8 months

8 months ago today, Luke started chemo. He has 31 months to go. We cling to God and his goodness. We have a mix of emotions every day, but through it all, we are ok, especially Luke. Please continue to pray vigorously for our precious child. Our gift from God has had to endure so much, and we know that he will be reminded this for his whole life. We hope and pray, crying out to the Lord, that Luke is healed. We cry out to you, LORD, please remove the leukemia from Luke's body, and may it never return.

Father God, we PRAY!
Help us to FOCUS on YOU, and not our difficulty
Help us to RELY on YOU, and not our own strength and understanding
Help us to WAIT on YOU, and not act impulsively

Blood Counts are Good today

We're glad to see that Luke's blood counts continue to look good.  Also, our brave boy received more IV chemo today.  Still having a tough time with port access, but he hung in there!

3rd time in BandAid Junction

Once a month, Luke needs to go to the clinic for blood sampling...through his finger. Although he has an implanted IV port in his chest, they only access it for blood samples when he is receiving IV chemo (the less they access it, the less risk for infection).

Luke wanted to watch this video 3 or 4 times. This is from this morning. We hope it gets much more tolerable for him. He has at least 31 more of these over the course of his treatment (which ends, God-willing, in August 2013.

Oh, by the way, "BandAid Junction" is the place within Texas Children's Hospital where kids go for a quick finger stick, bandaid, and back home. We actually hang around after the stick for the results. They could just call us, but we find the in-person interaction helpful.

Maintenance Begins

We finally made it to the day all the doctors have been telling us about. The last 6 months of the aggressive chemo has been really hard and we have been waiting for this light at the end of the tunnel with maintenance. Thanksgiving started with Luke getting a blood transfusion and platelets because his counts were really low. We had a quiet Thanksgiving with the three of us and of course turkey and the fixings.

On December 8th Luke's counts recovered and was able to start the next round of chemo. He had a spinal tap of methotrexate and IV vincristine. He did well other than the fact he still struggles with access and deaccess of his port. Now that this phase begins we will only have to go to the hospital every 2 weeks. One week he will have a fingerstick for his blood counts and the other week he will have chemo. Also maintenance also means more drugs at home vs drugs at the clinic. He has oral mercaptopurine daily, dexamethasone daily for five days each month, methotrexate orally once a week, and of course bactrim. The regimen dictates our lifestyle, when Luke eats, sleeps, and goes out. At the clinic, he got a visit from Santa.

On December 22nd Luke had an appointment for counts and his counts were all normal. His ANC was 1550 which was an okay to go to church on Christmas. We enjoyed the holidays with some close friends and family. Luke got many gifts from Santa and may need another room just for his toys.

On January 5th, he had his first chemo of 2011. He had made counts and was given IV vincristine. The doctor says that we should be able to start having a somewhat normal life....going back to school, activities, playdates, etc.

Thank you for everyones love, support, and prayers through the last 6 months. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and that the rest of therapy goes uneventful.

What does Luke like?

We have been asked by many folks....what does Luke like? Sometimes, it's because they may want to give him something. Sometimes, it's because they want to pray that he continues to enjoy those things, and to be encouraged by those things.

Since he has been house-bound for so long, we have had to find clever ways to keep him entertained and engaged mentally and physically. Here are some of the things Luke has found himself "liking".

1 - Playing football (with Daddy): wow, he plays dirty; first, he tackles me, then he kicks me in the gut; he doesn't know it yet, but we got him an eagles uniform to play in (even has a soft helmet)
2 - animated movies (like Toy story, incredibles)
3 - trains, trains, trains
4 - CARS, CARS, CARS
5 - my baby can read dvd
6 - books
7 - arts and crafts
8 - oh boy...here's one...play kitchen stuff...he saw daddy slaving away in the kitchen and thought it looked fun...we got him a play kitchen and he makes us laugh so much as he whips around it frying up things, microwaving things, etc...imaginary heat, of course :)
9 - praying, singing, reading the Bible
10 - running around outside (it is ok for him to be outside of the house)
11 - helping daddy with the laundry (don't laugh, he really helps!) :)
12 - dinosaurs and dragons
13- bath tub play
14 - eating edamame (he finds them tasty and fun)
15 - carrot cake
16 - green berry burst hawaiian punch
17 - broccoli and cheese
18 - chasing and bursting bubbles...picture him chasing down bubbles, giggling hysterically, and popping them
19 - playing car race with anyone he can find, including uncles, aunties, and grandparents
20 - thank God for nick jr. (he loves pretty much all nick jr.); while his counts were good, we took him to see "storytime" featuring several nick jr characters...he was in shock (so excited...he was mesmerized)

Well, that some of the things Luke continues to enjoy. We are thankful that these things have and continue to fill his heart with joy.

Continuing to get comfortable?

Today, Tuesday, December 7th, 2010, marks the 6th month since we found out that Luke had leukemia. Wow. Time has flown by. We are so thankful that our life has been filled with love, peace, comfort, and strength. Thanks to God, and thanks to all of our loving family and friends. Also, thanks to those we have met in passing, online and in person, who may have encouraged us and prayed for us.

It has been a trying time, but we have had far more good days than bad days. We still have our eyes and hearts open to where God is leading us.

Nearly everything we thought about or planned prior to June 7th,. 2010 has changed. God-willing, we will gain clarity and re-gain vision towards the future. In many ways, we have jumped forward, and in some ways, he have stumbled, and in other ways, we have not moved. Your continued prayers are needed and greatly appreciated. 6-months of treatment have been completed, and God-willing, Luke has 33 more months to go.

Luke has always been our special and precious little boy. In these last few months, we have seen our baby take on the role of an older, more mature child. That is eye-opening, since he's only 3. Many times, he has helped us, when we needed. He has even told us to "take a deep breath" or "let us pray" or "turn off the tv, it is nap time". We love him so much. Our hearts break, knowing he must endure all of this, but we are comforted with his resilience and his spirit.

Pictures from the clinic...
Here's Luke playing with a netbook. Wow. Doesn't he look grown up?

Here's Luke making some puppets with some University of Houston Volleyball Players. Hmmm...he seems to enjoy warming up to ladies. Nice!

Here's Luke in the infusion center playroom. Daddy explained to Luke what the Puppet Theater was for, and Luke proceeded to conduct a puppet show. Daddy was the only one in the audience, but it was special.

Transfusion - November 22, 2010

We never truly understood how important giving blood can be. We will definitely start giving blood. During Luke's 'delayed intensification' phase, his blood counts went down to a critical level, and he needed a transfusion of blood and platelets. Thanks to the donations of others, Luke received the needed blood, and his counts improved greatly. Though his immune system is still down, and he has had to stay at home for about a month now, he is in good spirits, by God's grace.

Here's is Luke, all smiles, as we went to the clinic for his first transfusion since being admitted to the hospital during his initial diagnosis (in June).


Here is Luke looking up at the blood infusing into the port. Who knows what he is thinking? On this day, he received blood. A few days later, he received platelets. He developed an allergic reaction to the platelets, and the nurses gave him benadryl iv and hydrocortisone iv. Thankfully, it was not a serious reaction (a few little bumps on his head/face), but this does mean that any time he will need similar transfusions, he will be pre-medicated with these medicines.