading them. Keep them coming! Monday, April 23, 2007 10:09 AM CDT Zach made it through the weekend without running a fever or needing a transfusion even though his counts were low. He felt pretty good all weekend which made it exceptionally hard to keep him home all weekend. By Sunday he was getting cranky and we just took off in the car for about an hour and drove around. We went in this morning for counts again and hopefully they are back up and he can return to school tomorrow. I will keep everyone posted. Friday, April 20, 2007 9:21 AM CDT We found out yesterday that Zach's counts have dropped below 500 and he cannot go to school today or Monday. We have to get his blood counts back up so that he can be in crowds or public places. I also have to be vigiliant and watch for any signs of illness, fever, bleeding or just not seeming like himself. We get his counts done again on Monday and hopefully they will have rebounded. I will keep everyone update on his progress. Wednesday, April 18, 2007 4:31 PM CDT Zach has been doing great so far after receiving his first chemo treatment. He has been attending school and keeping active. We are gearing up to go back in for his 2nd chemotherapy treatment on May 1st - we will be at the hospital for at least 4 days. Hopefully we will have an idea of when his scans will be scheduled and soon after a date for surgery. Monday, April 16, 2007 2:57 PM CDT Zach has finally been staged. His rhabdo is stage 2 and the molecular study is showing some aveolar structures in the tumor. Zach will undergo 8 rounds of chemo. After 2 rounds we will do scans again to see how the tumor is reacting/shrinking. Once the doctors have reviewed the scans he will be scheduled for surgery to remove the tumor and a radiation plan will be set. If all goes well we could be finished with treatments in September. Thanks for all the support and keep the prayers coming.
Thursday, April 12, 2007 1:42 PM CDT Zach went in on Tuesday for his first cycle of chemo for an overnight admit. We came home last night. He seems to be doing good so far. I don't really expect to start seeing any side effects for another week or so. We are schedule to go in for his next round of chemo on 5/1 for a 4 day admit to the hospital. Thursday, April 5, 2007 12:13 AM CDT I want to thank everyone for all the love and support we have received as we begin the long road of treatment and recovery. It helps to keep me strong!
Thursday, April 5, 2007 11:37 AM CDT We are waiting on final pathology but our oncologist, Dr. Shenoy, beleives we are in the early stages and localized (has not metastasized). He has embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma again, his tumor is in the chest cavity on the right, back side and lung and is only about 2cm (little less than an inch). He had a biopsy on the mass Monday, April 2nd and was released from the hospital 24 hours after surgery. His spirits are high and he is taking everything in stride.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007 11:51 AM CDT Hello everyone. Well, Zach has been in remission for 4 years. His most recent scans on March 27, 2007 have revealed a "shadow" on his right lung that was biopsied on April 2, 2007 and his rhabdo has returned. As soon as we have additional information on the pathology the doctors will type, group and staged the malignancy we will set up a treatment plan. I will update everyone with this info as soon as we have it.
Thursday, October 21, 2004 11:32 AM CDT Hello all, well as we approach the 2 year anniversary of Zach being diagnosed I wanted to give an update on his progress. He is doing wonderful, we enjoyed our Florida vacation immensley. Zach loved Disney World. He also found the plane ride "Awesome". He has had a very full summer and continues to spread his joy of living to all that meet him. He started kindergarten and is enjoying it! He loves his teacher and is making many new friends. He comes home everyday and shares what he has learned with everyone!
