Update

December 2001

!!!Finally!!!

Alex has had his last treatment! When this all started it seemed the end was so far away. There were so many fears and I did have doubts we would not be in this place today. I am so thankful for all the prayers and good wishes of so many people. Family, friends, co-workers and our many new friends at the L&L Society, Make-A-Wish, Childrens Medical Center, MACS, and the numerous new friends we've met online. It would not have been the journey it was without all of you. Your support has been undeniably heaven sent. I will never forget any of you.
Alex flushed all of his remaining meds down the toilet. I didn't really think that was a good idea but he begged and begged me to let him. I couldn't resist. I had to let him end it his way. He had so little control as it was. Now, we count down the days until he has his port removed. That will happen sometime in April.
He still has some after treatment problems. His teeth are very weak. 3 of them have chipped in the last month. The doctor says chemo will do that. I'm taking him to the dentist to get sealants put on to protect them. Alex isn't happy about that. Other than that he's doing great. I don't expect all of this to have left him in perfect health. I know there will be challenges but he is strong and we'll just take them as they come and deal with them then. We've come this far.

August 2001

Alex is doing GREAT! That's a statement I'm enjoying!
He's still getting treatment and we're starting to count down to the end of what seems to have been a pretty easy course of treatment (KNOCK ON WOOD!) Let's all pray he won't ever have to go through this again. School starts this month and he is ready. He's started soccer practices and will start games in a couple of weeks too. He's a little bit slower than the other players. Hopefully the exercise will get him back into condition. I just hope the meds haven't caused any permanent damage to his muscles, bones, central nervous system, etc. We won't know that for some time now. The coach assures me he is doing fine. I'll leave it at that for now. Alex decided to drop from the local boys choir. Says soccer and band will be enough. I think he's right. Junior high is going to be a big change and he'll be plenty busy.

June 2001

Alex is doing GREAT! He goes to the clinic for treatments every 3 weeks and the side effects are very minimal now. Seems like his body has gotten use to it or something because he doesn't have as much pain in his back or legs and there are very few headaches. He finished 5th grade with a whole year of A/B honor roll and passed the state TAAS test with Academic Recognition for scoring 100% on both the reading and math. EXCELLENT!!!!! I just sent in the registration form for him to start soccer again this summer. He stopped playing shortly after he was diagnosed. He will be in 6th grade at the junior high this fall and he's a little afraid of moving (normal kid stuff, nice for a change.) He'll be playing the trumpet in the band and was also selected into the local boys choir. I am so happy he is doing so well and we can now focus on what he SHOULD be doing instead of doing things most kids his age probably don't even know about. He's grown up over the last year and half.

January 2001

Alex is doing very well. Last clinic visit was uneventful. They keep increasing his meds because his counts are always so high. He has a 3 week meds cycle where he goes to clinic on the 1st day of the 1st week to receive IV Methotrexate & Vincristine. He begins at home oral medications including Bactrim on Mon-Tue-Wed, 6MP for 14 days and Prednisone for 7 days. Since we started this cycle it's been like that except the Prednisone is adjusted because of back and leg cramps. Now they're telling me to bring him in on the second week so they can check his blood counts and see if the meds actually cause any impact on his counts. White cell, platelets, red cells should lower during chemo treatment but there's been no indication counts are affected except a day here and there of just being tired, sluggish.

Graphics & Background courtesy of

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws