It is great to be home, trying to catch up the blog... :)

It is so nice to be home, but when we first came home, it was very scary not knowing what to expect. When we brought Parker home, he was on steroids for a month, and he was on zantac to help with acid reflux to help his poor little body, because when he was on the steroid he ate so much food. He is also on a medication called septra, it is to help prevent him from getting phnemonia. He will be on this medication for a long time, since his body can't fight a lot off right now. When Parker was on the steroids, it was so sad to see how they effected him. The steroids give them headaches, and leg pains, so when we first got home Parker was walking around and his legs would start shaking and he would just start crying, it broke my heart to see him like that. He spent most of his time sitting on the couch watching movies and eating, and eating, and eating. The steroids also made him very hungry and gave him a little more attitude then he had already. :) When we were at the hospital they had told us that it would be like having a raging pregnant women in our house, because he would crave things and there was no way you could get his mind off of it. They were right, if Parker wanted something to eat and we didn't get it to him, he would scream and scream until he got it. The other day I was walking threw Walmart and I saw a shirt for a toddler that said, Saw it, wanted it, threw a fit, got it. That was totally Parker during the first month of being home. Parker could eat more than Robert or I could eat. We would make mac and cheese, and he would eat almost the whole box. On our way home from the hospital every week, we would stop at Wendy's and get a ten piece chicken nugget for Parker, and he would eat the whole box and always wanted more. It was so funny to see how much he would eat, I don't even know where he kept it. I say its funny now, but when he started to gain all of his weight on those steroids, it was awful, he didn't even look like our little boy. When we had to give Parker his medications, he fought us so bad. He did not like the taste of most of the medications, so he would spit them out if we would let him, and we had a few time where he threw them up, so I had to call the clinic and we then had to re-dose his medication. The first month was really hard for all of us. We were still having a hard time with the fact that our little boy has cancer, then trying to make sure he got all of his medications in his little body and him screaming at us was so hard. I need to try and explain a little about what happened after the first month, with the ALL Leukemia, well I know it is different with all children, but when Parker was diagnosed, his bone marrow was 80-90% full of leukemia cells, and they tested it on day 8 and the leukemia cells were still high, and it really scared us, because if on day 29 when they did the bone marrow test that determined if he would be average or high risk, if there was any there he would have been high risk. Thankfully, his bone marrow was clear and all of the Leukemia cells were gone, so he is average risk. The success rate for this Parkers Leukemia is 95%. It is amazing how great that is. That doesn't mean he is in the clear, that is why they do the treatments, and they will continue for 3 1/2 years. His hardest treatments should be till August or September. Please keep him in your prayers. :)

We could not be blessed with a better older brother for Parker, Ethan has been such a awesome brother through it all. When Parker was sad and would be screaming and kicking his mommy so he didn't have to have his bum changed, which he still does.  :) Ethan would be right by his side singing to him either the carpenters, Sing a Song, or he would be singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He was so patient with Parker through all the times Parker would hit or bite or scream at Ethan for no reason. I just love my boys. With Parker gaining so much weight on the steroids, he could not really get around very well, so Ethan would help him on and off the coach. It was so funny and cute to watch the two of them. Ethan would use all of his strength to push him up and then Parker would use all he had just to adjust himself on the coach to eat some more and gain some more weight. Love to look back at the pictures. Parker has had to have a bunch of Lumbar Punctures, they are awful. He has had about 8 of them, and every time he has one he is not able to eat anything after midnight, and he can't drink clear liquids a few hours before his procedure. When he was on the steroids it was so hard, because he wanted to be eating at all times. When he has to go in for Lumbar Punctures, it breaks my heart, because I have to take him back into the procedure room, and then while I am holding him the anethesiest gives him the medication to put him out for the procedure. I am glad I can hold him so he is not just lying on the bed alone, but it so sad to have him in my arms when his little body just gets really heavy and I have to lay him on the bed and make sure I hold his head so it doesn't fall back. It breaks my heart to have to walk out and leave him alone. :( I am so grateful for my family and friends who have come with us to the hospital, because with them there, things are much better, I am so happy to have them with us. Its getting harder to take Parker to the hospital, because he knows exactly what is coming. He has been through a lot in the last few months, but he is such a fighter and has done pretty well with everything.

