Maintenance

We finally made it to maintenance. We will no longer have weekly and sometimes twice weekly visits to the clinic. Instead, we have monthly visits with treatments that are predictable, steady and less intense. Thus far there has been varying and intense treatments with different drugs. Some of it made Jake sick and unhappy.

We've been on maintenance since May 11th and the easing in treatment has made Jake a new boy. We never knew how much the chemo was affecting him until now. Jake is on the go. His brain is constantly working and he is also physically catching up. Since last September when he broke his leg and stopped walking, he has been physically behind. We suspect that his verbal and communication skills are advanced. When we meet people who either have children or teach children, they always comment on his advanced ability to communicate.

With summer ahead of us, we have been enjoying the pool and promising Jake a fishing trip.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. Jake kept on saying "happy mother's day." He can be a broken record sometimes but this one I loved! Jake and Mark gave me a laptop bag and an original McQuitty painting. Mark fixed blueberry pancakes and his wonderful cappuccino.

We then went to the Kansas City Zoo and it was packed. Mothers received free ice cream and zoo rides. Jake loves to see the animals and he was brave enough to feed the deers.

By the time we left the zoo, Jake could barely stay awake.

Sent Home

We were sent home today without Jake receiving his treatment. His blood count showed that his ANC (ability to fight infection) was too low.

Although this was somewhat disappointing, I'm glad Jake is getting a chance to recover. His hair is growing back all over. He is getting little baby hairs. Yeah!

Pinky

Yesterday, we took Jake to Bonner Springs, Kansas for the marble festival. They rolled what seemed like tens of thousands of bouncy balls called "Pinky" down main street. Jake was so excited to see it, he just kept screaming in excitement. They had little tents with food from various charities and shops. I was surprised they had $1 hot dogs, .50 cent bag of popcorn, .75 for bottle of water and .25 for chocolate chip cookies. I felt like I had time warped into the past.

Jake offically starts his maintenace phase of his treatment tomorrow 5/4/2009. We will be happy to only go into clinic once a month. I used to hate going into work on Mondays but that was until I experienced going into clinic on Mondays to treat my baby.

Jake has not had chemo for the last two weeks although we've had to go into clinic every Monday for a blood count. Laying off chemo for two weeks has allowed Jake to thrive both physically and mentally. Mark and I wonder what he would be like now if this never happended to him. It breaks our heart everytime we think of it.

Today we planted herbs outside in our patio. Jake was big help. He played with the dirt and watered the plants with his toy watering can.