ACTION JACKSON

LIFE

2010-05-05T21:00:00.007-04:00

We've been enjoying life sorry for the long lapse in updates but as they say, "No news is good news." Little man is doing well we've had two scans since our last update the one before last took us for a loop so I decided this time not to request a final report and take the doctor for his word, I know about time. You would think by now I would learn to trust the very doctor that saved his life. Call me crazy, I'm sure I've been called worst !!! Jackson has been doing awesome in school, he's also had moment's of shear craziness. We went on a field trip last week to the zoo in DC, another mom and I had to chaperon 4 little boy's they were great only one kept wondering off. We spent most to the day just trying to keep up with him but that's alright he was still completely adorable, they all are. We been battling the usual colds, strep throat and the occasional aches and pain's. Overall it's nice to say he's back to being a normal kid doing crazy normal boy thing's. Off course that depends on what you consider normal, riding the scooter in your underwear is normal to him. Since he's getting older we have to be careful, he is becoming a young man, besides I don't think the other moms in the neighborhood appreciate it :) He's getting use to being told no, gasp I know it's hard to tell him no when we want to just give him the world but he won't respect anything if we continue to cave and believe me he lacks for nothing.

Big bro, Evan is doing OK normal trials in middle school, gosh I HATE middle school. Don't you just wish we could just skip that one !!!! Evan really is a great kid and I'm so proud to be his mommy.

Lauren is back in NC with her hubby and Grace turned one on March 26th. She's walking and everywhere she goes looks like a hurricane has visited. She stayed with me for two weeks in March, there's a reason why you have kid's when your young. The minute she left I was bored out of my mind. I'll include pics.

I have been extremely busy coordinating a fundraiser for Childhood Cancer. Fredericksburg is going to have it's first annual Shoot Out. Yes you heard me right SHOOT OUT, clay shooting. We're hoping to have it by the end of Sept. this year. They'll be plenty of food, lots of things for the kiddos, auction and helicopter rides and I'm sure something new everyday will be added. All proceeds will go to the Pablove Foundation, they will put the money straight in the hands of the doctors doing the research. We so desperately need more money for research, there's actually little to no research being done in the Wilms area right now. Jackson had anaplastic Wilms, anything anaplastic is deadly in the cancer world but there is absolutely no research being done in this area. The success rate with this form of cancer is awful. He has lost so many of his friends to this ^%$# !!! Speaking of friends he lost his best friend on this earth Feb. 25th, this undoubtedly was the hardest along with Pablo for me. Tony and Jackson became friends when they were in treatment together. He had ALL finished treatment and passed this Feb. This was Jacksons buddy they talked on the phone for hours, Tony lived in Manassas, which is about an hour from us. I never knew anyone his age to take the time he did with this little guy. Thank God we saw him over Christmas.We LOVE his momma, I hope she finds peace and knows what special young man she had. This was his first funeral and it was hard. I'll leave it at that he's changed but I couldn't hide it from him. Back to the shoot out oh my gosh I need HELP, so I'm calling out to all my friends, family and fellow cancer families for help. If anyone wants to know what kind of help, PLEASE email me at hornecheri@gmail.com. I"ll update as soon as the date is firmed up but it's looking like the last weekend in Sept.

LOVE
Cheri

Support PABLOVE

2009-10-06T19:36:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone, I know long time since the last update !!! Really wish there was no need for a blog or caring bridge site but since we've been thrown into the world of childhood cancer it would be really unfair of me not to update and let everyone know what's going on in the little mans life.
First off I wanted to let all our friend's that may still read this that Pablo lost his battle in June, I shut down after that for a while even though I never met him, I talked to his dear mother a lot and grew incredibly close to them. It hit so close to home and damn that hurt. I can't even imagine how his parent's are surviving. His father has thrown all his pain into a bike ride across America starting Oct. 10th for 30 day's. I hope that all our friend's and family go to Pablove.org and support Jeff. I only wish I could do half of what he's doing for our kid's. All the monies raised from this ride go right back into childhood cancer. I'm in Ah of them.
Now on to the little guy, well maybe not so little no more, he has a Birthday on Thursday the big 9 !!!!! We never thought we would see him at 7 and look now, mannnn life is good. No big party this year, he just wants a couple of his bud's to come over and go to Fun Land. This should be a pretty laid back birthday this year, even though I'll be screaming and jumping for joy inside. On the medical front everything has been good, knock on wood. Next scans Nov. 2nd, they changed them from Oct. and then wanted to change them to Nov. 3rd, ummmm no way. Nov. 3 rd three year's ago our lives changed forever and I do mean forever, D day, diagnoses day in our case. Not a day goes by that we don't think of it and how it has changed us, mostly for the good. Sometimes the ugly in it comes out and I try hard to handle it with grace and compassion. I really try to feel compassion for people but it's so damn hard after seeing what these kiddos go through. I promise I'll update after scans to let everyone know how it went. Praying already for good news. We're starting to relax a little bit on that part, now granted I won't sleep for a couple night's before our trip to DC. I really try hard to just let him be a normal kid, even though he'll never be anything but normal to us, AMAZING is more like it.

