Matthew is doing well!
He is being blessed with great caregivers and is tolerating the 2nd cycle of I.C.E. as well as he did the first one. We continue to pray that he will finish this cycle feeling great and that the chemo will have targeted only the cells it needs to destroy and that it will leave all the healthy cells alone. We are praying that once we get to the next scan that we will see serious reduction in the disease or, if it is God’s will, a complete elimination of it. We can’t thank you all enough for all your continued prayers, love and support. May the Lord bless and keep you all!!!

The picture above is of Matthew and his big sis Christi as he was waiting for admission a few days ago. Gotta love the smiles and laughter!!!!!

Today Matthew made numbers so we will be checking in for the final scheduled cycle of I.C.E. tonight.

He has had a great week though while waiting for today and especially was able to enjoy Valentine’s Day with sweet Emma! I don’t have a picture of it, though I did see one, where Emma had set up her backyard so they could have a special picnic dinner!!!!!

The picture I do have is of Matthew receiving and opening Happy Valentine’s Day cards sent from the entire 5th grade class at the school where Mom teaches.

Please pray that this cycle of I.C.E. will go as smoothly as the last one. We ask the Lord that the Chemo only target what needs to be attacked and that it leaves all the healthy cells alone. We pray that this cycle will reduce or even eliminate the cancer and that Matthew can soon move on to the recovery portion of his ‘adventure’. God’s will be done!!!

As always, thank you for your prayers and support. We have been so blessed and are so very grateful!

May the Lord bless you all!

As part of Matthew’s 1 week reprieve before the next cycle he wanted to go to his school and enjoy the annual Mr. Debonair contest. We are extremely humbled by the fact that the school has decided to apply the proceeds from this event towards their giving Matthew a Make-a-wish, one of three they are funding this year!

It was great to see Matthew sitting with sweet Emma and laughing and cheering on his classmates. Brandon, one of his band friends, won the contest.Congratulations Brandon and all the participants. It was a very entertaining evening!

We are so thankful and grateful to the wonderful folks at Klein Oak for the love and ongoing support they have for Matthew.

So many of you are praying for Matthew and that means so very much to us.

Next on the schedule … Valentine’s Day!!!!!

Update 02.09.12
We went in to TCH Tuesday morning to be admitted for the 2nd cycle of I.C.E., but Matthew’s platelets are a little low to “qualify” for admission, so they’ve sent us home & we’ll try again next week. This sounds like a set back, but Matthew feels great & everything else is strong so he’s viewing it as a free week! Planning to knock out a lot of school work, spend time with friends aND hopefully attend Divine Worship this Sunday.

This picture above is of Matthew signing next week’s pre-admission paperwork for the first time … now that he is 18!

Thanks to you all for your continued prayers and support as this Adventure continues!

God knows what’s going on, our trust is in Him!!!

May He bless and keep you all!

As we await Matthew being disconnected from his post hydration and getting the go ahead to head home, I thought I would reflect back on this cycle of Matthew’s Cancer Adventure.

As you know, the test after the first 5 cycles showed less than expected results. So the doctors all powwowed and came up with a new 2 cycle plan called I.C.E.. Janet found out the names of the 2 top Neuroblastoma gurus from Matthew’s nurse practitioner and we thought, “Hey, why not try giving them a call.”, not really expecting to get more than a general contact without flying to them for an in person consult. One of the gurus wanted just that, though they did call back later and answer some questions. The other hospital asked her some questions and then said someone will call. Later that day the phone rang and the #1 guru was calling personally. Long story short, the gurus all concurred that the I.C.E. treatment was exactly what they would do next. This brought us all alot of peace of mind.

Now, the I.C.E. chemo is a more intense cycle so we checked in expecting the likelihood of having to manage more nausia than the most intense round of the first 5 cycles. We planned to premedicate for nausia and found out that one med, the Emend, wouldn’t play nice with one of the meds so they added a steroid instead. The plan worked so well that throughout the entire cycle Matthew had ZERO nausia! Thanks be to God!

In addition to that good news Matthew has been able to eat this time, including two dinners where we brought him Fajitas for 2 and he ate the whole thing. We thought he was looking thicker, more muscular, perhaps gaining weight and Mom had him step on a scale and sure enough he has gained around 3 pounds while in the hospital. Wow! This is not typical but, with the lack of nausia and the steroid, not completely unexpected. We are thankful for the improvement.

He is soooo ready to go home … watching the clock, waiting for the time when they will stop the post-hydration, hep lock him, deaccess him, give him his NeuLasta injection and then say Hasta Luego!

And with amazing blood numbers, particularly an ANC of 8.46 (8460), we can expect to have a great time on Thursday and Friday as we celebrate his 18th birthday!!!!!

We can’t thank you all enough for all the prayers, thoughts and support.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

(This updates picture is of Matthew with one of his doctors)

p.s. On the way home Matthew was so happy and wanted to play all sorts of music with a “Home” theme. Love that boy so much!!!!!

What was going to be the final (6th) cycle has turned into the new 1st cycle (of 2). The doctor team has decided to be more aggressive based on results so far. The new combo is called I.C.E.

On the way into clinic Matthew said he was tempted to play that song, “Ice, Ice, Baby!” just for fun 🙂

We are thankfull that we have learned to pre-medicate for nausia so hopefully that will keep this new chemo combo at bay while it kicks Neuroblastoma’s butt!

As always we pray to God for a miracle and put our trust in His good and perfect will !!!

Deductibles and co-pays kinda shock us sometimes, however, your gifts and support have been amazing and humbling and have made the financial burden easier to bear. Together we will be on the other side of this adventure soon.

We ask for your continued prayers and will keep you posted as the adventure continues.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!!!

There are moments in the midst of Matthew’s “Adventure” that leave us very thankful to God, proud as parents and humbled before an amazing community of love and support.

Today, after waking up very early to go in for an echocardiogram and an EKG, Matthew found out that his senior class voted him “most handsome”!!!!! His girlfriend, sweet Emma, even overheard some girls at school asking “are you voting for Matt or so&so?” And the others said, “Matt Hogan!! He’s much hotter!”

Matthew, of course, let’s these kind of things bring a smile to his face, as they should … but then he let’s them roll off. (proud parents)

We are looking forward to a good blood report on Friday and then a weekend filled with lots of sweet Emma time, fun and good food!

We always remember you all in our prayers. And we are so thankful for all the continued prayers and support, especially as the plan of treatment to cure changes so Matthew will, by the grace of God, “Beat Neuroblastoma Like a Drum!”

May the Lord bless you and keep you!!!

New Years Eve in the hospital wasn’t the worst thing … because at midnight Matthew got out of bed and started dancing with IVy (his IV pole). Then mom joined in and I was able to grab a quick pic. After toasting in the New Year with some Sparkling Cider Matthew asked me to sit with him so Mom could take a picture of us too.

Cycle 5 has gone so well. Especially since cycle 3, the same stuff, was the roughest yet.

Matthew heads off any potential nausea by taking his breakthrough meds and as a result has had quite the appetite this time around. He has actually gained weight!

Next up will be some time at home followed by a clinic next week and then some more scans to see just how little of the cancer is left.

Please pray with us that the 5 cycles have done what they are intended to do, God willing, and that there will be little or no signs of the cancer when the results of the scans come back.

Matthew is up and about, eating and playing games with Mom.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

All the ongoing donations are leaving us speechless and they are truly a blessing. We don’t know what expenses the New Year will bring but we appreciate all of you for showing such love and care for Matthew as he progresses on his adventure.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!!!