Sat, June 21st - It was my wife Denise's night last evening at the hospital and my daughter Madisen joined her. It was another peaceful evening, or at least as peaceful as a hospital room can be where nurses are in and out all night checking vitals and the like. Our daughter Madisen got a first hand lesson on what a night at the hospital is like and I am sure she will welcome her own bed this evening. I went home last night and was joined at my home by 2 of my very good friends Steve Lashley and Manny Soto. We had some great conversation late into the evening and Manny and I put a good dent on a bottle of wine. The morning and early afternoon at the hospital brought many visitors and Cole was excited to see all! Is was a day full of Nerf gun target practice, video games and some nice conversations. We were visited by the Lasheys, Nortons, Walkers and Jacobsons. Cole finally ate a decent lunch today. This was the first time in a few days for this. I don't anticipate that this lack of appetite will last for long, as the steroids will be kicking in soon and then I am sure that he will be an eating machine. So far his ANC counts are up and visitors are still welcome. When these counts are down, his immune system is more susceptible and we need to restrict visitors. This evening we were joined by the Ruckers and Cole enjoyed an evening with some more good friends. The Ruckers also brought my son Michael up to the hospital, as it is his first time to sleep at the hospital with his brother and myself.  The Ruckers let me know that we had sold the 200 bracelets that they had ordered and they just had ordered 200 more. I am just amazed at the traction that this effort has gained and the amount of love and offers of support that we have received. We are truly blessed.

Cole continues to accept his treatments with little adverse affects on him except for being a little tired. We are scheduled to be in the hospital until Wednesday or Thursday, and then we will complete the remainder of the first 30 days of treatment on an outpatient basis. This first 30 days is very important and will be very telling. If all goes well, we will reach remission in this first 30 days. Then we follow up with 60 more days of chemo. At some point radiation will be introduced. This is very scary and we will be doing quite a bit of research regarding the best facilities to administer it. Once the first 90 days of chemo are done, our study / treatment plan has 2 distinct paths. One path calls for a multi-year chemo treatment plan and the other calls for a bone marrow transplant. Both of these paths will be a long and challenging road.

So continue to send your positive thoughts and prayers, so this sweet young beautiful boy can get rid of this terrible disease once and for all!