Where do I start??

Sorry I have not updated sooner, there has been so much. I want to say thank you so much for all the prayers and every one who sent us messages, texts, and calls to let me know you are keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

When we got addmitted on Friday, we had no idea how long we were going to stay or what we were going to be told. We don't know if the fever was from something viral or if it was from his Leukemia, OH HOW I HATE CANCER!!! We got two rounds of antibiotics and Platelets and we got to go home on Sat. but before we got to go home Jacob had a very special surprise from some women here at the hospital. They wanted to do something special for Jacob, so they got him a xbox 360 and some games. OMG what a surprise, poor Jacob he had only 3 hours of sleep and was on steroids, boy what a combo :O/ So we couldn't get much of a reaction out of him, but boy as soon as we got home it had to get pluged in, Thanks for the great gift! We are so blessed to have meet so many people on the jouney we are on. So we got to enjoy our weekend at home. So today, Monday here we are again, we got addmitted this evening because of fever and he was just really tierd all day. So scary to see him like this :O( So we took cultures again and when his counts came back we found out his hibaglobin was way to low, that was why he was so tierd today. But we still don't know what is going on with the fevers.

Thank You for keeping our Jacob in your prayers!!
Melisa

“One should believe in prayer” Prayer is a way to ask questions, express their feelings or their emotions as well as a way for the person praying to express their problems and discuss them with God. Prayer can be recognized as a communication tool as well as a stress relief tool for each individual that prays. Prayer is an emotional way to express sympathy or concern for others to God. Prayer is also a way to show faith in God. Conversation and prayer is an avenue for a person to share with what is in their souls, in their emotions or in their hearts. Conversation is to engage in another person on the other end listening and engaging them into that conversation. Prayer, on the other hand, is a way for that person to express themselves to God from their hearts and souls and their emotions of what is troubling them.

We had clinic today, and got news we really did not want to here, Jacob’s Leukemia is on the rise again :O/ Of course something I did not want to hear. I HATE CANCER!!! We have been doing well at keeping it controlled for the last 3 plus months. So we go in on Thursday for 2 chemo’s and blood work, then on Friday something new, Jacob has not yet had. Please pray that this all works and we can get in under control again. My precious boy, all smiles, so full of life, you would never guess that’s the very thing he is fighting for “LIFE”

It would mean a lot to Jacob and my family for everyone that visits this site to go to http://www.colesfoundation.com/ and click on cash give away fill out with your info and choose Jacob’s hope, and if you can spread the word, that would be great, THANK YOU!!

I count my blessings each and every day! Prayers, I DO BELIEVE!

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers,

Melisa

One day at at time

Wait on the lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen you heart; Wait, I say , on the Lord! Plalm 28:14

Well with last Friday’s (11/27/09) Spinal with chemo, we also found out that Jacob’s has no more Leukemia in his CNS. I have had questions from people, saying we are confused about Jacob’s Leukemia. I hope this makes everything all clear. Well, we had not gotten Jacob back into Remission this last past August; the main reason is due to the Fungal Pneumonia. So Ever since his Fungal Pneumonia in September we had stopped all chemo at that time, and started up light on the dosage of chemo weeks later. So we don’t want to hit him hard with the chemo, wipe out his immune system and have a recurrence of the fungal pneumonia. We want to try to keep him from getting sick with any thing, so keep him as healthy as possible & keep the Leukemia in our control. :O/ All this is so unbelievably scary! So hopefully in Jan we can see what our options are with transplant. The reason for this is once he had Fungal Pneumonia it can always pop back up, and it can prove to be deadly during transplant.

We had clinic today, his Leukemia blasts are showing up a little more in the past two weeks. This morning he had nausea, hopefully it is nothing.

Please shower my Jacob with prayer; that we can keep everything under control.

It would mean a lot to Jacob and my family for everyone that visits this site to go to http://www.colesfoundation.com/ and click on cash give away fill out with your info and choose Jacob’s hope, and if you can spread the word, that would be great, THANK YOU!!

I count my blessings each and every day!

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers,

Melisa

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Thankful.....

Wait on the lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen you heart; Wait, I say , on the Lord! Plalm 28:14

Thank You for everyone’s prayers! A time to be thankful, thankful that we have each day to spend together. As I stated in my previous post, yes Jacob did have Leukemia blasts in his CNS. This stupid cancer just does not stop, but with the help of everyone’s prayers we will move mountains. So back to the spinal Jacob had on Monday, (11/16/09) we of course also gave chemo and we also had no more headaches or nausea after the spinal. But that only lasted for about 2 days :O/ of course I am thinking OMG the chemo is not working! We were not set for the next spinal until Monday the 23rd, still 4 days away. But the Dr did not want to wait till then so she got Jacob in on Friday the 20th to see what was going on and to give more chemo. We of course got the news I wanted to here, the chemo is working and we found out the chemo was causing inflammation in his spine which was causing the headaches & nausea this time, one step forward! So with the spinal we just had on Friday he is now taking steroids that will help with the inflammation and gives him a lovely personality, LOL! Jacob is doing well, just a bit moody, but this morning was the last dose of steroids.

Please keep a little 5 yr boy in your prayers, his name is Hunter I meant them about 1 ½ weeks ago. They just found out he had Leukemia and in the last couple of days they found out he has a fungal infection. They are traveling down the same road we were on in Sept. I talk with the dad tonight, everything is still a blur for them, and he of course is confused and has lots of questions and was very grateful that he had a chance to talk with me. Sometimes talking with others that have been through what they are going through helps a lot.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
I count my blessings each and every day!