Thursday, May 13, 2004 4:24 PM CDT Hello all! Time for another update. Zach has just reached his one year anniversary from BMT and is doing fantastic. He is enrolled in kindergarden and starts classes in September. But what he is most looking forward to is his first real family vacation. The Make a Wish foundation is sending Zach, his sisters Beth & Tiffany, me and his Grandpa Dean to Florida and Disney World. We leave June 1st and return June 7th. Once we return he will be getting is one year post BMT scans. Wednesday, December 17, 2003 1:31 PM CST Hello everyone, Great news to spread. Zach has passed his 6 month post BMT and is doing awesome. He has had his central line broviac removed and his last round of scans were clean as a whistle. We have been bumped to a 3 month schedule for his follow up visits. It has been over a year since he was diagnosed and he has changed so much, he is almost like a mini adult. Hope all is well. Happy Holidays
Thursday, August 28, 2003 3:36 PM CDT I just updated the photo album with some new pictures from the night of Zach's benefit. The pictures are of some of the people that helped with the planning, set up and running of the event. Hopefully, I will be able to get more pictures up soon. Keep checking, since I am relying on others to help because I do not have a computer to do all of the things required to get the pics in a format for the web.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 1:12 PM CDT Hello! I know it has been awhile since I last updated the website. I guess that is a good testament to how well Zach is doing. I have been busy trying to adjust to being back to work on a regular basis after about 8 months off and Zach is excited about starting "school", he will be getting lessons from his in home babysitter who is like a grandmother to him. He will also be attending the YMCA for things like swimming lessons and other activities as well as the Library for storytime and The Little Gym for physical exercise and interaction with kids his own age. He will be starting kindergarten next fall (2004).
Thursday, July 10, 2003 5:08 PM CDT Hello again, have an update on the Benefit. Our second band for the evening is The Love Brothers. This is a quartet of musicians who do a wide variety of rock and pop music both past and present. We are very excited to have them. Anyone out there who has the ability to donate some time on the day of/night of the event to assist in set up or working at tables (casino). Let me know via email. Sunday, July 6, 2003 8:11 PM CDT Well, things are going fabulous...Zach is doing fantastic, he only has to go into the clinic once every two weeks now, he has scans scheduled for July 25th. Hopefully they will come back with good news.
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 5:14 PM CDT Well here we are, another clinic visit under our belts and Zach has still not needed any transfusions. He is gaining weight (up to 34 lbs now), off of the TPN and GCSF still, and he is producing all of his own blood products. This is awesome news! He has been given a 2 week hall pass, no clinic visit for 2 weeks! However, in the midst of all our good news we also learned that a dear friend of the family passed away on Friday from cancer. He and Zach were diagnosed within a few weeks of each other last year. I was talking to my dad today at lunch and I told him that I felt that God takes a life to give a life and that I felt that Bernie was gone so that Zach could live and that we will keep his spirit with us always. We pray for his family and hope that all are well. Monday, June 16, 2003 4:04 PM CDT Hi again. Just want to let everyone know that Zach is still doing great! Althought he is still not at 100% I would estimate that he is at least 85-90% his old self. We are headed to the clinic again tomorrow and I will send out an update from the Doc's later in the week. Keep your eyes out for new pics this week also. We are going to try and get some new ones up tonight. Again, we just want to say thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. They really do keep us going. Tuesday, June 10, 2003 5:08 PM CDT Hello! Well today we had another clinic visit and Zach is following the trend he has set so far. Still did not need any transfusions of platelets or red blood. He is holding his own. We decided to take him off of his TPN and see how he does. Dr. Shenoy said today that it was amazing that he hadn't needed any blood products since we left the BMT unit. We are still watching him closely and have to be very cautious about public places or too many people in one place. However, Zach continues to get stronger everyday. Friday, June 6, 2003 1:43 PM CDT Hello everyone. Here is the latest info for Zachman. He is doing great. Home 2 weeks now and he has not needed any red blood or platelets, consequently he is now only going into the clinic once a week on Tuesdays, his TPN has been reduced to 8hrs at night instead of twelve and he is off of the GCSF (unless his counts have dropped drastically when we go back in on 6/10. Beth and