Surprise - WE'RE HOME!!

J.J. and I had a great morning blowing lots of bubbles(to help him expand his lungs) and playing with play-doh. We had a good breakfast and had been playing and walking all morning and were finally ready for our morning nap. That is until the doctor came to see us around noon. After pulling J.J.'s chest tube, he said we were cleared to go home. Once again, J.J. was such a trooper when they pulled the tube out. He has been the happiest little guy since we've been home and already getting back into his own routine. I was really having to work on eating/drinking with him in the hospital, but tonight he ate all his dinner and drank a ton of water. The boys were so excited to see each other, and were back to playing trains in no time. J.J.'s follow-up is next Thursday and our goal for the week is to keep him from breaking his neck now :)

Feeling great and R-O-A-R-I-N-G!!

WOW, God is great!! J.J. is doing wonderful this morning and feeling ready to head down to the playroom to play (at least for now.... :) ). Yesterday was a little hard on him and he was very sore and tired for most of the day. We were moved out of ICU yesterday evening and were able to get a decent night's rest.....you know, two good 5 hour shifts. The doctor said his lung x-ray from this morning looked perfect, and that for all practical purposes the inner wounds are closed. His chest drain is off suction, but will remain in for at least another 24 hours to continue to drain unassisted. Provided his progress with the tube continues it should come out tomorrow or Sunday, and then he will be monitored for another 24 hours before we can head home. As I was just typing the nurse came in to remove his last IV and take all breathing/heart monitors off - yippee, we are almost totally unhooked!! Since he's more mobile and will be awake more we'd love to see visitors who want to come up starting this afternoon. You can call/text me to make sure the timing is ok.

Thanks again for all the prayers, comments, care packages and support - we love you all!!

Superman is healing!

Here is a picture of our little guy just hours after his surgery - as you can tell he is doing great! Surgery lasted about 1 1/2 hrs and everything went as planned. The dr. removed the upper lung lobe with the mass through an incision smaller than 1 1/2 inches. We won't know the pathology report for several days, but the dr. isn't expecting any surprises. J.J. and I have spent most of the day relaxing in his big bed talking about his owwie being gone and when he can take his diaper off......that is his ONLY complaint. We are SO proud of him for being so tough and know he will be our crazy monkey again in a couple of days.

Joel was up here this morning for the surgery and then came back this evening to visit. He is feeling great except for being frequently tired. I know it was hard for him to leave us up here today, but we have to make sure he stays healthy and doesn't catch anything during these next months of chemo. I keep thinking if it wasn't for his positive attitude and smiley face through his surgery, J.J. wouldn't have been able to stay tough. Gotta love my strong boys!!

"Owwie" out today!!

Today is the day!! We had a great night last night and J.J. could not have been any bigger of a boy. We were admitted yesterday around 1pm and I was so nervous about how he was going to handle just hanging out in a hospital room all night. To my surprise there was a HUGE playroom (I'll get that picture on later) and child developement nurses that played with J.J. and showed him everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) about what was going to happen to him today. They gave him a little voodoo doll that he got to put IV's in, drain tubes on and even give medicine to. He knows he has an owwie in his lung that has to be removed by surgery and that he will have a cut like daddy did. I am amazed at how much he is able to comprehend about this at his age. He got his IV in last night and thinks he's being given Superman juice(saline) to make him really strong. I could go on and on about how proud I am of him.......he's really making this a lot "easier" on me.

His surgeon just came out and told us he's getting ready to start and should be done in about an hour - I'll post later on when he's out and in ICU.

Thanks again for the continuous prayers! :)


Saying bye to Jace


Chatting on the phone....


Getting ready to crash out!

MRI results

We found out today that J.J.'s MRI results were totally NORMAL!! What a huge relief it was to hear this news. I didn't think there was anything wrong, but couldn't help but wonder why he's having seizure episodes. Since we started him on another medication they have slowed down a bit, but still happen under random circumstances.

Joel was "unhooked" today and isn't feeling too bad. He says he feels like he's got the flu and his stomach hurts, but no signs of being nauseous. I can tell his energy level is significantly lower, but he sure does keep a smile on his face and a good sense of humor through this. If there is 1 person who can fight til the end, it's Joel - cancer will not win this battle :)

As for me, I'm still making it to the gym so far to release some anxious energy and am amazed at my energy level. I do spin about three times a week and try and vision myself passing and then spinning dirt in cancer's face behind me. I know that probably sounds weird, but several times in our class we race/pass people and I can't help but think I'm kicking its butt as well. I've started making the Starbuck's to-go coffees and can't believe how good and STRONG they are - not a fan of instant coffee, but these are the real thing without using a coffee maker. Maybe that's where I get my energy??!

We are going to try and have a nice relaxing weekend enjoying our time together before J.J.'s surgery next week, before everything turns upside down again.... :)

1 down, 11 to go

Joel had his first round of chemo today and still has the continuous flow going. So far he hasn't felt too sick and seems to be handling it pretty well. They say if he'll just keep something in his stomach he should be okay.....we'll see :)



Tomorrow is J.J.'s MRI so I'm getting ready to crash for the night. I had a lot of anxiety last night not knowing what today was going to hold for us and did't get much sleep, so my body is ready for some rest. We don't go in until 12:30pm and probably won't get any results until Friday.

Please pray that Joel continues to feel well and they find no abnormalities in J.J.'s head!

Tomorrow - IT'S ON!!

We got an unexpected call this morning from Joel's oncologist wanting him to come in asap to have his port put in for chemo. The port is a direct line into one of his major blood vessels that will prevent him from having to be poked every time he gets chemo or has to have blood drawn. The procedure was relatively short and he was awake the whole time (numbed up with some sedation). He is very sore from all the "pushing and guiding", but overall doing well. Chemo will be every other Wednesday lasting about 3 hours. He will then have a continuous dose that is administered for 48 hours through the port that will be portable. We then return on that Friday for that line to be pulled. Here is an image of his exact port - the one on the far left. I thought it was pretty cool.



I'll try and update tomorrow after his 1st treatment, but my days seem to be getting shorter and shorter......
Love and miss you all!