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers,
Melisa

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Quick update...................

I am so tired, frustrated & disapointed. We did find Leukemia blasts in his spinal fluid, we treated with chemo and will do so again next Monday and we WILL KILL the cancer from his spinal fluid. This makes this the 2nd CNS relapse.

THANK YOU FOR THE PRAYERS!!

Melisa

Speed bumps turning into pot holes

Wait on the lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen you heart; Wait, I say , on the Lord! Plalm 28:14

Always asking for prayers, something I so believe in!! How things change in a day! I was so glad to see how well Jacob has been doing and then, BAM!! Last Thursday Jacob started to have Nausea and Headaches, this happened right after I gave him his antibiotic. I thought maybe it was from that, but it happened the following day and that was with no meds. So off to clinic we went. Of course there was not much they can do, could be viral but we have to rule out relapse in the central nervous system (CNS). This might sound bad, but, I have already accepted it if it is CNS relapse. I just want to find out what treatment we are going to follow and get past this speed bump. All the speed bumps we have been having are starting to feel more like pot holes. But as I see it, pot holes can be fixed and that is what I want to do! So please all my prayer warriors, pray that this is NOT a CNS REPLASE! We have to be at the hospital at 7:20am in the morning with the spinal being at 9:30am. I will try to update as soon as I can.

I count my blessings each and every day!

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers,

Melisa

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Beautiful Smilling Face :O)

Wait on the lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen you heart; Wait, I say , on the Lord! Plalm 28:14

I have to wonder sometimes where does my strength come from and the power to keep going, I look to God! Also being a Mother gives you unbelievable strength and power that will move mountains! So here is to all you Mothers!!! We watch our children grow so fast, no parent ever imagines they have to watch their children suffer with a life threatening issue of any kind. But it does give us a whole new meaning of “LIFE”
When your child says: when I grow up, why does it hurt, what’s wrong with me, am I going to get better? It brings tears to your eyes and you try not to start to cry uncontrollable. The future is what we hold on to. There are now, so many words that pull your heart right out of your chest. Some of the littlest things, like the cell phone messages that Jacob might leave, I make sure they are never deleted. We are to always move forward, it’s that beautiful smiling face that makes it all that much easier.

Jacob’s, Dr apt’s are weekly or more, it is suppose to be for weekly chemo. Last week we had Methotrexate (chemo) not even the full dose (100ml), what they had suggested, Jacobs Dr did not want to do the whole dose, only half, glad she chose that. The chemo had whipped him out completely. Not to mention the nausea and the headache the night of :O( So we had his Dr’s Apt today for blood work and to see about starting his next chemo on Thurs. Well because the Methotrexate whipped him out, no counts, we stop all chemo until his body starts to recover and we go in tomorrow (Tuesday) for Platelets and maybe blood. Jacob is feeling good, I think it took about 4 days for him to recover from last weeks chemo treatment.

Each day is a blessing!

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers,
Melisa

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Week by Week

Inner Strength
My strength sometimes amazes me
As I handle all the pain and carry heavy burdens, I hold joy, sadness, love and optimism.
I paint on a smile, when all I feel like doing is screaming from the top of my lungs.
I sing songs of praise, when I feel like crying, cry when I am happy and talk to myself when I am afraid.

I really don’t know where to start, I am sorry for not posting sooner. I did not mean to have people worrying. This CANCER rollercoaster we have been on is just crazy, if I jump with Jacob, who will catch us? God! He has led us through thus far, and the ever so POWERFUL PARYERS that have continued for our Jacob, and for that I thank each and every one of our prayer warriors!

We did slow down on giving Jacob the stronger chemo’s due to the fact that the CT scan showed that the Fungal Pneumonia had left good size cavities (holes) on his lungs and the Doctors want those to heal completely before we really start to go with the stronger chemos. So we are going week by week, doing blood work and giving different chemos once a week keeping the Leukemia at bay and trying to let his body heal Completely. We are going to keep Jacob healthy while controlling the Leukemia for approx. 5 more months before we think about transplant, scary thought. My first thought, can we make it that far?!?!? Yes, I can’t and won’t have it any other way!

Jacob has been feeling really good, thank God! We had a chance to go to the pumpkin patch, he enjoys that every year :O) Halloween was a blast, we first had a hospital party with little trick a treating stations for the kids, Jacob had a blast. Kaiser really did a good job. Then we had Halloween, considering it was on a Sat. all the neighbors dressed up and we all enjoyed each others company and just had fun. Of course Jacob got to go trick a treating to some houses with his little girlfriend Bianca :O) It was a good day for Jacob, I so appreciate every single one of these days!

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers,

Melisa

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Wishing you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO MAY PRECIOUS JACOB!!!!
Today you turn lucky 7!!!
I see you as a miracle every day,
May all your dreams and wishes come true!

With so much Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Happy Birthday to you

We had a busy but good weekend, we had a small family gathering for Jacob for his Birthday on Sunday, it really made his day :O) Wed. is his actual Birthday and I thank God every day that we are home and we get to celebrate his 7th Birthday!! My one Birthday wish came true! I am so grateful that Jacob is feeling so good.


