March 29, 2005

We hope you all had a Happy and Blessed Easter with your family and friends!  Ricky and Joey were up at 5:30 AM and tried (ha ha) to stay fairly quiet until Jimmy woke up (he had a little help waking up at 6:30).  The Easter bunny left lots of surprises and they all had a great, and busy day.

Jimmy is still full of life, love, and energy, thank the dear Lord.  He just continues to amaze us with his priceless personality, and his caring and affectionate ways toward others.  It is evident that all he wants to do is be a kid, and play.  He absolutely LOVED playing with some of his cousins, at Grannie's house, on Easter.  It was really the first time in his life that he was able to knowingly play with them.  You could just see him glow and fit right into the mix.  It was a beautiful thing to watch.  We heard and felt ourselves thanking God for the beautiful, healthy little toddler in front of us, many times throughout the day.

Everyone, once again, has a virus except Jimmy (so far).  Ricky and Joey are home from school today trying to get some rest and recuperate a bit.  Ricky has a dry cough and Joey, Mommy, and Daddy seem to have 'head colds'.  This happened last time we all were sick too...Jimmy was the last to get it.  Hopefully his precious angel marrow can help him fight off this virus (if he gets it) as well as it did the first time.  We still haven't heard from Jimmy's precious donor, but still are hoping to.  We just hope he knows the priceless gift he gave us, and we continue to pray for his happiness, health, and well being.

March 25, 2005

Jimmy has had another wonderful week, thank God.  He has been in a great mood and full of energy.  He continues to enjoy his LONG baths without his line, and is still very proud to show you that his line isn't there anymore.  We think he looks the best he ever has, as he has good color and his eyes don't look sick.  We feel extremely thankful.

We also feel very fortunate to be able to be at home this Easter.  We (Grannie, too!) spent last Easter in the hospital, and had several people help to bring Easter to us.  Mindy brought decorations for the room, Aunt Debbie made dinner, and Graydon made Easter baskets for the boys.  The boys also participated in an Easter egg hunt (thanks to Child Life) at the hospital.  We are so lucky to have been (and still are) surrounded by such wonderful people.  That was so sweet of all of them.   We hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday with your loved ones!

March 18, 2005

Jimmy had a check up yesterday and did a fabulous job.  His physical exam was perfectly normal, and Dr. Homans decided that we didn't even need to do blood work since last weeks results were normal.  We do not have to go in for another appointment for a month (that will be after Ricky's 9th birthday).  Now that Jimmy's line is out he will have to get a finger stick for blood tests.  We can't believe we are at this milestone.  We are really still in shock about it, as it hasn't quite sunk in yet.

Jimmy had fun showing everyone at the hospital that his line was out.  Whenever someone new came into the room he'd pull his sleeve up, past his elbow, to show them where his line used to be.  It has healed over very well, therefore he has been able to enjoy a bath every day.  Every morning he says, "baf, baf" so he gets his bath!  We let Ricky go into school late on the first day Jimmy took a bath without any dressing, so all three boys could enjoy Jimmy's first unhindered bath.  They all loved it.

Jimmy's activity and energy levels are still very high, so we are very pleased about that as well.  How he acts is very important and likely indicative of how he feels.  Thankfully, we are quite sure he feels great.  We are at 8 1/2 months post BMT and pray that Jimmy continues to thrive for months and years to come.

We fully believe that Jimmy is where is today because of all of the love, support, and prayers from all of you.  God and Jimmy's precious donor set the stage, and it is the constant prayers from everyone that help Jimmy remain healthy.  You'll never know how much all of your support means to us.  Thank you so much!

March 14, 2005

Phoebe drew blood for the immune function panel Friday morning, and also drew for a few of the typical blood tests. Jimmy's WBC was 5.5 and ANC was 3,540, which are both lower than they've been in a while, but both of our great oncologosts told us those numbers are still perfectly fine and within average range.  We just worry because they are lower than they have been.  We know they can/do fluctuate, but they're just not Jimmy's usual numbers.  All of the results for the immune function panel are within normal range.  Some are in the middle of normal, and some are on the low end of normal, so that is a very good thing.

Well, Jimmy's PICC line came out on Saturday because it had to.  Someone from above was giving us messages to take it out.  We actually had trouble with is on Friday when we were changing the dressing, as it slipped out about an inch.  It still functioned properly so it was okay to leave in.  However, when we went to flush the line on Saturday we noticed a couple of pink drops (blood and saline) appearing under the Tegaderm (clear dressing) after we flushed.  It didn't take much to figure out the line had 2 microscopic holes in it.  Dr. Sivak was on call and she said that holes in the line can cause an infection, so the line had to come out.  Luckily it was just about time to take it out anyway, and the results of the immune function tests were okay.  We find it interesting that it has been functioning perfectly for 6 months, then we had two different issues/problems with it, two days in a row.  Like we said, someone wanted the line out, and now it is.  Therefore, Jimmy enjoyed an hour long bath with Joey this morning.  He had a great time!  He is so happy that his line is out. When we say to him, "Jimmy, your line is out!", he very excitedly says, "YES!" with his arms bent and his hands in a fist.  It is the first time in over a year that Jimmy has not had any tubes, lines, extensions, plastic, caps, etc. in, or protruding from his body.  We pray it can stay like this for him forever.