First let me apologize for not doing an update in quite awhile. As you all know Paige was born last Friday. She has been doing absolutely wonderful. I’ll fill you in more on her later. We all came home, as a family, to DeLand on Tuesday. Thursday I got sick. I came down with the flu or some kind of yucky sickness that keep me in bed for a few days. I’m on the mend now feeling better.

Wednesday night Aaron, Parker, Paige and I came back to the RMH for the night. Parker had a bone marrow biopsy Thursday morning. They took the normal sample of marrow, and also took a chip of his bone. Pretty weird seeing a piece of your child’s bone in a specimen cup.

From Thursday Parker’s WBC was in the 6000 range; ANC was in the 3000 range! Great numbers. We just arrived to the RMH again tonight and Parker will check in to the hospital tonight as well. His 3rd round of chemo treatment will begin tomorrow. We did find out the Paige is a 4 out of 6 match. Normally that would be good – but definitely not as good as Payton being a 6 out of 6.

Paige has been such a blessing to us. Parker and Payton simply adore her and are super gentle. She is Pay to Parker and he always asks where she is if he doesn’t see her. He also likes to point out all the features on her face. Payton of course loves holding her. God definitely knows our needs and has provided us with a sleeping baby. I can usually feed her around 11:30 and then she won’t wake up again until 6:30. Of course we have to wake Parker up twice in the night to give him meds (but Aaron gets that honor). Like I said I’m on the mend. My incision is still sore but I being told that I’ve been doing too much. I think that things will be easier now that we are – especially since there are no stairs.

It has now been laid on our hearts to prayerfully consider the decision of going to transplant or continue here with 2 more rounds of chemo. Both have the same outcomes – but both obviously have risks. Please pray for this decision with us.

Thank you, thank you, thank you again for all of your prayers! They were answered – we are ALL home!!! Our DeLand home that is! It has been so much fun watching the kids interact together. When Parker was first released and came over to RMH to meet up with us, he immediately went over to Paige in the bassinet, looked in, and started “petting” her on the leg saying “baby”. It was the sweetest thing! He simply adores her and has been so gentle. Payton and Parker have been running around the house (through the kitchen, LR, playroom) literally working up a sweat. The adults have been watching while we try to unpack yet another hospital room, new baby stuff, etc.
I’ve been feeling okay. A little tired (no nap today) and sore at times (when I forget to take meds on time). The stairs aren’t nearly as bad as I thought they would be – but I’m still not pushing it. I am so excited to put away all the baby girl clothes in the dresser!
Parker’s ANC was over 700 and his last culture tested negative for the C-DIF. He came home on 2 different prescriptions that thankfully he doesn’t fight to take.
We will go back into the hospital Thursday at 10am so they can check his bone marrow for cancer cells and give his injection of chemo. This should only take a couple of hours.
We then will have to check back into the hospital on Sunday night to begin his 3rd round of chemo on Monday morning. This will be his last round before we head off to Gainesville for transplant.
My dad and stepmom (Grandma and Grandpa Baxter) are here this week from Tallahassee helping us out. Grandpa even chaperoned Payton’s class trip to the zoo today. They had a good time – and both came home exhausted. Have we said how blessed and thankful we are for such a wonderful family?? Well – we are! I couldn’t imagine trying to juggle all of this without them…and for at least the next 2 weeks we are going to constantly have a grandparent here helping us out. Thank you!
God is great!! Please continue praying on our behalf for remission, no fevers, no more infections, clean bone marrow, smooth next round of chemo, and fun times as a family in our home!!

Hello and thank you for checking in today. Jamie is still recovering from surgery (c-section) so I will try to fill her enormous shoes. Not that my wife has big feet but …..you know what I’m saying.

One of the biggest things on my mind right now is the thought of how blessed we are. I want everyone to know how much we appreciate your support. I know there have been a lot of unreturned voice mails and emails and lots of people we probably should have called personally with news and updates. For these things I want to apologize and I want you to know that we do not take any of you for granted and we thank God daily for the family and friends He has surrounded us with. There are also many of you who we have never met personally and we are humbled daily by your support. I look forward to the day that we will all come Home and be together. Family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, we will have a great party on that homecoming!

Everything with the delivery went great and Jamie is recovering beautifully. She is still in some pain but we have lots of drugs to make her happy. Little Paige was given a 9.5 out of 10 on the baby assesment (also known as Apgar Scores) by the doctors. Of course I was not satisfied by that and asked why not 10 out of 10. What’s wrong with her? They appeased me by saying there is no such thing as a 10, there are no 10’s, it’s a fictional number. That made me happy but somewhat confused. Paige was such a trooper as they took a sample of her blood to see if the cord blood will be a match for Parker. We should hear back on that soon.

Although this is supposed to be a joyous occasion things have been dampened a bit with a rough few days of trying to balance between the two hospitals. I have a wife and a beautify baby daughter who need me in one place and precious little Parker who doesn’t understand why mommy and daddy haven’t been around much. Then there is Payton who is almost old enough to understand what is going on but her attitude definitely lets you know she doesn’t like it. To compound the situation Parker was diagnosed on Sunday with C-Difficile. Clostridium difficile (also called C. difficile) are bacteria that can cause swelling and irritation of the large intestine, or colon. This inflammation, known as colitis, can cause diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps (see WebMD for more info). From what I have heard this is a very common for kids who are on heavy antibiotics but because of his diagnosis he has been quarantined in his room at the hospital.

This has been hard on Parker and anyone who has been watching him. The room is about 9ft wide and 13ft long with two beds, two chairs, a small dresser and one food tray holder. As you can probably visualize there is not much room to move around and play. Jamie is also having a very hard time with it because she is not allowed to go see him until he is off quarantine. Payton, and anyone under the age of 12, is also not allowed to visit him. It’s been sad to walk into the room and have him ask “Where mommy? Where Paypay?” (that’s what he calls Payton.) We had been hoping that Parker would be discharged at the same time as Jamie and Paige so we could all go home together as a family for a few days before Parker starts his next round of Chemo. However, tonight I am sitting in my room at the Ronald McDonald House with Jamie, Payton and Paige sleeping around me…….no Parker. He is in the hospital tonight with Grandma Peggy by his side.

As far as Parker’s count recovery things are going in the right direction. His ANC has been climbing until today when it took a little dip. I was told that the dip was probably caused by the C-Diff and he should rebound quickly after the bacteria goes away. I don’t have all the numbers in front of me but his ANC is about 250 right now which is down from 350 a few days ago. We need his counts to be at least 750 to start his next round of chemo.

So here are our specific prayer requests for those who will pray.
• Jamie’s quick recovery
• That Parker’s counts recover quickly
• Parker can come off of quarantine
• The cord blood is a match
• We can all spend some much needed time at home in DeLand as a family

Your prayers, cards, emails, love and support is never unappreciated and we pray that you are also as blessed as we have been.

Under His hand of mercy and grace,
Aaron and Family (all Five of us )