Week 3

Well it finally caught up with him. He felt great on Christmas and we had a really nice day. Then it was as if a switch was flipped on monday. He is now very lethargic and has the pale drawn look of a kid with cancer. His appointment was yesterday and his cell counts have changed dramatically. Last week his neutrophil (the while cells that fight infection) count was 3,600. Yesterday it was 78! So we are back to keeping him at home and trying to prevent him from catching anything. If he gets a fever when his counts are this low we are immediately hospitalized for a few days. At least we have some great new toys and games for the kids. Noah has been great with Jordan and it has been really nice to have him home on Christmas break. We'll keep you posted. Love, Lara and Jim

Week 2

Jordan had his appointment on tuesday and everything went well. They were running 2 hours behind schedule which is really unusual. I was so glad that I had Noah with me who is on Christmas break. The two of them played together really well and kept eachother entertained while we waited. I was the one who was going crazy. How many times can you flip through "Cancer Today" and "Coping" magazines. Next time I will bring some real literature like "People" and "In-Style". Jordan isn't feeling sick yet and he now has a week off of the steroids so we are enjoying another relatively easy week. It will probably start to change after next weeks treatment. We are looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home. Merry Christmas to everyone! Lara

So far so good!

So far things are certainly better than we expected. Jordan is having some side effects from the steroids but not any more than in the past. He is sleeping a little more but his spirits are really good. We had a bit of a hard day on friday. Jordan had a sedation for a spinal and a chemo injection into his thigh muscles. These are always difficult when he is on the steroids because he is very hungry but can't eat until after the proceedure. Everything was delayed because we weren't told that they needed to check a urine glucose measurement until we happened to be leaving the bathroom! Try to get a three year old to pee when they don't have to go. Then he had a really rough recovery from the sedation. He was crying and hysterical. We weren't able to find out if they gave him something different this time that caused this reaction but we certainly will find out before his next sedation. He had to be observed for an hour to make sure he didn't have a reaction to the chemo and he was a wreck. We finally got home, he took a nap, and woke up like nothing traumatic had ever happened. Next appointment is tuesday. Love, Lara and Jim

The next phase

Well today we begin phase 4 which is called delayed intensification. This is the one that we have been dreading. Many of the drugs are new ones that he hasn't been on yet so it is difficult to predict the effect. We can predict that his hair will fall out again, that his cell counts will get very low again, and that he will feel terrible. He was off chemo completely for the past week to give his body some down time and right now he is feeling better than he has since June. It is so great to have a spunky 3 year old in the house again. That will probably start to change tomorrow. He had injections of vincristine and doxorubicin today and started on the steroids again. The steroids are nearly twice the dose that he was on before and we are told that most kids get extremely lethargic. The good news is that the steroids are for 7 days and his cell counts won't drop until after day 14 so he may feel pretty good and Christmas! We will make postings more frequently during the next 8 to 10 weeks as we know that many of you are praying and following Jordan's progress. We so appreciate all the prayers and support that we continue to receive. Love, Lara and Jim

Some More Pictures of Jordan

Some of our latest pictures of Jordan:


Jordan in his Holloween costume...and Thanksgiving costume...and Christmas costume... and pajamas...you get the picture. The red eyes are from the flash, but they somehow seem appropriate.


Jordan with Noah on a train ride at the local "Fall Fest".