Mission | The Pablove Foundation

2009-09-22T22:38:00.001-04:00

Mission | The Pablove Foundation

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PRAYERS NEEDED

2009-04-22T22:07:00.004-04:00

Our dear friend PABLO needs some urgent prayers right now, here's his blog spot,
http://getwellpablo.blogspot.com/ he's such a special little guy to our family. I think the world of his momma, Jo Ann, please say some prayers for her to, help her be strong during this time. Good Bless you Jo Ann, Jeff, Grady and Pablo.
Love
Cheri
My heart just broke again today.

2009-04-20T23:50:00.002-04:00

Here's a few quick picture's, as you can see from Jacksons expression he really doesn't dig the whole baby thing. I think he knows whats coming, crawling, walking = destroying my stuff !!! He, He, gotta love babies. Lauren, Grace and Hubby are all settled now in N.C. I just know we'll be making a quick trip real soon, need to get my fix and hold the baby for a while, then I'll be fine. The bottom pic is our famous panda at the National Zoo, I think it's the momma bear, funny, I tell the boy's that's what I am.

Sorry I was such a downer last night, just felt kinda down. All better today, It's been raining like crazy today so needless to say nothing got done that should of gotten done. Jackson had a wonderful day back at school and is probably loving not being able to lift anything, hopefully he's not milking it for what it's worth. This is going to be a short post, it's late and I'm tired.

Thanks for checking in on us.

Love

Cheri

The Monster

2009-04-19T23:14:00.005-04:00

I pulled this off another site, I found it interesting, sorry if it's to deep for some of you.

The Monster

There's a monster. It lives in our house. It moved in a long time ago. It must have been hiding in the walls because we didn't notice him for the longest time. But it was there. It's the funniest thing because I never really believed in monsters. I thought they were the stuff of fairy tales. Imaginary beasts that people made up to explain their fears. They weren't real though. Were they?

But now I know they are real. The thing about monsters is they're not just big and scary and with sharp teeth. Bears are big and scary with sharp teeth, but they're not monsters. The difference is that the monster has a malevolent streak. It's not there because it wants to eat your garbage; it's there because it means to do you harm. Disney got it all wrong in Monsters Inc. Don't believe it. That's all imaginary. Those kinds of cute cuddly monsters don't exist. Steven King has it right.

The monster sometimes comes into our room at night and slithers underneath the bed. Its hot breath comes right through the mattress. It leaves me sweating, scared, unable to sleep. And then a chill settles in like the window was left open on a January night.

We've tried to kill it a dozen times. Sometimes it seems like we're winning, but still it won't die. And even if we kill it, I have this terrible feeling it will come back from the dead like just like in the sequel to a bad horror movie.

It's a clever beast and follows us wherever we go. There's no escape. We can never see it because it hides in the shadows, but it's always there and has ways of making its presence known. We can't live a normal life.

When we got the dog, we thought maybe he would scare the monster away. The dog is smart and brave, but somehow he doesn't see the monster. The monster, though, is keeping its distance. But somehow I think it might be smarter than the dog and just waiting for its moment.

Try to explain a monster to your friends. They can hear what we're saying, but they don't quite believe us. We still have all of our body parts, and none of us has quite gone insane. They've never seen the monster even though they've been to the house. Still they get the sense that something isn't quite right. Some of them keep their distance. Now we just smile and say, "Oh the monster...he's gone back inside the wall. We're doing fine.

Sometimes our monster doesn't seem so scary. On a sunny day, when the kids run in the park laughing and playing, we forget that it's back there waiting for us. You have to forget for a while, or it will get inside your mind and drive you over the edge.

There are professionals who know how to deal with monsters. Ordinary folks never meet them other than on a social basis. We feel better when we're with the professionals. They seem to know what they're doing. But at night when we are home alone, there is just us... and the monster. The chill returns.

There's a monster. It lives in our house. It lives in our boy.

