Sorry I have negleted you.....

Well, so much has been happening the past couple of days and I have been remiss in keeping you all updated. Let's see, on last Thursday's clinic visit we were given the go ahead to start the stem cell collection much to our surprise(it was about a week ahead of schedule). We went in on Friday, one of Jason's CVC lines were clogged so we had to wait for Infusion Therapy to come and shoot some medicine in it and declot it. After that it was smooth sailing. He was hooked up to the machine about 5 hours on Friday, 5 on Saturday, and 5 on Monday. They collected a total of 12.7 million stem cells and they only wanted 12 million. WOHOO go Jason, go Jason...So now we are waiting to get our final consultation with the Apheresis Department (people who collected J's cells). We will see if he needs a transfusion of potassium, magnesium, or anything else. That should be it for this week. Our Transplant coordinator is going to talk to Dr. Nieto to see what other test J needs to have before we proceed to the HDC. We should start these next week sometime. Its awesome to finally be getting a move on. Now, the benefit is 2 DAYS AWAY!!!!AhHH, hence the reason I havent updated this. Everything is coming together nicely or chaotically whichever you prefer. Remember to RSVP we want to have food and a chair for you. You can pay for tickets at the door! There is fabulous stuff up for grabs, come on out and show your support for Jason!!! OH yeah, if you are in Austin, once this one is finish we will be turning our efforts toward you guys! Prayers Welcomed! Kimmy

First Check up

So we went in on Monday to have his first post chemo check up. As expected his counts were very low. A normal white blood count is between 4.0-7.0 Jason's was .2 on Monday. His platelets were low but his Red blood cells were hanging in there. We go in tomorrow (Thursday) to see how the counts are doing and if he needs a transfusion of anything. Tuesday he was feeling pretty poorly. Very exhausted and just kind of blah, today he looked a whole lot better and is moving around better as well. His appetite is okay OH from last week to Monday he lost 22lbs of water weight. He looks a whole lot less like an umpaloompah now. His potassium was low on Monday so we hooked him up to what is called a baby bottle. Its basically this little infuser that is pressured rigged to infuse medicine through is CVC. It totally looks like a baby bottle with a tube attached. Ms. Wagenbach came over today to get caught up on benefit stuff. Can you beleive its down to a week, time is flying by so fast. I emailed out a list of all the fantastic stuff thats going to be there so come one come all, just rsvp please! Our poor ROO is having to stay at Mimi and Pops right now. He was feeling off all weekend and when he started to spike a fever he had to go stay with them. He went to the doctor and they said he has a virus and some wheezing so he was put on steriods (like his daddy) and upped his inhaler to 4 times a day. Well now he has a pretty wet cough which could be the junk in his lungs breaking up or its turned into something bacterial so he is going back to the dr tomorrow morning. We miss him so much and I cant tell you how horrible it is to have a sick baby and not be able to take care of him....Oh well I know he is in good hands. We skyped him yesterday and will again tomorrow. Hopefully he will be able to come home on Friday or Saturday depending on how Roo is feeling and Jason's blood counts. I will update more when there is more. Keep up the prayers!!! Love Kimmy

Title goes here......

So in the hospital things were pretty normal as far as chemo goes. Jason started getting some sores in his mouth, they gave him medicine and that helped. He also started getting the required tiredness but thats par for the course. We finally made it home on Friday, they did send him home with an IV pump. Its actually pretty neat if fits into a backpack. I did disconnect him today because it was finished. I didnt see the point of keeping him attached to an empty bag for the rest of the weekend. We'll see if I get into any trouble tomorrow. He has a list of medicines as long as my arm that he has to take. I started giving him his Neupogen shots.(these help him to produce more stemcells for collection) However the crazy thing is the dosage they are giving him. The chemo that he had last year they gave him one injection a day for 5 days, this time he is getting 4 shots a day for 14 days. His poor bones are going to hurt so bad. I just keep reminding him that this will all be worth it when he is in remission next year. Besides being extremely tired he says he actually feeling okay. He has chemo funny tummy but nothing the nausea meds cant handle. His feet are so much less swollen and he is actually moving around pretty well. Alot better than he has in the past month or so. Jason's mom, my mom, and myself are trying to get the house in some order and starting on the cleaning. The house has to be immaculate when he comes home after his 21 day stay. Jason told me to write that he says thank you all for your support that it really means alot to him that there are so many people out there that care. That it really means so much to him and its keeping him going! Love to all you guys and keep sending those prayers up for us. Kimmy

We are traveling.......

So we got settled into the hospital Saturday night and they started a steroid and some IV fluid. Day one started out with Taxol (for those who care) at a continuous drip for 24 hours. He got about a thirty minute break this morning and they started him on premeds and Mesna. The Mesna is acutally a medicine used to limit the side effects of one of the chemos. They then started the Infosfamide and then Cisplatin. He is currently on the 14 hour 2 liters of post rehydration to flush his kidneys. Many of you will remember that he had this done back in 2009. So 3 more days like today and then off to the nearly daily blood draws to see when he will be ready to collect the stem cells. Thats were we are for right now. I went ahead and left him at the hospital to go home and take a little me time. His mom will be with him when she gets off work until I get back. It is nice being home even if its only for alittle while. Just a reminder about the benefit on the 29th. Tickets need to be purchased in advance by contacting pathebert34@msn.com. Oh and if you are on facebook look up Jason's Journey and become a fan, then send it to your friends to become fans. Lets show Jason just how many people are there rooting for him. Well I better be going. Just a quick update, keep those prayers coming!!!
Kimmy

The next stretch of the journey has started.

We went today to get fluid aspirated from some pockets that remain after the surgery that Jason had in May. They wanted to make sure that it is not infection. Tomorrow is kind of a big day for us. Definately for Jason. We start the journey through Stem Cell transplantation. He has some blood work to do in the morning, an EKG, and an anesthesia interview in the afternoon. Wednesday, we go to a pre admission Transplant class, and Thursday he has the sub-clavian catheter insertion and the removal of his PICC line, we also meet with the Stem Cell Transplant doctor and the research coordinator for the clinical trial that Jason is entering, also a Patient teaching class on how to give shots, just in case I havent been doing that twice sometimes three times a day since last October. On Friday he has a pelvic MRI and we meet with the Business Center to discuss money (bummer, why do they have to rain on my parade?). Then (drumroll please) he is admitted Saturday to start the mobilization chemo process. It will be five days of 3 different drugs, this is to help rid his body of as much cancer as possible and to move the stem cells from his bones out into the blood stream so that they can collect them 8in early August. I think I mentioned this in the earlier blog but the Houston Benefit for Jason's Journey is underway, please visit jlelliott.com for more info. Remember that tickets have to be prepurchased. We would love to see you there! Keep those prayers coming the next 6 months are really going to be trying on Jason and our families. Kimmy