maintenance!

Today was Wednesday and we didn't go to the hospital. And not because we are on hold and waiting. But because we didn't have to!

You guys, Ethan is now in Maintenance!

Last Wednesday (Oct 15th) was Day 1 of Ethan's first cycle in Maintenance. This phase will last for the next two and a half years. Each cycle is 84 days and will repeat until his last day on May 28th, 2017 (which will also be our sweet Eloise's fifth birthday :) ).

Ethan wasn't quite as excited about taking a picture to celebrate the day. :)

He was, however, excited about the elevator, per usual.

So, our schedule changes a little bit now. Ethan will still be getting chemo throughout the next two and a half years --- but instead of IV chemo every week at the hospital, he now will go once a month for IV chemo and once every 3 months for intrathecal chemo. He will have to take some oral chemo at home and steroids, along with his other meds.

The purpose of this phase is to maintain his remission. The last 9 months were meant to wipe out any cancer cells hiding throughout his blood and so the chemotherapy was very intensive and purposeful to knock down his counts. Now, the goal is to keep his counts within a range above 500 (the threshold for neutropenia) and below 1500. If his counts go to high or too low, his chemo doses will be adjusted accordingly.

It's been a blessing to already get to take advantage of higher counts and Ethan feeling better. He's gotten a chance to go to school every day this week so far.

We've been enjoying the sunshine.

We've been going to the park.

I mean, could this girl look any sweeter with those hands clasped so tightly? She did this every single time she went down the big twirly slide.

Today they wanted to sit in their chairs and look at the stars (in the middle of the afternoon). :)

And, Pete and I our 3 friends (Kelly, Matt & Kristian) who have been training and fundraising together -- ran our half marathon on Sunday morning! What an honor it was to run for Ethan! It was a beautiful morning to run and heavy on my heart the entire race the reason for running. Thank you again to everyone who helped us to reach our fundraising goal for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

We were blessed to have the BEST cheerleaders!

So, Maintenance is here. This phase seemed so far away when we first started this whole journey, and now, we are in it. Oh, thank you Jesus! And thank you faithful army, for your continued prayers for Ethan and our family. This race we are running isn't over, but it sure feels good to be at this stage.

grateful

So we've had a busy couple of weeks. Lots of celebrations and just a lot going on. About a week and a half ago Ethan had the last IV chemo treatment for Delayed Intensification and we've been on a "break" from chemo, finishing up this phase while his counts recover from the big gun chemo he's received this phase.

In the mean time, we've also gotten to do some celebrating! We can't say a big enough thank you to everyone who came out to walk with us at Light the Night! Ethan had such a blast - it was an absolute joy to see him running and playing and laughing, surrounded by so many that love him so much!

We had a team of almost 50 here in St. Louis and at the Minnesota Light the Night, a team of around 20, and Ethan even got to have his picture up on the big screen!

Our Team Ethan Ice Cream Social Fundraiser was the morning after Light the Night and was also a huge success!

In summary - thank you! Truly, we are so grateful for such love and support - these last few weeks especially have just been filled with a lot of celebrating and we are just so thankful.


Thankful also for how much money we've been able to raise for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Team Ethan Minnesota has raised over $10,000 and our fundraising efforts here in St. Louis have raised nearly $7,000 when you combine our Light the Night and Team in Training donations together. Combined - that's almost $17,000 you guys.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to that number. For those who contributed large and small - $10 and $25 and $50 and $100. For those who don't even know us but sent us a check. For TPAC Underwriters in Minneapolis, where my Uncle Rob works, who made a $10,000 donation, which left me in absolute happy, speechless, tears. For the people who spent $10 (or more) to get some ice cream at our fundraiser last weekend. Truly, you all have left me speechless and I'm so thankful that we can make such a significant contribution to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

As for what's next for Ethan -- he had his pre-chemo labs done today that he needed for the first day of Maintenance that was supposed to start on Wednesday (10/8), but his labs came back showing that he is still neutropenic (he was last week as well) and so things are on hold until next week. He'll have labs checked again on Monday 10/13 and as long as his ANC is 750 or higher, he will get to start Maintenance on Wednesday 10/15. Please pray that his counts continue to recover and that we all stay healthy!