Hello on a snowy Tuesday,
The plan goes forward, much as we thought it would, albeit a few days later. Joe will be admitted tomorrow, February 3, to start his 5th round of chemotherapy. His surgery scar has healed very well; the movement in his hand and all his fingers is good. Round 5 will be 3-days long and radiation will start on the 2nd day. Radiation will continue for 28 cycles (5 1/2 weeks) which will take us to mid-March (and through round 6 of chemo). The radiation will take place M-F, about 10 minutes of actual treatment per day. We are hopeful that the radiation will eliminate the microscopic amounts of cancer left in the soft tissue of Joe's arm.
Despite the setback of positive margins, we are feeling pretty good. Joe's cancer is still localized to his arm which is very important. Joe feels and looks great (his WBC has gone all the way back to normal), although he is less than thrilled about going into the hospital again.
This upcoming weekend is the University of Iowa's Dance Marathon. We are hoping Joe will feel well enough to go....it should be quite a sight, over 1,000 people dancing for 24 hours to raise money to support the children's oncology program. Check it out at http://www.uiowa.edu/~dancemar/ They will have a live webcast. The Pediatric Technology Group at UIHC made a video which shows Joe and the webcam to his class. They even interviewed Joe for it. It is set to be shown at the Dance Marathon at 12:10 on Saturday, February 7. I will try to have pictures from that at the next update.
In other family news, we are proud to share that on Tuesday, February 4, Seth, along with two of his classmates, will receive an "Outstanding Citizen" award from the Iowa City City Council. (http://www.icgov.org/meetingagenda/239.pdf)
Best wishes to everyone from all of us.
Jenny, Tom, Joe, Seth and Happy the dog
Posted by Seth at February 2, 2004 08:07 PMCongratulations, Seth, on the Outstanding Citizenship award! What a honor to be chosen by your teachers and principal at Hoover School. Enjoy your moment in the spotlight--they don't happen very often in life :-). Love to you all as you go through this next round of chemotherapy. You're in our thoughts and prayers. -the Smith/Tribbeys.
Posted by: Janet Smith at February 3, 2004 09:12 AMHi Seth: Great job on putting up this web site. Your brother is sure going through a lot. Brothers are special people and I know you are doing your best to hepl take care of him. Keep up the good work. Now I need to check into this citizenship thing!!!! Say HI to Cassie for me.
David Ricci
Posted by: David Ricci at February 3, 2004 09:32 AMCongrats to Seth for the Outstanding Citizenship Award. That's a wonderful achievement! Hope that Joe can boogie a little at the Dance Marathon at U of I this weekend.
We're sending lots of support and love your way.
The Scott-Millers