No Jackson is not sick again, but I really thought this hit home for us this last scare we had. It'll always be there, now how do we live with it ?? I know, I don't need help. Just some reassurance he's gonna be OK.
Love
Cheri

INFLAMED NODES

2009-04-16T21:23:00.002-04:00

Nothing like a couple of inflamed lymph nodes to set a whole family into a nervous frenzy. That's actually putting it mildly by the way, my hair has turned another shade whiter and last night I believe I was the sickest I've been in quiet a while. Dr. Dome called at around 6 this evening to let me know that it was indeed inflamed lymph node's and we'll probably never know what caused them. Thank God, this is all we had to deal with. Our whole family is breathing much easier, I think there's going to be some good sleeping tonight. As for the wacky blood work we're going to keep an eye on it with regular checks. Scans as usual for now, next one should be in July. They're sure the nodule on the lung is exactly what they stated, a lymph node and the kidney is scarring not a rest like was originally thought. I'll try to update some new pics tomorrow of the zoo and Easter. God Bless and Thank you from the bottom of our heart's for all the loving thoughts and beautiful prayer's.
Love
Cheri

HOME

2009-04-15T16:17:00.004-04:00

We're home after a very long day, excuse any of the typo's and errors a head of time my vision is still kinda blurry from lack of sleep. Everything went well, we didn't receive any report's before we left. He was wheeled into surgery at 8:45, we got him back at 10:00, not to bad. Dr. Sandler removed two lymp nodes, both 1x2 cent maybe inches as they were very visible when he held his arm up. they had already doubled in two weeks time. He said he couldn't speculate as to what they were, although tumor's kinda have a grey-white appearance and these didn't. So now we just hold our breath until we get the phone call letting us know everything is alright and we can resume our normal lives, which will never be normal but it's our normal. Thank you to everyone who prayed there heart's out for a precious little guy today. We will let everyone know as soon as we know.
Love
Cheri

SURGERY TIME

2009-04-14T22:40:00.002-04:00

They finally called tonight at 6:15 to let us know to have the little guy there at 6:15, surgery time 8:00 am. We sure could use some extra prayer's, heck as many as we can get !!! Pray for him to come out of surgery fine and no cancer to be found in the lymph node's. He had a great week, good Easter the bunny was extra special. We went to Zoo in DC, needless to say it was little more crowded than usual for a Monday and we had to park at least a mile away, no kiddin. He didn't even complain this time of his leg's hurting, what relief that was.
Wish us luck tomorrow.
Love Cheri

SURGERY

2009-04-10T22:04:00.002-04:00

Here's the low down on what happened today in D.C. Jackson will be going in on Wed. of next week for removal of the nasty lymph nodes, one of them has grown half it's size in a week. He's doing great otherwise, his eating is slowing somewhat still trying to figure out if it's nerves or is something really going on that shouldn't. We're going to have our original surgeon Dr. Sandler, Jackson said no once else is allowed to touch him but him. Thank God he's back in town and had a slot available next Wed., we'll know the time Tuesday night when the hospital calls with all the info. I finally received his report's from his last scan, blood work and to be perfectly honest no one knows what's going on at this point. His blood work is so overwhelming to look at, my eye's actually started to cross reading everything today. His LDH is high, this is a tumor marker blood test they ran last week on him, ya read that and see where you mind takes you !!! Platelet's are low, white blood and red blood normal, see why every ones rubbing their head's. Jackson was never normal anyways and when he was diagnosed it's wasn't normal, less than 5% are diagnosed bi-lateral and less than 3 % unfavorable. Someone correct me if I'm wrong I don't have all the data in front of me right now. Scan report just as confusing to me, nodule noted on one of his lung's. Their pretty sure it's a sublpeural lymph node, OK another lymph node, to creepie. Remaining right kidney has some changes can't be sure what it is but looks like scarring. So I had to absorb all this tonight on my back deck while my little man jumped happily on the trampoline, the same trampoline I swore I was going to tare down two year's ago.
My mother came and picked him up tonight because he wanted to get away, I'm sure from us. Were trying very hard to act normal at this point, it just so damn hard not to worry and I think he's feeling it. Poor kid, I feel like screaming, someone wake me up. I've never prayed so hard in my life for my child to have an infection, something we can treat with med's. I'll update when I can Wed. he'll be coming home right after he wakes up from surgery. Should have result's no later than Friday but the tumor review board meets on Wed.'s so hopefully we'll have an early slot and we can have at least 20 doc's looking at all the report's and pathology of these lymph node's.
Love
Cheri

New Pics

2009-04-04T22:11:00.004-04:00

Just thought I would update with a few picture's of the kid's and Grace. No Jacksons lumps are still there and some are getting larger, I'm trying very hard not to wig out at this point. The doctor said give it two weeks and Friday his time is out and then some decisions need to be made by all of us concerning these invader's. The first picture is kinda obvious, Jackson making snow angels, Lauren and Grace in the hospital when she was first born. Evan and Lucy getting ready to go four wheeling, just kidding she would if we let her!!!!

