thirty eight.

When Jaxon finished treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on June 11, 2017 - he had been on chemo for 38 months (3.17 years, 165.47 weeks, 1158 days). 

As of 6:00 this evening, he has been off chemo (and the wretched steroids) for as long as he was on! This feels like a really big deal. 

He's been off treatment for just over 3 years.

His most recent check-up in June happened virtually due to Covid-19, and his blood counts were perfectly within normal range. That was the last of his quarterly check-ups. Next one is in December. He'll have check-ups every six months until June 2022, which will take us to 5 years off treatment which is a REALLY big deal in the childhood cancer experience. From there he'll have check-ups once a year until he's old enough to make his own medical decisions. 

We are grateful.

hello?

Hi.

I thought I couldn't access my blog anymore for some reason,
but it seems that I can!

All is well 2.5 years after completing treatment.

Dr. Ewa told me on Tuesday that it's probably time for me to stop keeping track of Jaxon's bloodwork results. They've been normal and "in the black" with no caution flags for ... a long time.

We'll see. I do like to track his height and weight. He's perfectly within the 50th percentile for his age group and thriving at school and his new passion - hockey!

I'm hoping to finish up a few posts that have been sitting in my "drafts" folder for a long time, especially as there is some exciting news to share as a result of the study Jaxon was on for his treatment ... and some other progressive steps in the treatment of his diagnosis - Standard Risk Pre-B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Next quarterly appointments are March and June 2020.

Then he'll move to biannual visits in December 2020, June 2021, December 2021, June 2022.

Then annual from June 2023 until he's old enough to make his own medical decisions.

More to come.

While you wait, I encourage you to find somewhere to donate blood!

www.blood.ca

Please leave a comment so I know you're reading. :)

hello. all is well.

Hi friends.

I'm working on getting this old blog updated with more of the details from treatment and our life since then. I'll be backdating some posts, so they won't show at the top.

Nearly 2 years off of active treatment, Jaxon is 10 years old and thriving. He completed his first full season of minor hockey in March and began his 6th season of minor baseball on April 1.

April 10 was the 5th anniversary of his diagnosis.

It was also the first game of ball season - a home opener!

Five years today was our family’s darkest day when we learned of Jaxon’s leukemia diagnosis. We didn’t know what the next hours or days would look like but here we are now. Ever and always grateful. Rejoicing with other survivors, remembering the ones who are still walking through the deep waters of treatment and uncertainty, and honouring the ones who are no longer with us. ♥️ Even JUST ONE kid with cancer is TOO MANY KIDS WITH CANCER!

Today, after spending 4 hours playing lots of road hockey and a little bit of video games with his friends he asked me "what are we doing today?".

Life is good.

Jax accumulated a LOT of Lego over his 3 years in treatment, and continued to collect after as well. In January he decided to reduce his collection. Some favourites were kept, some given to brother Marty, some sent to the consignment store, and several smaller sets donated to the peds oncology clinic at VGH for kids to build on long days, or just to take home.

Jax and Tucker sorting Lego - January 2019
{Tucker is 11, one year and one month older than his littlest boy.}