Nice and boring

We have seen lots of visitors over the past two days, which has been great to break up what has been otherwise uneventful and a little bit boring (no complaints here!).  Mom is under the weather, so the boys have been hanging out and working on pinball skills in the play room while she gets healthy again.

Treatment Expectations

Eric and I met this afternoon with the transplant team to discuss Logan's treatment expectations.  His best chance for long term survival is to undergo a bone marrow transplant after reaching clinical remission (again).  We were given a lot of information to process and a bunch of "what if's" but long story short; best case scenario he will be out of the hospital shortly before Christmas with one to two weeks leave between now and then.

It was a very emotional meeting; the side effects and possible complications truly boggle my mind; but Eric and I are trying to take this one step at a time and not dwell on the possibilities.  After the transplant he will be making trips back to the hospital for check ups and tests every other day for a few months, then every week for 7 months, then every month for 2 years.

Anticipating all this in our future, Eric and I have decided to sell our house in Wichita and move back to the Kansas City area permanently.

Thank you to all our friends and family for your love and support.

I Van't To Suck Some BLOOD

Logan is getting two bags of blood today and we wanted to have a little fun with it!

 He also broke out the GIGANTIC PAPER AIRPLANES yesterday for some flight lessons.

He's a tired boy today, but otherwise feeling okay.

A Better Day

Today is shaping up to be a better day.  Logan woke up bright and early feeling good.  He is eating, moving about, and has voluntarily turned off the TV.  I say that in itself is proof that he is feeling better.  We are playing some games and trying out some activities some friends have brought over.  Photos to come.

Cautiously Optimistic

After a 5 hour nap Logan is awake and asking for food.  He is even giving us small smiles so we are cautiously optimistic that he will continue to get better.  Eric is on duty tonight so if our little monkey becomes a night owl tonight (because of his colossal nap) Eric is the right man for the job.

Feeling Green Again

Logan was feeling great yesterday, but this morning starting at 3 a.m. his sickness came back.  He hasn't been able to keep anything down all day and he's back on his heavy nausea medicine that makes him sleep, sleep, sleep.  At least he's feeling no pain right now.  The doctors are perplexed (never a good thing in my opinion) and we are in a wait and see mode.  They did check his blood counts this morning and while his numbers are low, he doesn't need any transfusions yet.

Music Therapy

The family joined in on Music Therapy time yesterday...

... my favorite was the steel drum.  I could listen to that all day.  Ya, 'Mon!

The Many Hats of Logan

 Anticipating his hair falling out, Logan spent some time yesterday trying on some new hats...

And this is how his hair looked when we were done!

Still Good...

Today was another good day.  Logan has lots of energy, is eating well (finally), and is a little stir-crazy.  He spent a lot of time rolling down the hallways, visiting the pinball machine in the playroom, and entertaining visitors.  Some of his buddies from Camp Quality came by with a magic trick kit.  Logan spent some of his afternoon wowing the nurses with his amazing magic abilities. : )

How We Roll

Box O' Fun

Logan received a care package from his friends at Camp Quality yesterday.  It was filled with some goodies that he put to good use.

His first order of business was to put together the model airplane....

... then he devised a game out of the ball and string.

We have also done some reading, math worksheets, played some board games, done some crafts, and taken a few spins on the floor in a wheelchair.  Any other boredom buster suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Last Day of Chemo

Today at 4:00 Logan received his last dose of chemo meds for this first round.  We will now wait for his blood to recover before he can be released from the hospital.  We were told to expect to be here another 15 days or so.  During this time they will watch him for infection and manage any side effects. 

After recovery they will do another biopsy to determine if he is back in remission.  If so, they have recommended a bone marrow transplant.  We'll keep everyone updated on that process as we know more.  

 He is in relatively good spirits today and looking for some entertainment other than the TV.  We enjoyed reading some today, got out the the playroom, and played some games in the room.  He is still very tentative with eating, but he is trying and that's all that we ask.

A Cheer Up Party

Feeling good!  He has had his Aunt, Cousin, Grandma, and Companion from Camp visit today.  He is doing good, feeling better, quite cheerful and very goofy.

Playing Some Games

Today is day 4 of  5 for Logan's first round of chemo.  We are finely getting the vomiting under control and he was able to keep some breakfast down.  His voice is changing... it did last time too... and he has been enjoying the strange sound.  He talks just to hear his own voice and it is very amusing.  All the meds he's on make him sleepy, dizzy, and weak but he is more alert and willing to play some games.

