strong and courageous: #100

Monday, May 12, 2008

#100

Friends, this is our 100th post on Isaiah's blog. As we quickly approach the 1st anniversary of his diagnosis, we want to thank all of you very much for sharing this journey with us and for supporting us along the way. I know many of you have read every post and have celebrated and cried with us. We're really thankful for each one of you.

We just celebrated a great mother's day with lots of family:

Excited about Mom's present...

ready for bed...

Sienna gardens at her Bita's house

the Oates kids (minus Levi) with Mom

Carmen with her baby sister and mom

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: Mother's Days are the BEST....glad Carmen could be surrounded by so much love. Hugs to the family and we will continue to walk with you in love and prayer. XXXAnne Dease; May 13, 2008 at 3:45 PM
mamapierce said...: I hope Carmen enjoyed her Mother's Day. She is a woman of incredible strength. It is so nice to see pictures of the family. Prayers and Love, The Pierce Family; May 13, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Michelle Coder said...: Happy Mother's day Carmen. We continue to walk with all of you on this journey in God's Love and Light!

The Coders; May 14, 2008 at 10:15 PM
The Diane Story said...: Wow. So much to be thankful for this mother's day. I have been praying faithfully for you all and can't believe it's been one year already. We don't know really know each other, I just know of you via the Sac Naz district. I continue to life you guys up. Blessings.; May 15, 2008 at 11:43 PM
Emily said...: Hi, guys! Isaiah looks great! I see that his curls are starting to come back!

I thought of you this week... Grant's protocol has dropped Dexamethazone from his treatment plan. They switched all of the kids in his clinical trial back to Prednisone because the kids were having too many bone complications... broken bones, compression fractures, etc....

I didn't know if your protocol would change too! I know that Isaiah has a hard time on the Dex. Grant has done so much better this week on Prednisone... Hardly any side effects at all! We feel so blessed for this change!

We will continue to pray for your sweet family from one coast to the other!; May 16, 2008 at 8:44 AM

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update on isaiah's progress

We're received quite a few questions recently about Isaiah's treatment. Here's a quick update:

Is he in remission?

Yes. He's officially been in remission since the 17th day after diagnosis, early June 2007.

Is he still on chemo?

Yes.

Mercaptopurin (chemo) daily, orally, with a 3 hour fast.

Methotrexate (chemo) weekly, orally.

Bactrim (antibiotic) daily, orally.

Dexamethasone (steroid) every 8 weeks, orally.

Vincristine (chemo) every 2 weeks, intraveinously.

Methotrexate (chemo) every 12 weeks, in the spinal fluid with a "spinal tap".

Currently he is at the clinic at Sutter Memorial every two weeks for a blood check, etc.

When's he done with treatment?

The protocol for boys with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia is 36 months beginning after the initial 60 day treatment. We anticipate he'll be done with chemo at the end of July 2010.

Merry Christmas Friends!

Thank you to all of you who have sent us pictures and updates! It's great to see your faces once again. We've not been able to put something together this year (yet!), so here's a quick update for those who visit us here:

Carmen: doing a great job teaching our kids at home this year, running, hiked Half Dome, lovingly and consistently caring for all of us (and lots of others).

Sienna: super-creative and always nurturing, loves studying at home, played soccer, raised chickens and looking forward to horse-riding lessons in '09. See pictures of her 8th birthday here.

Isaiah: 08 highlights include playing t-ball, learning to swim, riding his bike, a trip to Disneyland, trip to Alabama, and lots of playing.

Nathan: ran a 25K trail run at Stinson Beach, loved our family vacation in San Diego, and is so grateful for our staff, church community, and the ongoing adventure of leading/serving Emmaus. Nate blogs very infrequently here; you can access his pod/vodcasts here.

2008!

There are many ways you can continue to pray for Isaiah. He has some exciting goals ahead in 2008!
Here is the list:

1)Get Strong! He does physical therapy at home 3-5 times per week and at the office 2 times per month.
2)Play Ball! He is working hard to get ready for T-Ball season. Pray he will play and that his compression fractures will heal.
3)Learn at Home! He is working on Kindergarten school work at home. Many factors make school work a challenge. Pray for a healthy brain and a desire to learn.

even more thank yous to...

the students of Amber Bobst's 2nd grade class from Eastside Christian School in Belleview, WA for the cards
all those who have contributed to our gas and groceries fund...you're keeping us going!
all the Emmaus families who have brought dinner to us in recent weeks
the Harrington family for the picnic package
Anne for the book and CD
The Hoke family for the birthday bird
Goebel, Linville, Nutti, and Ferrara families for the great gift certificate
Doris for the pint of ice cream
Emmaus for being the Church and supporting us in countless ways...for the gifts for Isaiah and Sienna...we're so thankful to be sharing life and discovering Jesus with you.
Betsy for the care package for the kids
Diane for the one-prize-a-day gift
Glenda for the beautiful superman quilt
Mrs. Liden for the SuperIsaiah cape and blanket
The Keaton Raphael Memorial Fund
everyone who is praying
friends and family for the financial support
Shirli and the Needle Arts Group for the blankets and hats
Susanna for the cleaning supplies
Susan, Laura, Sandie for nutritional help
Bob and Elaine for the motorhome
The Arena for the Batman blanket
Anne for the quilt
The Arena and The Ridge for supporting Carmen
Sunrise Church for the prayer quilt
Ms. Della Roca's 4th graders at St. Mary's for the beautiful cards
Josh and Lisa for the superman blanket