It's been a quiet, uneventful weekend. Alex spent the entire weekend on the couch. He gets headaches and feels queasy when he is upright. He's been able to eat a few small meals each day. No more In-n-Out burgers for a while. It was probably too greasy to be eating right now. He has been doing some reading and has watched several movies on his computer. Thanks Janelle and James for the external hard drive. He is putting it to good use!

Gary is coordinating with doctors in HK in anticipation of bringing Alex back to HK to continue treatment. We are hoping to be back in HK after the Christmas holidays. No exact date yet as some of the upcoming treatments are dependent on Alex's blood counts. If his counts are too low in a particular week, treatment may be postponed until counts go up.

Hoping for a good week.

Alex is a happy camper this morning after Thanksgiving. No turkey leftovers for him. Instead he feasted on an In-N-Out burger: Double Double Animal Style and some fries.
In-N-Out opened here in Orem, Utah last Thursday but the lines have been insanely long. We drove by several times but decided not to get in line. The other night Alex was not feeling well but wanted In-N-Out, so I went out to try and get him one. The drive through line was two blocks long and about a 40 minute wait.
I tried again yesterday, but it was closed for Thanksgiving. So today I ventured out before opening hours today only to find that it had opened early to catch the Black Friday crowds. There were only 6 cars ahead of me so I felt like we hit the jackpot!! BTW, this Black Friday stuff is crazy! Every mall and strip center parking lot was packed at 10am!!!

The weather is nice so we will see if Alex can go outside for a bit today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We're so thankful for all of your love and support. Thanksgiving will be a low key celebration for Alex this year. We are staying home and not joining the rest of the family for turkey. It's been a rough several days. Alex has been very fatigued and very nauseated. He went back today for another lumbar puncture and more IV chemo. Hopefully, he will make it off the couch in the next few days. He finds he's much more comfortable when in a horizontal position. Right now he is laying on the couch, eating some french fries and watching a hockey game on his computer. He was watching HKIS play in the Holiday Tournament. So glad the games were available over the Dragonnet!.

Well this Consolidation phase of treatment is producing an about face in Alex. He is constantly tired and can sleep all day long. He has no appetite to speak of and no energy to do any running. We're hoping it's just his body adjusting to the new medications. He was kind of this way at the beginning of the Induction phase. The nausea is also back so he is just laying down most of the day. He is trying to eat but the interest in food is gone now that he is off the Prednisone.

We were told that during this phase his blood counts will drop more, perhaps that is why he has no energy. If they drop too low, they will give him transfusions. I guess we will wait to see what the counts are on Wednesday (no clinic on Thursday this week as it is Thanksgiving.

Alex was finally able to sleep 8 hours straight last night. He is tapering off the Prednisone so hopefully the sleep will last. Prednisone has also given him acne on his chest and back as well as a puffy face from all of the water retention. The doctor says all this will slowly go away over the next month.

Alex ran 7 miles in 30 degree weather this morning, spent 5 1/2 hours in the hospital for chemo and then rode the stationary bike for 30 minutes tonight. He is crazy, but all the exercise is keeping him sane. The doctors don't seem too worried about it. He doesn't get much sympathy when he comes in and says, "I've been feeling really tired" but "I ran 7 miles this morning."

He started the Consolidation phase of treatment today. This phase includes weekly lumbar punctures as well as 4 days of medications through his port. We will go to the hospital once a week for the LP and to access his port to get the first dose of the medication. On days 2, 3 and 4 I will be administering the medication at home through his port. The nurse taught me how to flush his central line with saline, administer the medication, flush again with saline and then inject heparin into the line to keep it from getting blocked by blood clots. I was really nervous at first, but after actually doing it today with the nurse, I think I should be able to do it. My sister in law, Susanna, is a RN. She was there with me and will come over tomorrow when I do it for the first time (just in case I forget how to do it). This is all on top of the other pills Alex must take and the twice daily injections for his pulmonary embolism. I think I'm going to get a white board tomorrow so I can write a time schedule for all of the meds! It's starting to get a bit confusing.

