Today is Halloween at SCCA

Last night I stayed up until almost 4am. I liked talking to all the night time nurses. There are a lot of ones from last year at night. Keflam, Todd, Jake and Andrew are all really nice. They talk to me when I'm bored. I got to hand out alot of Halloween candy. I even had a piece of pizza.

There was a Halloween party here today. I had fun. The nurses dressed up as butterflys and the residents and fellows dressed up as Dr. Mathews. It was pretty funny. I'm going to try to post some of the pictures if I can figure out how to do it. I got my face painted. They painted my eyelids with eyeballs so it looked like my eyes were open when they were actually shut. I'm going to play tricks on the nighttime nurses tonight. See if they notice.

Waiting for a Bone Marrow Match - October 29, 2007

Today I find that my mom, dad or brother are not a match for my bone marrow. Now I wait for a match from the bone marrow bank. I'm still in the hospital from my first chemo. They said I'd be able to go home for a few days after about a month. It's only been 18 days so far, but it feels like a lot longer. It will take 1-3 months for a bone marrow transplant, I dont' really know for sure. Everyone says a different thing. I just have to go with the flow because I dont' get a say in anything.

While I'm waiting, I have to do these one month chemos. It's no fun that is for sure. The actual chemo takes about a week and it makes me sick. I take lots of medicine to help with the sick feeling, but it makes me very tired. Once that's over I feel ok. I'm feeling pretty good right now but they tell me I have "no counts." This means I have no ANC (Absolute Nutrafil Count) or white blood cells in my blood. As soon as my counts go over 200 I can go home for a few days. I hope that means more than 2 days, but I bet it doesn't mean a week. I want to see all my friends while I'm at home.

I guess I can't go to school for a long time. I don't really want to miss that much school. I was just starting to feel like I was caught up from the last time and now I am behind again. My mom says we will try to get some work, but I'm not really sure that is going to work.

Leave a note if you read this. I'm just getting use to this blog

Secondary Leukemia Diagnosed

Oct 5th, I went in for my 9 month scans. The scans turned out ok, but the blood didn't. The next day I had a bone marrow biopsy to confirm that I have Secondary AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia). This means I got leukemia cancer from my original bone cancer treatement. This is pretty rare, but not rare enough for me.
I got that weekend off, which was good because it was Coleman's birthday party. Then, by the next thursday I was in surgery getting a hickman line inserted in my chest. By friday I was getting chemo again. Totally different kinds than the last ones that gave me cancer, but with more side effects. With this chemo I must stay in the hospital until my white blood cell count comes back up. This could take up to a month or more. What I really need is a bone marrow transplant. The chemo rotted my bone marrow and the best way to fix that is to give me new bone marrow.
My brother got his blood tested, and it takes 3 weeks to find out if he's a match. He would make the best 'natural' match, but the chances are only 25%. If he isn't a match, then other family will get tested, but we will probably have to go to a International Bank of Bone Marrow Donors. It could take months to get a transplant, and several more chemos before it's available.
In the meantime, I'm done with the first chemo, and I'm bored in the hospital. I really do not like staying here day after day. It's really boring. I can't even leave the floor.
Today, my friends Nick & Daniel came to see me. Thanks for the donuts guys. Really enjoy those!

August 2007 to Alaska on the Cape Decision

Once again, I got to travel through the SE islands of Alaska with my Grandpa Jack on the Cape Decision. We caught lots of salmon and crab. Evan and his dad were on the trip too. Nice to have them aboard.

Grant does Disneyland & California Adventure

On June 2nd, Mom flew me & my brother down to Anaheim, where she was at a convention. We got to stay in the Disneyland Hotel for 3 nights with our favorite Utah relatives, Diana, Savanah, Brittany, Aubrey and Jeanine from Canada. We stayed in a suite near the top floor. It felt like we were high in the sky. We hardly had any sleep. We went on all the rides at the California Adventure. We went on the River Ride 9 times in a row!! We all were absolutely soaking wet. I finally went on a roller coaster upside down. It went really fast and was so fun we went 3 more times. It was pretty warm out compared to the Seattle rain.

Grant "Makes a Wish"

In February 2007 I got to "Make a Wish". I wished to fish in the Florida Keys. What a blast me and my family had. 4 fishing boat charters, lots of fish, nice hotel, shopping at the Worldwide Sportsman, drinking pina coladas at the Tiki Hut, and fun in the sun. And the gators. What can I say about the aligators? I find them facinating. We went to an aligator farm, where they raise them to use their skins.

Grant Diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma

January 25, 2006 I was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma Bone Cancer in my left jaw. I went through 42 weeks of chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation. I finished treatment in December 2006 right before my 13th birthday. I got pretty sick and didn't feel good most of the time, but I got through it.