Parker has four phases he will go through before he gets to what they call, Randomization and then maintenance. He has done Induction therapy, which I think was considered the first month, when he was on the steroid and all that junk. I am still figuring it all out. His first phase was called Consolidation, he it lasted four weeks, and that was when he was getting many Lumbar Punctures. He was getting chemo pushed through his port on a few of those visits, but he was on a oral chemo at home. The chemo he was on at home is the chemo he will be receiving for 2 1/2 years when he reaches maintenance. I hope he does better on it next time. He did okay taking it most of the time, but he was throwing up twice a day, it wasn't always a lot, most of the time it was enough I could catch in my hand, but it was awful to see him go through that. I have heard that when you are on chemo it burns and hurts your chest really bad when you throw up. He is off of that chemo for now. Yay for that! He still throws up occasionally, but I can handle that. He started Interium Maintenence #1 on April 3, and this phase is count dependent, so the day before his appointment they come and draw his labs to make sure he is able to have his treatments the next day. If he doesn't meet count then we have to four days and they test again. This phase is eight weeks, but they have told us that he most likely won't meet count once or twice. He has done good so far with this phase. He had his second round of treatments on Friday, April 12. He did great with everything, we came home and he was happy as could be. When we got home that day, I laid him down for a nap and when he woke up around 4 he was running a fever of 100.6, and then it would say 100.2, and then 99.8. I waited for a little bit to see if would go down and I check it again and it was at 101.2, so I called the clinic and was on hold for a while, so while I was waiting I was getting things ready to go to the hospital, because if it is above 101.0 we have to call and he will have to go to the hospital. When the clinic answered I talked to the nurse and she talked for a minute and then said yes take him to the ER. I was freaked out! I know they told us things like this would happen, but I just wasn't ready for it. I will try to make this the short version. We were in the ER 3 times over this last weekend, because we had to keep going up for them to give Parker antibiotics because he has a staff infection in the blood from the skin they said. When we were there for the third time they told us that they think the infection is in the port and they told us we most likely would be going to Primary's and he would get antibiotics there and if it didn't take care of the infection that they would have to put a new port in. Anyways, the oncologists let us bring him home and we get to give him an IV antibiotic threw his IV port in his chest. I am so so happy he got to come home. And its kind of nice being able to give him his antibiotics at home. Its great practice for me. :) They have come and drawn his blood everyday, and they told me tonight that the blood culture from yesterday came back negative. YAY!! They will continue to draw his blood, just to be sure the bacteria is gone, and they will still have us give him his antibiotics for 7days. We will take it though, rather than going back to the hospital. So he is doing good with things right now. He has a very nasty diaper rash from the antibiotics, but other than that he is one happy guy, most of the time. I will try my best to keep this updated, at least once a week. I have sat down the last two nights trying to catch everyone up with things, but I think I have been avoiding this for a reason. I have been trying to catch up on my reading of all the things they gave us at the hospital, and when I read it, I know this is not just a bad nightmare we are in, it is real and its not going away. So when I read about Leukemia and when I sit down and write about it, it breaks my heart to remember things Parker has gone through, and all he will be going through. And I think of the awful things so many children are going through and my heart just aches for so many family's. We thank our father in heaven everyday for the many blessings in our lives. We are so grateful for the lives we have been given. We need to love and cherish every minute we have together. :)

Thank you to all of the amazing people in the ER that took care of him, and to our great oncologists down and Primary Children's. Thank you to our family and friends, we couldn't go through this without the love and support you have shown to our family, and not just Rob and I and our children, but to those that notice all of our family and friends, and know that they are going through this with us. We love you all and appreciate everything everyone has done for us.

We just love our boys so much. Ethan always makes us feel like we are the greatest parents in the world. He will randomly just thank us for being his parents and tell us we are the greatest. LOVE IT! Ethan loves to tell me story's at bedtime, and he loves horses, so most of our story's are about horses like Spirit, where he saves the other horses from a mountain lion. Ethan and Parker both love music and dancing, what child doesn't? :) The other day Ethan made a song to sing for me and he sang, "I love my brother, he is the best brother, and I love my family." When Parker was in the hospital, Ethan had to have sleep overs with our family, and the thought of sleepovers was a lot more fun that actually having sleepovers. He had another sleep over a few months after we got home, and he said to me, "Mom, I like to play at my cousins house, but I never want to have a sleepover again." I asked him why, and he said, " I just don't belong there, I belong here with our family." I don't want him to have anymore sleepovers either, its hard to have him away. :)



Here are some pictures through it all, and of course there will be a lot, because I just love our family! :)

   Playing pic-a-boo with grandma and grandpa

 Grandpa trying to make Parker happy while getting his blood presure taken

They brought in this sweet dog for some animal therapy :)

Parker eating his mac and cheese, most of which ended up on the floor

 Daddy trying to get Parker to eat something, this was before the steroids kicked in and he ate everything.

Parker and Mommy being silly and taking pictures.

Here is Parker on the steroids,the start of the heavy eating :)

This is what we came home to, so sweet!

Our wonderful neighbor and friend made our boys these cute blankets, with the sweetest letter. :)

Family fun time with grandma and grandpa! Ethan got a hold of the camera too. :)

Love my boys! These Pics Parker was still happy, 

the steroids didn't kick in yet. :)

Parker loves his big brother Ethan, 

he likes to hold his hand wherever he may go. :)

I love this boy! I am going to miss that curly hair.

This was Parkers spot on the couch, 

he sat in the corner and ate.. a lot.. :)

Gretchen and Ethan and their Spiderman stickers. Love them! :)

Messy Boy! :)

More eating.. Slowly getting chubby.

Bored, taking random pics, 

Parker didn't like that idea so much!

Ethan and Parker playing break the ice. :)

He is his mamma's boy. He loves pickles! :)

He was so chubby his cute belly wouldn't stay hidden. :)

I got used to Parker being so chubby, 

I looked at Ethan and thought he looked to thin.

Grandpa trying to cheer Parker up, those steroids were not fun.

We love bath time! :)

Waiting in the clinic, trying to entertain. Not easy. :)

Parker after one of his Lumbar Punctures.

More eating.. Getting really chubby.. :)

Love this boy!

Family fun time! :)

His great grandma Meikle bought them the funnest toys, 

they love playing with them.

Love to see him smile. :)

Ethan is such a good brother, 

Parker was so chubby he had a hard time getting up the stairs, 

and when he did he couldn't stand up. So Ethan was there to help. :)

Dress up time, thank goodness we have halloween. :)

Ethan was playing with his car and shot it on the ground, 

 it hit Parkers foot, this was his reaction. :)

Uncle Brett and Ethan wrestling :)

Parker loves his brother. :)

More eating..

Chubba chubba.. :)

This was Parker trying to get off the couch, he could not move any further, 

do to all the weight he had gained. :) LOL

I had to take a picture, he just layed there screaming MOM, MOM, 

and he just kicked his little feet, smiling at me when I walked over to help him.

So happy now that he is off the steroids. :) 

Ethan being cute as ever! :)

Ethan helping Dad fix the truck.

Parker trying to be like his great Aunt Jana. :)

Their favorite thing to do in the tub is to shave each others faces. :)