I figured that it's time to write an update since we have been admitted to the hospital twice in the last week and a half. Our first heart pounding experience was about a week and a half ago when we were at the clinic for elijah's weekly chemo treatment. He received a chemo drug called PEG Aspargnaise (sp?). When we were in iowa city they did teaching with us about this drug and told us that it is the most highly allergic chemo drug that he will receive. They also told us that most patents won't have an allergic reaction to it with the first dose, it is usually with subsequent doses. When he received it that day I hadn't been thinking about that and wasn't prepared for what happened. Within a minute or two of giving the dose, Elijah's face started swelling. First his eyes, then his nose and eventually everything else. It was so scary. They immediately gave him epinephrine and then some benadryl. This helped, but he stayed swollen for the rest of the day. They kept us for a couple of hours and then sent us home when he was stable. Almost as soon as we got home he started getting hives. He bod became covered in them and so we were instructed to give him benadryl every four hours. By early evening, this wasn't cutting it. He was miserable and looked awful. The doctor then decided to prescribe a steroid to help. The part that made this even more interesting was that the doctor seemed to be in denial that this was truly a reaction to the PEG????? An allergic reaction to this medication use to be much more common because they use to give it through an IV. They would have the reaction almost immediately, because that's hat happens when it goes directly into the blood stream. Now they give it as an IM (intra-muscular) shot. They have less reactions, and when there is an allergic reaction it doesn't happen usually for 30-50 minutes. This is because with an IM shot it is a slower release, and therefore a longer period of time for a reaction to occur. The doctor was saying that it must be a fluke or wondered if when we were all holding him down for the shot, someone was holding his head too tight. I was a little baffled that he was really trying to blame this n something else because of the history of allergic reactions to this particular drug. He said that he shouldn't have had a reaction that quickly after administering the drug. I questioned him to see if it could ave been from the other medication that he received that day, and he said for sure not. So after that I thought is he really trying to blame this on something else??? Moving on with this story, the next morning he was still braking out in hives and mid morning was lying on the couch watching a movie. He had been coughing on and off for a bit and Levi and I wondered if his throat was irritated in some way from everything. The next thing I knew he went to say something to us and his voice was raspy, and then quickly lead to almost a whisper. I FREAKED!!! I thought that his airway was starting to close again and called 911! I might have over reacted a bit, but I think this young man has given us one too many close calls in the last few months, and I wasn't messing around. Within a couple of minutes we had several emergency vehicles outside our house and our neighbors were probably wondering what the heck was going on. He was still a little raspy and his lungs weren't clear when the paramedics listened to him. Levi had talked to the doctor and he told us to head to the ER, and so we told the paramedics that we could take him but they said since he didn't sound clear, had hives everywhere and was so young that it was safer to have him ride down in the ambulance. I couldn't really argue since I did call them to come and help. The problem I saw with this situation is that if his airway did close, there is nothing I can do at that point to help him. You can't give mouth to mouth without a functioning airway!!! Anyway, we ended up staying over night to make sure he wasn't going to have any more problems, and got to go home Easter Sunday in the afternoon. Needless to say, I know carry an epi pen with me so that I don't have to be so quick to call 911. The doctor said that it would be more cost effective. HaHa!! He continued to have a rash on and off for a couple of more days, and then has been fine since. We were back in the clinic this last Friday and he received more chemo. (By the way, the doctor said that he finally proved that he did have a true allergy to the PEG, and will not be receiving this drug anymore) On Saturday I noticed that he was starting to cough a little and have a runny nose. I had been sick a couple of weeks ago and thought that since he didn't get it when I did that we were in the clear. Well as most of you know and have probably experienced, everyone has had a little touch of some kind of sickness, and if you haven't you can consider yourself very lucky. So there is no telling where he picked it up, but he did. He went through the weekend with a low grade fever, and finally about noon he spiked to 101.8. I called the doctor and he teased me by telling me to bring him to the clinic and if his counts were high enough then we could just treat him at home. Well, this last Friday his ANC was around 1600, so I thought there might be a fair chance that his ANC would still be good enough to go right back home. No such luck, in the last few days Elijah's ANC has dropped to around 200. Bummer!! So we are stuck until at least Wednesday, and hopefully no positive cultures. Dr. Al-Zein mentioned the words, "we want to make sure it's not his port that's not infected." I hadn't thought about that because I assumed it was all due to his cold and cough. We're praying that it's that and not his port. When we got admitted today there was another interesting story that I was told. There was another young boy that received PEG in the clinic today and had the exact same reaction as Elijah. As it turns out, it's really uncommon to have had two allergic reactions within the same couple of weeks. When I was talking with one of the nurses, she said that it's been at least a year and a half since they have seen a patient with a reaction. They are looking into the batch of PEG, because both were from the same LOT numbers. Dr. Mitchell said that they decided to go ahead and just admit him because they learned their lesson. I told him that we were glad to be of assistance.

