An Update on Jake & Some Work

I know some of you have been waiting on an update about little Jake and it's with a hopeful heart that I share these wonderful words from Jake's mom, Amy, about his condition...

"March 31, 2008 at 07:38 PM EDT
We have such wonderful news to report... The doctor told us the tumors have shrunk in the brain AND spine!!!! She literally just poked her head in and told us she would go over the results in detail with us tomorrow when they finish reading the MRI. She was extremely pleased with the results...and of course, that is an understatement for us. Rick and I were overwhelmed with such a feeling that is difficult to express in words. Needless to say, it was a very special moment for the family. The doctors were preparing us for no change..and they felt that would be good news to report. This is because a MRI is usually not done until the second round of chemo is completed. They only did the MRI so early because of how aggressive this tumor looked and they may have changed treatment decisions depending on results. Now we will go forward with stem cell collection as mentioned earlier once his numbers rise to 5000 ANC.

We can't believe we have other good news to report...we can go home tomorrow if the numbers continue to rise!!!!! Jake's ANC was 275 and even though only 20 cells counted, the doctors felt it was enough information that it is trending upward. They are comfortable with us going home as long as tomorrows numbers look better than today. It is moving in that direction so it is most likely we are returning home tomorrow. They predict we may be home for approximately 2 weeks before his numbers go back up. It is all dependent on his numbers.

Jake hasn't had the best day...very very grouchy...having terrible temper tandrums...the worst we have ever seen. All he wants is Rick to carry him around. It is probably because he hasn't slept much in the last 24 hours other than when under anestesa for 3 hours....if you can count that as sleeping. We really can't wait to leave the hospital as we are all going a bit stir crazy. We can't expect everything though especially since all other news today was just incredible.

We want to thank everyone for their blessings, thoughts, love, support, well wishes. They obviously made a tremendous difference. We cannot thank everyone enough for all the kindness that has been shown to us." - Amy

The news prior to this hasn't been the best and Jake has been in and out of the hospital while hey are trying to keep his immune system protected and his blood count numbers on the rise. Praise God for such wonderful news and please pray that the doctors continue to find the way to keep the tumor at bay and bring Jake to remission.

I also realized it's been a while since I've shared any work here, so I thought I'd post a little of what I've been up to. Recently I had the pleasure of working up some projects using a Pheobe kit that is being promoted on Scrapbook.com. It's an amazing value and if you're interested, you can download the instructions on how to make these layouts and a few more as well as some cards with the products when you buy it.
This Layout is of my youngest this past fall and I think really shows the range of these papers - they aren't all girlie or pink like you might first think. But then again, they can be...and you can go all Easter-y and pastel-ly if you'd like to as well. (I love it when papers can be used for just about anything.) This layout was done when I was in the Easter Spirit and is of last year's egg hunt. I think I'll cry when my kids decide they're too big to do this, but hopefully I have a few years yet ;) To get this egg shape, I downloaded a template off the internet, resized it in Photoshop and printed it out so that I could trace it onto my cardstock.

I hope you all are having a wonderful April Fool's Day!