I need to know if there are any more people that want to buy a Jacob's HOPE t-shirt, I am taking orders??? $15.00ea Black T-Shirts front logo:Jacob's HOPE with a orange Ribbon. Back: Jacob's Pic with Fight for a Cure & Hope Strength Courage. Taking orders tonight and Tomorrow just let me know the size, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
E-Mail: melisncal@aol.com

Can I just say WOW!!!

I could only pray that things continue to get better and we keep moving forward!

We did have clinic on Monday for blood work, I thought we would just make sure his counts look ok and that he would not need blood or Platelet transfusions. Well he didn't, his body is recovering from the terrible fungal Pneumonia and fighting it's own battle. WOW I am so pleased to here this. The Dr's said he looked so good that they wanted to do another chest x-ray so they can really see what we are looking at and to see what are next step was going to be. WEEEELLLLLL his lungs are almost all clear, there is only one little spot, so much better from 7 days prior from when we got out of the hospital :O) So to my surprise and so glad to here that we are going to start where we left off on his chemo. So today (Tuesday) we went to get Jacob's chemo and also tomorrow (Weds). So now we are back on track, praying that we hit no more road blocks and hit remission.

One last note, there were peoples out there, sad to say even some Dr's, you know who you are! That they really thought because of the pneumonia being Fungal and Jacob still not being in remission with no Immune system that there was really nothing we could do for Jacob. We were even told this by one of the Dr's, can I just say one thing...............IN YOUR FACE!!!!!! LOOK AT MY LITTLE JACOB NOW!! He was not going to give up there for there was no way I was going to give up, did not even cross my mind. AND DON'T YOU EVER FORGET THAT! The next time some one sends me an e-mail like that I will not be that nice about it.

Thank You so much for so many more people keeping Jacob in your prayers and sending encouraging words our way, it really does mean the world to us.

Melisa

It's the Miracles you have to believe in

After weeks of battling Jacob’s Fungal Pneumonia and high temps and not even knowing which direction he was going during the first week into the second. It was so hard to watch your child feel so miserable not wanting to talk, eat, just sleep and watch TV. At one point we started having blood pressure issues witch was due to all the fluid he was retaining, (7 lbs of fluid) When these Kids with no immune systems get Fungal Pneumonia it is just so hard for there already weak little bodies to fight, and what they have for them now is the anti fungal medicines; even then it is so critical. With each X-Ray we so just a little improvement each time, this was nice to here, at least he was not going backwards. We had to go day by day with Jacob, not knowing is the hardest, after about two weeks I started to see little improvements with the way he was acting and slowly starting to get his appetite back, but with the fevers that kept coming back and spiking at 104 was really scary, I just prayed they would stop and to see him get better. There was one morning when we saw the most improvement, it was just over night when we saw his stats level out and his personality started to change, it was a Miracle!!! It was all the prayers that were being said for Jacob. We were never to give up HOPE, and have the FAITH that we were going to move forward. 3 wks after being admitted we were going home, something that would not have been possible with out Dr Horvath (the one Dr that never once gave up HOPE) and the Nurses that fought over who was going to take credit for Jacob’s improving Health :O) Its was all of you, THANK YOU!! Now that we have been home for about a week now Jacob is doing so well, his legs are really weak still, but getting stronger with each day. I can not believe what we have been through, every ones prayers and words of encouragement helped us get through this time, THANK YOU!! Doing this whole time we have not been able to treat his Leukemia, just another scary thing for me, I just pray, pray and pray that that stays under control until we start up chemo again. I hope this starts up soon, I am being told we will probably start up slowly in the next week or so. Please pray that Jacob stays healthy and his Leukemia stays at bay.
Thank You so much for praying for our precious little Jacob!!
Melisa

The only direction is FORWARD

Saturday, September 19, 2009 9:53 PM

Jacob has had some good days, but fevers had been spiking to 104 for days now, we are slowly seeing some improvement on his x-rays but the fungus is just sitting there with little change. but at least we are moving a little forward with each day. In between the fevers yesterday(Friday) Jacob had a good day even played some nerf guns with Taralyn, they just had too much fun shooting all the other nurses :O) We even thought we might get out of here on Thursday, but he spiked a 104 temp and then we were chasing 100 to 101 fevers the rest of the night and most of the day, well needless to say we did not get to go home :O/ Jacob still has such a long road ahead of him trying to get his body to start fighting on its own so he can be completely healed from this pneumonia and we can start moving forward with his Chemo treatments. Today was another good day and fever free all day. Compared to the way Jacob was last week to this weed is nothing short of a Miracle!!! They say 10 or even 5 years ago survival would have been rare!!!. Our little Jacob proved to every one how strong he really is!!! NEVER UNDER ESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER AND MIRACLES!
Please pray for no more phemonia and moving forward soon with his chemo treatments

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers!

Melisa

What else will be thrown at us!!!

Well the x-ray from yesturday was a little iffy so Jacob had a CT today to make sure on what they thought they saw and yes it was Pneumonia . What else is going to be thrown at us!!! He already has no immune system and now he has Pneumonia, UGH! He is doing well, he has no symptoms other than the fever. So here is a scary thought, we are holding off on his chemo. Every thing we have been though I hate the thought that we have to go 7 to 10 days without his chemo treatmeant. We are going to re-do the CT scan on Thursday and pray that his lungs are clear.

LIGHT THE NIGHT, Team name is Jacob's HOPE, it is that time again, time to raise money for blood cancers. So who ever can make it and donate or just help out with what ever donations, that would be great!!
http://pages.lightthenight.org/ocie/InlandEm09/jacobshope
Please let me know if you are interested in a Jacob's HOPE T-shirt, my e-mail melisncal@aol.com I am tring to get an idea of how many people actually want one, they are going to be $10 to $15 some where around there.