Alex's hair is really thinning out and he has decided that he will shave his head tomorrow. My guess is he will be wearing beanies a lot which is okay since it is winter here.

Blood counts are dropping but the doctor says he is still good to go for a Thanksgiving Dinner with the family. He is really looking forward to turkey and the trimmings. We went to a wedding dinner last night and he had 3 helpings of the potato cheddar soup and ate salad for the first time in his life! He has also been eating the lettuce and tomatoes on his burgers! Not sure how long that will last but I'm happy he is open to trying "new" foods. Just like his dad, he doesn't care for desserts so more for me.

Great news! The sonogram showed no evidence of clots anywhere on his legs. The doctors have said he can continue to run. He just needs to be careful that he doesn't fall. Falls can cause internal bleeding since he is on blood thinning medication. The blood thinner that he is on is given by injection. Alex will give himself the injections twice a day for at least a month but possibly up to 3 months. Since he has no symptoms from the blood clot and it was caught early, the doctors don't think it will give him much trouble. The thinners will keep this clot from getting bigger and other clots from forming. The tricky part is not having the blood be too thin when he gets his lumbar punctures.

Although, it's terrible that Alex has to go through all of this, it is truly amazing how we have found both the cancer and the blood clot before Alex had any symptoms. We truly feel blessed that our Heavenly Father is guiding us along this journey. Although obstacles appear, we seem to have the best possible scenario. That is not luck or coincidence but divine intervention.

Alex's doctor, Phillip Barnette, is a wonderful man. He is so positive and always makes himself available to us. It is a cold, snowy Saturday here and although there are several very wonderful doctors on call who have checked in on us, he came by to visit with us and to answer any and all of our questions and concerns. He brought his son along who played with all the toys out in the hallway (it's a children's hospital). We were impressed.

We should be going home in about 4 hours (after they check his blood levels again).

On Friday Alex took both a PET scan and two CT scans. The doctor called us in the evening to tell us he had good news and bad news. The good news was that the PET scan showed no metabolic activity that would indicate cancer. The two nodes that were enlarged before on his chest were no longer lighting up. Basically this means Alex has responded to the treatment and he is in remission!!! Yay!!!! We are so happy about that but treatment continues.

The bad news was the CT scans showed a blood clot in his lung (pulmonary embolism). The doctor said Alex had to be admitted to the hospital right away. Alex will need to be on blood thinners to keep the clot from growing and to hopefully have the clot dissolve. This however, can take some time. They will also have to do an ultrasound of his legs and ankles to see if he has any clots there (as that is where they usually start). The thought is that the clot in his lung probably broke off from one in his legs and traveled to the lungs. The good thing once again is that Alex is asymptomatic. He has shown no signs of having a blood clot - no leg pains, no shortness or breath, no chest pains, etc.

Needless to say, we are all bummed to be back in the hospital. Alex hates it in here. He didn't sleep at all. We were admitted around 9:30pm. They didn't start drawing blood to test until 11:30pm, then administered the blood thinner around midnight after the labs on the blood came back. They came in again at 4am to take more blood! The blood thinners will be given every twelve hours so the next dose is at noon.

It looks like he will be on blood thinners for a while. Since the next phase of chemo requires weekly lumbar punctures and the thinners make bleeding much easier, they have to find a balance with the thinners so that he doesn't bleed every time he is poked. That is why they can't put him on an oral blood thinner. He will be on an injectable thinner that Alex will learn to give himself in the stomach.

That's it for now. Will update more later as we get more information.

The insomnia brought on by the Prednisone (steroids) has gotten worse over the last week. It's been so frustrating not to be able to sleep more than 2 hours without waking up. For the week Alex has gotten more than 4 hours of sleep a night. He has spent a good part of most days on the couch trying to doze off. He tapers off the Prednisone for the next 10 days so that should help. The steroids also make him a bit moody, a bit puffy in the face and VERY hungry. He continues to have an interest in cooking and eating. Food is all he thinks about. With the nausea pretty much gone, he is really enjoying his meals and snacks. He eats literally all day long. He gained 1.5 kg this week.