My sister had a baby in February and his pediatrician admitted him to the hospital today too! Turns out, it's not a good day for my side of the family. Please keep both of us in your prayers. Love you all and I will put some new pictures on when we get home and get the camera back. I have some great swollen face and body rash pictures. Good Night!!!

WOW!!! What an awesome support system we have. We never expected the benefit to turn out so great! A HUGE thank-you goes out to our friends Kevin and Jennie for organizing it for us and also to all of our friends and family that helped make it happen. There were so many businesses and volunteers that donated items for the auction and raffle and that really made it great. It was truly incredible to us haw many people stepped forward to help that we didn't even know, so to all of you thank-you sooooo much. I hope everyone had fun and I think that we had lots of people walk away with some pretty neat things. THANKS again so much for EVERYTHING. We appreciate each and everyone of you. Elijah is doing well. His counts were high enough to start chemo again this last Friday and so having a couple weeks off of it made him feel pretty good. By the middle to end of this week I think I'll be singing a different tune. The doctor said that by the end of this week his counts will be low again and we will possibly be in for more transfusions and possible fevers. Not looking forward to that, but this really is the roller-coaster that Elijah will go through for the next few years. It is nice to have at least a couple weeks of break. Today we went to see a pediatric surgeon to discuss putting his port back in. He scheduled this for tomorrow because he wants to got this done before his counts are too dangerous to put him through surgery. It will sure be nice to have his port back in, but I hope and pray that it won't get infected this time. So now every time we go to the clinic I will put a numbing cream on the port site because they will have to access it with a needle for all of his treatments. So I will update later this week with the details. Love you all and Thanks again for everything!!!!!

Hi there all!! We were able to come home on Sunday afternoon. Dr Al-Zein said that he was breaking his own rules because Elijah's counts had dropped even more, but he trusted us that we would bring him back if he got a fever. Nothing grew on the cultures and he stayed fever free so thankfully we were able to come home. It was the first time I had heard Elijah say that he didn't want to come home. He was having so much fun with all of the toys and felt fine, not to mention he had mom and dad 24/7 with our full attention!!! I would be loving it too. After the first day of pokes, they weren't really doing much to him so he thought it was a-okay! We are back to our normal routine now at home and it's just much better for all of us. We are continuing to do the radiation this week, and I can't wait for it to be over. Today was the first time he has been in a good mood to start, and actually woke up in an okay mood too. I had his favorite chips waiting for him so I think that helped!! We will for sure remember that the next couple of days. I had the radiology tech take some pictures of him with the radiation mask on and the machine they use so I posted those for everyone to see. The mask is actually a little disturbing. Good thing he has never seen it or even know that he wears it! Elijah will probably be getting more blood and platelet transfusions in the next week or two. He won't be getting anymore chemo until his counts (his ANC) are up to 750. Since they are at about 20 right now, Dr. Al-Zein said that it might be a couple of weeks before he can start up again. This also means that as long as the ANC is low, he is at high risk of fevers and hospital admissions. Lets all pray for big numbers next time he has his counts checked. That's all for now, Love you all!!!

Just a quick side note that I forgot to mention in my latest update. Some friends of ours, Kevin and Jennie Heileson, are having a fundraiser in Elijah's behalf and I wanted to give the link to the blog that Jennie made to share the flyer with all of the information on it. The address is www.elijahhancockfundraiser.blogspot.com. Check it out, it's going to be a fun night!!!

We didn't have a very good day on Friday. We are now back in the hospital as of about 5:30pm yesterday. BUMMER!!!! Elijah spiked a fever and to the hospital we came. We were in the outpatient clinic yesterday and Dr Al-Zein said he couldn't believe he hadn't been in yet because his ANC has been low for a couple of weeks. I think he jinxed us!!! He also got this very unusual hives/rash that no one can explain. The chemo meds that he received yesterday are the same ones he has had for the past few weeks, so it's unlikely he had a reaction to them. The resident this morning said that it could be something viral he has especially since he had a fever, but there is really no way to tell right now. As soon as I get a camera up here, I'll take a picture and show you what I'm talking about. This was a crappy ending to a VERY long week. He has been pretty grumpy. They have to put him to sleep every time they do radiation and he is usually fine before he goes to sleep, but then wakes up in a funk. The radiation itself takes a matter of a few minutes, it takes longer to get him asleep then the actual radiation. One more week of that and then we're done with that part of it. We haven't talked with Dr Al-Zein yet, but we are assuming we will be here for the 72 hours it takes to get the blood cultures back and then we can get back home. So far he hasn't done too bad here in the hospital, normal fighting is all. They had to draw blood from his line and from his arm, and it took a couple of pokes to get that. It's amazing how strong a three year old can be when he's angry!!! Well, that's all for now, I'll update later when we know more. Love you all!!