Tiff stayed with us all week and he loved having them around. Both Tiff and I celebrated birthdays during the week. I want to thank everyone for being patient with me on the website. I know I haven't kept this as up to date as I wanted. Keep sending the e-mails and signing the guestbook, Zach does get to see them when he is at the babysitters. We also want to thank Alyce and her students. Zach received the book "Give a Pig a Pancake" that was signed by her students along with letters and pictures drawn by the students. We really enjoyed reading both the letters and the book. I will try to get this updated after his next clinic visit. Thursday, May 29, 2003 1:34 PM CDT Hello to everyone! Well we are finally home and still trying to adjust to being there. I am now the one who has to remember everything for Zach (no nurses at home to back us up) but, so far, so good. Zach is getting antibiotics and TPN at home still, we are weaning him off of his Methodone (pain med). We were at the clinic at Children's Tuesday for his first follow-up and he did great, walked in on his own power (with his little walker), didn't need platelets or red blood (a surprise). We go back for another visit tomorrow. He will also be doing physical therapy for a few weeks. I see improvements each day- he eats and drinks a little more each day, he moves around more and more without his walker, he is returning to his normal routine. Our biggest challenge seems to be getting back on a normal sleeping schedule. We seem to stay up later and wake up later than I would like. Sunday, May 25, 2003 1:52 AM CDT Well the time has finally come, we are going home!! Sunday afternoon we get our papers and head on to the homefront. We are both looking forward to going but are also a little nervous about it at the same time. Sunday is our 31st day in the hospital, transplant day +21. Zach's ANC was @2000 today. We are enlisting hired help to haul all of the toys and extras we have to take home. I would like to thank everyone who has helped to make this time at the hospital bearable and even enjoyable at times. Jon, Zach and I both want to thank you for all you did, without your help I think I might have lost my sanity, you are truly a great friend to both of us now. Hope that we can continue the friendship, the "Zachman" has become quite attached to you. Linda, thank you for showing me what a true "best friend" is, I have always been able to turn to you with anything. As I said last night, you are like a sister to me. To my family I want to say thanks for all you have done, each of you have helped in your own way and all of it is appreciated. Dad you are my rock, I can always count on you to hold me up. Mom, you have helped keep the home front running smoothly so I didn't have to worry about that on top of worrying about Zach. Beth & Tiff, you brighten my days and help with Zach so much I don't know where I'd be without you. Pam and Paul thanks for standing up with Zach for his baptism, meant the world to me. Rob thanks for always being around to listen. Thanks to all, we love you. Friday, May 23, 2003 10:44 AM CDT Hello everyone, sorry I didn't get an update in yesterday. Zach's counts dropped again yesterday, since he was off the GCSF, to 676 so they put him back on is GCSF. Today his ANC count 5,640. We are aiming to go home on Sunday or Monday depending on whether we can get him on his meds orally and whether he starts drinking. For the first few weeks after being home we will still be coming in to the Hem/Onc Clinic and Physical Therapy two to three times a week. We will be keeping track of his counts from home and if he needs a transfusion of red blood or platlets then it's up to the Clinic we head. He seems to be in good spirits today and is sitting up playing Spyro on his PSone. His Grandma Barb is coming to see him tonight and he is looking forward to the visit. I'll keep everyone posted over the weekend and let all know when we head home. Wednesday, May 21, 2003 4:34 PM CDT Zach is doing wonderful today. They stopped his GCSF (growth factor) last night, so his counts have dropped today to @900, this is still good however, and he is starting to produce red cells and platlets now on his own also. He has been up all day today and played Boggle Jr., Bob the Builder Memory and his PSone - Spyro. He played with Grandpa and Bruce yesterday afternoon, and watched E.T. with Jon last night. We found out from some of his friends that he is now an official member of the "John and Rae" fanclub... I'll keep everyone updated with a going home date as soon as we have one. Thanks again for all the messages in the guestbook. We love them. Wednesday, May 21, 2003 1:30 AM CDT HI! Zach's counts are awesome today -- 2940!!!!! Today we have finally made a decision for his fundraiser, it will be Friday July 18 at the Starlight room at the Chase Park Plaza in the Central West End of St. Louis. Those of us that are planning the event are really excited, not only will it be alot of fun, but there will be a live band, casino games, silent auction, live radio