About Us

Our family of 6 (dad Adam, mom Sherry, big sister Abby and little brothers Isaac and Brady -- who was born on December 14, 2010) joined the ranks of pediatric cancer fighters when our 4-year old son Logan was diagnosed with a dangerous and highly malignant form of brain cancer in mid-August 2010. Logan's cancer journey began abruptly on Sunday, August 15, when his right eye suddenly turned inward during dinner. Twenty-four hours later, we were checking into Children's Hospital Oakland and finding out that life sometimes takes you places you'd never, ever imagine yourself going.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Logan Update: 11/13/10

What to say about today. Well, I suppose it would make good sense to note first off that Logan made it through another day 'at home'. The quotes refer to the fact that much of the day was actually spent at Children's waiting to come back home; his blood draw this morning showed his platelets to be at 9, which is much too low, so he selected mommy for accompaniment duty, and he and I took off for Oakland at around 11 AM. Everything at the hospital takes a long time; it's time-consuming to check in (especially when the admitting doc misspells your last name and they can't figure out who you are for 15 minutes), to get orders written, to get blood products ready, to receive transfusions. But he got through the process without spiking a fever (thank God), and we were finally back out in the parking garage and headed home by 5:30.

He was so quiet during the drive that I assumed he'd fallen asleep, so I was shocked when I finally got off the freeway, stopped at a traffic light, turned to look at him and found him wide awake and staring at nothing in particular, Lambie clutched in-hand.

And that's sort of how he spent the remainder of the evening: Very quiet, but still aware. He rejected the beef burrito Adam had made him for dinner, so we microwaved a frozen individual-sized Stouffer's lasagna, which has become a recent favorite for some reason -- perhaps because the hospital doesn't offer lasagna. I think he ate about half while lying on the couch, and then he joined Abby and Isaac at the table to decorate some gingerbread cookies. He felt hot when I touched him, and that set off several hours of near-compulsive temperature-taking. We're supposed to call the oncology doctor on call if his underarm temp exceeds 100 degrees, but it never really did... at least not consistently. One of the two thermometers we use read 100.4 one time, but a minute later, it was down to 99.6. The other never went above the latter figure. Then his temp fell to 98.8 on both thermometers and seemed to rest there for a while. Adam's going to take his temp again with both therms when he comes upstairs in a bit. So we'll see how it goes.

It's been a tough day mentally. Not the worst I've ever had by any means, but just, I don't know, tiring. I can feel my hope entering one of its 'waning' phases, and for no real reason at all. Well, some of it may have to do with my moving my blog here from Facebook; I just don't see the support here that I saw every day over on FB. I don't regret my decision to move my entries to a more public locale, but I miss the comments and the confirmation tht we're still the recipients of much prayer. I hope that's not silly.

I do wish his eye would look better, but I also know it's not necessarily an indicator of what's going on with the tumor. The whole experience is just wearing on me. Tomorrow will be the 13-week marker, if you can believe that; We've known something was amiss for almost 13 weeks now. Thanks to my pregnancy, it's easy to keep track of the time that's passed. We're in the thick of treatment now, which is good, but it's just so exhausting in so many ways.

Please continue to pray for complete healing for my Logan. Also continue to pray for milder side effects as he works toward cycle 3 recovery. Today was day 12, and per our spreadsheet, he's already done better this time than last in terms of fevers and mucusitis. Praise God for those things. We just need his WBC count to begin to rebound sometime over the next 2 to 4 days or so. Sooner is better, but we'll take what we can get. Also, please pray for peace and patience for us; it's definitely much easier to snap at Abby and Isaac when we're tired and overwhelmed, and we know that's neither helpful nor productive.

Bless you and your families.

14 comments:

  1. I am so glad to hear Logan spent another day at home. Every day I think about Logan, but today I couldn't stop thinking about him and I prayed and I prayed for his soon recovery. I can't imagine how tired emotional and physical you are. I will continue praying for Logan, you and your family. And like I said before if there's anything you need I am here for you.

    Karla

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thinking of you guys.....still here :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ongoing prayers for you all. I'm glad Logan got to spend another day at home, even for a limited meaning of "at home."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hugs and prayers to you Sherry.

    And in the for what it's worth category ... I can comment here more easily than on FB because I can't get to FB from work.

    I'm very encouraged by his reactions this cycle and am praying that it continues.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thinking of you all as always.. my post didn't post yesterday so trying again!Takes a while for some of us to work out this new technology.

    I remember the obsessive temperature taking well.. and the waits while paperwork and room shuffling was done for transfusions..

    SANDRA

    ReplyDelete
  6. always praying for Logan and the rest of your family. Joanne

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm still reading along. Believe it or not, I will probably read here more quickly than FB.

    I'm glad you've had some time all together at home. I hope it can continue.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sherry,

    Continuing to keep you and Logan in my thoughts and prayers, and sending lots of positive, healing energy in your family's direction.

    Thank you so much for keeping your community of friend and family and supporters updated. I agree with the others... the blog is a great format for these updates, even if it lacks some of the immediacy of Fb. I'm adding it to my reader now.

    All the best from me and the rest of the AC team.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I finally figured out how to be able to comment here. I have not forgotten to pray with you and for you! So glad that you have been blessed with Logan at home : ) Enjoyed seeing Adam at church this morning for the baptisms.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey there! Praise God that you've gotten this much time with him at home -- though I know that doesn't make it all easy, regardless.

    Hey -- have you thought of having your posts here still automatically import into Facebook? David has set up something similar with our blog, so he can tell you how if that would help/if you would like that... maybe some people are still thinking it will show up there?

    Love you all!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi, Sherry. Just to clarify what Christina is talking about...and you may already be aware of this... Facebook allows you to import any RSS feed as notes. So you would just take the RSS feed from your new blog and plug it into the edit import settings option in your Facebook notes. This is the best of both worlds, as you're both blogging and sharing the same info in FB too. If you have any trouble figuring out how to do this, let me know.

    ReplyDelete
  12. We're still here, too! Sending positive thoughts and energy your way every day.
    - Katy Durham-Hammer

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Sherry. Yes I followed you here, too. And whether I comment or not, I am praying for all of you, especially for complete healing for Logan. Note to Adam: I was the stranger who asked to give you a hug at Sunday School this morning. I was glad to see Adam, Abby and Issac at Centerpointe today. Enjoy your time together.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey Sherry -- I was just poking around FB and it looks like you have been importing it there (so sorry for the unnecessary recommendation!) -- it had just stopped feeding from there into my RSS feed for some reason after you switched!

    ReplyDelete