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers!
Melisa

Its a Fever!!!

Well we did have a good weekend, and then Sunday you could tell Jacob was not feeling all that great and I took his temp and yes it was at 100.1, it got up as high as 100.4. It was low grade but they wanted us to bring him in, So Please pray that the fever stays away and all the cultures come back negative.

LIGHT THE NIGHT, Team name is Jacob's HOPE, it is that time again, time to raise money for blood cancers. So who ever can make it and donate or just help out with what ever donations, that would be great!!
http://pages.lightthenight.org/ocie/InlandEm09/jacobshope
Please let me know if you are interested in a Jacob's HOPE T-shirt, my e-mail melisncal@aol.com I am tring to get an idea of how many people actally want one, they are going to be $10 to $15 some where around there.

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers!
Melisa

Just can't keep track some times

With so much going on right now, it is so hard to keep track of life it self :O/ Thank You once again for every ones prayers!! Jacob still has the Chemo blah's, but is doing well. He had clinic Friday morning for normal blood work and to see if he will need any transfusions and everything looked good.

I woke up at 3:30 this morn and I can't go back to sleep so I thought Iwould update. Nothing has been "regular" in our lives, we just have to keep moving forward.

LIGHT THE NIGHT, Team name is Jacob's HOPE, it is that time again, time to raise money for blood cancers. So who ever can make it and donate or just help out with what ever donations, that would be great!!
http://pages.lightthenight.org/ocie/InlandEm09/jacobshope

Please let me know if you are interested in a Jacob's HOPE T-shirt, my e-mail melisncal@aol.com I am tring to get an idea of how many people actally want one, they are going to be $10 to $15 , some where around there.

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers!
Melisa

Where do I start, no really where do I start…………………………………

I want to say thank you to EVERY ONE that kept my precious little Jacob in your prayers!!!!! I know with so many people praying for Jacob helped us get through this last past week and most defiantly get our prayers answered for Jacob. After finding out that Jacob relapsed last week was so devastating, especially right before transplant. We knew we had to get right back up and go head on with the beast that was trying to take over . With it being Jacobs 3rdrelapse is just too scary and then to be told that most of the cheomo’s Jacob is on he is resistant to :O/ and also the treatment we started last tuesday on the 18th was one of them, news we did want to here! Well today has been 1 week since his treatment and since we got the resistance testing back, we did the bone marrow today and we really did not think we were going to see much of a change in his Leukemia. And we were also all ready to start new chemo’s. But once again our prayers were answered!! Our Dr’s were so excited that he responded. The greatest news we could have received on our anniversary. “PRAISE GOD” So I know we have two more maybe maybe 6 treatments as long as everything keeps going the way we want it to :O) Jacob has been doing well feeling a little blah with the chemo’s but doing really well.

OVER ALL GOAL: Keep Jacob healthy, HIT REMISSION, and make it to transplant.

I also want to say "THANK YOU SO MUCH" to www.colesfoundation.com for all the prayers and support and having Jaocb on the front page!!!

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say on the lord!

Thank You for keeping our Jacob in your prayers!
Melisa

Where does a Mother start…………

It was just last week we were a little iffy on Jacobs Bone morrow that was taken on Aug 6th, but it was confirmed that it was all clear or was it?!?! Once we got the good news that we can start to move forward to transplant we once again got hit by that freight train, the freight train I hoped to avoid “FOREVER”! Just one week before Jacob was to start Radiation, (one wk from today), we got the news this morning he relapsed not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES! :O/ I wish so hard that I can close my eyes and make that one and only wish, the wish that Leukemia never existed!

This road that we have been traveling the last past 3 years will be battled once again. Like a friend of mine said, put on the boxing gloves and kick the A$$ out of this! That is my intension and I have no plans on GIVING UP! NO ONE IS GIVING UP!
We were going to get admitted tonight but it was changed to the morning because we are going to start off the morning with a bone marrow biopsy and then start the chemo later that day. This next round will be 4 wks, 4 wks in the hospital and then we will do another Bone marrow and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY THAT WE HAVE REMISSION!!!!!! And you better believe I will push like heck to get my little Jacob to transplant.

SO OVER ALL GOAL: Keep Jacob healthy, HIT REMISSION, and make it to transplant.

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers!
Melisa

We got through it

It takes courage to ride out the hurricane, it's the fear that keeps you hiding in a safe place and it is the blue Sky's and the warmth of the sunshine that brings you back out!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the prayers from our prayer warrior's, the power of prayer!!! Jacob's marrow is clear and his genetics look great, we even got some other good news. May of 2008 they found a strain of the Philadelphia gene and this time it was not there, they say it is most likely the Gleevec he is on. So we are now moving forward or I should say switched to fast forward. One moment they thought the were going to start to cancel pre transplant appts and then we are a go. So Yesterday 8/12/09 Jacob got his new Hickman and today 8/13/09 he got fitted for his radiation mask and the consult. The making of the mask was completely terrifying for him as you can see in the pic :O/ We are going to start radiation on the 24th and admission on the 31st.I hope every one enjoys there weekend &Thank you so much for wraping Jacob in your prayers!!!

URGENT PRAYERS!!!

