1st Chemo therapy session

Caden started his first chemo treatment about 30 minutes ago. It is going to be a 6 hour process today. He has been a happy camper. He just had 2 big poop jobs, so now I think he is ready for a nap. Thank you all for your prayers. We really appreciate them.

Silly Daddy!!

Tommy measuring Caden to see if he would fit into the deluxe bed that he made up for him. Why don't these hospitals have the sleep number bed!! :-)

I sure love my Mommy!!!

Caden had another blood transfusion today. Jessica is taking a nap while Caden sleeps. He was up every 2 hours lastnight to eat, he is growing, this is great!!

The oncologist just came in, it is looking like Caden will be here for another 28 days for chemo and a week home and then back for 21 days, home a week, back for another 28 days etc. A total of 5 different sessions ending approx in Dec. and then an MRI every three months for a year, and then the MRI's will be every 6 months after that. Some of the chemo can possibly be done at home. Good news is, the spinal tap showed no cancer cells in the spinal fluid!!

I love my new fish,I think I got his eyes!!

Caden says... this is my mommy!!

I love Childrens hospital!

Caden is having a blood transfusion right now, they are replacing blood that was taken out for the kidney test to determine his kidney function. The Dr. just came in and said that his ports look good and are funtioning well.

Good News

Caden had his two picc lines put in today, he did very well. He also had his spinal tap and his hearing test. We will know the results on Thursday. He went approximently 7 hours without eating, so he is a hungry boy now. The breast milk and formula is being mixed. He loves that stinky formula, good flavor we guess!! We can't imagine it tasting good, but to each his own!! Tomorrow his kidney test will take between 5 and 6 hours. He can be held and fed during the procedure. So that is great!! He likes walking the halls. Everyone tells us how cute he is. Jessica got a nap today,which was a good thing, a couple times we were contemplating whether we should duck or not!! :-) (Grandma has their password) watch out!!!

The next step

Caden will be going into surgery tomorrow afternoon at 12:30pm for his central line for Chemo therapy, spinal tap, and hearing test. They have to do the hearing test for a baseline before they start chemo. Chemo can affect part of the inner ear. The spinal tap is so they can take fluid to check if there is cancer cells in the fluid around his spine. On wednesday they are going to do a kidney test to make sure his kidneys are functioning for chemo therapy. They should get those test results back on Thursday so we can start chemo on Friday. Caden is being pretty fussy tonight. Maybe he knows more is going to happen tomorrow. Poor baby.

Here are some more pictures of our sweet Caden. The third picture was added accidently but we decided that all of you might like to see him as a newborn. We sure love our little guy, he is a fighter!!! We will add more updates this evening, Jessica is talking to the Dr. right now.

Caden at 3:30 AM this morning

Address for donations

We have been given an address for any donations to the "Benefit for Caden Johnson" It is Desert Schools Federal Credit Union P.O. box 2942 phx az 85062-2942. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!! It is going to help so much for their medical expenses.

Donations

There has been an account set up for Caden Johnson at Desert Schools Federal Credit Union to assist in the medical expenses for his chemotherapy. You can go to any Desert Schools Federal Credit Union, the account is called Benefit For Caden Johnson. Thank you for your love and support.

Chemotherapy Plan Update

Doctor Etzl, the Director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at PCH came and talked to Jessica and I yesterday about what the plan is for Caden's Chemotherapy. He told us about a few options, and the best one seemed to be a plan that should begin in the next week or two. Basically, he would have a total of 5 actual Chemotherapy treatments, with treatments #1,3, & 5 he will require hospitalization for maybe 2-3 weeks (if he contracts an infection he would remain longer) as they will be particularly aggressive treatments, and then be able to return home for about the same amount of time before returning for the next treatment. Treatments 2 & 4 are not nearly as aggressive and might only require little or no hospitalization before he could return home again. Before they begin the treatments they will filter out bone marrow cells from his blood (very safe, non-harmful procedure), they will store and grow these cells during his treatment, and after his 5 chemo treatments are complete they will restore the cells back into his body. The reason they do this is because the #1,3 & 5 aggressive chemo treatments will probably destroy many of these cells which he needs for his Immune system, but by re-introducing these matured and grown cells from his own body after the treatments, he will be able to build up his own Immune system much better and faster. They will perform MRI scans and other tests in between the treatments to see how the Chemo is working, the entire process could take until the end of this year, that is of course including hospital time and time at home. His quickness in returning home also depends on if his white blood cell count is back up to being high enough to fight off infections after each treatment (mainly #1,3, & 5), the faster it gets up to a good count, the faster he can return home. Right now Caden seems to be doing well, he is still hooked up to a few things, but he was giggling and laughing at me yesterday, and he seems to be sleeping much better than he ever did at home. Of course Caden will always need one of us at the hospital during all of this time, we can leave for short amounts of time but due to his age we need to be there with him day and night. Throughout everything we are stuck in a shared room as all of the rooms are very full, so it's a little rough living in a shared room for possibly much of the next several months, but it's what we need to do for Caden. Thanks for all your love and support!!