Saturday, September 7th
Well hello everyone! Did you think I forgot to update all of you? I actually didn’t, but we’ve been so busy this summer enjoying life I didn’t want to take the time to sit down and spend time on the computer.
Jacob is great! Life is great! Things are great! Okay, I’ll try to fill you in where I left off. So much to tell! First off, the last day of treatment was great! How can it be bad when we’re celebrating something so wonderful? They spoiled Jacob of course and Caleb too! Lots of gifts and cake. 🙂 Ken was able to arrive in time for the party. Caleb and I went down to the lobby to meet him and Caleb ran up to him and said “Dad, I did it!! I made it through it all!!!” It brought a tear to our eyes. It’s so easy to put your focus on the child fighting the cancer, but we sometimes forget how hard it is on the siblings too.
After chemo was done (YES!), we went to Bay Beach and rode some rides and then off to dinner at Texas Roadhouse – Jacob’s choice. So if you’re familiar with the restaurant, when it’s someones birthday, they have them get on a “bull” and some people clap. Caleb begged Jacob to tell our waitress that it was his last day of treatment. Jacob was very hesitant to agree since he doesn’t like to be the center of attention. Caleb won. Soon, our waitress announced “We have a special guest with us tonight. 11 year old Jacob had his last chemo treatment today”, while Jacob sat on the “bull”…. Everyone clapped, cheered and whistled! It was unbelievable how loud it got in there. I did everything to keep from bawling. Jacob gave everyone a big “Yee Haw!” The owner came over to congratulate him and gave the boys ice cream and brownies. Someone (anonymous) paid for our dinner and when we left, the employees were lined up to shake his hand and congratulate him. It was an AWESOME day!!! Thank you God for all of your blessings!!!
Saturday we got up early to join in the fun that Take ’em Outdoors organization had – a walleye tournament. It was just for fun for kids diagnosed with life threatening diseases and combat wounded vets. Everyone was assigned to a fishing pro to fish with. The couple we were assigned to were amazing!! We had such a good time with them and enjoyed fishing on their beautiful boat (pictures below).
Since then, we’ve been just loving life and keeping busy. We had a party for Jacob in July to celebrate his health – JacobPalooza. That was a lot of fun being with friends and family. Jacob also had scans on July 8th. EKG, ECHO, XRay, PET, MRI, CT Scan and bloodwork. It took several hours, but praise God, all of them came back great! All of Jacob’s blood counts were perfect except for his lymphocytes, which is part of his immune system that helps fight off viruses and bacteria. That was only at 500. They would prefer a couple thousand at least. His docs said it could take up to 6 months to get it where it needs to be.
Let’s see, what else have we done. We have gone swimming, hiking, biking, saw many different waterfalls, had a wonderful camping trip in Brevort, went to the Soo, camping and hiking in Grand Marais, kayaking several times, went to the UP State fair, miniature golfing and zip-lining to name a few. We just love being home as a family.
School started on Tuesday (1st day picture below. Look at all that beautiful hair!) and as a 7th grader this year, Jacob is loving it. He has to get up at 6:00 every morning and catch the bus at 7:00. Actually both the boys do. So far so good. I think he’ll do good energy wise. Even though his energy was up and down all summer, it’s been on the upswing lately. He’s been kayaking for a couple of hours at a time and last weekend he hiked 3 miles in and out of a waterfall with no complaints. Ken and I were laughing because there’s Jacob – everything he’s been through going steady and strong and Caleb complained about being tired and could barely walk on the way out. Ha! Jacob still suffers from chemo brain – his short term memory is certainly not functioning the best. Hopefully it’ll get better. His oncologist said it should, but some don’t. Please pray it will!
Unfortunately we’ve lost a couple of cancer fighters this summer. It just breaks my heart! I can’t imagine what these families must be going through. Please be praying for Avery and Uzias’ families. For complete peace. Please continue to pray for Julia and Selena as they are fighting hard!
I will try to update more often. Now that the kids are in school 🙁 . I miss them lots, but I’ll have more time to get online. I just got a job with Skandia Township, which is only a few hours a month, but it will be enough to keep me preoccupied a little bit while my babies are gone. 🙂 Thank you again everyone for your support over the past couple of years. I know a lot of people didn’t or don’t agree with our choices we made for Jacob, but we did what we believed was right and what God wanted us to do and we don’t regret any of it. We believe he’s here today because of it. He’ll have scans again October 2nd, so I’ll keep you updated on that. God bless you all Team Jacob!!!
