Great news……PET scan was CLEAR!!!!!  Praise the Lord!  We are ecstatic!!   Actually, when I told Jacob, he said calmly, “Ya, I knew it would be.”  Wow!  Faith like a child, right?  I wish I was like that all the time.  🙂   He is currently getting his MRI.  Hopefully we’ll be done soon.  We were supposed to be out of here by 4:00, but obviously that’s not gonna happen.  We’ll shoot for 5:00 then.  Well, as long as we get home safe and sound.  Please pray for safe travels!  I will hear something about the MRI tonight.  The doctor here told me if I didn’t hear from him before I went to bed tonight to page him so we wouldn’t have to go through the weekend without knowing results.  Even though we have the best news ever, they are wanting to make sure that the hardware in his back and the surgery site is still good. 

Well, gotta go get packin.  Jacob just got back and we want to get the show on the road!   Thank you everyone for your prayers!  God is soooo good!!!!  🙂

We are back in Green Bay!  Happy New Years to us!  🙂  It was so nice to be home over the last couple of weeks.  We had a wonderful Christmas!  Just being home and together was enough, but we had several blessings to make it even better.  One was that we had a local church in Skandia, Community Covenant Church, come out to our house and sing Christmas carols to us.  I didn’t even know people did that anymore.  It was awesome!  Caleb really enjoyed it.  As we stood in the doorway and listened, Caleb insisted going outside and standing on the porch to hear them better.  He stood there with the biggest smile on his face enjoying every second.   He looked so proud like they were there just to sing to him – like he was the center of attention.  It was adorable!  I will never forget that.  🙂  Jacob, on the other hand, kind of hid behind Ken and I not wanting to be noticed.  🙂  Another blessing was that some family from the Green Bay area blessed the boys with a bunch of presents for Christmas.  It was through the hospital here.  What an amazing blessing!  I am still in shock!  We probably will never know who they are, but they made 2 boys very happy!!!  Thank you to whoever you are – our secret Santa.  🙂

Jacob stayed healthy the whole time we were home.  I was a little nervous because his white blood cell count was down so low pretty much the whole time and just went back up over the weekend.  Thankfully no colds or fevers.  He’s a trooper!  Caleb’s 9th birthday was yesterday.  So on Friday, he had his birthday party with his friends and had a sleepover.  All went well and not too much craziness.  In the meantime, Jacob and Caleb’s Aunt Kim and Uncle Dave came up for a surprise visit.  We knew they were coming, but the boys had no clue.  You should’ve seen the look on Caleb’s face especially.  He just stood there with his mouth wide open.  🙂   We celebrated Christmas again with them and it was nice having them there for Caleb’s birthday too. 

We left early this morning for Green Bay.  What makes it better is that Caleb is with us.  Yay!  Sad we had to leave Ken behind.  🙁  They were able to start chemo earlier than normal   – at about 1:00.  Jacob is doing very well, but since this is the 5 day stay with Ifosfamide and Etopiside (the one he’s allergic to), as soon as they give him the Benadryl, he’s usually zoned out for the rest of the day.  We do have a busy week, however, with tests and scans.  He’ll have PET scans, CT’s and a MRI done along with the radiation simulation to get ready for radiation which will probably start on January 14th.  Next we will be heading down to Milwaukee next weekend to meet with Jacob’s oncologist to go over the results and to decide on a plan on what to do from there.  We’ve pretty much decided what route we want to take, but we’ll still hear them out.

Jacob is getting his 6th round this week.  Only 8 to go.  It’s hard to believe that we’re there already.  This is where we pulled him out of treatment last time to save his life.  I am just so amazed at how great he is doing this time.  We are so thankful that God has blessed us with these great Doctors and Nurses here in WI where they actually care about the childs health and they’re not just out there to make money and boost their egos.   They are taking such good care of Jacob.  I am so happy he’s doing so well.  Thank you Jesus!!!  I just hope other children aren’t suffering at the hands of the doctors at the G.R. hospital like Jacob was.  We will have to lift them up in prayer and remember that God is in control!

Child Life came in earlier to give the boys noise makers, party hats, silly glasses and streamers to hang up for our own New Years Eve party, but they were both out at 9:00 cheese time.  I’m not too far behind.  🙂  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and cherished every minute with your children.  I also wish you all a Happy New Year!!!  May you all have happiness, good health and be blessed this year. 

Please keep Jacob in y0ur prayers this week and next as he has his tests and scans.  I will let you all know when we have the results!  God bless!

