#Loganstrong

Good news to report. Kelly and I met w/ the surgeon about 7:30pm tonight. To quote him he said “I am in awe at the progress that has been made to kill/shrink the tumor.” He is anticipating the surgery to go smooth and also thinks he can go in through the same incision that was done for the biopsy (about a 4″ incision on his belly). He thinks Logan’s recovery should go smooth and last about a week. He said when they do move the intestines around it does irritate the stomach a bit. He also let us know they will be watching his kidney that is near the tumor because the artery that feeds it is close to the tumor and w/ a kids arteries being so sensitive they watch for it collapsing. The good news w/ that when first diagnosed he said the huge tumor was soft and very bloody and would of been near impossible to remove without complications. Now it is small and rubbery and should peel off pretty easy.
I shared the good news w/ Logan that they will be able to pull the bad seed out of the same hole they already made and that he will not feel a thing. I also said told him since he used his superpowers to shrink the seed so small it made the doctor very happy. Logan was very proud!

Hopefully now he will go to sleep. I think the blood they transfused into him today had sugar in it;)

It’s Wednesday night and we are still here…..whoooo hoooo! Logan’s counts are still at zero. This is the longest they have been at zero. The doctors are not worried. He got another blood transfusion today and it gave him his color back. Grandma stayed w/ him last night so when I came up later today after the transfusion it looked like Logan had been tanning because he was so white before. Logan, Grandma, & Grandpa David partied late into the night. Logan was up playing Mario Golf until 10:30! He now beats his mom at it all the time (and gives dad a good challenge).
Kelly & I had a parent/teacher conference w/ Logan’s kindergarten teacher this morning and it went very well. She said Logan is very well behaved in class. She thinks he will be an artist (like his uncle Joe). The teacher said whenever they do projects w/ crayons Logan is very meticulous about making sure things are perfect. He also uses scissors great. She also informed us that when Logan is not there his cousin Sydney always makes sure that she puts down his chair. The kids in the class ask everyday about Logan. The only thing we need to be working on at home and in the hospital is the alphabet.

Update…..counts are still to low to go home so we will be here another night.

Good Tuesday morning. Logan is doing great! We are going on three days of no nausea and over 24 hours w/ out a fever. We are awaiting his counts to see if they will let us go home. He has been joking around and feeling good. They just weighed him this morning and he is back up to 43lbs (he dropped to 40).
Last night we went on a walk to see our friends over in oncology. One of the nurses and I started talking about Logan’s surgery next week and he got upset and asked us not to talk about it. Early next week I will start prepping him for it and tell him how they are going to remove the “bad seed” from his tummy and how he will not feel anything. He is so brave!

Happy Monday if there is such a thing. Logan’s tummy is feeling better. No sickness for 2 days. He still has a fever and counts are zero. He is getting another transfusion right now as well as taking a nap. They are giving him platelets which is good because he had a bloody nose this morning that would not clot itself. It now has.
It is so hard watching my boy be sick. Everywhere I turn I see these amazing pictures of him growing up….smiling, laughing and all the while he had that evil tumor inside tearing apart his body. I am so proud to be his dad. He is the true meaning of a super hero. The nurses are always saying how tough he is and I guess they would know because they deal with many kids. Yesterday when we got here the nurses heard my voice and all ran out from everywhere to see Logan. It is so nice because he truly brings a smile to their faces. He walks into an area where they are and no matter what they all drop what they are doing and he lights up the room! As you can tell I am having a difficult moment. I want this to go away and just be a normal family again. I am his dad and I am supposed to protect him. As I type this yes I am crying. I am crying because I am happy to have Logan, I am happy to have such an amazing support group, I am sad that Logan has to go through this, I am angry as well. Everyone that reads this today/tonight please when you are finished go give your kid(s) a hug and tell them how much you love them. I tell my best friend everyday!

We are back in the hospital. Logan had a fever. We are o.k. w/ it because he needed a transfusion. He woke up this morning without much color. We are not in our normal part of the hospital (if there is a normal part). We are usually over in oncology but they are full. We are on the same floor but in surgery recovery floor. The good thing is the room we have is great….the bad is the nurses are not used to cancer patients. They had trouble getting him ready for his blood transfusion and they are also not used to working w/ Hickman lines like Logan has. They are nice and are trying. If they have questions they have been calling over to the other unit. I stopped by the other unit and our favorite nurses were over there and they requested a special visit from Logan. We will go over in the morning. We are hoping his counts come up by Tuesday and no more fevers. Have a great night…we are in suite G3002 in our five star hotel.

Sorry for the delay in updating. Not much to report for yesterday because Logan had a perfect day.
As for today, Friday, we were at the hospital all day doing tests. GREAT NEWS about the tumor…..when it was first found back in July it was bigger than a softball, on September 12th it had decreased by more than half (measured 3.2cm x 3.1cm) and today it is about the size of a golf ball (measured 2.6cm x 1.9cm) and pretty much dead! It shows as a white spot on the CAT scan because it is pretty much just dead calcium now. As the Dr. said today the surgeons are going to be very happy because their job will be a lot easier now. Smaller incision also means quicker recovery time for Logan.
We also found out what to expect through the rest of this year. Surgery is November 21st and they think recovery will last about a week. We then have a 6th chemo (same drug as #4) around the second week in December. After 3 weeks of recovery from that we go in for the stem cell transplant just after Christmas (we hope) and Logan gets hit w/ another very strong chemo to kill cells and at the same time transplant good cells. They said we will be in the hospital in isolation for about 4 weeks. Early next year then they will be doing spot radiation on the tumor location as well as any other parts of his body that show existing spots.
Keep up all your thoughts and prayers because they are working!

Logan is home! We got home last night. He is still feeling pretty yucky and probably will for about another week. We are keeping him medicated. He had another great night of sleep last night. Today he has gotten sick twice but vs. last time where it was every 1/2 hour this is good. We will be going back to the hospital for scheduled appointments on Friday. He will be getting a CAT Scan to check tumor and spots before surgery. They will also be doing a test on his heart to make sure everything is o.k. there. We then meet w/ Doctor’s in afternoon to go over results. What a long day for Logan who will not be feeling that well.