Jose Update

Jose had a pretty good week. He went into work for a few hours to check on things. Other than being extremely tired and having super, lizard like, dry skin. He seems to be doing well.

We went to the AF hospital Friday to have Jose's labs done.
Platelets- 186,000
Hematocrit- 28.1
W.B.C- 0.6 or 600(uh oh!)
Neutrophils- 0.1 or 100(uh oh!)

His immune system is wiped. They started him on Levaquin and Penicillin to prevent infections. He is susceptible with neutrophils under 500. We are not sure the plan. I'm wondering if they will admit him. Waiting for the docs to call us Monday.

Coolest Uncle Ever

Alyssa asked Cale to sell some cookie dough for her. It was for a school fundraiser. She wanted to sell the most to win a trip to Build-A-Bear. He said how about I just take you to Build-A-Bear. I think he thought she'd forget. Well she didn't. Starting at 9:00 on Saturday morning she started blowing up his phone. He finally rolled out of bed to keep his promise. She had so much fun. They made a cute bear and came up with two crazy names Bearny "Suit Up" Stintson or Justin Bie-bear. Justin won of course. Cutest bear ever. Thanks Cale for making your niece a very happy girl.

Easter Sunday

 I love Easter Sunday. Especially when you have all your family together and it's such a beautiful day! The kids had so much fun getting a few goodies and playing with friends. They played outside for hours and hours and there was no fighting. It was a great day. Only bad thing was Jose wasn't feeling too hot. Aaron came and hung out with him while we were at my Mom's. Since he wasn't able to go to my Mom's for dinner. We brought them a big plate. It was nice to have Alaina and her girls over play.

Kids before Easter dinner.

Alyssa's light up toy.

Angry bird flashlight

My louie

My poor hubby.

Cade and Cale. Enjoying bonding time.

Koya, Dominic, Kyler and Alyssa.

Kycee and Cheeks

Caley pretending to be tough.

Haggie, Louie, and Cade. Being lazy after too much food.

Cade and Kyler at the park. After dinner.

Easter Fun

First Annual Haggie Easter egg hunt happened this year. I didn't want to get up early. Also crowds are a big no no right now due to Jose's immune system.

So... Mom and I bought over 200 eggs. Lots of little toys because i'm sick of all the candy. We still had way too much of the blasted stuff.  Everyone should do this. Here's how it went:

1. Filled over 200 eggs.

2. Invited friends.

3. Let the kids loose!

4. A new tradition is born!

I LOVED IT. It was so much better than fighting crowds, crazy kids and getting up at the butt crack of dawn. We will now do this every year. Then afterwards we just let the kids play for a few hours!

Thanks Mom for having an amazing backyard!

Happy Easter everyone!



Waiting for me to say go!

Dominic showing off his monkey bar skills.

Kycee and cheeks jumping

Dominic just hanging around.

Koya was so proud she could do it.

Kycee wouldnt' give up. Alaina finally helped.

Trampoline games!

Bling outta her eggs!



Cheeks and her loot!

Domnic hunting for eggs.

My amazing Easter egg hiding skills.

Eggs galore!

Two down Two to go...

Today Jose finished round two of chemo. He's been tired. No nausea. Now we just wait for the up down cycle. Levels go down then they have to rebound. About 28 days and he'll start round 3. I'm worried about that round because we haven't had that type of chemo before.

Round two.... Today?

We got a call on Monday night saying Jose needed to be at the clinic the next day. We were confused since we were told we wouldn't hear anything until Wednesday. So off we went. We got up to LDS. Jose is taken back for labs and the normal stuff then taken into an exam room. Nurse Tammy walks and says, "Ready for round two of chemo?"
I looked at Jose. He looks at me we both say, "Huh!" "We haven't even heard the results of the bone marrow."
She darts off to grab a PA who apologizes profusely for the confusion and lets us know Jose is in complete morphological remission! They don't have the chromosome test results back just yet though. We have to wait a few weeks. Labs were great his platelets were at 471,000, hematocrit was at 31.1 highest we've seen and neutrophils 3,600. All looked great..So onto the next phase consolidation. Which will be 4 days of chemo idorubicin and 15 days Atra, followed by a 3 week or so break, then 3 days of mitoxantrone and a 3 week break, then we go to 2 doses of the idarubicin and after the break of the bone marrow is clean he will go onto oral chemo for a year.
Dr. Asche was and is so positive and informative. She wrote the orders and we waited and waited 3 hours before pharmacy filled and brought up the chemo. Finally it came and in 15 min we were on our way! 1 down 8 to go!


Idarubicin... looks like Mountain Dew Code Red

Takes 15 minutes. They push it slowly.

Then we get home to find my Dominic has a fever! Luckily he was at my moms and she kept him for the night. Poor guy!

Trying to cool down my poor sick boy!

Bone Marrow Biopsy

We went in today for Jose's second bone marrow biospy. If he is in remission they will go ahead and start the next round of chemo. We should hear on Wednesday.

WE ARE GOING HOME!!!!

   Jose's neutrophils were at 800 today. Plateletes were at 250,000. So excited that he is getting to come home. I learned how to change the bandage and flush his line. That was neat. He is being sent home with 7 medications. Vitamin D, a special multivitamin that has no iron, Atra (oral chemo medication), Acyclovair (aniviral so he doesn't get virus's), Omeprazole (for upset stomach and heartburn). These are what he'll take daily. The other two are just as needed for pain and nausea. Much better than the 5 pages he had prior to this. We still have a long road ahead but at least we can do it from home. For now at least.
   The plan of attack is he'll go in Friday for a bone marrow biopsy and if that comes back that he's in remission he'll stop taking the Atra. They will wait a couple days and he'll start the next round of chemo. He'll take the Atra for 15 days followed by 4 days of chemo. Then have 3 weeks of rest. Then he'll do a 3 day round of chemo and 15 days Atra. Then the last round of 2 days chemo and 15 days Atra. If he is still in remission at this point. He'll go onto the oral chemotheraphy for a year.
    I'm so excited to get my kids back on a schedule and not be up at the hospital so much. Briella has been terrible with sleeping the last little while. Because, i've been gone so much. I'm excited to get her back on track and spend some time with the kids. They have been neglected through all this. We have been blessed around every corner.


Today is the day!

Enjoying his red chair and home!

My handsome bald man.

Good news! Jose's neutrophils were up again today. They were at 400 and his platelets have moved to 191,000. From a 100,000. His body is finally working! I'm so excited. Looks like tomorrow is the day he'll get to go home. It's scary.
On a side note. His hair finally started to fall out. He took a shower yesterday and lost the whole crown of his head. So today I made him shave it off so I didnt' have to deal with it at home. Now I have a handsome bald guy! Love him.

Here is the hair he lost that day, before his hair cut, during his hair cut and after!!

We have neutrophils!!

Finally finally finally! We finally today saw Jose's neutrophils come up to 100 today. They have been 0'd out for weeks. He needs a 500 to go home. So we are hoping to see a jump tomorrow. The Dr's are pretty sure he'll be going home this week as long as the numbers keep going up.