URGENT PRAYERS!!! I am so scared, they think think they might see Leukemia blasts in the bone marrow they took, please pray that they are only immature red cells

Melisa

"JAMMIN JACOB"

Hi there, I want to thank every one for saying so many prayers for Jacob. We got all the pre transplant tests done :O/ spinal, bone marrow biopsy, CT, & MRI. What a day it was for little Jacob, I really thought he would not get into the MRI machine, but he proved to us all what a BRAVE LITTLE GUY he is!!! Thanks so much Vicki, big help!! So with all the tests behind us, all we do is wait for the results, so PLEASE DON'T STOP THE PRAYERS!! We are so close, I just hope I make it, LOL. As of right now we are set for the removal of Jacob's port and the new double lumin hickman (spelling?) put in on Wednesday and then a whole day on Thursday at City of Hope for the final details, tour and ect. and then they want to start the radiation on the 17th for 4 days and then being admitted on Sun Aug 23rd. Even though it's a scary thought I pray that everything keeps moving forward and for Jacobs Health.

Once again THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR OUR PRAYER WARRIORS!!
Melisa

You never think it will happen to you & then..............

BAM!!!! Susie, one of Jacob's Nurses, one that has been with him since day one, one that we we also grew to love as part of our "extended family". She got terrible news at the beginning of the week that her little sister was diagnosed with Leukemia. Can this madness ever stop!!! ONE DAY! Please everyone keep Susie's little sister and there family in your prayers, Thank You! We love you Susie!!

OK, Everyone, Jacob had so many vile's of Blood that they took at his Clinic appt on Friday, so I think most of the pre-transplant blood draws are done and we will find out about the rest of the pre-transplant tests on Tuesday at City of Hope. Wist us luck and keep the prayers coming :O)

Thank You for Keeping our little Jacob in Your Prayers!!
Melisa

One step at a time & forward we shall go!!

Good Morning every one!!
Well Jacob had clinic on Monday (7/27/09) for blood work, counts are looking good. We also discussed what we would like to see on scheduling for Jacob's pre testing for Transplant. So, Jacob is going back to clinic on Monday to start drawing labs that are needed for transplant and we would like to see the rest of the tests done on Monday and then we have the City of Hope appt on Tuesday. Jacob's Dr would like to see every thing move quickly to transplant. As far as I know, we could only find the two blood cord 4 out of 6 matches for Jacob and as for now that is what we are moving forward with. Please pray that we have no issues and move smoothly to transplant. All this is just so scary, I can't help to think about all the what ifs :O/

Thank you for keeping our Jacob in your prayers!
Melisa

Being Thankfull for each day!

Thanking God everyday for every time I see Jacob's Beautiful smile and every day we are out of the Hospital!!

Jacob has had good clinic appts, his counts are starting to recover. SOOOOOO it makes me even more anxious to start moving forward with City of Hope with Jacob's Transplant. He does have his first Appt with City of Hope on Aug 4th. Please pray we get nothing but good news, and we have a match that is a go!!!!! Every extra day spent doing tests and or looking for that match just makes my stress and the anxiety worse for me. I am just so scared on the waiting, and with the time that passes, it is just the unknown that scares me. I Pray my one and only prayer that God is looking over us and that the Transplant is Jacob's cure.

We met a beautiful couple inside and out, from Nebraska On Wed's. After following Jacob's CaringBridge site for a while, Cindi wanted to meet Jacob in person. We had a great Dinner and conversation. Thank You for EVERY THING!!!! I am really glad I got to meet them.

I also wanted to say thank you Katina for the slide show!! Check it out:
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5441304d7a6b774d4456384d5445794d7a41314d44633d0d0a&sb=1

Thank You for every one that has signed the petition and if you have not done so, PLEASE DO SO!!! WE NEED SIGNATURES!
http://www.livestrongaction.org/node/68083

Thank You for every ones prayers for our Jacob!
Melisa

signitures PLEASE, we can make a difference!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, Everyone sign, we need signitures!!!!

***See the link below**
Hi,
I just dedicated a page to Jacob Samaniego at LIVESTRONG Action.

This page is a part of the world's largest dedication book that LIVESTRONG
Action will use to pressure world leaders to do more to fight cancer. Can
you add your name to my dedication page? It'll only take a second, and you
can help me reach my target of 25 dedications.

Please click here, it only takes a second:

http://www.livestrongaction.org/node/68083 [1]



Right now, Lance Armstrong is dedicating his ride in the Tour de France to
the fight against cancer. And after the race, he'll send this dedication
book - with your signature - to world leaders and pressure them to make
cancer a priority in their own countries. It's our best chance to push for
better treatment, more funding for cancer research and access to care for
everyone around the world.

But if people like us don't stand up, these leaders won't pay attention.

What is our next step?

Good Morning everyone,
Well on Monday (7/13/09) Jacob had his clinic appt with his blood work and yes he needed his blood transfusion. After the blood had got there we did not have enough time to transfuse in clinic :O/ So off to the hospital we went. We got over there around 3:pm and finally got transfused at 8:30pm and got home at 1:am WOOOO what a day. We had clinic again yesterday for platelets and every thing went well.
We have to find out what is our next step in the next week or so. Please pray that the transition to transplant is smooth. REMISSION MUST REMAIN!!!

