An update on James and what we've been doing

James sitting in a Little Tikes car Tuesday night! He thought it was so fun to drive, but he couldn't understand why, when he turn the steering wheel that the wheels didn't turn that way too!

James' Beads of Courage. Each bead represents part of James' journey with leukemia. Hospital stays, surgeries, pokes, lines, chemo, etc... He also has a Purple Heart which signifies the end of treatment.

Wednesday afternoon, the clowns stopped by. James was starting to get fussy since he wanted to eat. The clowns kept him amused for 45+ minutes and by then, it was time to head to the OR.

This is James yesterday evening... he had been having breakthrough pain earlier and was tired. It didn't prevent him from watching Superman though! I do believe that when James is finally discharged I will have memorized the Superman episodes!

I'm hoping that James will be discharged this Tuesday. But nothing is definite yet and it all depends on James. He get out of bed and went for a ride in a wheelchair down to the library here. But we headed back shortly, since he was getting tired and hurting. James and I snuggled up and slept the rest of the afternoon away. Now he's back to watching Superman all snuggled in his soft green blanket the Child Life Specialist brought by this morning!

♥ Hannah ♥

In Memoriam: Pierce

When 'J' was transferred to Georgia from Minnesota, we met a dad who always wore a joker hat. He was staying with his little boy who was in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). Pierce had the same leukemia 'J' did and Pierce and 'J' had another bond, you see, both of them have Down syndrome. We've been following their journey since 2007. Pierce was scheduled to finish chemo this spring, but several weeks from finishing Pierce relapsed and had a BMT (bone marrow transplant). He did great through transplant and was doing awesome at home. A couple weeks ago, Pierce's mom posted that Pierce had relapsed again and there really wasn't anything they could do, it was just a matter of time. When 'J', Momma and I were in Atlanta in Monday, we saw Pierce and his dad. They had decided to stop Pierce's chemo since he was getting terrible mouth sores that Friday. Momma talked with Mr. Bill for awhile and I took 'J' back to triage. When we got to our room, Momma said Mr. Bill didn't think Pierce would make it to Christmas. Last night, I was checking my email and saw there was an update on Pierce. I opened it and saw that Pierce had passed away in his sleep that morning. There was another update this afternoon, Pierce's little brother, who is 3-4 years old, is taking Pierce's death hard. Please keep them in your prayers in the upcoming weeks.

Here is Pierce's website if you want to read it. Pierce Ruck

The Duggar Family

Please keep the Duggar family in your prayers. You probably know that the Duggars were expecting their 19th child in March. But Mrs. Dugger was airlifted to the University of Arkansas this past week and the baby was delivered by emergency c-section on the 10th ( J's birthday). Her name is Josie Brooklyn and she weighs 1lb 6 ozs. She will be in the NICU (neonatel intensive are unit) for awhile. I know the Duggars would apprieciate your prayers. We've been there and done that ourselves, not with a preemie though. 'J' was transported to MN Children's the day after he was born because he had a blockage in his intestines. We were there through Christmas and I still remember the day he was released from the hospital. Becca started it all off, when she got sick on Christmas Day at our aunt's house (where we were staying for three days, till the family we stayed with the rest of the time came home from their family Christmas celebration), the night before 'J' was released, I got sick and the next day, 'O' and Daddy were putting suitcases in the van and 'O' threw up just as he came in the door. Over the next couple weeks, everyone, but 'J', got sick. It was an interesting Christmas to be sure!

A year ago

Today marks a year since I paid my first, and I hope my last, visit to the ER for a severe sore throat. We were spending Thanksgiving with Momma's family and we all had varying degrees of sore  throats, runny noses, etc...  On Friday, I was feeling awful, though it's hard to remember about it. I do remember that breathing fast helped my throat feel a little better and that my fingers and around my eyes were tingling and I remember being very cold and crying because I hurt all over. I know that they drew blood (another first, that I hope not to repeat in an ER), because it hurt when she took the needle out and I had a bruise there. When Daddy took me back to Nona's house, I went right to bed and slept most of the afternoon. The next morning, Momma and I left early in the morning to go to Macon from North GA, Momma took me to see the oncall doctor at J's pediatrician, because the antibiotic wasn't helping and the pain meds didn't do anything to clear whatever it was up. Dr. G gave me a prescription for steriods. I was to take them for six days. By the second day, I felt so much better and I was able to work with J on his tubing and check 'n' changes. Momma and Daddy and K did them while I was sick. That is one experience that I wouldn't like to repeat.

This year, Nona, Poppa and Uncle E came down on Wednesday and we had a great visit. Thursday, we all ate Thanksgiving dinner together. It was delicious!