First Grade

Well, here we are, first grade!  Grant was very excited to go back to school today.  We went to meet the teacher last week and Grant loves her.  :)  God is good!  I was chatting with her to give her a little background information on Grant.  And she has had a student in her class before with leukemia!  I couldn't have planned that better.  Thank goodness God is in control!

He went to the clinic yesterday for his first check-up with NO CHEMO.  They will continue to access his port as long as he still has it, b/c it has to be flushed.  We scheduled a consultation with the surgeon for this Friday, so we will be able to schedule the surgery to have his port removed at that time.  At this point, we are looking for "normal" counts, which would be anything over 1500.  (Yes, he has been in the normal range for most of treatment.)  Grant has also been completely cleared to resume "normal" life as he would if this had never happened.  The only difference is we still have to call if he gets a fever.  I use the word "normal" loosely.  What does that really mean?!?!  :)  Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.

Win 1 For Me...

What an awesome celebration tonight at the Cats game.  Grant was already so excited about the game.  But this afternoon, the Cats called me and asked if Grant would throw out the first pitch.  Of course he will!  But, that was just the beginning.  Grant got to go in the locker room before the game and came out with all kinds of signed gear.  Then he got to be on the field before the game.  He did an AWESOME job throwing the first pitch!  Then, the manager asked him to hang out in the dugout and be the bat boy.  What a night!  It was so great to have friends and family (and even strangers) supporting us and celebrating with us.  And the Cats organization couldn't have done a better job at making Grant feel special.  Thank you to everyone involved!  We are excited to move on now.
Back to business - - - Grant has a clinic appointment tomorrow (but no chemo).  And then he will start 1st grade on Tuesday.  Praise God!

It's THE END!

A day I thought would never come.  What a journey!  And I know it is not over yet, but we are getting to move on to a much better chapter.  Grant will take his last doses of oral chemo tonight and then....that's it.  No big hoorah, just no more chemo.  As I try to type this, there are just no words for the multitude of emotions I am feeling.  So let me just say this:  GOD IS GOOD!  And he is STILL taking care of Grant and our whole family.
When I told Grant I was going to blog about his last day of chemo, he wanted to "say" a few words:
I am excited about being done with treatment.  I'm ready for my port to come out.  Thank you for being nice to me and praying for me.  I'm sad that I'm not going to see the grown-up friends that work at the clinic as much.  I hope my leukemia does not come back.  Please come to the Cats baseball game with me.
Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS!

Little Scare

Sunday night we got to go to Legoland and the Aquarium at the Grapevine Mills mall.  It was sponsored by the American Cancer Society, so we had the place to ourselves.  The boys had a really great time.

Then, to add to our "lasts", we thought we were going to have a last ER visit this week too.  Monday morning Grant woke up vomiting.  He was sick all morning, but never ran fever.  Of course, after 5:00, he began to run a fever.  It got up over the "magic" 101 degrees about 8:30, so we decided to go ahead and call the doctor.  For the first time ever, he told us to give him Tylenol and see if that brings the fever down.  If it didn't, or if the fever came back, then we would have to take him in.  Also, Grant takes the most chemo on Monday nights.  The doctor said we could hold his doses for that night to see if that would help his body recover.  By 12:30, the fever was gone and Grant was sleeping soundly.  No ER visit needed.  Praise God!  Grant resumed his chemo on Tuesday and we are back to the countdown......4 more days.
He is so excited to be finished.  I have heard him tell more than one stranger that he is almost finished with his chemo.  Please come celebrate with us at the Cats game!

It's the LAST.....

We are celebrating lots of "lasts" this month.  This was Grant's LAST chemo infusion at the clinic.  He has completed his LAST week of steroids.  Now, we are just counting down to his LAST dose of oral chemo on Aug. 20th.  Then, Grant is officially finished with treatment.  A day we all thought would never come and now it's so close!  Grant is so excited and we are all excited for him.  I look forward to seeing how good he is going to feel without all that medication in his system.  Good times ahead....

Looking forward:  Grant will continue to go to the clinic for a blood check every 4 weeks for the first year.  Each year after that, he will go less and less.  However, he will continue to see an oncologist regularly for the rest of his life.  He will have to take his Bactrim (antibiotic) for 6 months after completing treatment to allow his immune system to recover.  We will leave his port in his chest for a few months and then he will have surgery to remove it.

Thank you all so much for your prayers throughout this entire journey.  Please continue to pray for Grant as he finishes treatment and adjusts to his new "normal".  

Also, don't forget to get your tickets to the Cats game for Aug. 26th.  We hope to see you all there to celebrate with Grant!

We are celebrating....

GRANT'S END OF TREATMENT!  Woo hoo!  Please join us for a Ft. Worth Cats game on Aug. 26th to celebrate "no more chemo".  The game is at 6:05 p.m. at LaGrave Field (301 NE 6th Street, FW, TX 76164).  We have reserved a block of tickets.  If you would like to join us, you need to call 817.332.CATS to purchase your tickets.  You just need to mention Grant when you order so you will be seated in our section.  The tickets are $5/person and $5 for parking.  We are so excited for Grant and look forward to everyone coming out to celebrate with us!  Hope to see you there!

We are proud of you, say we are proud of you!

This is a picture of Grant at the clinic about to be poked.  Can you tell?  Wow, how far we have come.  The picture above that is of Grant's team winning the championship game after Grant's walk-off triple the day after the clinic visit.  This is one tough kid (that loves baseball).  

Grant's clinic visits have been more of the same.  His counts remain high.  Dr. Heym says we aren't giving up on reaching that optimum range, so he continues to raise his chemo doses.  Grant seems to be handling it fine.  Now for the best news of all:  Grant only has one more month of chemo!  He has one more clinic visit on July 30th for his last dose of chemo there.  He will take his at-home chemo until Aug. 20th and then..........., that's it!  No more chemo!  I can't believe it is so close.  

Grant is ready to stop taking medicine every day.  But, he can't remember his life without it.  I am so excited and scared all in the same thought.  God has been so faithful through this entire process and I know he is still holding Grant right in the palm of His hand.  

Love this boy!!!