Hello. We had clinic Monday and Tuesday of this week. Everything went very well and Nick was even somewhat happy. On Tuesday the Child Life Specialist asked him to participate in the arts and crafts activity and he did. He had a lot of fun and we even stayed a little longer than planned. We have 2 shots to go and one more round of high dose chemo and steroids. The next phase of the treatment is maintenance and this will last for at least 70 weeks. We are looking forward to the reduced dosage of the steroids, which should help Nick with all the pain he has had. Colby ends school next Monday and he is really excited to go see the new clinic. He has not been to clinic in a long time and I believe he is feeling 'left out' of the trips we take 2 days a week. For Colby, clinic is a place to meet new kids and do fun activities for a little while. The IV's on poles, kids in wheelchairs and kids with no hair does not even phase Colby. It is amazing how adaptable Colby has been to all the changes around him. We are very proud of him and can not believe his Kindergarten year is over. We are planning on sending Nick to Kindergarten next year, he will go half day. We are hoping to keep the boys close together during their school years and we felt Nick was ready to go. He is really excited about riding the bus.... the scariest part for Greg and I. We prefer to drive him and keep as many germs away from him as we can. We'll deal with it in September. Next week we have my sister (Christa) and family driving up from NC. We are looking forward to some time off and enjoying the cousins being abel to see each other. Take care everyone, Karen
Oh, I wanted to mention that Nick's hair is starting to grow back. We are pretty excited about it and coming just in time for the summer and sun. I think he is already sick of everyone telling him they see hair on his head. We love it.
Nick is an amazing 6 year old fighting T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). He was diagnosed at 4 years old on Oct. 15, 2008 and here is the story of his courageous battle. This day changed our lives forever. Nick seemed very healthy at the time and the only signs we noticed were swollen lymph nodes on his neck. At first, we thought it could be a virus, but after 2 rounds of blood tests, the doctors confirmed our worst fear, cancer. This site is to show how strong our little boy is.
Update:
Nicholas finished treatment on 11/18/2010. He will continue to go for blood work for the next 3 years. He is still in remission.