Hope you enjoy these, as I load more of the baby I'll post them.

Love,

Cheri

ALL IS GOOD

2009-03-31T21:26:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates but hey no news is good news. We've had a pretty eventful week and half. First off I want to say thank you to all my dear friends and family for all their prayer's this last week. Our daughter Lauren gave birth to my first, Jacks second grand-daughter last Thursday at 7:24pm 8lbs 2ozs, and 20 inches. She's beautiful, she came a little early at 36 week's, only because Lauren is diabetic and has been since she was two, both are doing well and her husband Kelly is a very proud daddy.

Now on to the little man, Jackson was doing great till last week, I was drying him off after a shower and found several lumps under his arm's. We went to his regular doctor the following day and from there to Childrens in D.C. to see Dr. Dome. Scans and blood work were done yesterday. All the regular blood work came back fine, nothing was elevated. The scans were all clear except one of his lung's has a spot on it and apparently has had this since the last scan and it was never noted on the final scan report's that we receive. Dr. Dome says that it is unchanged from the last time. My only problem with this is why on earth would he not tell me ?? Hum, so my confidence level in him is at a all time low right now. We are waiting on more specialized blood tests to come in and if the lumps don't dissipate or become larger in the next two weeks we will biopsy them. Please keep the prayer's coming, we need them, this has been such an emotional week for everyone. As soon as I get the rest of the picture's loaded, I'll put them on here, we have some great pic's of the baby and Jackson, hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow.

Love

Cheri

2008-11-18T16:38:00.006-05:00

Dear Friend's and Family,
Every year a 23 foot Awareness tree is placed in the lobby of the Old Post Office in D.C. and decorated with thousands of gold ribbons, each ribbon bearing the name of a child who has or has had cancer. I'm asking all of my friends and family to purchase a gold ribbon for 5.00 in honor of Jackson or another child you may know or have known that has or had cancer. I know times are tight for all of us right now but it would mean the world to me and Jackson if we could see hundred's of kid's we know with their name's on these ribbon's tied to that tree. I know so many of these kid's and I can't personally buy one for each kid, I think I came up with a total of 500.00 for just the kid's I know and believe me if I had the money I would. I keep telling Jackson he's a STAR. nows my chance to prove it!!! I know god has amazing plan's for this little guy here on earth. He actually thinks he's a ROCK STAR, oh well I can't convince him now maybe later. The website to purchase ribbon's is : http://www.candlelighters.org/cancerawarenesstree2008.stm
I'm not done just yet one more favor for all of us, I'm collecting new toy's for "Trevors Treasures" he is young boy we met while on treatment, he's off treatment and doing beautifully, pray that it continues that way. Here's the website http://trevorstreasures.org/index.htm please no stuff animal's and pre-packaged toy's because these have to be wiped down before entering the hospital. This is an important cause to me simply because we were so blessed when Jackson was in the hospital he was always showered with toy's, lots of love and affection. I know there where time's when some the children didn't even have anyone to sit with them but a volunteer. There was also a baby that was dropped off because she had cancer, she was finally adopted by a staff member of the hospital. God Bless her. Some suggestions that come to mind is Crayola stuff, they have some of the neatest new stuff that light's up, I think they would enjoy playing with these at night, gift card's too. Just a thought, if you have any questions please feel free to call me 540-446-5808 or Shannon, Trevor's mommy, her number is on the website. I'm hoping to have my Tahoe loaded down with toy's by Dec. 15th for her to take to the hospital.
Now some of you may have gotten this letter already in an e-mail sent out.
Jackson is doing great, we've had quiet a few appointment's in the last few weeks for him. First was his heart test in DC by the way came back perfect!! Some of the chemo's he has received can cause heart damage, most likely not for another 5 to 10 year's. As a precaution he's going to get checked yearly for the rest of his life, small price to pay for your life. He still continues to do great in school and is such a social butterfly, of course a male one, he would faint if he heard me say that.
Cute story, my little man was craving Reese's peanut butter cups the other day, we didn't have any so he took it upon his self to make some and here's his recipe (his version):
Get ya some cupcake holder's fill the bottom with fudge you use on Ice Cream
Top with Peanut butter
Then top that with more fudge
Stick in freezer for 10 min's
Pretty good recipe huh?
I'm hoping all of my wonderful friend's can help us out with the above group's. There are so many wonderful Childhood Cancer Groups out there but these are special to me and my family.
Thank you and God Bless
Cheri
Ya know I should really learn to proof read better.