Yesterday all went well.  Chemo went just fine.  It started around 4:30 as they move it up 2 hours each day.  Jacob didn’t feel like eating much, which is understandable, but I really wanted him to eat something, so I said if you could have anything to eat in the whole world, what would it be?  His answer?  Rotisserie chicken.  So off I was on a mission.  The nurse told me there was a Super Value just a couple of blocks down the road.  I asked her to give me a second option “just in case”.  She said that there was a Wal-Mart, but several miles down the road in the opposite direction.  Off I went.  If my boy wants rotisserie chicken, then rotisserie chicken he gets.  🙂  I stopped at the Super Value.  Do you think they had any?  Nope.  All out, but the worker told me that they would have more in an hour.  I certainly didn’t want to wait around, so I asked where the next best place was.  Austins – about 4 miles further down the road.  Do you think they had any?  Nope.  All out.  So off to Wal-Mart I went.  All they way back to where I came from and then off in the other direction.  Thank goodness they had some left.  When I got back to the hospital, Jacob said “I’m not really in the mood anymore for chicken.”  I just stared at him.  He said “Just kidding!”  Real funny!  He almost saw a grown woman cry.  🙂  It must’ve hit the spot because he ate about 2/3 of it.  That boy chowed down!

Today was kind of busy.  A local artist came in from a program called HEAL.  She had Jacob paint the same painting on two different canvases – whatever he wanted.  He painted a beautiful sunset with the silhouette of trees.  It was abstract art.  It was fun to watch him paint like that.  Usually he is such a perfectionist, trying to make everything just so, but she encouraged him to paint differently.  He had a huge smile on his face the whole time as the paint was splattering everywhere.  He had a blast!  Kim the artist brought her dog with her too.  Cree is a Hungarian Puli.  Ya know, those dogs that look like they have dreads?  Anyway, Jacob got to keep his favorite out of the two and then she takes the other and auctions it off at a benefit in the spring.   He’s looking forward to painting with her again at his next 5 day chemo stay which will be at the beginning of January.  He keeps staring at his canvas.  He is so proud!  🙂  We also had the privilege of having a new friend stop by.  Bonnie Taylor (the mom of our pastor back home) came and visited – mostly during the time the artist was here.  We didn’t get to chat a whole lot, but will hopefully get to meet up again next time we’re down.  

Also got a call from school today.  The secretary told me that she had Caleb in the office.  He had sprained his ankle at lunch recess.  Poor little guy!  Of course Ken was at work in Munising, so I called our good friend Judy McGuire and she was sweet enough to go pick him up and bring him back to her house until Ken got home.  I have to admit…when I got the phone call, I assumed he did something bad.  I hate to say that I was relieved a bit when she said that it was a sprain.  Does that sound mean? 🙂  So thankful for the McGuires.  They have been such a blessing to us over the past couple of years.  We love you guys!  I spoke with Caleb earlier on the phone before he went to bed and he said it still hurt a bit, but at least the swelling went down. 

Chemo went well.  As good as can be expected.  Still no problems and he feels just fine.  He at a really good breakfast, but didn’t feel like eating much the rest of the day.  He did a lot of snacking though.  Mostly fruit.  I did have to go on a string cheese hunt earlier.  Thank goodness the cafeteria had some.  I thought I was going to have to venture out to the store again.  He ate 2 and was happy.  Tomorrow chemo will start at 12:30.  Not sure what kind of exciting stuff we’ll have going on.  I’m sure Child Life will have something to keep him entertained.  I love how this hospital has that small town feeling.  He gets so much more attention from them that way and he loves it.  Earlier, one of the Child Life Specialists brought in two autographed Packer footballs.  One for Jacob and one for Caleb.  He was so excited!  I could see the dollar signs in his eyes.  Ha! 

Thank you for thinking of us and praying so much for Jacob!  God has been so good to us.  He is taking such good care of us.  I have to stress or worries.  No anxiety.  Well, maybe a little here and there, but then I remind myself that God will provide.  And guess what?  He always does.  So thankful for family and friends too!  We are so blessed.   Prayer request other than the obvious…..Jacob will start radiation in January.   His oncologist is checking into whether Marquette will be willing to do the radiation there.  Praying that they agree to it as it will be Monday thru Friday for six weeks.  Plus each appointment is only about 15 minutes long, at the most, so it would be wonderful if his appointments could be right in Marquette.  That’s a long time to be away from Caleb and of course Ken.  🙂  Even though we would try to be home on the weekends, six weeks would be hard on all of us.  Thank you all!  God bless!

Yesterday went well.   Jacob had to get his blood checked first thing.  His counts were fantastic!   So, we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted.  We went back to the Ronald McDonald house and just relaxed for awhile and played video games in their arcade.  When we were hungry, we decided to head out for lunch.  Jacob really wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory.   We both ate a HUGE lunch and Jacob got a piece of cheesecake for dessert to go.  He had never had cheesecake before so he decided to get the raspberry lemon.  Not my first choice, but it was for him.  Next we went to the Mayfair Mall.  It’s a 2-story mall.  We walked around that for a couple hours and checked everything out.  I was quite tired after that, but he was still rarin’ to go!  He asked if we could go to the other mall – Brookfield Square.  So, we walked around another mall.  Once we were done with that, he still wanted to keep going, but Mom’s feet and legs were sore so it was time to take a break.  We headed back to the R.M. House and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  Jacob eventually had his cheesecake – loved it!  Thankfully he only ate half, so I got the other half.  🙂  YUM!

