Home Sweet Home

We were able to come home this time surprisingly fast! After the apheresis on Thursday was so successful our hopes got up pretty fast that we might get to come home on Friday. There were only 2 things that we thought would keep us from coming home. The first one was an MRI that wasn't scheduled yet, and the other one was the fact that Jackson was still on TPN (supplemental feeding).

The MRI got scheduled for Friday afternoon between 12 and 1 but we actually ended up down in imaging around 2:00. The doctor also said that he thought that Jackson's appetite should improve now that his counts came back up, and he said that we could go home with out the TPN.

The MRI went good. I am always amazed that Jackson can lay so still for so long inside that MRI machine. This MRI lasted an hour and a half, and Jackson did so great. He had to hurry out of the machine at the end to go to the bathroom, but other than that he did great.

We don't have the official results of the MRI yet, but we got a very brief report from another oncologist who said that the tumor looks minimally smaller, and that the most important part is that the tumor is "stable". To be honest, I was hoping that the tumor was gone- or almost gone so the fact that it is only minimally smaller is a bit discouraging to me. I am trying to remain positive though, and I am grateful that the tumor isn't growing at this time.

We came home Friday and Jackson hasn't stopped having fun since. He has so much more energy this time than he had after round 1. He has been playing with friends, and his toys that he has forgotten about. He loves playing with his little sister, and he makes her giggle all of the time. He has even been eating very well. Most things don't taste the way that they should, but he is managing to eat enough that I'm not too worried about him.

We went to Sacrament meeting on Sunday. We wanted to be on time so that we could get a bench at the very front so that the germs would hopefully be minimal. My heart just swelled with pride walking into the chapel holding Jackson's hand. I wanted to shout to the congregation how proud I was of my little cancer fighter. But at the same time I wanted to protect him.

Being home has been incredible. I can't believe we get to enjoy almost 7 weeks here together. During the time we get to be home Jackson will start kindergarten- they are actually going to let him go as long as he feels good enough and his counts are up! Jackson will also start his radiation treatments. Radiation makes me a bit nervous because I don't know what to expect. I have heard stories of what the side effects could be, but everyone responds differently so we'll just have to wait and see how Jackson does.

We have an appointment tomorrow with the oncologist who will help us decide if the treatment path we are on is still best for Jackson. Tomorrow we also get to go to the eye doctor to make sure Jackson's vision is as good as it can be. Friday we meet with the radiation doctor for a consultation for our treatments that start next week.

I am sure I'll blog less while we are at home, but I'm trying still for 2 times a week. Thank you all for caring about Jackson. It means so much to us to have your support.