Michael is doing ok but his bone marrow does not seem to want to recover this cycle. I am sure that in a few more days we will see that change. He is busy playing with his sister. Tristan is sick and isolated to the up stairs since Michael has no immunity. On Wednesday Michael has a PET scan and Thursday he has labs, doctor visit and infusion center for chemo. we keep hoping this time will be the last time he every has to have chemo. On Jan. 5th we will find out what they plan to do. If the scans are showing clear films then he will be in remission.

Michael got to come home Christmas Eve in the afternoon. We could not go anywhere do to his immunity. He is starting to get it back but it is very slow in coming. We are also waiting for his bone marrow to recover. His platelets are still a bit low. We go Monday to get labs again and hope the news is good. Michael is also back on a lot of meds. We hope he will be off a lot of them soon. Thank you everyone for the prayers and love you have showed our family. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Michael is doing better. He is sitting on the bed and watching Mickey Mouse on tape. Playing with Dad. He is slowly showing signs that he is getting better. He is having trouble with his platelets coming back. They are staying low even after the infusion. If all goes well we will be out of here tomorrow. We have to wait and see if the platelets stay or get wasted.

I was so sad to know that we had to come to the hospital this time of year. Michael's first Christmas that he would be able to open his gift by himself and have fun. On the way to the hospital with Michael I said your will Lord. We got to the hospital and we met a wonderful family "The Bashi's". Please pray for them they just found out that their son has cancer. He was here for his first treatment. I was able to talk to them during their stay here. Michael seemed to like Adrian. We went to their room to watch Adrian play the WII, but Michael was still tired. So we went back to our room for Michael's nap. I told them how God had worked in Michael's life. How amazing of a journey Michael had from the beginning. I was so glad we could encourage a new family that was beginning their journey with cancer. It can be a very scary time. Good luck Adrian we will be praying for you.

No fever since 7pm last night

Michaels slowly improving.
He has not had a fever since 7pm last night so the antibiotics seem to be working.
He is a little grumpy but thats partly due to being stuck in hospital.
We will continue to pray he can be released before Christmas.
God Bless
Russ

Michael still at Motts

Michael is still at Motts Hospital up on the 7th floor.
Hes still got the fever that they are treating him for and he possible has a bacterial infection which is being treated with Antibiotics.
He is a little grumpy but generally doing well and we are hoping t oet him home in a few days.
more later.
Russ

still in hospital

Michaels still in the hospital.
He still is fighting a fever but is doing well apart from that.
His immunity continues to fall due to this latest chemo so he will stay in the hospital until the fever is gone for 24 hours and his immune system recovers.
more later.
Russ

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Michael has a fever

Michael has a fever of 101.7 this morning so cathy is on the way down to the emergency room. They will probably check him in as he has low immunity due to the latest chemo.
Unfortunitely this may mean Michaels in the hospital for christmas.
Please Pray that there is no infection and Michael can recover and be home before christmas.
More later
Russ

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Michael is feeling a bit better today. His potassium went down and we have to give him a supplement. We will have to continue this until his body is able to produce the amount of potassium he needs. I go for labs tomorrow to make sure he is able to maintain the rest of his electrolytes. It will also tell us if we have to get blood or platelets tomorrow. Michael should be getting close to having no immunity. This means we will have to make sure we are very careful to not be around anyone that has a virus or flu. Really any sickness. Thanks for praying for Michael. We can not wait to be able to go back to church again and spend time with our friends. For anyone that has been our support team we thank you so much. We hope to be able one day to help others who are going through a trial in their lives. Remember God is always with you. He will never leave you or forsake you.

Michael seems to be doing well today. He is a little grumpy because he does not feel good. He is back to not eating solid food again. His little bit of hair that was coming back has fallen out once again. From the lab results today Michael will be starting to drop down his red and white blood cell, platelets, and immunity within the next few days. If he does what he has in the past then Michael will have no immunity by the 18th. It is normally gone for a week or week and a half, so we will not be going anywhere for Christmas.
I found out that Michael will have his new scans earlier, it is now scheduled for the 5th of January.

If you hang an angel ornament on your tree this year, be reminded of the joy they came to announce--and be a messenger, spreading that joy to others.

