Friday - New New News

Michael is still doing well.
We wont know any more till Monday now when he gets his next blood tests.
as long as his levels are all good the Surgery will go ahead on Thursday morning.
god bless
Russ

Thursday Update

Michael continues to do well with eating and drinking more each day.
He is enjoying his time at home with Cathy, Tristan and Makayla.

We are keeping the family at home this week so we have less exposure to flu and cold viruses and Michael can stay healthy for his operation which is scheduled for November 5th.

God bless
Russ

No Surgery this week

Michael's Red and White cells are not good this week. His platelets are still low and his immunity is not were it needs to be for the surgery this week. We will be moving it to next week to give him longer for his body to recover his bone marrow. I will be talking to the doctors this week to get his new date for the surgery. It should be around the 5th of November. Please pray that his bone marrow will come back strong.

Michael is doing well. We will be sticking around the house until the surgery next week. No going to big crowds or being around other children right now for the family. Sorry Awanda and Sunday School teachers.

We will update you on the new date when we have it.

Russ and Cathy Dyer

Monday status

Michael is down at Motts this morning for blood tests. We should know later today if his levels are ok and looking good for the surgery.
Russ.

For the next few day we will be staying around the house or going to doctor's appointments. Michael has to go get his official hearing aids tomorrow. He has been borrowing some for the last few months. He will also get lab work tomorrow that will determine if he gets to have the surgery this Thursday. His Red, White, and Platelet must be very close to normal before he can have the surgery. His immunity must be close to normal as well so he can fight off infections from surgery. We will let you know if he is going to have the surgery this Wednesday tomorrow night. If he is not able to get the surgery this week it will be moved to the following week.

Keep praying for Michael because he is going to need a lot of prayers for the staying healthy during these next few months, the surgery and making it through safely and that they are able to get all the cancer out, and then recovery from the surgery with no complications from the surgery.

We love you all for your prayers, the whole family needs your prayers.

Russ and Cathy Dyer

Scan Results

We talked with the our main Oncologist yesterday evening about the full body PET scan and the results are fairly good.
Michaels lungs are clear and his liver tumor looks to be mostly dead from the Chemo.

The Scan did pick up one lymph node that is cancerous in the vicinity of his liver so the oncologist is going to talk to the surgeon about taking out that lymph node during the surgery next week.He says the lymph node does not have a lot of veins going into it and Michael will be fine without it.

Michael has blood tests this morning to check his levels in preparation for surgery on the 28th. We will keep praying the levels come back up to normal and the surgery can go ahead on the 28th.
God Bless
Russ and Cathy Dyer

We are home

Yeah !

Michael walking around and happy to be home.
Mrs Horsche, will meet you at awana to get Tristan and Makayla back. Can't find your phone number.

Thanks for watching them.
Russ


-- Posted from my iPhone

Heading home

Heading home in a few minutes.
Michael very well.
Russ


-- Posted from my iPhone

In recovery

Scan done , michaels in recovery.
Russ


-- Posted from my iPhone

Nuclear medicine

Michael got his injection at 12:25 so should be getting his scan at 1:25.
More later
Russ


-- Posted from my iPhone

Wednesday

Michaels up and we will be going down to get ready for his PET scan in a little while.

His morning test of his AFP ( cancer reading ) was 16.5 which is allmost normal, ( less than 10 is normal).
His ANC ( immunity ) is up to 1.0 , (0.4 yesterday). And 2.3 is normal so we may be there in another day or so.
Keep the prayers comming
God bless
Russ
-- Posted from my iPhone

Yeah! Michael has an immunity

Finally, Michael has an immunity. His white blood cells have started back up. He got Red blood cells today. So if all is good on Monday of next week we will ready for the surgery on the 28th of October. Michael has his PET scan tomorrow at 1:30pm. After the PET Scan he is going to be coming home unless something happens over night. It will be nice to be home at least for a few nights. We come back to the hospital on the 28th and will stay in until Michael recovers from the surgery. It usually takes about 1 week to recover if there is no complications.

Perry Baptist had a special healing service for Michael and many people showed up to pray. Others I am sure prayed for Micheal from were ever they were. Russ said that the service went well. We are so close to end of this cancer being gone. Thank you everyone that sent prayers up for Michael today. He even seems happier today and more like a little 2 year old. I can not wait to go home tomorrow.

May God bless you all are return the kindness you have shown us today.

Michael still does not have an immunity. I guess we can hope for tomorrow. Keep praying that his blood cells will recover in time for the surgery on the 28th. Michael is a little grumpy today. He is not allowed to leave the room until his cough is all gone and his immunity is starting back up. He was taken off his other antibiotic, so the red rash all over his skin is starting to fade. He had a little bit of a hard time sleeping because the rash itched. I have some lotion to put on him, but it seemed he would find a new spot that itched. Last night was not a good night of sleep, we can always try for tonight.

Michael has learned the controls on the bed and loves to make the bed go up and down. He so frustrated that he is not able to get out of the room. He was streaming outside yesterday. I have to keep telling him that we can not go out of the room.