Better...

Logan is doing better today.  The doctors added a third medicine to control his vomiting.  He is very distrustful of eating anything, but he is keeping his fluids down now so we'll take this small victory.  He is also not a sleepy today so GO LOGAN!

visitors

Logan had some visitors come today to cheer him up!

Out and About

Logan is still having a hard time keeping food down.  Some of the medicine he is on causes nausea and dizziness.  Whenever he is feeling well, we try to get him up out of bed.  This morning after a shower we played with his hair... some is already starting to fall out so I'm not sure how much longer we'll see his beautiful dark locks.

 

Then we went to the play room for some exercise and a craft. 

 We were only there a short time before the vomiting started again.  Right now he is napping.  It's  good thing I take my phone with me everywhere so I can catch these moments.

Feeling Better

We got Logan up a few times today to walk around.  There is a pinball machine in the playroom that he now knows the secret to "playing for free" and he played until he got a high score.  We may leave this hospital as expert pinball players before it's all said and done.

New Hardware

This morning Logan is feeling better.  So far no vomiting, only soreness from surgery.  He starts on his chemo meds at noon so we got him up for a bath this morning and he told me he felt like a science experiment.  Yep.  That about sums it up.

Sick and Exausted

Logan has not reacted well to his treatment today.  He can't keep anything down, but he's passed out now so we hope he'll be able to sleep through the night without incident.  He starts on his chemo meds tomorrow at 10am.

Recovering

Logan is back in his room and working the cobwebs out of his head with some rest and Rice Krispies Treats.  All his procedures went well this morning.  He enjoyed the ride back to his room...

settled in

We are settled in for the night.  Tomorrow morning he is scheduled for an 8:00 surgery for his chest tube and biopsy.  The IV is causing him pain, but hopefully he'll drift off to sleep and it won't bother him again.

Camp Quality 2013

Each year Logan looks forward to Camp Quality like most children do Christmas.  It's a solid week of spoil-him-rotten fun just for children undergoing cancer treatment or recently in remission.  This is his 3rd year attending camp, and when we got the news Friday that he had relapsed, we knew it would adversely affect his camping experience this week.  Eric and I decided to go ahead and send him to camp on Sunday as planned, however we will need to pick him up early on Wednesday (2 and a half days early) for him to start chemo in Kansas City.  He was sad to have to leave early, but he was also happy that he would get a few days at camp rather than none.  Here are a few photos from camp so far:

Our good friend drove Logan to camp drop off in her convertible.  We don't let a little thing like rain stop a wonder boy from a joy ride!

 After check in they boarded the Party Bus for a rock'n ride to camp.

WATCH OUT LOGAN!

 Hugs and kisses goodbye...

 Peace Out, Dude.

 At camp!  Meeting up with his companion.  She was with him last year too so they are good friends.

Here she is working on his boat.

 Cardboard Boat Races... If you look really hard and know his profile well you may see Logan among the other boaters.

Photo booth fun.

Wednesday afternoon Logan will be admitted to the hospital.  Thursday morning he will have surgery for a bone marrow biopsy, Hickman catheter insertion (tube in his chest), and his first intrathecal injection (chemo injected into his spine).  This round of chemo will be different than last time.  We were told to expect 18 days for this first cycle (chemo and recovery).

Logan

We returned Thursday from a wonderful family vacation in time to make Logan's doctor's appointment.  I'm still working through the photos and I'll post them when I have time, however we did not get good news at Logan's check up.  His cancer has come back.  Eric and I did some deep thinking on how to handle this round of chemo.  Since we've done this before we have a better understanding of what's coming and we have decided that we just can't do this again without the support of our families.  Since both our families live in Kansas City, that is where we will be moving on Wednesday to start Logan's treatment.

We still have a lot of details to work through, but I know we have many friends here and afar that will want to offer help and support.  As things come up, I will let you know what is needed and I promise not to be shy about asking.  I know we have many friends that love us and want to help however they can.

I'm going to post updates to his treatment here so whoever wants to can follow along can with ease. Right now, we are working to get our house closed up for the move.  Logan, as you would expect, is not taking the news well.  He's very depressed about going through treatment again and worried about his mortality.  I think it's worse that he knows what's going to happen and how he will feel.  Sometimes knowledge is not a good thing.