Updates

We are one week from the end of frontline therapy. Leukemia treatment works like this: 6-8 months of frontline (intense) chemotherapy followed by 3 years of maintenance chemotherapy. Frontline therapy consists of a lot of IV and spinal chemo: anywhere from 1 to 5 days a week, every week. Maintenance chemo consists of spinal chemo once every three months, IV chemo once a month and oral chemo given daily at home. So basically for the next three years 90% of the responsibility for maintaining my sons remission falls to me. No pressure. I will be relieved to get our clinic visits down to once per month. But if I’m being honest I’m weary of chemo. So much chemo for so long. I feel like three years is stretching before me like the giant dead marshes in The...

Some of the best news that we’ve had in a while: Ethan gets to go with us on vacation to North Carolina! He went through the first three hospital stays for high-dose methotrexate with flying colors and blood counts are great so his oncologist gave him “time off for good behavior”. Not only that but we will be heading into the last phase of intensive chemotherapy in the 2nd week of July. Can you see that awesome light at the end of the tunnel?! I will try to blog some awesome pictures of us at the beach. We are really looking forward to connecting with our extended family.

The contest is over! We ended public voting in first place with over 1,000 votes. Thank you to all of our friends and family who voted. Unfortunately, Tracy didn’t pick me as the winner but did give us a very sweet mention on her website. When I told Ethan we didn’t win, he climbed on my lap with a big smile and said “I’m still happy” while giving me hugs and kisses. He is a shining example of an unbreakable spirit! He gives me so much inspiration and motivation to do my best. I’ve entered to win a week long detox retreat with a celebrity trainer and I need your vote! I’ve been doing Tracy Anderson’s Metamorphosis program for a year now. When Ethan was first diagnosed with leukemia I spent a lot of time just...

Today Ethan turned seven. To be honest, there were a few times this year when I wasn’t sure if we were going to be celebrating on this day. How easily fear and doubt creep in…. but here we are and we have so much to be thankful for. It’s been four months since his diagnosis and we are more than halfway through his intensive chemotherapy. Ethan is doing so well. Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually he has exceeded all of our expectations. He is a joy to everyone we meet and I am so proud of him. The day he was born was a pivotal day in my life and I thought I would share the story with you as a celebration of what God began…. The Story of Ethan Gabriel’s Birth His due date was May 23rd, 2005 and I went into labor twice....

We had another checkup on Friday. Ethan’s counts were better (ANC 850) so we are able to start the next phase of treatment. He had spinal methotrexate yesterday and we will start high dose IV methotrexate on Monday morning in the hospital. It’s a unique treatment. They literally pump him over the limit with this drug and then give a “rescue” drug (leucovorin) 24 hours later to shut off the effects before it becomes toxic. Then we have to sit in the hospital and wait until it clears his blood stream. They told us to expect to be in the hospital until Friday the 18th. We will repeat this every other week for two months. We’ve asked specifically to be admitted on a Monday because it is their lowest census day and the chances of us being...

Check out this video filmed in the SCCA Unit at Seattle Children’s. Ethan’s little friend Sam is featured (he’s the one missing all the teeth!).