Beth I am glad to hear of your good news! Remission is awesome and a little scary at the same time.

We can do all things through Christ to strengthens us.

Cathy

Hope everyone is enjoying our Lords day. Michael is taking his afternoon nap. He still does not have an immunity today. There is still hope for tomorrow. The white blood cells have started up so his immunity should start up as well. He is still having problems with his antibiotic. He has a rash from head to toe. They have taken him off that one and is now on a new one.

We will be having a special prayer for Michael on October 20th from 7:00 to 7:30pm at Perry Baptist church. If you would like to join us at Perry Baptist we would love you to be there. We ask that you pray that the cancer would be all gone on the PET scan. We are so close to it being gone and with the last big round of chemo. he may have a chance of it being gone. If it is still in his liver we will have him in on October 28th for his resection surgery. The surgeon said that the surgery will be 4-5 hours long. He will be coming in for the pre-surgery prep, surgery and then in ICU for recovery. So He will be gone from us for about 6-8 hrs if all goes well. Once the surgery is over he should no longer have cancer in his liver. He will continue his chemo for probably 3 to 4 months after to make sure no cancer cells will start to grow. One the day of his surgery we ask that you would pray with us continually that day for his safety before, during and after the surgery.

It is hard to believe we are so close to him being in remission. We have seen so many blessings through this trail in our lives. God has always given us strength through it all. What a loving God we serve.

Michael still does not have an immunity, but is showing promise with the immature cells that are growing. Maybe tomorrow he will show some mature cells. His red and white blood cells, platelets and immunity are all low right now. Our hope is he will be able to recover them all before the 28th.

His rash is much better today. So the conclusion is the antibiotic he was on was the reason for the rash. He can no longer have that antibiotic ever again.

Michael is vacuuming our hospital room with a little windtunnel vacuum. It is one of his favorite toys here. He also has a little kitchen set in the room, and yesterday I found a little bowling game in the child life room for him to play with in our room. He can not leave the room because he has a cough.

I thank my mom and dad for taking care of Makayla and Tristan during our stay here. They are now home with dad for the weekend. We will see if Michael will be released from the hospital tomorrow or if he will be in until Monday.

Please continue to pray for Michael's healing.

Thank you,
Cathy

Friday Update

Michaels doing quite well but still cant get released from Hospital Yet.
He had a little rash which we think is a reaction to one of the antibiotics so that has been changed and the doctors want him to stay in till sunday/monday.

We are also waiting for his immunity to come back up a bit.
More tomorrow
Russ

Wednesday Update

I talked to Cathy this morning and Michael is doing well.
He is a little more cheerful and it looks like he is getting over his infection/virus/what ever it was, and also the effects of the latest Chemotherapy round.

I doubt he will be home today but hopefully in the next day or two we can get him back home.

We are looking forward to his P.E.T. scan on 10\21 and surgery to remove whats left of the liver tumor on 10\28. Its a little scary as he it will be a big operation, but we continue to pray and rest assured that God is in control.

God Bless
Russ

Tuesday Update

Just a quick update to say michael is still at the hospital.
He is doing ok temperature wise but has a wee cough that the doctors are watching carefully.

Still hoping to get Michael back home in a day or two.
Russ

Michael is in a new room tonight. His cough has started to get a little worse. They have put precautions on the room. That means that any one entering the room has to wear mask, gown, and gloves. They have swabbed his nose to check for a virus. I should know something by morning. I will be checking his diaper tonight so Amy does not have to get kitted up every two hours. I can't wait to go home and get a good nights sleep. :)

Good NEWS! The surgeon that is going to take the tumor out of Michaels liver called today. He said that he had October 28th available for Michaels resection. We will hold a special prayer for the PET scan and Surgery on October 20th. We ask that if you are praying for Michael and would like to pray at your church or if you are local to join us at Perry Baptist on the 20th, we would greatly appreciate it. We would also ask that the morning of the 21st you continue to pray that the PET scan goes well without complications. Then we also ask that you join us in a 24 hour prayer for Michael on the 28th.

Thanks for all your prayers, may God bless you for all you have done for us. May the kindness you have shown us come back to you.

Cathy

Sunday Update

Michael is still fighting with an infection.
He is in hospital still and will be there till Tuesday.
He is on Antibiotics and doing fairly well apart from this one pesky infection.
Cathy it doing a great job taking care of him and Im visiting when I can.

Russ

Friday Night

Michaels got a Temperature so he is back in hospital tonight.
room 7692

We dont think its too serious but because his immubnity is low he has to be admitted for a couple of days.

more later.
Russ

Hello everyone,
Michael is doing much better today. He has not thrown up since Tuesday. Thank goodness for medicine. Michael is still not wanting to play much and eating is not much of an option. He is still drinking his hot tea, but has added drinking water as well. He has a bit of a cold. If he continues with the cold he may end up in the hospital for a fever since his immunity is going down fast. By Friday he will probably not have one. I hope it will be coming back quickly.