We are at the end of the Induction phase (first phase of his chemo treatment). He just had a lumbar puncture yesterday. No meds were given through his port this week. Today we will go in for a PET scan to see if the cancer is gone. If so, he gets a few days off and depending on his blood counts next week, we should begin Consolidation (next phase of chemo) next Thursday. So far his counts have not dropped too low. In fact they were good enough for him to receive his H1N1 flu shot yesterday. We're still paranoid about germs. We wipe down everything with Clorox wipes!

Alex is beginning to shed his hair. He started shedding individual strands of it early this week but you can't really tell since he has so much hair and his hair is so long. He refuses to cut or trim his hair right now. Hanging on to it for as long as he can.

He has continued to run 6 days a week. It's the one thing that keeps him sane. Fortunately, the weather has been great here (high 60s all week). He runs on the trails at the mouth of Provo Canyon. One day this week he saw four deer while on his run. The dry crisp air is perfect for running. But it won't last for long. Snow is predicted for this weekend.

He has also been preparing to take the written test for his learner's permit. The trick is proving residency. Now that we have hospital bills with his name coming in, we'll take those in and see if it works. Once he has his permit, he can do an online driver's education class and then take his road test this summer.

His portion of the BYU app is complete, just waiting on one more piece to come in and he can hit the "submit" button. He is so looking forward to college life. We've had a lot of discussions on college majors and careers. He currently has 2 cousins applying and interviewing for medical school and one cousin about to graduate from medical school and interviewing for residency. All this and the fact that his life right now revolves around doctors and hospitals has made him think about a career in medicine. (Having said that, he can't stand going to the hospital each week for his treatment.) He has a lot of time to consider majors and careers but it gives him a reason to look ahead.

We'll post an update as soon as we know what the PET scan shows. Thanks for all of your love and support

Not much new on this end. Alex did go in for chemo yesterday. The doctor says Alex is doing really well despite some of the side effects. Alex has had a hard time sleeping the last two weeks. He can't seem to sleep for more than 4 hours. Hopefully this will get better as we taper off the Prednisone next week. Alex is still running and eating so that is all good. We are scheduled to have a PET CT scan at the end of next week. That will determine whether or not he is in remission. Let's all pray that the scan will show no cancer. After the scan, we have to wait until his blood counts are high enough to start the next phase of chemo. So far blood counts have been good which means his immune system is not too suppressed. Still worried about crowds of people and the flu so we don't go out much.

On Saturday Alex and I went to the Mountain West Conference Cross Country Championship Meet. It was held at Cascade Golf Course just 3 minutes drive from here. It was a great morning. The weather was perfect....clear blue skies and in the 50s. Alex was able to see the BYU teams in action although both the men's and women's teams came in second to very strong New Mexico teams. It was fun to watch these collegiate runners race. After the race we went out for burgers and some shopping at a running store. Alex then cooked a dinner of roasted chicken and stove top stuffing! After a run along the Provo River Trail, we went to a family Halloween party where Alex ate again....yummy homemade soups, homemade donuts and homemade churros. He loved the churros! Didn't really care for caramel apples though.

This cooking thing is really interesting. He is now eating things he never would have touched before. He helped me bake Apple Bread and even likes to eat it. He also made fresh bruschetta and a spinach, sausage, mushroom and onion topping to go on the french bread. It will be interesting to see if he will still eat like a horse and have such an interest in cooking once he is off the Prednisone.

He is coping with the side effects. They seem to change each week even though the meds are still the same. This week he seems to have more nausea and doesn't sleep as well as before. This phase of chemo will last for another 10 days or so.

We kind of feel like we need to get back into the rhythm of real life. But getting back into the routine of real life here is difficult since our real life is back in Hong Kong. Alex has started his early morning seminary class again, only it's not early morning for him. He does this by iChat over the computer. It's great because it's 3pm here when it's 6am in HK. We are also trying to get him a learner's permit so that he can start online driver's education classes while here. His English teacher should be sending assignments soon. All these things should help him keep busy for a while.

Thanks again for all of your love and prayers!