Dane's Journey

Hello everyone,

We know there are many people following Dane's journey so we accepted a good friend's offer to create a blog site to share our various updates. Today is our inaugural entry and I'm hopeful I've mastered this technology.

We just took this picture of Dane about half an hour ago. He was very excited to open a new set of hockey figurines that he received as a gift from a hockey coach he had two years ago. As you can see, aside from a bit of bags under his eyes, he looks great! He has felt awesome today, I would say probably the best he has felt in several weeks. He had lots of energy and was in good spirits. Today was a "free day" for Dane as there were no trips to the hospital. I'm sure that his fingers are tired from the several hours spent playing his new Madden 09 on the Wii!

For those that are catching up on Dane's journey, after a few weeks of not feeling well, a couple of skin infections and several return trips to Children's Hospital, he was admitted on Monday Jan 5, 2009. Our worst fears were confirmed the next day when he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). His diagnosis day was horrendous and terrifying but we survived. The next four days were filled with many tests, "pokes", a blood transfusion, IVs and nurse/doctor check-ups. He was kept at Children's until Saturday when we were released early for "good behaviour". He was feeling great, his hemoglobin count was way up from earlier in the week and he was literally running laps around the ward pushing his IV. We were very relieved to be back in our own home on Saturday and he had a good sleep that night.

Yesterday was a very tough day. Dane was feeling well, however he is on many medications, specifically steroids that make him moody & irritable. Ashley's emotions peaked as well, as she really missed her mom & dad and was struggling with all the attention being focused on Dane. Of course she is also old enough to realize leukemia is cancer and that's a very bad thing, so her fears about her brother's survival were front and center. Added to their emotions were two exhausted parents (one of whom is five months pregnant) at their breaking point. By the time 9:00 pm arrived, we were all lucky no-one had run away. Fortunately we all had pretty good sleeps last night and today has been much smoother.

Tomorrow and Wednesday will be very hard, as we will be spending most of the time at the Cancer Clinic and Children's Hospital. Dane has to have his blood checked, two injections in his thighs and a doctor check-up tomorrow. Wednesday he undergoes another bone marrow test, a spinal tap and a chemotherapy treatment. Fortunately he will be sedated for much of these procedures and the only pain he really feels is from the pricks in his back. Following Wednesday he shouldn't have to return to the hospital until next week unless heaven forbid he gets another infection (which we are assuming won't happen). Dirk and I really struggle with all these tests and procedures - it is heart wrenching watching our special son during this very hard time. However this is our new reality and we have to find the strength to make it through - we owe this to Dane, Ashley and our baby daughter due in May.

Before I sign-off for tonight, I'd like to pass along our heartfelt thanks to everyone in our lives for their tremendous support and caring. The list is just too long for me to name people individually and I don't want to forget anyone, however you can't imagine how uplifting the phone calls, e-mails, visits to the hospital/home, care giving for Ashley, presents for Dane and Ashley, food and baking, work arrangements and offers to shovel, clean, entertain Ashley, etc. have been. We are very fortunate to be surrounded by such great people and to all of you - THANK YOU!!! Dane's treatment is scheduled to last three years, so that combined with a new baby in a few months is going to make this journey a marathon vs. a sprint. All your support and assistance is what will get us through this most difficult time.

For those of you who know our family history well, Dane's illness hits doubly hard because ten years ago our first-born child Cole Andrew passed away from a rare genetic disorder when he was 17 days old. We have walked this kind of walk before, and it's a hurt that cannot be described. This time though the prognosis is very favorable and Dane will make it - he just absolutely has to.

We will post another update in the next couple of days. In the meantime, please hold good thoughts for Dane.

Warmly - Janie and Dirk