2008-11-06T10:39:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Is this a reason to celebrate????

2008-11-02T12:16:00.004-05:00

I chose the title to this update for many reasons. First Nov. 4th marks two years since Jacksons diagnoses of cancer. Nov. 3rd we went to the doctor again for what we thought was constipation,(this had been going on for two week's) his doctor examined him again, felt the lump, said his spleen felt enlarged, if only it was gonna be that easy. We couldn't get in for a ultra sound till the next morning so we went home got a good night's sleep, little did I know that would be the last good night's sleep I would ever have. Woke up early the 4th to get him to the hospital for his test, first we had to check a job site of mine and he had blast climbing and playing on the dirt mound's, so much fun we had to stop at K-mart by my moms house to buy some clothes!!! I'm so glad now I let him play in that dirt, any other time I would have kept him strapped to the car. We got to the hospital for the test and I started taking pictures of him with my cell phone, just playing around and I picked him up to put him on the chair in the waiting room and he smacked the crap out of me in the face and no, he he's never done that so I sat him on the chair and told him he was in time out.
We got back to the room did the ultra sound and was told to go to waiting room. OH how oblivious I was !!! The phone rang in the room and it was his primary doctor, oh godddddd, go to Fairfax we need to ran some more tests. I don't think he hinted to anything of course that day is blank for me maybe his dad remembers more because I sure as Hell don't, only bit's and pieces. We got to Fairfax and checked in, don't remember how we got back there. All I know is we were there Oct. 22nd and we're told he was fine even with us telling the ER doctor his belly looked bigger. (Quack) Needless to say I read the new ER doctor the riot act, by then I think my mom and dad were there too. Did the CT and bam, next thing I knew we were being rolled up to the 4th floor, all I remember is thinking to myself why the HELL are we going to the HEM/ONC floor. Hahhh, still oblivious, don't remember being told all this, oh the tricks the mind can play on us!!! Then D day came, surgery Nov. 5th, he was so scared, I laid on the bed with him as they rolled us down the hall he buried his little head in my chest, all the while the child life lady was telling him about getting a new port to put medicine in, WHAT, when was that decided. I felt like everyone knew what was going on but me, looking back I was in shock. While waiting my dear and best friend in the whole world showed up to sit with us,(didn't even know she knew) even brought me dental floss she knows I hate stuff on or in between my teeth and of course loads of candy she knew I was gonna need it!!! Friend's, I can honestly say I only have one that truly gets me and that's her, Thank you, ANITA. I love you. Jack, his daddy and my mom and dad were there too, I don't think they would have had it any other way, my mom and dad lived at the hospital with me that first week, couldn't have done it without, any of them. The doctor came out and told us it looked like Wilms, what the hell is Wilms? I've been trying to figure this out the whole time. We got back up to the room and all he did was sleep by then his room resembled a toy store!!! In the middle of the night he pulled his NG tube out, the tube that was draining his stomach to give his gut the rest it needed to heal, I remember refusing to let the nurse put it back in, until she called the doctor and made sure he needed it. Well needless to say he needed it. His incision was only 4 or 5 inch's across the top of his belly button then. I know, only 4 or 5 inches now it's all the way across his tummy. So that's how it all started. The strange thing about all of this is I knew in the back of my head all a long something seriously was wrong with my baby even at birth that's another story in it's self, here's the brief version. Jackson was born not breathing, diagnosed with Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease. (never had it, mis-diagnosed) I almost lost him while carrying him at two month's, now talk about a fighter he's almost died on us three time's. That's a tough cookie. God has amazing plans for this little man, I don't know what they are yet, I do know he's touched a lot of lives and mine is changed forever. Everything he does is simply amazing!!
Funny story from the beginning of this this nightmare, we were walking down the hall trying to kill time before his first surgery and as we were walking down past the nurses station he yelled at them, "YOU FORGOT TO FEED ME THIS MORNING", he couldn't eat before surgery and was hating life. Now we're worried about him gaining to much weight, he's on 1 percent milk and weighs 69 pounds. He was 42 in Feb. 07 after his tumor and kidney removal surgery's, wow big difference and loving it!!! Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween. We only made it around the block once, he still made out like a bandit.
Love
Cheri

One Crazy Week !!!

