Logan's Updates
10/27/2009: Well, again we are here with the good news and the less-good news. We had a call yesterday from Logan’s doctor, she is ordering new scans ASAP and wants to submit Logan as an applicant for a new drug study. She feels that there is promise in this new drug and is hurrying to get Logan’s application in for consideration. The new drug studies have few openings offered to Ewing’s patients so we have to hurry to get a slot before it is filled. As with any experimental drug it is risky and we don’t have all of the details yet. We will get scan results and further details on Thursday if all goes well. The down swing is that his tumors have to be a ½ size larger than they were at last scan in order for him to be considered eligible for the study drug. His doctor thinks they will probably be in the right size range, which would be an indication that the new Chemo isn’t working as well as we had hoped. So, tomorrow evening we will be repeating his MRI and depending on its outcome we will start the application process and perhaps the new Chemo within a week or so. In the mean time Logan has had very low blood counts and has felt rather low all around for the last couple of days. He has been neutropenic and unable to go to school, and his school has administered the H1N1 live virus nasal mist vaccine, which is dangerous for him to be around. So, he has been isolated from the local kids and activities, luckily he found some new friends… this photo was taken at the Phalon family’s barn. He enjoy being outside and visiting with the animals. He loved petting Peso the donkey and the other donkeys, horses and the biggest cow we have ever seen. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.
10/24/2009: Logan has had a LONG week. He has had emotional ups and downs and some very low blood counts, but he is moving into a better place now. This week along with his low energy he was informed that he would have to miss the next 7 to 8 weeks of school while the other kids were vaccinated for Swine Flu. Luckily, before he understood the scope of that it changed to just a week or so. That is much easier for him to handle. We are hoping that he will be able to go back to school on Tuesday, wish him luck.
Yesterday we took a quick trip to Norfolk Naval Station to see if we could spot the brand new USS New York. As we drove near the pier it stood out tall above the rest, it is huge! We caught a pier guard in a good mood and managed to walk all the way up to the carrier. In the first picture Logan is standing on the pier in front of the ship, you can see its unique side door behind the red van. In this picture Logan is standing at a door that opened out of the side of the ship, on the wall inside it says “USS New York, Strength Forged Through Sacrifice “Never Forget” (LPD 21)”. It was a very interesting memorial.
10/20/2009: Logan is feeling good, he has been a little tired but he is feeling fine overall. Last night he pulled his 'Jango Fett' costume out of the closet and we went to the hospice fall festival. There were games and treats and a wonderful balloon artist. Logan had this spider hat made for his sister, as you can see she was very impressed.
10/16/2009: It is finally the end of Chemo week #3. Logan is home feeling good, he is tired but happy. This has been a really long week for us. We have gotten back Logan’s lab reports and they aren’t good. As it turns out he has a new tumor. It is almost as big as the original that we found in August, it is a matter now of finding out whether it is growing now, (with Chemo) or if it grew to this point before the Chemo got to it. Either way it isn’t a good sign. We haven’t explained this to Logan, he doesn’t need anything else to worry about. The immediate plans for his treatment are unchanged. His doctors are formulating a plan to tackle this new development. We are still trying to catch our breath from this set-back, this one has been hard to take.
In this picture Logan is visiting with his friend Madeline after a long day at the hospital.
10/11/2009: Logan has had a nice quiet weekend. He has visited with friends and had a lot of fun, which always helps to mentally gear him up for the long week ahead. On Saturday our dear friend Marie came down from DC and took the kids to the Children’s Hospital’s fall fund-raiser to build a scare-crow. They did a great job and our fedora wearing scare-crow is now guarding the house.
10/08/2009: We’ve had a busy week here. Logan has had many ups and downs and scans and tests. Monday was spent at the hospital having x-ray, CT and MRI. Tuesday he went to school but came home with a fever after a short while. He is doing okay, he went to school for a full day yesterday and then talked his dad into taking him to the school fundraiser at Chuck E. Cheese. He was very happy to go and play but it wore him out and put him to bed early with a case of the tired and achy blues. Today he is in the hospital for a bone scan, it is the last scan he will have before we get a report on the progress of his tumor on this type of Chemo. He has kept his positive attitude and the rest of us are trying to do the same. This picture was taken last week after he opened a great package from his Southwest family. He was thrilled and has enjoyed all of the very thoughtful gifts. Thank you all!
10/04/2009: This was a nice quiet weekend for Logan. Our goal was R & R, but we were focusing on the Rest. We had a great time visiting with Uncle Ron and Aunt Norma. They left the frosty northern tip of WV and did a two day motorcycle ride to see us. Logan enjoyed paddling around in their hotel pool and was happy to pose for this picture with Uncle Ron.
10/01/2009: After a long day at the hospital, a transfusion and a breathing treatment, Logan made it school. He was only there for the last two hours of the day, but he was very pleased with himself for making it at all. He is looking and feeling better tonight. He got a big moral boost from seeing his BFF Amanda and her dear family. He loves this picture that I snapped as we were leaving tonight but made me promise that I’d post it with a note to let everyone know Amanda is wearing her roller-skates in this picture and he is still the tallest. ;)
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