Today we found a little more out about the experimental treatment….it is going to be a little more intense than we thought. It won’t just be one week in the hospital and three weeks out. During some weeks out Logan will be needing to be on 24 hour IV treatment and will have to go back to the hospital daily to change out IV bags. Starting tomorrow I need to give Logan a shot every day for 14 days…he is not so happy about that. I will also have to do this later in the treatment. We have to go in this Sunday for a 4 hour blood transfusion. One week during his stay in the hospital we found out he may be there longer, 7 days. We also found out today it has been a year and a half since the last patient went through this treatment. After all that being said…and digested by Kelly & I we are still going to go through with the treatment. This is the hardest decision either us have ever had to make.
Logan continues to do great. This morning he woke up w/ sore legs because he played so hard yesterday w/ his friend Chloe. Mom, Logan, Peyton, & Aunt Kristi are headed up to Children’s hospital right now so they can do some blood work to get Logan ready for next week. They also need to give him a shot to help boost his immune system for the next week. It sounds like we will be giving him some shots at home as well.
Next week is getting closer and I am getting more and more nervous everyday. As you can imagine I am not looking forward to seeing Logan in pain at all and/or spending more nights in the hospital. But in the back of my mind I keep telling myself we are doing everything we can to make sure this nasty disease stays away.
Remission….Logan is officially in REMISSION!
Today we met with Dr. Julie Park & team and heard that amazing word. Our amazing son Logan has no cancer in him at this time.
What’s next….well Logan was entered into a random lottery to see if he gets the experimental treatment as well as the normal treatment….I guess you would say we won. Logan has been selected to go through the treatment. He will be admitted this next Monday for one week to start the 5 month treatment. We will be in one week out three for 5 months (through mid August). To let you into my thoughts as I so often do I have mixed emotions. I am so glad he gets the experimental because I know we are doing everything we can to make sure his cancer does not come back. But to know I have to put my son through what is described as extreme pain for one week tears me up. To have to make Logan go back to the hospital for more treatment sucks. If we did not get the experimental Logan would start an acid treatment at home (pill form). He will still get this as well as experimental. If that were the case we could try to resume to be a somewhat normal family again. Logan could enjoy Peyton’s first summer outside and take him for rides in his John Deere Tractor. There is a reason Logan was selected…I know this. Come August when this is over I will be grateful that Kelly & I and our amazing boy Logan has done everything we can to get rid of his Neuroblastoma forever. As I say all the time and mean from the bottom of my heart….THANK YOU so much to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. For all of you that have kids please give them an extra hug tonight and tell them one thing they did today that made you feel great. Today Logan made me the proudest dad in the world because he is more than a man that I will ever be. He has made everyday an amazing day….Thank you Logan, I Love You.
Logan had a great weekend…as did we! We did absolutely nothing but sit around the house and enjoy just being a family. Logan is in a great mood and loves being a big brother. Currently as I type this he is trying to teach Peyton how to crawl. He has managed to get Peyton up on all fours but that is about it. He really Loves being a big brother.
Well we got the best news possible with the bone scan! Logan showed no signs of cancer in his bone marrow! Logan, Peyton, Kelly, & I are celebrating today at home the best news possible! I told Logan when we found out…the conversation went like this:
Dad: “Logan”
Logan: “what”
Dad: “Remember when they stuck those needles in your hip bones and took some bone marrow out?”
Logan: “yeah”
Dad: “They tested that and it showed all the cancer is gone!”
Logan: “why?”
Dad: “Because you have been doing such a great job in taking all your medicines.”
Logan: “Does this mean I don’t have to go to the hospital anymore?”
Dad: “No, we still have to do some things to make sure it does not come back.”
Logan: “Oh..”
He then smiled and went back to playing his video game.
Kelly & I got the news while over at Uncle Pat & Aunt Traci’s house. I took the phone call from the nurse…when I told Kelly she broke down in tears of joy. A huge monkey (gorilla) was lifted off our back. We know we are far from being out of the woods but….yeah we will take it.
We cannot thank everyone enough for all of your powerful thoughts and prayers. They are working!
We now meet with Dr. Julie Parks on Monday afternoon to go over test results in more detail as well as see as to where we go from here.
Logan has lost a little more of his hearing. It is still the high pitch sounds and not the normal speaking tones. He still will not need hearing aids at this time. The nasty chemo drug Cisplatin he received twice is doing the damage and it will continue to do possible damage for up to a year. We will have another hearing test later this year. Tomorrow we have scans and possibly might have results of bone marrow test that was done yesterday.
The picture attached was taken by a very nice lady at the Mariner’s game. She just e-mailed it to me. Logan used to be very scared of the moose….as you can see things have changed.
Go Mariners! Logan, Josh, Aunt Kristi, and Dad had a blast at opening day. Logan did engulf his cotton candy in record time and got a little tummy ache but other than that he had a great time. Logan & Josh both made it down near the field to get the Mariner Moose’s autograph. The guy sitting in front of us also caught a fly ball and gave it to Logan…he was pumped. Also a big THANK YOU to Ben Townes parents who surprised Logan at his seat w/ a Mariner backpack filled w/ goodies. Logan thought that was awesome!
Today Logan & Mom are up at Children’s Hospital starting all the testing again to see if there is any evidence of his cancer. This will be a hard/long week for Kelly & I. Of course we are praying that there is nothing. Along this 8 month journey (nightmare) of cancer we always know what the next step in treatment is. After this week we really do not know what is next….Wouldn’t it be nice just to go on w/ our life and never think about cancer again. We know that will not be the case…but is nice to dream though. Please say an extra prayer this week that his cancer is gone….forever!
Logan’s Aunt Traci’s family from St Louis sent Logan a Albert Pujols jersey. As you can see by the picture he loves it. THANK YOU!
Logan is all done with Radiation! Yesterday his amazing nurse Tana & staff surprised Logan with some balloons as well as a Husky dog and Logan’s favorite of all a Webkinz Elephant. In case you do not know what a Webkinz is it is a stuffed animal you register online and you take care of it by feeding it, giving it baths, taking it to the veterinarian etc. The Webkinz Tana gave him is Logan’s 17th one! He named it Banana (after Tana Banana). Thank you so much for the amazing job you did w/ Logan Tana. You truly impacted our family’s life. THANK YOU!
The other picture above is Logan & Peyton. Peyton is modeling the crown his brother made him.