broadcast and celebrity photo ops. It will be alot of fun. Hope to see some of his strongest supporters there. Those who cannot attend will be with us in heart and spirit. We will keep you all updated with info as we have it on both Zach's recovery and the fundraiser as it becomes avalable. Love to all!!!!! Tuesday, May 20, 2003 0:34 AM CDT Well I'm getting to this late "today" because Zach has been awake most of the evening. We have watched movies, played with some of his new toys - Nutty Elephant game & Tonka Town construction site - as well as trying to master PSone Spyro. We're getting there. We sat up playing until he finally said he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He is still doing great, his ANC today was 1886, he had to receive platlets this morning and again tonight. While he was taking a nap this afternoon the left side of his face swelled up and he has a tooth that seems to be bothering him so we took him down for a "Panorex" - this is an x-ray that goes in a circle around his head and takes a picture of him at almost 360 degrees. We are still waiting for the results. The swelling in his cheek went down after about an hour or so and he played all evening. Well I'll send out more info as I get it. Thanks to all for signing our guestbook, we both enjoy reading messages from everyone!! Sunday, May 18, 2003 8:54 PM CDT Today is day +15 and Zach's counts are up to 1360!!! It is looking like we will be able to go home this coming week! Still trying to get him to eat (no sucess so far). And we need to work on his PT some more so his muscles will be nice and strong when we head home. Zach played this afternoon with Grandpa and his pal Jon. So when I got back to the hospital with his sisters he was asleep, he slept up until about 20 minutes before they had to leave. But he was really happy to see them... I'll have more on Monday after we talk to the doctors.
Saturday, May 17, 2003 12:48 AM CDT Hello again. Day +14 and things are going great, Zach's ANC count is 1139 today! He had to get platelets again, so he is sleeping off the effects of the Benadryl he gets with them. Last night he had visitors and was thrilled. He played on his new PSone with is Uncle Paul and entertained us all with his sense of humor. Each day shows such improvement that I know everyones prayers have been heard. I have updated the home page with my favorite pic of Zach, this was taken just 2 days before coming in for his transplant - he was in remission at that time. Our hope and prayer is that this transplant will keep him there. I spoke to his sister Beth this morning and she was very happy to see that her poem had been "published" on his web site. She told us that she didn't cry when she wrote it but seeing is again within the website did make her cry. Beth you are the sweetest! Tiff we love you too. I'll add another journal with more news as soon as I can. Friday, May 16, 2003 2:50 PM CDT Hello everyone! Zach is sleeping so I thought I would take this time to give another update. Day +13 and his ANC is @700... Looks like we may get to go home next week if he keeps improving at this rate. We had a very peaceful, restful night last night - again no fever! They have stopped 2 of the 5 antibiotics that he has been receiving because of going without fever and he is off his TPN & Lipids(IV nutritional supplements) for 6 hrs today. This is to start him eating and drinking. As we move forward through the weekend and next week they will continue to reduce his meds and supplements via IV in preparation for going home. However, the battle is not over there. We will need to keep a close eye on him for any signs of illness for the first 100 days after discharge, any signs and back we go to the hospital...
Thursday, May 15, 2003 12:12 AM CDT We are day +12 and have seen a marked improvement in Zach. Last night he actually sat up in bed after his bath and played with Jon and his new Playdoh Barber Shop, we even managed to get smiles and some laughs out of him! However he woke up at 4am this morning with a bloody nose and was coughing up blood also. We are giving him platelets and red blood transfusions today, on a good note we went all night without a fever and no extra pain medicine. We want to thank everyone for all the encouraging e-mails! It is heartwarming to see how many lives Zach has touched... Wednesday, May 14, 2003 11:26 AM CDT Today is transplant day +11 and we have an ANC count of 320, this is great news! Zach is looking much better and we are starting to see the healing process at work. I would like to share with everyone a poem that Zach's sister wrote for/to him... Tuesday, May 13, 2003 8:39 PM CDT Zach is day + 10 and finally showing some improvements. We had our first white cell on Saturday and he makes small strides each day...today his white count is 3. We have "Zachenburg Theater" every Tuesday evening with his personal pal Jon. Zach is a great communicator and would love to hear from anyone who would like to know more of his story.
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