2nd Round Done....

John had a great week before we headed back to Childrens for his second round of High Dose Methotrexate. We kept ourselves busy with fun outings to the Oakland Zoo, the Academy of Sciences and Color Me Mine. I was checking John's pals out of school all week and I think the school secretary may be on to me.

On Thursday, Mike's company held a fundraiser in honor of John. They raised over 100K for pediatric cancer at their annual FSG meeting in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad that Mike's flight was cancelled and he wasn't able to be there to personally to express our gratitude to everyone at Aon who worked so hard to make this event happen. We'd like to say a HUGE thanks to Mike Rice, Steve Keogh, Paul Kim, Karen Black and Sara Merrick for all their hard work. We look forward to sharing photos soon.

The money will go into a fund in John's name at the Childrens Hospital of Oakland Foundation. In the upcoming months, we will get to work with John to decide more specifically how the money will be allocated. John's sickness has been a big adjustment for our family in many ways, and we have been very lucky that Mike's company has given him so much support and flexibility.

John went back into the hospital on Friday 1/22 and was released on Monday. It felt like a very long stay this time. We had two nights with a crying infant - luckily I was able to get us moved for the last night. But, my patience was definitely tested and Mike picked up a cold from lack of sleep. We also learned that the hospital has no activities scheduled on weekends. The playroom is closed and the school services are not there. We got home on Monday tired and exhausted.

John came home and developed mouth sores a few days later. It is so hard to watch him suffer through those -- he had several days where he could not eat or talk. But, he was a trooper as always (thanks, KC, for the balloon and roses - first time I saw him smile in days).

We are keeping our fingers crossed that he doesn't get worse so we can sneak away for a long weekend in Carmel.