The Year Ahead.

Ashton has been getting more tired these last few days. Most nights he goes to bed at 5 pm and
sleeps all night. He doesn't have much energy during the day and the dr. says this is all to be expected. His blood work shows his red cells are down and the doc told me tonight he will most likely get a transfusion next week, which will perk him back up. She said everyone gets a transfusion during treatment, it is completely normal. I'm looking forward to him getting some of his old self back. Its funny though, his white cell count actually went up! He was 1.7 and she thought he would drop to .5 by Monday, but it went up to 2.9.....I don't know why or what that means but I guess its good. They did his blood work again today and the white count was the same. He is doing OK weight wise also, he is staying the same...not losing or gaining. I guess that's good too. His hair though...it's coming out in clumps. Its everywhere...the pillows, his clothes, my clothes. He looks cute though and doesn't seem to mind. It is somewhat hard to see this change happening even though I knew it would. I have to keep reminding myself that it just means the radiation and chemo are working. He still won't take any foods by mouth, he complains that his mouth is sore...which is another sign the medicine is working. I was asking the dr. the other day about his whole schedule and when would we finally have a test done to see if treatment is doing its job. I've read that sometimes on some kids it just doesn't work and wanted to get some reassurance. She told me she is sure it is working on Ashton. All those side effects he is having means the treatment is attacking his "good" cells which means it most certainly is attacking the bad ones too because those are the ones the medicine is made to go after. That made me feel better...for a few minutes. I will be under constant stress until we get the results of his first MRI, which is scheduled for mid Feb.

I finally asked the dr. about his whole treatment plan regarding scheduling and dates and such. Funny, I never got that all in order before but now I do have a clear picture as to what will be in the year to come. First, his last day of Chemo/Radiation is Jan. 28th....just before his skate night event! Yippee! I sure hope he is feeling better for that. Also, I know I have explained that Ashton is having chemo everyday before radiation because studies have shown that the chemo makes the radiation more effective, well we just found out that Ashton is the first child to take part in this study at Lucille Packard. That doesn't mean he is a guinea pig at all...just that he is the first at this hospital. There have been others in other parts of the country. I feel sorta proud about that. So, after Jan 28th he has a 6 week break. At about week four of that break, he will get the MRI, a Lumbar Puncture, and another hearing test. The MRI is what I will be the most nervous about. I hope and pray it is all clear....I don't want my little boy to be going through all of this for nothing. Anyway, after the 6 week break he will start the chemo/maintenance phase. He will be getting 6 cycles of chemo and each cycle is 28 days. We will only have to get the chemo during the first week of the cycle and maybe make some trips in a few times within the 28 days. Certainly, it won't be as time consuming as the radiation is now. This means we will end probably around the end of August. That is just a guess...there will most likely be speed bumps thrown in from time to time, like fevers that require hospital stays, or time off when the blood counts are so low and need to come up. But all in all, its so good to know we have some sort of time table and have plans to look ahead to. Our family usually goes to Disneyland each June but we won't be able to do that this summer. We've already discussed going in October, which is the best time to go anyway :) I think I may make hotel reservations this week...Something to really look forward to.

Right now, there is a little more then 2 hours left in 2008. There is so much hope in this New Year ahead and I have never been so excited to put this old year behind me and look forward to a year of happiness and cure for our family. I also wish health and happiness to all out there reading this....It really is all we need.