Yes, I know it has been far too long since I updated. Not that I'm trying to make excuses, but we have been having issues with our service since we have been home. It truly is awesome to be home. "There's no place like home." Elijah has done pretty well and knock on wood has not had a fever!!! We have been back and forth to the outpatient clinic three times for further chemo treatments. Elijah is now in the second phase of his treatment, called the consolidation phase. The doctors told us that with the chemo durgs he would be taking he would feel very lously and one of the major side effects would be that they would drop his counts. Were they ever right!! Two weeks ago Friday Elijah received a transfusion of blood and then this last Friday he received a transfusion of platelets. His ANC is also very low, so EXTRA careful right now to say the least. He has otherwise done okay with everything. He has started to get sick occasionally, but he usually gets sick and then immediatly after looks at us and smiles. Elijah also starts his radiation tomorrow (Monday 18th). We had to go for the consultation and get him fitted for this mask that they use for the radiation. He has to be in the same exact position for this every time he goes. He will get a total of 8 radiation treatments Monday thru Thursday of this week and then the same for the following week. When we went for the consulation, they did a test run of the sediation that they will use. They used the same drug that they used for him in Iowa City when he was intubated, called Profofol (sp?). It worked well, but like always he needed just a little bit more than normal. The sediation team that worked with him is great. They don't hesitate to give him what he needs to stay asleep, and still be safe. It will for sure be a long week of driving back and forth to the hoispital every day. Elijah really seems to be a different person since we came home. The week before last he starting showing great signs of improvement. We showed him him how he could stand up on his own and it didn't take him long to get the hang of it. He can now go up the stairs himself, but goning down he still needs a little help with. It's amazing how much he has had to learn again. It's like having to 1 year olds. Speaking of 1 year olds, Alivia has had a rough few weeks. At first I thought she was detoxing from all the attention she got while we were in the hospital. Then I realized that not only did she have ear infections, but she was also trying to cut 6 (yes 6) teeth all at the same time!!! I don't know whats more difficult all at the same time, or one here and there over a peroid of time. She was not sleeping and did not want to be put down, EVER!!! She is starting to do better now, but her mouth really did look painful for a couple of weeks. Hopefully she will be done for awhile!! On Friday the doctors told me not to be surprised if Elijah gets a fever this weekend because his ANC is so low, and now that it is Sunday afternoon I hope that we can make it through the rest of the week too!! I can't imagine the day he has to be admitted back to the hospital, eventhough I know it's coming. I hope people haven't stopped reading this blog because I didn't update for so long. Please pass the word that I'm back online!!! I will try to keep you updated on the progress of his radiation. We love you all!!

WE ARE HOME!!!!! We got home yesterday about 1700. Elijah told us in the hospital that he didn't want to go home, but we knew deep down that he really wanted to. We got in the car and started to drive home and when I looked back at him, he got a huge smile on his face. That's when I knew that it was going to be good to be home. Elijah mostly wanted to lay on the couch, but he seemed very sore from his bone morrow. They did the bone morrow at about 10:00 yesterday morning, and it went so much better than the last one. They gave him different medication than the last time, and after they were done he was as high as a kite. Funny, happy and all around just nice. It was nice that the staff at the hospital got to see that side of him before we left. It took us several hour to pack up our one bedroom apartment (haha), and we managed to fill the suburban completely. Can you imagine what my house looks like right now. Santa came on Saturday, so nice that he could make a late trip for us. We were able to have our little Christmas, even though it didn't feel like Christmas at all with the 50 degree weather. Unfortunately, Elijah was on one of his down swings, but I was able to get a few good pictures and it will all be a memory to look back at. Elijah ha an okay night, about what I expected. Even if he was up several time, I know that we all got better sleep than we did at the hospital. I got into bed and just melted, it was so nice to feel comfort again. I almost forgot what it was like. I am giving Elijah an IV antibiotic through his PICC line every 8 hours. It was so hard to wake him up last night when he was sleeping so nice. Alivia was glad to be home too!! I think she may have been a little spoiled this last month, judging by her needing to be held and have my attention every minute she is awake. It is a tragedy if I walk away without picking her up. We will have to slowly detox her. She is too cute to not hold!! Today with Elijah has been night and day from the hospital. He still has some hard times, and definite mood swings, but he I haven't seen him happy for as much f the day as he is today. He has asked several times to get off the couch and find something to do. He still has a little trouble getting up and down and walking, but the fact that he wants to do it is a huge improvement. I know now that it's just going to take a few weeks for him to rebuild his strength. It is so nice to be home, I can't even explain it. Now the trick is staying home. We do have to go to the outpatient clinic to start his second round of treatment (consolidation phase) on Friday. We just need to stay away from being admitted. Lets pray for NO FEVERS PLEASE!!! As weird as it sounds, this already seems routine to us and it truly is our new normal. That's all for now, someone is needed some attention. Love you all!! Please stop by to visit , if your not sick of course. Bye for now.