2008-10-18T11:17:00.002-04:00

Man has this been one crazy week, let me start at the beginning. Jackson had scans and a full work up Monday at Children's. Everything is fine, we were there all day, left the house at 7:00, not to bad, there was no traffic, holiday. Got there at 8:30 scanned at 10:30, went upstairs to the fourth floor. Waited, waited and waited, at 1:30 Dr. Dome pops his head in and tells Jack he'll be back at 2:15 wants to review the scans himself, well mind you I was getting a soda. While walking back in the room everything started spinning and couldn't breath for a min. some kind stranger even ask me if I was OK. At that point I didn't even know what was going on, get back to the room, Jack tells me whats going on and I freak what did he say, what did he say, exactly what I told you, he'll be back at 2:15 !!! So the world stopped for 45 min's, in the mean while my heart is racing, I'm sweating and started pacing back and fourth from the playroom to the room. While Jackson and Evan played happily in the art room. Jackson also got to put his autograph on the art room door (on the glass) aah a pretty little rainbow with the sun. As soon as the doctor came, I don't think he sat down even and I barked what was on the scan!! NOTHING, he wanted to take a closer look at his spine and bones. ( THANK YOU GOD) Jackson has had some major pains lately, he even has pain walking in Target one of his favorite stores.
Here's the low down, his reflexes are shot!!! Vincristine (chemo) is the culprit. Now we know why he can't ran that well and kick the soccer ball as well as the other kid's. Poor guy all he wants to do is be a normal kid. I keep asking him if he wants to quit and his response is NO WAY!!! Should have known, this kid is just one mean fighting machine. He's so amazing, quit is not in his vocabulary and I hope he's stays this way because we all know life is tough.
He did have to have his blood redrawn on Tuesday his electrolytes were out of whack. He already had an appointment for them dreaded immunizations at his main doc's office, their going to start with 3 or 4 at a time and the flu shot.
Here goes the crazy part, my oldest daughter, Lauren walks into my room about the time we were headed out and had a funny look on her face, wasn't responding to me. I thought maybe her blood sugar is low. (for those who don't know she's had diabetes since she was 2) I tried to get her to sit down so I could check her blood and the battle was on, she was kicking, screaming and pinching me. I threw her on my bed, screamed for Evan to get some coke, juice whatever as long as it had sugar in it !! He comes up stairs bringing coke and starts laughing because he thought we were playing, wrestling, ya right!! I screamed it's not funny. Needless to say it was to late for coke, juice and cake frosting. I grabbed an emergency glugagon kit, a hormone that's naturally produced by the liver when our blood sugar drops dangerously low, her liver doesn't produce it anymore, the needle is HUGE, I've only had to use it one other time and she was 2 and easily maneuvered. This time she's my size and fighting so I acted like I was going to hug her and stabbed the needle in her butt and she rolled over on it and injected the rest in her self by rolling over on it. In the midst of all this I somehow called 911 and my call was routed to a county here in Va. that I've never heard of and finally Spotsylvania came on line. Eventfully they showed up, by them she was coherent and I was able to check her blood, only up to 68 but she could drink. That means her blood sugar was way below 20!!!! Spent all day here at the local hospital, all to be told she was fine and her insulin pump needed to be adjusted, Duh. So why did her doc tell us to go to the ER to be checked when he could have done this. I swear there's a conspiracy with the doctor's and hospital's. $$$$$ Thursday was pretty normal. Yesterday while shopping at Costco Jack gets a call from the school, Jackson has pink eye. WHAT he was fine this morning and before lunch completely red and swollen. There's more drama to this week but I don't feel like writing a novel.
As for me we're heading out of town for 4 day's to Vegas, after this week, we really do need a change of scenery. My dear mother has been nominated for the substitute mom for the next couple of day's. God Bless her, it's a zoo here.
Jackson's Birthday Party was awesome, all his little buddies came. I'll post picture's as soon as I can. I want to thank everyone who came, he had the time of his life. Thank God for all the wonderful people in our lives.
Also these folks could use some extra prayers right now:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/HollynPeterson, Hollyn has relapsed for the third time.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/meghanhenry, Meghan has also relapsed for the third time. She's even in college right now trying to get her treatment, going to school to become a nurse. NOT FAIR!!
I asking all my friends and family to sign the Childhood cancer petition and join our group so that we can finally get the same attention that other cancers get. http://curechildhoodcancer.ning.com/ You may have noticed some of the flyer's I put up at Gaint, Starbucks and other stores. Thank You for your support.