Thank You for praying for our little Jacob!
Melisa

Hi there everyone,
We went ahead and started another round of chemo on June 29th, I really thought we would be in the hospital close to 1 month again :o/ The first day of his chemo was really hard on him not only was he feeling really sick he was having an emotional melt down, poor thing. We did get through that first day and the remaining 3 days were not as bad and little nauseated at times, but much better. To our surprise we were aloud to go home the day after chemo was over, so it was just in time for the forth of July. We all were so surprised and so grateful that we were able to spend the forth at home. We were going to find out on Monday the 6th if Jacob was going to have to go back into the Hospital. So far we have managed to stay out of the hospital for almost two weeks now even with his counts being so low, but with us being so so careful. We did have clinic this morning 7/13/09 for Jacobs routine blood work and he is going to need to get blood so we are hoping to be home at a decent hour tonight :O) We are going to start lineing up dr appts and stuff so we can start to move forward with BMT.

Thank You for every ones prayers for our little Jacob

Melisa

I could not have ask for more, PRAISE GOD!!

Listen to me SCREAM!!!!! JACOB IS IN REMISSION!! NO CANCER CELLS FOUND!! Goal: to keep him in remission till we find a bone marrow match and on to transplant. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE'S CONTINUED PRAYERS! THANK YOU GOD!! THE POWER OF PRAYER!!!

We had clinic this morn and then we check into the hospital on Sunday night for our next round of chemo. We are doing the same chemo we had 6 wks ago that also kept us there for 1 month, so we will see what will happen. Last Monday (6/22/09) I also had another appt. with one of the Dr's for Jacobs Bone Marrow transplant, he just covered things we need to know and told me as soon as we find a donor match, our goal is to move farward.

Jacob lost his front tooth in the OR when he went in for his spinal and Bone Marrow asparation or I should say they took it out, so when I went to wait for him to wake up I saw Doggie all gowned up with the tooth. So with the other one just about to come out he likes to make goofy faces :O)

For every one that has been asking how they can see about donating and seeing if they are a match for bone marrow:
Help save a life it might even be my little Jacob that you are helping. If you are not already registered, you can join, I am not sure if there is a cost at this point.
http://www.marrow.org

"I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods I
will sing praises to You. I will worship toward Your holy
temple, and praise Your name for Your loving kindness and
Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all
Your name. In the day when I cried out, You answered
me, and made me bold with strength in my soul"

Thank You for keeping our precious little Jacob in your prayers,
Melisa

From where do I begin??

It has been a while since I have posted, I really don't know where to start. After his second relapse on Easter and the chemo, followed the bone marrow biopsy about 4 to 5 wks later only to find out the Leukemia was still there. We slowed it down maybe even killed a lot of it, but it was still there. So we moved forward to a new set of drugs which took place at another hospital. 5 days, each morning was three chemos 2 hours each. He did pretty well the first day was the hardest, He felt really sick,but as days went on he did alot better with not getting as sick. We headed right back to our own hospital on the last day of the chemo. With that round behind us and his WBC at 0 all we could do is wait for his marrow to start to recover on its own. So 4 wks later and WBC at 1.8 It was time for the next Bone Marrow Biopsy which was done on 6/16/09 to find out if took care of the Leukemia this time. Well the Dr said there was a few abnormal cells, so it was sent off for testing so we can find out what is really going on. So we have clinic this friday 6/19/09 to get the test results and to see what and when the next treatment is.
THANK YOU FOR THE CONTINUED PRAYERS

Moving Forward

Jacob is starting to feel a little more like him self. We had clinic on thursday for blood work and found out he needed platlets. So back to clinic this morning for Jacob's Platlets, chemo and of course blood work. We found out today that Jacob also will be needing blood so we are going to the hospital in the morning for that considering the clinic is not open on weekends. I am hoping to be out of there by lunch :O) We will see if the spinal will remain on monday. His counts are so low- WBC is 600. It is so critical that he does not get a fever right now. Please pray that he does not get sick.

Thank You for keeping our little Jacob in your prayers.

Melisa

As days go on

"God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but he did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way"

We are having a Blood Drive/ Marrow screening Drive, To check out the flyer go to: http://jacobshope.net/
It was published on the post before this one.

We are still here in the hospital, Jacob has been on a strong 5 day course of chemo, wanting those Leukemia Cells to die die die!!!! We still feel like we are in a fog after being told Jacob relapsed. Thank You every one for you encourging words and prayers During this time.

I think the chemo and the steroids are catching up to Jacob, he was really moody today, don't blame him one bit. I know the high amount of steroids are mostly to blame :O/ Today will be his last day (Sat) Today after his spinal he told the nurse my tooth, my tooth and gave it to her off his toung. Now the Tooth Fairy of course is going to make a visit tonight or I should say this morning :O) Jacob now has lost 3 teeth and they all have been here in the hospital. Chance was going to the OR right before Jacob, so Virginia and I had a little bit of time to chat while we waited for our boys to wake up. Chance I know you are loving the new dog!!
Jacob has spent his days play with Drew one of the brothers of Ryan who has been here, I am hoping he gets to go home soon and Daniel another patient, He also has been here way too long, I am praying for both these boys. They all have been helping each other with making the time go by faster.

The last 3 days, Debbie Hannah's mom came in with goodies for Jacob, Chance and Daniel. Food for dinner or lunch They just love it all, Your are great, thank you and thank your sister too :O) And ofcourse the nurses as usal are the "BOMB" Thank's Taralyn for your help!! Help add a little Magic to Jacob's life!

Bone Marrow Screening / Blood Drive

Must move forward

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. ~Philippians 4:13~

Thank you for everyones prayers, it is great to here from all of our prayers worriors. Please keep them coming.

