On to Phase 4...

It's been a while since our last report. At the end of February, we finished Phase 3, which was our last round of Methotrexate. We were glad to finally get through this phase. The final dose of chemotherapy was very hard on John. He experienced a lot of nausea, headaches and fatigue. To give you an idea of how lousy he felt - he stayed home and watched Cal win the Pac 10 conference championship at home in bed. Jimmy brought home a whole box of blue and gold confetti to celebrate when he got home -- I'm still finding pieces of it all over my house. John did go over to Cal a few days later to congratulate the coaching staff and team. He brought a banner that he colored, balloons and a 6 pack of yellow Gatorade for coach.

Phase 3 was also difficult due to the amount of time we had to spend in the hospital. We were there for between 3-5 days at a time, with only a week or so in between. I want to say a special thank you to my siblings for their support during this time. I'm so lucky to have been born into a large family and have married into an even larger one. Although Mike and I had the logistics handled on the home front, my brother and two sisters knew how emotional the hospital time would be for me. They each flew up for one of the treatments so I wouldn't be alone. Their support was incredible - I couldn't have done it without them. John has appropriately knicknamed all of them - Geoff "Uncle Chill", Jillian "Aunt Fun" (she actually named herself), and Melissa "Aunt Crafty". It seems my mom and dad did it right - they raised loving siblings who will drop everything to care for one another.

And now we've made it through Phase 3, and the great thing about John is when he rebounds, he does it big. John came back feeling strong and had a great 10 days catching up with his pals and being a kid. He was able to participate in Orinda Baseball's opening day and play in their first baseball game. (more on that later)

Where are we now? John has moved into his 4th and final phase before maintenance. We have been focused on getting to Phase 5, or maintenance, which we will last 15 months. This will be the phase where John can have his broviac removed, return to school and sports and start to get back to a "normal" life. He will still be getting treatment but it will be far less intense.

Phase 4, or Delayed Intensification, began on March 8th. This phase lasts approx 2 months and we basically redo phase 1 & 2 in a consolidated form. He has already had two rounds of chemo and should receive 3 more rounds which will all be administered at the outpatient clinic. Reconsolidation will happen in April and will consist of one last and final hospital stay (24 hours), 2 weeks of chemo administered at home by me and the last two spinal methotrexates.

As far as activities, we've been keeping busy. We spent this past week on a road trip down to LA to watch the Pac 10 basketball tournament. The boys had a great time watching a lot of basketball. Caroline and I enjoyed the better part of LA - shopping on Robertson Avenue and a visit to Newport Beach. We will continue to keep you posted on our progress!

A Weekend in Carmel before Round 3

We did make it for a long weekend in Carmel. We enjoyed our favorite things....hiking Point Lobos, Wagon Wheel breakfast, cocktails at Spanish Bay at sunset. It was a healing weekend in every way. John's mouth sores improved every day and the change of scenery did wonders for all of us.

John was admitted on Thursday for his third round of High Dose Methotrexate. We were surprised that his counts were high enough to start on time. We are so fortunate to have our niece Allie staying with us for the month. She has jumped in to our daily schedule helping with pick ups, meals, etc. She will also be teaching the kids to play piano while she is here. My sister Melissa has come up as well to give me support at the hospital. (A HUGE thanks to NM for picking her up - above and beyond) Mike and I are so lucky - we are not doing this alone!

We spent the four days in the hospital keeping John busy. Melissa learned the dice game of Farkle and lost a lot of money to John. John now enjoys putting money on every game we play. He has become a gambling man - and a very rich one! His spirits were lifted as he watched CAL beat UCLA, and he will LOVE seeing them in first place when he checks the Pac 10 standings this week. I had fun seeing him watch the movie ET, which was one of my favorites as a kid. Every time we've been in the hospital and they put the oxygen light on his finger, I always call him ET -- now John actually gets why. We were released in record time again on Sunday morning.

John continues to have a great attitude. As a mom, I keep imagining that it must be getting old. One night this week as we were going to bed, he said, "Wouldn't it be great if they could cure cancer in a day?". Yes - it would! But for now we're doing it one day at a time.

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.

Johnny Jam

This blog is dedicated to John's CYO Basketball Team, The Warriors, who are 8-0 this season. Thank you for making him feel so part of the team!

I apologize in advance for my shrieking voice in the video.

John was released on Saturday just in time to watch his Cal Bears beat USC. On Monday morning, he woke up with a very sore mouth. The day I had been dreading was finally here! I had been very anxious about the side effects of this new round of chemo and had been told that it can be tough. We spent all day Monday at the hospital where the doctors assessed his mouth sores, hooked him up to IV fluids, administered pain medicine and checked his counts. John woke up Tuesday feeling better and it improved each day. He was eating regular food by Wednesday.

On Thursday afternoon, Jimmy and John were playing in the backyard. The music was blaring on the outdoor speakers (The Beatles, of course). One of John's best friends dropped in for an unexpected visit. As I walked in the house, I could see the boys shooting hoops. I grabbed John's Nano and took the video posted here. For a moment, I forgot all about cancer, hospitals, chemo- it was just so PERFECT!

