Sorry I haven't updated for a week. I've been worn out. Cohen is doing great. He isn't so grumpy and he hasn't thrown up at all. He definitely handles the chemotherapy really well.
They are going to collect his stem cells really soon. We have been going to the hospital everyday (since Wednesday the 26th) for them to monitor his stem cells. They are thinking they will do the collection on Monday. He will have to get a catheter in his groin and stay pretty still during the collection. It could take anywhere from 1 to 5 days. He'll be in the hospital and probably be sedated the whole time.
I just wanted to tell everyone that I had the best Christmas ever. Kelsi was so happy and very sweet the whole day. Cohen was good until about 11:00 in the morning. He was grumpy the rest of the day; probably overwhelmed by all of the excitement. Chris and I had a nice relaxing day just watching the kids play with their toys. It was nice because we didn't have to think about anything medical with either of the kids. We were all just together the whole day. That doesn't happen that often. The best gift I received was from my sister-in-law Erin. She decorated the letters of faith with Cohen's picture. I will post a picture of it soon. It was very thoughtful.
Well, thank you so so much for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Day 4 of chemo

I definitely spoke to soon about this being an easier stay. He was so grumpy on Tuesday and Wednesday. He didn't want to play, just watch tv on my lap in the rocking chair. My knees were very sore last night. Today Kelsi is here and he is much happier. It also gives me a break because she is a great distraction. Plus I have a little buddy to eat with. Cohen has a really good appetite. The doctors and nurses are very surprised by that because other kids usually don't have an appetite during chemo.
His MIBG scan came back good. The tumor is shrinking and there is no sign of it anywhere else in his body. The size of the tumor before chemo was 9.8 x 8 cm. It is now 6 x 5.2 cm. It has 'markedly diminished and is nearly resolved' from the aorta, great vessels, and the inferior vena cava. Yay!!! I am so pleased. Hopefully they can remove the majority of it with surgery and the rest will completely disappear with chemo.
The other chemo that he is receiving this time is Ifosfamide. It has the same common effects as the others. Nausea/vomiting, low blood counts, and hair loss. It's funny, I thought he'd be completely bald by now but he still has peach fuzz.
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone at Associated Food Stores and their vendors for their donations. Also thank you to the anonymous donations. That was so very kind of all of you. It will help us out tremendously. Words can't express our gratitude.
Thank you for your prayers. They still seem to be working. We wish everyone a very merry christmas and of course a happy new year. :o)

Change of plans

They decided to start chemo today. He also had a bone marrow biopsy and a ct scan today. Those tests came back negative. Yay!!! He will have the MIBG on Wednesday (scan of his tissue.) But he wont have the bone scan tomorrow because they don't have any of the dye,that they inject in him to make the cancer/tumor light up, anywhere in Utah. They will have to schedule that in January. That is the test that I've been waiting for because it showed cancer in his skull last time. I guess I will just have to continue waiting patiently.
He was so cute today. He was just smiling and playing all day long. The only time he cried was when it was time for bed. What a nice change. Hopefully this hospital stay will be much easier than last time.
They are going to try and get us out of here by Friday night. Yay!!! He'll receive chemo earlier then he'll just need to be hydrated and we can go. He is receiving two chemotherapys this time. One is Etopiside. This is one of the very first chemotherapies he had. I'm not sure what the other one is but they each run for one hour.
Again thank you so much for all of your support and prayers. We really do appreciate it.

Chemo next week

Cohen's white blood cell count is back up and higher than we've seen. Yay! His red blood cells and platelets were really low, so yesterday they gave him transfusions at Primary Childrens. Chris and Cohen were there for 5 hours and Cohen did really well.
Next week he'll have the 3 scans and start chemo. He needs to be sedated for the scans so they have to do them on 3 different days; Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Chemo starts on Tuesday after the 2nd scan and will go for 5 days. If everything goes well he'll be able to go home on the 23rd at the earliest and probably the 24th at the latest. I really don't want to spend Christmas at the hospital. But if we have to we'll make the best of it.
Thank you so much for your prayers!

I thought I'd update since it's been awhile. Nothing new. He is still grouchy but doing good. His counts are really low again but should come back up soon. That's pretty much it. Thank you for all of your prayers.