February 27, 2010

Hi There.....hope everyone is doing well. We made it through February and all the treatments with minimal side effects. He is seeing a cardiologist now due to some problems with his heart muscle wall but they are monitoring it very closely, especially since the chemo treatment he just underwent this month can cause additional problems as a side effect. We are very happy with the cardiologist and he is very pro-active so we are confident they will stay on top of this.
Unfortunately, due to the intensive chemo this month, Jon has lost all of his hair again. He is okay with this as his response has been "oh well, it'll grow back eventually". I am truly amazed he has such a good attitude despite the issues he has to address.
His biggest concern is lack of socializing. He really misses all of his friends and teachers and is very much looking forward to the time when he will be able to get back out in the crowds again.
School is doing okay and he is plugging along at a real good pace. Hopefully he will be able to complete this year by the end of May, but if not, at least we have til the end of June due to the setback at the beginning of school.
We return to the clinic on Monday, 3-1 for another MRI on his pancreas but won't have results til the end of next week. Additionally we begin another three months of intensive chemo where we will be at the clinic or in the hospital at least 15 days out of 30 each month. We do have a few scheduled in hospital stays but hopefully they will be for two days or less each time. If all goes well, we will officially enter into the maintenance stage on 3-2-10 which means he only has 3 more years of chemo left. I know that is a long time, but the treatments will vary in increments of 30, 60 or 90 days regimes, and some are more intense than others, but at least we are finally at the final stage of treatment. According to this, he should finish just prior to graduating high school. He was able to meet some other kids that have similar issues, through Courageous Kidz, and is even more interested in going into the medical field after college.
Arielle was accepted to CSU and will be starting there in the fall in their nursing program and we are so very proud of her. She is still going to school full time (til May when she graduates) and is working two jobs. Her only day off is Sunday so at least we see her then.
Please know that we are ever so grateful for the continued prayers for all of us, especially Jon, and thank you each and every one of you for taking the time to pray for him! Take care.