We ofcourse have had to accept Jacobs relapse, a bump in the road. A road we we wish we never had to travel time after time. But we will always have faith that this road traveled will be the road that will bring "NEW LIFE" to Jacob. As I mentioned Jacob will be going for a Bone Marrow Transplant. We have a drive already set up, I don't have the flyer yet but it it is set for May 5th 2009 in Ontario, CA, between 9am-2pm. I will make sure to post the link for the flyer when we recieve it.

One great thing through all this Jacob is feel so good, it is the smile that keeps me going.

Thank You EVERYONE for your prayers for our little Jacob!

HOPE, STRENGTH & COURAGE

Melisa

HOPE STREGNTH & COURAGE

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I NEED MY PRAYER WORRIORS!

Where do I start...............Jacob's Leukemia is back, second relapse. He has been doing so well and feeling so good. We went in on Easter Sunday for our norm HD chemo, they were concerned about the blood that was drawn and the nightmere begain!! THIS @!&$^$# CANCER IS NOT GOING TO WIN!!!!!!! We will be doing a bone marrow biopsy tomorrow and we should know what chemo we are going to start him. Of course this is nothing new to him and I know he will make it like the champ he is. Once we hit remission (WILL) we will go for the bone marrow transplant. Any one who is interested in seeing if they are a match I am going to see about info on doing so.

Thank you for your prayers for our little Jacob!

HOPE STRENGTH & COURAGE

Melisa

OH Man!!! It has almost been 2 wks sice I posted. I tell you, with Jacobs clinic and Hospital stays, and working the days blend into wks and the wks into months and the next thing I am thinking is "what has passed and or what have not taken care of" UHG!! But I am glad the time seems to go by so fast, during this time.

We were actually able to get away this last past weekend, Jacob was so excited to go riding and play with another little girl. He was so cute, being so atentive to her wants and needs. It was just nice to get away, even for just a few days :O)



We go in once again to clinic on Friday for blood work and to see if his counts are good enough to start chemo on Monday. If so we will be admitted on Sunday for most of the week.

I hope every one has a wonderful Easter!!

Thank You for your prayers for our little Jacob,

Melisa

You never know!!!!!

We had a relaxing weekend, Jacob is getting over his head cold or his allergy's that got out of control. We spent the whole day Sunday out side in the warm sun :o)

Saturday evening my good friend Coleen and I went to a Celebration for one of our school teachers in Junior High. I know, how on earth do I remember, I will tell you something about this teacher, Mr Queen is one of a kind, a dieing breed of teachers!! Both him and his wife lived there work, they loved the kids. These two were so passionate and motivated about there kids they had meaning behind there teachings and might I add they made all of us believe in ourselves. It is just amazing how certain teachers have that special place in your heart and remain there through out the years. On a sad note, I knew that Mr Queens Wife had past away, this was also one of the reasons for the gathering on Sat., It was there 5oth Wedding Anniversary. I did not know what she has past away from until Saturday, it was Leukemia. Why Why Why??? Is a question that comes to me so often, an question that will never be answered. So sad, so many GOOD people have to suffer with this cancer and other cancers. We all love you Mr. Queen!!!

Life just sometimes feels like a yo yo….

We had gone in for high dose chemo a couple weeks ago stayed for 5 days came home for just about the weekend, went back in on that Monday for more chemo. Which was only suppose to be the day and ended up being 3 days, due to the fact that just before they were going to let us go home Jacob ended up with a fever, 101.2 to be exact :o/ So we got home, and this last past weekend Jacob got a fever, all I could think was not know, we just want to be home :o) This all Jacob could say: “we have to make sure this fever goes away, I don’t want to go to the hospital, I want to be with my Sundae” (his little dog) and I don’t blame him at all!! The fever just stayed around 99 to 100. did not really do any thing and went down and he was fine in the morning. I know Jacob’s nose has been clogged & running, so I don’t know if it is allergies or a head cold. We did have clinic this morning and the Dr. did say it is really hard to tell but one of his ears is a little pink and that might be the reason for the fever. So we went home with Amoxicillin to be on the safe side and we are to go back on Thursday to have Jacob checked out. We are still fever free and I plan on staying that way.
We probably wont have chemo for the next week or so :o)
Thank You for your thoughts and prayers for our Jacob,
Melisa

St Patrick's Day at the Hospital

Today was a good day, Jacob felt well, hopefully we find out the cultures first thing in the morning and that they are negative. Jacob and I really want to go home.

Jacob got a nice little goody bag for St Patricks Day and there was cupcakes and cookies.


Thank You for your prayers,
Melisa

Jacob -St Patricks Day 2009

Just disapointing

UPDATE:

Well we never made it home :o( Jacob ended up getting a 101 fever, talk about disapointing! This was around 8:30 or so. When they took his temp again around 11:30 it started to go down by it self, 99.1 & this was with out Tylonol. Please pray that all the cultures come back negative and he gets rid of this nasty fever!

Once again

Hi every one, well it's Monday @ 8:30, we just want to go home and climb into our beds!!

Jacob's chemo went well today, he did get sick later this evening, but now he is sleeping. We are hoping to get out of here about 9:30 - 10:pm

Wishing every one Happy St Particks day, since tomorrow will be here before I know it.

Thank You for keeping our Jacob in your prayers,

Melisa

Eventfull day

Good Morning, to be exact 1:30am, earlier in the day Jacob had a visitor form the Leukemia Society, Light the Night Staff bearing gifts for Jacob. Just brighten up his day, Thanks Carie!!!


