The first round of chemotherapy is complete.  The tests at Cook Children's Hospital have determined what we were told in Prague.  Payton has a tumor on the first rib on the left side of his chest.  The tumor is about 3-4 cm in length and growing toward the lungs.  The bone marrow test results will not be back until early next week, but we believe that it has spread into the bone marrow.  This type of cancer (Ewing's Sarcoma) is very aggressive and the measures to contain and hopefully destroy it are equally aggressive. 

Payton had a port implanted into his right chest cavity on Thursday (July 5th).  This port will allow the doctors and nurses easier access to blood samples and chemo administration.  This will minimize the number of times Payton will have to be stuck with needles.  This first cycle of chemotherapy involved 3 very strong drugs.  They began the process of chemo on Thursday night and again on Friday.  Payton had some nausea Thursday night but slept much better on Friday night.  As you can probably imagine, the side effects of each of these drugs can be severe.  For each chemo drug there are two or three drugs also given to counteract the nausea, kidney problems, mouth sores, infections, heart problems, etc.  We won't see all the effects of this for several days or even weeks.  Of course he will probably lose his hair.  Chemo drugs attack the rapidly multiplying cells in your body.  These cells include hair cells, nails, mouth and of course the cancer cells.  He was watched on Saturday (July 7th) and released that afternoon.  We are very excited to have him home.  We had several prescriptions to fill for nausea, antibiotics, etc.  One of the 20 pill prescriptions for nausea was over $700.00.  I thought I was going to need the pills after they told me that.   Luckily they had a generic brand for a mere $450.00.  Payton will also have to have a shot each night for 10 days following each return from chemotherapy.  These shots help stimulate the replacement of white blood cells, so we build protection from infections and prepare to destroy them again in the next chemo round.

The second round, which begins 3 weeks after the first, is much tougher.  It only involves 2 chemo drugs, but his hospital stay will be 6 days.  The drugs are much stronger and will slow him down a bit more than the first round.  He will get his 10 days of shots and we will return for the third round three weeks later.  The third round is 3 days and the fourth round is 6 days again.  After the fourth round they will redo the MRI, bone marrow test, CT scan and bone scan.  This is a very important time in the treatment process.  The surgeons will then make a decision if they can remove the tumor by surgery or if radiation will be necessary.  It is also the time when we will know if the chemotherapy is killing the cancer cells.  After the surgery or radiation, we have about 6 more rounds of chemotherapy, alternating between the 3 day and 6 day rounds.  The entire process should be between 9-10 months.

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Prayer Requests

• Continue to pray for healing.  We earnestly pray the tests after the 4th round of chemo will show complete healing.
• Please pray for Robin.  This has been a very trying time for her and she needs strength and encouragement.
• Please pray for baby Landry.  Robin had her first doctor appointment in Cleburne last week.  All looks well and Landry should join us in early October.  We already have several pink items and it looks very out of place in our house.
• Please pray for the other boys.  So many times the siblings are the ones that get left out when one has a serious illness.  Pray that Camden, Jared, Easton and Marek don't feel shorted during this time.
• Please pray for all those families who have serious/terminally ill children.  There are many families going through this who don't know the Great Comforter and Great Healer.  Pray that our light shines during our times at the hospital.

Praises

• Our entire family is now sleeping under the same roof again.  I can never explain how good that feels.
• There are so many of you that have touched our lives in incredible ways: financially, letters, gifts, emails, cards, calls, etc.  They all mean very much to us.  Thank you.
• We have been given use of a vehicle while Payton has his treatments.
• We have an incredible family that supports us and prays for us daily.  They are an unbelievable blessing.
• We still worship a God that lives and performs miracles.  We pray that through all this He receives all the glory!