Finally some time at home.

It’s been so long since we last updated this blog so I figured it was about time. Payton has completed two more big rounds of chemo; he was admitted to the hospital after each round. Dr. Bowman decided that we needed to increase Payton’s dosage of chemo back to what it originally was. He said that if this does ever relapse that it is a "bear to treat", so we need to beat it the first time. I have had some mixed feelings, but I know what we need to do. Both times Payton was admitted in the hospital for neutropenia and fever; the first time he was there for 5 days and the second for 11 days. Payton has had several transfusions during the latest round of chemo, especially platelets. It seems like the carboplatinum is hitting his bone marrow pretty hard. He needed platelets every other day. Payton was kept in isolation on the 11 day round since he showed up positive for a carrier of VRE. He will now be kept inisolation for the remainder of his stay at Cooks. It really stinks since we know that he picked it up from the hospital.

Payton is due to start another 5 day round of admission chemo on Thursday. He is also due for a GFR to find out how his kidney is functioning and a CT scan on Friday.

Payton has enjoyed having a few days at home since it seems like we are in the hospital more than we are home. He loves spending time outside, jumping on the trampoline, watching teletubbies, a drive to Sonic for a corndog and drink, and spending time with his family.

Payton is so brave I can’t even think of words to describe him. He has grown and changed so much since all this happened. He has learned to communicate and we are amazed at how his vocabulary has grown. He is so smart and has learned to sense what is going to happen next. When they are drawing Payton’s blood he sits up so big and tells the nurses I want to help and he will say "here it comes" referring to his blood. Payton will tell the doctors and nurses "no more owies today". After we leave the hospital he will tell Chad and I “I did it”. We love him and are so proud of him

Halloween at Cook's

Since we were in the hospital on Halloween; Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Kelsey, Aunt Jennifer and Ella brought Payton some Halloween goodies to the hospital. He was thrilled.


Me and my cousin Ella (I call her YaYa) enjoying Halloween goodies. We are six weeks apart in age.

Me with my aunt Kelsey

Me and my Grandpa

Halloween at the Cook's

We were in the hospital on Halloween from being neutropnic and fever. Grandpa, Grandma Archibald and aunt Kelsey flew in and came to visit. We enjoyed a picnic outside on the playground. Payton loved having his Grandparents come to visit unfortunately we were in the hospital during their whole visit.

Halloween for Savannah!

Savannah went trick-or-treating with her Cousins, Grandpa and Grandma. She was dressed as Aurora from Sleeping beauty.

Savannah working on her school project

Savannah was to make a turkey into something different for her school project. She is doing great in 1st grade.

Making Carmel Apples with her cousins


Savannah's butterfly.

A day at the air show

We decided to take Payton to the air show on a day his counts were up since he loves airplanes.

Another Week

I took Payton into the clinic today to have his counts and an out patient chemo round. Payton’s counts were surprisingly pretty good. His Platelets were 103,000, WBC 8,600, ANC 2,510, and his HGB was 7.8 which is border line of needing a transfusion. Our oncologist said lets give it a couple days to see if his red blood cells can go up on their own. Payton is off of his neuphogen shots which will sometimes cause his counts to drop a little. We are scheduled to be admitted next Tuesday a week from today for another big round just as long as he has an ANC of 750 and Platelets of 75,000. Payton is scheduled for his CT scan this Thursday and scheduled for an Echo Cardiogram (EKG) on Monday which will make sure that his heart is ok since that can be one the side effects of these chemo drugs. I pray everyday that these chemo drugs do not cause any long term side effects. Payton is so brave. He realizes when we put a numbing cream on his port that he will have to be poked. Payton stressed about his cream on his port the whole way to the hospital. He said no cream, no doctor. Poor kid it’s just not fair that any 2 year old or any kid should have to go through this. Payton is getting pretty smart and is very aware of what goes on now at the clinic. He is so brave and I am so proud of him.

Savannah on the other hand seems to be improving everyday with school. I still can’t believe that she is a 1st grader. She is so lucky to have such a great teacher who is so understanding and kind to her. This is the year that we really needed a great teacher. Savannah is starting to make friends and I hope is coming out of her shell a little, she is pretty shy which is surprising since at home she is totally opposite. I hope that she will continue to do well as the year goes on. I worry a lot about her and want her to be happy.

All and all we seem to be holding it together a little better. Since things have slowed down somewhat I have returned to work one day a week on Saturdays. It has been good for me to get out and have some sort of sanity. I hope that we have found our happy medium with these reduced chemo dosages and that we can continue to do well. We are looking forward to next week since this will mark our half way mark of chemo with the large treatments. I am so proud of my family. I have sat back and watched each one of us struggle in our own way and yet we have really pulled it together and been a strong team. I have such great faith that we will see an end to this and that Payton will be cancer free and go on living a happy normal healthy life. I can’t wait for the day when I can see him be himself again. I want to thank all of our friends and family that have helped us get this far. Thanks for your strength, prayers, and words of encouragement. We love you all.