Michael is home and doing well. He has not gotten sick from the chemo this time. We will have to go for blood test twice a week and then to clinic on the 21st and 28th. The good news about Michael is that his MRI showed no new growth and that the surgery was successful at getting rid of the tumor in the liver. The CT is a mixed bag. It show a few nodules that have continued not to change. This is a good indication that it is just scar tissue. The bad news is a new growth was found in the lower right lung. It is 2mm and if it is not gone by the 7th of January CT they will want to biopsy the lung. They said that if it is gone then they do nothing. Then we begin our journey of waiting and watching. The oncologist said that Michael is at high risk for relapse. We would then have scans every 3 months and blood workup every month. The AFP test (cancer cell number) is a good first indication that the cancer is staying away or growing. He has to keep that number in between 0-8 to be in the normal range. Michael continues to show a number of 3.

One last round of chemo

Michaels scans seem to show no change but because the regimin of chemo he is on says another chemo rd the docs decided to do one more round of hard chemo.
they say that its best to do all we can to make sure the cancer is gone as its an up hill battle if it comes back.
So Michaels getting checked in for a few days for this chemo and hopefully home monday or tuesday.
god bless.
Russ

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still in consult room

Still waiting in consult room. they decided to try and talk to the radiolgist to get some info.
more later.
Russ

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Blood tests normal

Michaels AFP is 3.0 which. is in the 0 to 7.9 normal range.
We wont get the MRI and CT results till tomorrow.
Still one more consult and then home.
All is good. God is Good.
Russ

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Consult next

Blood draw for tests is done.
We are now waiting for the consult with his chemo docotors.
Russ

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Blood tests

MRI and CT done fast. Michaels doing well.
WE are getting his blood tests now.

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MRI and CT Today

Michaels in preop for his MRI and then CT scans.
Should be done by lunchtime. Then we have a couple of appts for labs and a consult.
More later
Russ

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Michael continues eat more food and drink more of his tea. Michael has his scans tomorrow morning. I don't know if we will know anything before Friday, but we sure hope so. Pray for clear scans and safe trips to and from the hospital. Thanks Katie and Ben for watching Makayla and Tristan.
We will find out if it is ok for Michael to come to the children's program on Sunday night. His bone marrow is still so beat up and he is able to get things easily. I know Makayla would like to have us their, and I would love to be their as well. Russ said he would stay home with Michael if he can not go to the program, but I would love the whole family to be their.

Michael is enjoying being home and is eating more and drinking more. We go for scans this Thursday. We will find out Friday what the scans show. The Oncologist, Radiologist, and possibly the surgeon will look at the films and see if they think Michael is clear. If he is clear of the cancer he will then move on to just being watched for any new signs of relapse. If they do find something on the scans then he will start his hard chemo. this Saturday and we will be back in the hospital. Pray that all is well and no chemo for Michael.

Michael is doing much better. He is starting to eat solid food more but still has trouble going poppy. He has not had a fever today at all. Michael has a busy day this coming Thursday. He has labs, visiting the doctor, CT scan, and MRI. If all is clear we get to go home and no more chemotherapy. If they find anything we will have the next dose of chemo starting Saturday following the scans. We pray they do not find anything on the scans and Michael can be done with the hospital stays and chemotherapy. One cool thing, Michael is starting to get his hair back. Everyone said that it might come back blonde and curly, but it seems to be coming back dark. I don't know if it will be curly till it comes back in.

Thursday Morning

Michael is still home and having intimittent fever issues.
We have not heard anything back from the hospital about his tests so are still assuming its a viris that will run its course.
Overall Michael is doing pretty well and his incision seems to be healing up nicely.
More later
Russ

Michael still a bit grumpy

Cathy and Michael made it to her folks house around 1am this mirning after getting out of the E.R.

We still have no more info on test results.

Michaels Temp is normal this morning.
More later.
Russ

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Michaels still in the ER

He is getting antibiotics and will be heading to Cathy's folk. If the cultures are negative then they can come back home. If positive then Michael will have to be admitted.
The doctors are thinking its just a virus though as michael had cultures a couple of days ago which were negative.
God bless
More tomorrow
Russ

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May be heading home shortly

michaels immune system is good so it looks like we get to go home.
they are giving him antibiotics and if he has no reactions we will be heading home.

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still in the ER

Hopefully only a half hour more till we know what the results are and whether we can get michael home.
If his immunity is ok we might get to go back home.
Russ

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Back down at U of M

Michaels spiked a temp this afternoon so we had to bring him down U of M emergency for blood tests and cultures.
They are just taking the cultures now.
We are praying his immunity is high enough that we get him back home tonight.
More later as we know.
Russ

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