Well, yesterdays ANC was ZERO again.....grrrr! But today was:

ANC 30
Hemoglobin 8.7 (This came up from 7.7 yesterday without getting blood)
Platelets 54 (This came up from 43 yesterday)

Hopefully we are finally recovering, although we would like to see the ANC higher. The pooping continues to be an issue and there is nothing we can do about it until his counts are at least 1000 or so. They finally opened the atrium this afternoon.....Hallelujiah!!!! His spirits are OK, but this evening he begged John and I to let Sam stay with him. He misses them soo much. I try to go by during the weekends, but it is nearly impossible to do it during the week and have the boys in bed at a decent time.

The flow test came back negative for relapse.....that is the "final word"...Praise God!!!

There is a video on you tube that I would like everyone to see.....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AGS4yE5v9rM

It is hard, especially for me (I cried through it) but very, very powerful and unfortunately, true.

September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month...I bet most of you didn't know that. So I have to ask WHY? Here are some of the facts:

* September is pediatric cancer awareness month, which nationally goes largely unrecognized;

* Childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death for children under the age of nineteen;

* Each year, more than 12,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in children;

* In the u.s. alone, almost 3000 children die from cancer each year, more of them die from cancer than from all other childhood diseases COMBINED;

* The incidence of childhood cancer has increased every year for the last 25 years;

* In the past 20 years, only one new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use;

* Only 3% of the budget from the national cancer institute goes towards pediatric cancer research!!!!

* The government recently cut the budget for childhood cancer research;

* Currently there are between 30 - 40, 000 children being treated for cancer in the u.s.;

* As a nation, we spend $14 BILLION per year on the space program, $9.7 BILLION PER MONTH on to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (not including the request by the currrent administration for $100 billion in "emergency" war money), but ONLY $35 MILLION on childhood cancer research per year;

* The national cancer institute's federal budget for 2003 was $4.6 BILLION. of that, breast cancer received 12%, prostate cancer received 7%, and all 12 major groups of pediatric cancers combined received less than 3%;

* Approximately 20% of adults with cancer show evidence of spread, yet almost 80% of children show that the cancer has spread at diagnosis;

* The for prevalent form of childhood cancer is leukemia, a cancer of the blood;
the second most prevalent form is brain cancer;

* Twenty-five years ago, diagnosis of leukemia was a virtual death sentence-- TODAY, CHILDREN WITH LEUKEMIA HAVE A SURVIVAL RATE OF OVER 75%-- THANKS TO RESEARCH;

* The outcome of other pediatric cancers, such as metastatic rhabdomysosarcoma, HAS NOT IMPROVED IN 30 YEARS

what do you think about them apples???

Here's some more food for thought:
"Cure rates are steadily improving, but treatments are painfully long (up to 3+ years). Families are thrown into chaos, children are challenged by long term side effects and despite medical advances, some will die."

And here's something taken from curesearch.org:
"New shoes, backpacks, sharpened pencils, glue sticks and the butterflies of waling into a classroom on that first day- the start of a new school year each september reminds us of children. Yet, this new beginning also reminds us that some children are not so lucky.
On the first day of school- and every other day this year- 47 children will be diagnosed with cancer. That's two entire classrooms of children each and every school day. For the 12,500 children diagnosed with cancer this year, this special day magnifies the reality that they may look different, they may be in the hospital, and they may miss the joy of this and other milestones.


RESEARCH IS THE KEY TO CURE

Childhood cancer remains the #1 cause of death due to disease in children. While we celebrate all the survivors, we also take time to remember children who were diagnosed before a cure was possible for those children that contributed to the knowledge we have today, who have brought us closer to a cure.

For all the families who have been touched by childhood cancer, and for all those who will be during this school year, 47 children every school day- WE MUST CONQUER CHILDHOOD CANCER.
Imagine the difference it would make if every parent of every child starting school in september donated one dollar for each of the 47 children who will be diagnosed on that first day of school**I copied this info from another cancer kid's mom....thanks Maggie!!
Why is it that breast cancer, colon cancer, and others get so much attention yet the cancer that strikes those that cannot speak for themselves goes largely unnoticed unless you are personally touched by it?

How many of you have ever even seen a pediatric cancer awareness ribbon ( I can't find one..), and how many of you have something with a pink ribbon?

I am not saying that these other forms of cancer don't deserve a cure just as much, I am just saying that it makes me Mad when the hospital where we have been for the past two weeks has nothing at all posted about Pediatric Cancer Awareness, yet there are already bulletins (3 of them) for the Komen Race for the Cure in October. And this is in the children's hospital.

Again, when this horrible beast touches your life you ask, Why? But then it's Why aren't there more people outraged by this?!

Anyway, that is me on the soapbox. I will step down now.

Thanks for checking in. I am home this weekend taking the boys to sports while John spends some time with Eli. Prayers: for counts..... pray for a baby, Braylin, who is having a bone marrow transplant. His family is from Greenville and his mom is quite scared. Another boy, Justin, is in the hospital with an unexplained fever.

Maria

I am thankful for my Mother. She has been taking care of Jacob and Sam everyday and literally keeping my home functioning. I don't know where we would be without her.