Yesterday the surgeon called and said that he had been looking at the scans with the radiologist. They determined that the tumor is starting to come out of the liver in retreat. It is now smaller then a golf ball. They think the lungs might just have calcium deposits as oppose to cancer now. So the news keeps getting better. We have a PET scan date. It will be October 21st. They will scan the whole body. It will tell them if their are any new areas and if the existing areas are now dead or close to dying. Soon after the surgery will be scheduled. This is exciting but scary. Since we almost lost him last time. We are going to have a special prayer for Michael October 20th. Then on the day of the surgery we will ask everyone to pray all day for him.

I am tired but the new news helps keep me going. With all the running back and forth for labs, chemo, scans, hearing test and normal things like groceries, I stay busy. Then fitting in the kids schooling everyday and trying to clean the house. It makes it a lot harder when Michael is not feeling well and wants me to hold him or just sit with him all day. God continues to give me more strength every time I need it. I am still getting over my allergies. The cold weather is helping I think.

My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Cathy

Well as I try and regain my strength from the stay at the hospital, and recover from my cold. I looked back at all the children and families that we met back in May. I can say that we are one of the fortunate families. Most of the families have suffered a lose. One is just hanging in their but the diagnoses is that they can no longer do anything for her. Pray for Laya Hason(5 years old) she is in a comma. The other little girl so far is a survivor she is more then 110 days out from her ALL (Leukemia remission), but all the rest have passed away. This makes it very hard to visit the cancer floor. I just found out while up on the floor that Carson passed away on the 4th of October. Pray for that family. I just meet a couple of new families in September. Pray for James and Gabriel. Both of them are down syndrome and have Leukemia.

On a happier note, we got a call from our doctor today. He had the surgical team look at Michael's scans from the 4th of October. He told me that the surgeon feels Michael is ready for his Resection surgery once he has recovered his Red, White platelet counts, and Immunity. They want him to have a PET scan before the surgery. We still have to wait for dates and times. But Craig our doc mentioned that it might be as early has the end of October or Beginning of November. The details have to be worked out still. We will also have an appointment to talk to the liver transplant team. They have to figure out from the resection the clear diagnosis before he could have a transplant. When Michael had his Biopsy the cells they collected from the tumor was unclear. Craig also said that they feel that what is left in the lungs could be just calcium deposit left from the cancer that was in there, but the PET scan would give a definite answer. We would like to have a special prayer service for Michael before the PET scan/surgery. When we know the date we will pass it along to everyone.

If you have trusted God with your eternal life, shouldn't you trust Him with the details of your earthly life as well? This is so true,

We need to focus more on complaining less and work more on our walk for Christ. When was the last time you were still enough to hear from God. If you are not listening then how can you know what God whats you to do. God talks to us through the sermons, the bible and a his still small voice, are you listening or complaining about what you heard?

But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works.
Psalm 73:28

Please keep praying for Michael,
Cathy

Tuesday stuff

We managed to get michael through the night and this morning without throwing up any more.
We have cut him back to clear liquids for a few hours as the milk stuff seems to cause the coughing and throwing up.

He is still in his happy mood which is good.
more later
Russ

Morning Update

Michaels had his morning labs and is back home.
He has thrown up a couple of times early this morning but thats kind of to be expected with this hard chemo.

He still looking pretty good and it still great to have him home.

more Later,
Russ

Michael home

He's back home.
Yeah!



-- Posted from my iPhone

Morning Update

Michael slept well through the night.
He is getting a bolas with some Magnesium as his levels on the lower edge of normal and the doctors want to keep the level up.

Michaels eating breakfast at the moment.

We are pleased that the resting chemo he has been on for the past 2 cycles has not only kept the cancer in check but also decreased it.
The Liver Tumor is about 25 percent smaller again and the spots in his lungs, although still there are very much reduced.
The largest spot in his lungs is now only 2mm in size and It appears that before when they said the spots were too numerous to count, now they are able to number them.

FYI: MSU and Playing the University of Michigan today , Go Blue ;-) heheh

Russ

Friday Update

Michaels doing very well in Hospital.
Hes in Room 7517 on the 7th Floor here at Motts Childrens Hospital.

His Readings for his scans came back, and basically I'll sum up below.

MRI - His liver tumor has decreased in size by a small margin. His other organs are all ok.

CT Scan - there are still a few spots in his lungs although most have decreased in size and many are now gone.

He is on the harder chemo now for 2 cycles so we are praying for a more drastic reduction in the cancer.

Cathy is well and the rest of the family is doing well also.
god bless
Russ

Update on todays progress

Michael came through his sedation and MRI an CT scans and also had blood tests and an Echo Cardiogram.
We will have to wait till tomorrow to get the report from the Radiologist who gives the official reading of the MRI and CT scans.

Michaels still waiting to be admitted to the 7th floor for this Chemo round as the floor is really full. We are confident this will happen later this afternoon.

Michaels blood test results were good. His AFP (cancer number) is up a little but that is to be expected and his immunity is a little below normal but also nothing big to worry about. He is still his happy self as he has been the last few weeks.

We will update the blog tomorrow when we get the official report on the MRI, CT and Echo Cardiogram.

God Bless,
and we are very greatful for Gods grace and your support through prayer.
Russ Dyer.