Love
Cheri

HAPPY BRITHDAY !!!!

2008-10-03T14:23:00.003-04:00

Yes, you heard right my little man is going to be the big 8 on the the 8th of this month. He's having a big bash at Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday, we're expecting quite a few kiddos to help him party it up !!! This has to every parents favorite place to be on a Sunday afternoon :)
Scaniexty is setting in he's scheduled for his three month follow up on the 13th, should be pretty uneventful, now I just have to convince myself. Any suggestions on how to get rid of the pit in stomach would be greatly appreciated ? Why is it that Dads play this stuff off so good and most mommy's freak out!!! I know Jacks daddy said once," If he fell apart than the whole house would", I guess that's a good point. Someone has to be strong because I'm surely not the one. I over react at an grown toenail. I find myself still checking him almost every night for a fever and he's fine, in fact he tells me to leave him alone, poor kid he doesn't have a shot at any privacy. Even his brother and sister are under him all the time.
I know some of you may be curious about the music, my sweet step daughter Tracy and daughter Lauren finally got the play list up for me. Jackson's favorite songs!! He listened to "I had a bad day" on repeat while he got radiation at NIH. Hey it worked and it really was a bad time, according to him the worst part was being still. Kids their amazing, we'd crack under some of the stuff they've gone through. If I learn one thing it is not to sweat the small stuff.
I'm gonna ask for prayers for another little angel, www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarahmacy she passed Wed., like I've said before CANCER SUCKS !!!(and no Wilms is not the cancer to have) Sorry if that offends anyone but that's just the simple truth. I remember the doctor telling us if my child were to have cancer this would be the one. Your kidding me right, I've even had a teacher tell me wilms is not that bad, so tell me this why are all these beautiful, innocent little babies dieing from this so called cancer to have???? OK, I'll stop for now. Still pisses me off !!!!
Then there are so many new kids starting this jouney, it makes me sick. Our little buddy Pablo could use some extra prayers to, he just started his first 5 day round and they have plenty more to do. He's endured as much as Jackson on top of that he had 3 surgeries last month. His web site is: http://getwellpablo.blogspot.com/
he's adorable and was suppose to start school last month, his diagnoses and treatment is almost identical to Jacksons. I only hope he has as easy as a time as Jackson did. Not that it's easy, Jackson breezed through treatment in comparison to some kid's. We we're definitely blessed in that department.
Time to run, he'll be home from school soon. He's getting pumped up about this weekend. No rest for the weary this weekend.

Finally !!!

2008-09-25T13:09:00.003-04:00

Hey bet everyone thought we fell off the planet!! No news is good news at least in my mind. Jackson is doing great!! We had an awesome summer, stayed busy busy, swimming almost everyday at the pool. He attended Camp for kid's with cancer and had a blast and here I was worried to death!! He didn't even miss us, can you imagine that?

School has started and he has amazing teacher, what a relief to have someone so caring but strong enough to handle him not that he's bad, just a handful, typical boy. He's spent his fair share of time at the doctor's to, scared the crap out of everyone when he came home from camp. He apparently fell and hurt his back and has had back pain for a month, raced downtown for a quick ultrasound and thank God it was nothing. I think a large part of why I've avoided updating is because if you don't see it, it's not there and as most of you'll know I'd like to run a way for this, there's just not stopping it. We've lost some many beautiful young souls to this hateful disease. Just recently http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/samanthacrowell , beautiful young lady with so many dream's and http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/emmajordan she passed away on her Make A Wish trip and that's just two. Jackson's buddies Justin and Parker passed. It stinks, it just stinks!!!

Here's some info I've wanting to get out:

HELP ST. JUDE BY CREATING A PEPPER AT CHILI'S TO FIGHT CHILDHOOD CANCER!!!!
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Chili’s Grill & Bar® announced the kick-off of their fifth annual Create-A-Pepper to Fight Childhood Cancer campaign. Now through September 30, Chili’s restaurants around the country and, for the first time, in Puerto Rico, are marking National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by inviting people to get creative and raise funds to help St. Jude find cures and save children with cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases.Guests at participating Chili’s restaurants can contribute to St. Jude in multiple ways:
- Make a donation to St. Jude and receive a Create-A-Pepper chili pepper coloring sheet designed for display at restaurants during the month.
- Purchase Create-A-Pepper T-shirts that can be customized with permanent marker.
- Buy a customized Create-A-Pepper key that can be cut for use at home or the office.
- Eat at Chili’s on Monday, Sept. 29, when Chili’s will donate 100 percent of profits from participating restaurant sales to St. Jude.
Visit http://www.createapepper.com/ and to make an online donation.
PASS IT AROUND!!!!
GET YOUR FRIENDS/FAMILY TOGETHER!!! TRUST ME ITS SUCH AN AMAZING EVENT!!