Phase 3 Has Begun.....

3AM HOME FROM ER VISIT - IT SNOWED IN ORINDA!!!

NEW ADDITION TO GOLDEN BEAR ROSTER!

JEROME RANDLE - JOHN RICKSEN - MIKE MONTGOMERY

JOHN AND CAROLINE

JOHN ATE THE ENTIRE CRAB!

OSKI, AUNT LINDA, JOHN AND CAROLINE - CAL VS. STANFORD

LAFAYETTE RESERVOIR PLAYGROUND

NEW YEARS EVE! 2010 IS GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR

CHRISTMAS EVE - BRUZZONE & RICKSEN COUSINS

CORDEVALLE

I did it again....I took another month to post! I guess we have been busy. I decided to post a collection of photos from the past month to share how well John is doing.

We just finished Phase 2 of treatment and it went very well. We experienced one ER visit (John had a fever from the flu) and two blood transfusions. All of this was pretty straightforward and to be expected.

John has been busy spending time with family and friends. He continues to do well with his school work and seems to be on track with his 2nd grade class. He was able to go back and visit his class before the Holidays and bring his classmates a Christmas gift bag.

As usual, the boys kept busy with Cal basketball games. Head coach Mike Montgomery and starting point guard Jerome Randle presented John with his very own Cal jersey with his name on the back. This was such a treat for John. He wears it everywhere and every day. He sleeps in it at night and it apparently qualifies as formal wear. You will see above in pictures from Christmas Eve - the jersey is on.

John continues to remain active - shooting baskets daily, playing golf with Dad and Uncle Casey and walking the Lafayette Reservoir (2.7 miles)!

My parents came up to spend Christmas with our family. We loved having them up here to celebrate with us. They even babysat so Mike and I could get away on an overnight with our close friends. We enjoyed a wonderful 24 hour vacation - complete with hiking, relaxing, good food and lots of laughs (thanks Brian and Laura)!

John was admitted back to Childrens Hospital on Tuesday morning to start Phase 3 (Interim Maintenance). Mike and I have been anxious for this phase since it will require a lot of time back in the hospital, which is hard for everyone. John received his intrathecal chemo and a 24 hour infusion of high does methotrexate. He could not be released until it was all out of his system. The doctors said this could take anywhere from 3-5 days. We are happy to say that it only took John 3 days and we were released Friday (a day earlier than expected).

John seems to be tolerating it well and we hope to remain home until Wednesday, January 20th. We will have this treatment four times over the next sixty days, which means 16-20 of the next 60 days will be at Childrens Hospital. We know that Kerry has started a meal calendar for us to help with this more intense round of treatment and appreciate all of you who continue to support us in so many immeasurable ways!

John Makes His Directorial Debut

Sorry it's been so long since our last post. We spent the last couple weeks waiting for John's counts to go back up. During that time, here are some of the highlights.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Casey's house. It was so nice to be together. Even in a year that's brought us great loss and considerable challenges, Mike and I realize how much we have to be thankful for. Caroline flew all by herself to spend Thanksgiving in Palm Desert with my mom and dad and the Clemens family. We missed her so much but know that she had a great time swimming, playing with her cousins, and driving the golf cart. My dad says she's a lot like me - a bit of a lead foot.

After Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a really fun visit with John's cousins - the Griffin clan. Their youngest, Tommy, got to be the ball boy for the Cal vs. Princeton basketball game. John loved sitting in the stands as his Aunt Jill watched her team go down in flames. We can still hear her yelling "back door"!

On Wednesday, December 2nd, John's counts were finally up high enough for his treatment to continue. We checked into the hospital that day and were were released Thursday night in time to spend the evening with Jimmy to celebrate his 11th birthday.

During our hospital stay, as I was talking on the phone with my mom, John was busy making his own home movie. I had no idea he was doing it and have posted it here for your enjoyment. John continues to be constant entertainment for us. Even in our darkest days, he never stops giving us reasons to smile.

Blood Transfusion

As we mentioned in our last update, John's doctors are very pleased with how his cancer is responding to treatment. Unfortunately, the chemotherapy has also affected his immune system and caused his white blood cell counts to be very low.

John was at Childrens Hospital all day Wednesday for a blood transfusion. This did not come as a surprise to us -- the doctors told us that this was to be expected as John continues his treatment. Because of his suppressed immune system, John cannot be out and about due to risk of infection. He's stuck at home with me!

Despite needing the transfusion, John's energy level has been great and he seems to be feeling fine. And true to his nature, John can make anything fun. Our big game on Wednesday at the hospital was trying to figure out whose blood John was getting. John was pretty convinced it was coming from a professional baseball player, or possibly Elvis. He was doing such a great job on his school work the next day, I'm thinking maybe it came from someone very smart. A Harvard PHD, perhaps?

John was scheduled to go back to the hospital for treatment on Monday, but the doctors have decided to delay that until his counts are back up. I'm secretly happy, as I wasn't quite ready to go back in. Now, we'll most likely have until the end of next week....plenty of time for us to do some of our favorite activities together at home.