Today started off kinda crazy.  We got to the hospital at 7:40 for them to access his port on the second floor.   Originally we were supposed to go up to the 3rd floor after (as of yesterday) to register for surgery.  But plans had changed and they told us to report to the first floor instead.  Once we got to the first floor, they told us it was wrong and to go to the 3rd floor.  On the 3rd floor, they said to go to the 4th floor.  On the 4th floor, they took care of us and got Jacob prepped, but said we should’ve been on the 1st floor.  They just got a new computer system, so that was the problem, but what a way to start the day!  He finally got into surgery at about 9:30.  Everything went well and he was in recovery by 11:00 and in his room by 11:30.  They started harvesting the stem cells at 12:30 and were done 4 hours later.  Their goal (which I was way off originally) was 5 million.  They were hoping they could get that many within 2-3 days.  Well guess what????  They ended up getting 11 MILLION!!!!  Can you believe it?  God is so awesome!  They got 2 bags worth in one day.  So, tomorrow morning they’ll be able to take out his central line and start chemo later on in the day and finish up Friday.  Yippee!!!

Unfortunately with everything going on today, Jacob did get sick a couple of times and doesn’t feel very good.  They said it’s probably from a combination of things – surgery, the anesthesia, not eating for so many hours, the morphine, and the meds they put in when taking the cells out.  Also, harvesting the stem cells just wipes your body out.  He’s been pretty tired all day.  Thankfully he hasn’t been in much pain.  Just uncomfortable from having a big tube sticking out of the side of his neck.  Hopefully he’ll be back to himself tomorrow.  And hopefully he’ll be able to sleep okay tonight with that thing in his neck.  Pretty bad when he feels better with chemo than with this stuff.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support!  I know the prayers are working.  Evidence of that today!  🙂

It’s been quite awhile since I wrote last and have a bit to share……

Jacob has had a relapse and has started treatment once more.  We’re still in shock somewhat!  A couple weeks ago, we brought him down to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee to have another tumor removed.  The surgery went well and they decided to put 2 rods and screws in his back at that time.  We already knew that would have to be done someday due to the collapse of the vertebrae from the first time, but now it’s done and taken care of.  It is the Ewings again.  Surgery went very well and he’ll get his staples out today, which he’s very excited about.  He’s getting around really well!   We’re also praising God that it’s localized.  Only a little bit left in his back.

We were advised last year, that if the cancer were ever to return, to stay out of MI.  Especially with how hard the hospital downstate was trying to get him back.  So, we found out that Children’s was a phenomenal place and we are so happy with them.  Everyone is so nice and genuine.

We are so hopeful this time around.  I know in my heart that Jacob would never have made it through the last treatment.  His will to live was gone, due to how he felt and the hospital was doing very little to improve it.  He was so nauseous all the time and lost a ton of weight since he didn’t feel good enough to eat.  His treatment this time will be somewhat the same the first 6 rounds with a couple of changes, but the changes are huge.   One major difference is that they won’t have him do the Vincristine again in between cycles, so that means we’ll only be gone approximately 10 days a month.  That’ll be so good for Jacob – being home and in his own bed with his puppy.  🙂  Not to mention how healing it’ll be for the rest of us as well.  Talking to the oncologists here, sounds like the “other” hospital had Jacob on some type of clinical trial without our knowledge or consent.  It makes me angry, but our focus right now is to get Jacob healthy so that he can enjoy being an 11 year old.  🙂

He had his port placement and bone marrow aspirit done yesterday and they started chemo last night.  He had Vincristine, the lovely drug with chloroform in it; Doxorubicin, the one that’s bad for your heart and is nicknamed “red death” or “red devil”; and Cytoxan, the mustard gas.  It makes me sick thinking about it too much, so I try not to.  He had all of these ones last time, but guess what?  No nausea this time!  Praise the Lord!  He told me this morning that he can’t believe he had chemo last night.  He feels like he just had the surgery and that’s it.  Awesome!

Today he will have the doxorubicin again and that’s it.  They just informed me that they will try to move it up to about 2:00, so hopefully we’ll get to go home today.  If not, we’ll stay another night at the Ronald McDonald house and head out in the morning.   It’s about a 5 hour drive.  We’re at peace!  It’s a good feeling.

As far as the court thing goes, it has been dismissed.  Our lawyers made a request and the State accepted.  That was done last Thursday, only to find out that the Court of Appeals judges were going to give their opinion the next day by 4:00.  We’ll never know the outcome.  At least not on this earth.   I wish I knew though.

I’ll try to keep you all updated as much as possible!  Thank you for all of your support for the past year and a half.  For your prayers and donations.  I wish I could thank each and everyone of you individually.  Know that we are extremely grateful!

***One last thing…..to those that like coming on our website and harrassing us, please leave us alone.  I’m pretty sure you have never walked in our shoes so you have no idea what it’s like.  Also, there are many details in our lives that made us make the decision that we did.  Guess what?  I don’t share every single one of them with complete strangers, so please don’t base your opinions from what you get from the media or strictly from here.  Please find something more productive to do with your time, because your nasty thoughts and opinions will not make a difference in the treatment and parenting for Jacob.  He is so loved and we do what’s best for him and his brother.  Not what some jerks with too much time on their hands and have no clue think we should do.