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CureSearch now provides a way to donate online directly to the Wilms' Initiative for research into curing Wilms' Tumor. If you are interested in donating, you can click on this link,
http://www.curesearch.org/wilmstumor/
Where you can scroll down the page to "Fund the Cure," and click on "Donate Now." Following these steps will insure that your donation is directed to the Wilms Initiative. Support the research into finding the cure!!

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Thursday, September 25, from 5-8 p.m., nearly 1,400 Cold Stone Creamery® locations nationwide, including Guam and Puerto Rico, will host the World’s Largest Ice Cream Social, a fundraiser to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

· During the event, ice cream lovers can get a FREE 3-ounce serving of either Emily or Jack’s Creation and make a donation to the Foundation.
· Emily’s Creation consists of Nutter Butter® ice cream blended on a cold granite stone with yellow cake, Kit Kat® candy and white chocolate chips. Jack’s Creation consists of marshmallow ice cream with OREO® cookies, chocolate chips and fudge mixed in.
· By visiting your local Cold Stone Creamery on Thursday, September 25, the entire community can join this nationwide effort to help grant wishes to Illinois wish children, all while enjoying mouthwatering ice cream!
The month of September is dedicated to raising funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For only a $1 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, you can inscribe your name on a Wish Star to be posted in stores during the month.
We hope to see you there! If you have a Cold stone Creamery near you. We'll be there around 6:00 pm.

OK and last but not least: Sept is CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH AND SEPT. 13TH IS CHILDHOOD CANCER DAY. I know I've been pretty slow lately just bare with me I'm trying to get it together. Not only did cancer rob my baby of his childhood and innocence. It robbed our family of so much that I couldn't possibly put it all down on paper. I only hope I can get my head screwed back on right but I have feeling it'll never be the same and no I don't need a doctor to talk to, although I do wish there was a magic pill I could swallow to make all the nightmares go away!! I want to leave you guy's with a poem that just hit me in the gut when I read it. Let me know what you think, I know a lot to other cancer mom's and dad's have read it. I think the general public needs to read it to.

I HOPE...

I hope you never have to hear the words, 'Your child has cancer.'I hope you never have to hear, 'The prognosis is not good.'

I hope you never have to prepare your child to undergo radiation or chemotherapy, have a port surgically inserted into their chest, be connected to IV poles.

I hope you never have your child look at you with fear in their eyes and say, 'Don't worry Mommy, everything will be okay' or 'Mommy am I going to die?

'I hope you never have to hold your child as they vomit green bile.

I hope you never have to feed them ice chips for lunch.

I hope you never have to watch the 'cure' you pray for slowly take away their identity, as they lose their hair,become skeletal,swell up from steroids,develop severe acne,become barely or unable to walk or move,and look at you with hope in their eyes and say,'It's going to be okay, Mommy.

'I hope that you never have to stay in the hospital for weeks, months, or years at a time, where there is no privacy, sleeping on a slab, with your face to the wall, where you cry in muffled silence.

I hope you never have to see a mother, alone, huddled, in a dark hospital corridor...crying quietly, after just being told, 'There is nothing more we can do.

'I hope you never have to watch a family wander aimlessly, minutes after their child's body has been removed.

I hope you never have to use every bit of energy you have left, with all of this going on around you to remain positive, and the feelings of guilt, sorrow, hope and fear, overwhelm you.

I hope you never have to see a child's head bolted to the table as they receive radiation.

I hope you never have to take your child home (grateful but so afraid) in a wheelchair because the chemo and radiation has damaged their muscles, 35 pounds lighter, pale, bald, and scarred.And they look at you with faith in their eyes and say, 'It's going to be okay Mommy.

'I hope you never have to face the few friends that have stuck beside you and hear them say, “Thank God that is over with”, because you know it never will be.Your life becomes a whirl of doctors, blood tests and MRI's and you try to get your life back to 'normal'.While living in mind-numbing fear that any one of those tests could result in hearing the dreaded words...'The cancer has returned' or 'The tumor is growing.'And your friends become even fewer.

I hope you never have to experience any of these things...Because...only then...Will you understand...(author unknown)

Now stop crying, get mad and support some of these function's.

Love to you all and God Bless

Cheri