Hannah, Jacob's little neighbor across the hall made lot's and lot's of art work for jacob, ofcourse he got a kick out of that, he yelled his thank you's across the hall,Thank You!
Jacob's Chemo ended at 3:45pm, felt a little sick once again but it passed, just glad this round is over!! Now we will just wait to see if will be able to get out of here on Thursday.

Thank You for your prayers for our little Jacob,
Melisa

A Scary moment

Good evening to every one, We got here Sunday about 8:30pm, got his blood work done and about 1 1/2 hour later the nurse steps in with a conserned look on her face and told me she wanted to share this with me. Jacob's counts were 0.2 and his ANC at 120. This is just not good, not good at all. We are like HOW??? Just two days prior his counts were at 2.5. A phone call to the lab resolved it, they rechecked two times, wooo, it was wrong the first time!! :o) What a relief.

Jacob's chemo was started at 3:45 this afternoon. Once again he started to get sick tonight he feeling better now and we are hoping for a good night sleep.

Thank You for your thoughts and prayers for our Jacob,
Melisa

As I think

I was thinking the other day, July 2003 the day Jacob was first diagnosed, the blurred numb emotions that had me sufficating in its evil grib! It is hard to remember details of that day and even months to follow, the thought that my one and only son could have CANCER, a word hard to grasp. Though the day is burnt in my mind like a bad nightmere.

There are so many kid’s and adult’s I follow, that my heart goes out to, all we can do is pray and hope for the best for each and every one of them and there family’s. I wish the word cancer did not even excist!

Jacob is feeling really well, his hyper intergetic self :o) He had a spinal last Monday 3/2/09, and blood work on Friday 3/6/09 to see if his counts are high enough to start the High Dose Chemo and they are. So we pack are bags and head down tomorrow, (Sunday) to the hospital, to start chemo on Monday. We will hope to only be there for the five days.

Thank You for your thoughts and prayers for our Jacob,
Melisa

As each day passes

Each week there is blood work and or chemo, as each week passes I silently count down to the end of jacob’s treatment. I pray and hope each and every day that every thing will continue as well as it has and on schedule, which should put us in the middle of next year, 2010. It is hard to believe we have been doing this since he was 3 years old, 2006.

We were able to get away this past weekend, we went riding. Jacob just has a blast on his quad, but he it not that little dare devil YET! LOL But of course that is easier on me :O)

Thank you for all your prayers for our little Jacob,
Melisa

Valentine Love.......

Can you feel it!!! We ventured out to a small and quite resturaunt on Valentines Day, we were not sure if we wanted to go out at all due to Jacob's counts. We got where we were going and it was empty, talk about lucky!! So all three of us had a nice Valentine's dinner :o)

We go back into clinic on Monday for blood work and Jacob probably won't have chemo for about 2 wks.

Thank You for your prayers,
Melisa

Love is........

Jacob is feeling well after his High Dose Chemo last week. He has lots of energy, which I thank God for every day!! The weather here has been rain rain and more rain. The storms just keep coming, back to back, but I also know we need it :o) It is so cute Jacob is so excited about Valentines Day, he keeps walking around with a balloon I got earlier and telling me Mommy I love you!
I hope every one has a nice Valentines Day where ever you might be.

Melisa

Just bringing every one up to speed......

Jacob is our couragous little hero! He was diagnosed with ALL in July 2006, was in maintenance stage of his treatment when he relapsed May 2008. All we can have is the HOPE, STRENGTH & COURAGE to take us through each and every day!

Hi every one, let me just bring us up to date. Jacob at 3 yrs old was having constant fevers and just feeling yucky and it was then when he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in July 2006. We spent the first 3 1/2 wks in the hospital, with wkly chemo and spinals. He took every thing pretty well, but the nurses help alot :O) We had some hospitals stays due to fevers and one infection in his double line hicman(spelling?) which was removed and had the portacath put in. which has its pros & cons, he really does not like getting poked every time we go to the doctors, but it is getting easier. But he is so excited about being able to take full baths and swimming WOOO HOOO :o) . We were just about at the 2yr mark when he was starting to have headaches and nasia, at that point we found out the Leukemia was back, talk about devastating, he was doing so well. They found out he had a small amount of cells in his spinal fluid and bone marrow. It was May 23rd 2008 when he starting treatment all over again and more of it at the age of 5 :O( The first 4 wks was 5 chemo's wkly, 3 of them in his spinal fluid & high doses of Steroids. He held up ok, was always tiered, felt yucky and really moody, but we delt. This last past wk he took a break from all the poisons and he is going to start up on Monday June 30th 2008, my stomach is tied up in knots. At least Jacob says he has fun at the hospital, I tell you its the nurses :o) I tell you, mentally Jacob takes it a lot better. It is us as parents that do the massive worring, stressing, anxity attacks, sleepless nights, I can just keep going. NO NOT AGAIN!!! Jacob had a 2nd relapse almost a year later when we checked into the Hospital on Easter Sunday 2009, the nightmere restarts, my stomach is tied up in knots. At least Jacob says he has fun at the hospital, I tell you its the nurses :o) I tell you, mentally Jacob takes it a lot better. It is us as parents that do the massive worring, stressing, anxity attacks, sleepless nights, I can just keep going.Thank you for every ones prayers!
Melisa

Jacob’s BirthdayMontage:
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=70081d1e700d4df5
cd758b&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url