Save Jace

We have had 3 treatments of radiation so far. We found out that we will be here in Houston for a total of 7 weeks of treatment. This is week 1. Jace is taking it like he takes everything. He is reacting very well and has not had any naseau yet. The Radiologist said that if he was going to get naseau from the treatment he would get it right away and it would not take any time, so since he has not gotten it yet, he probably wont from the radiation.

He is however, getting sick from the chemo. He takes it every night about half an hour before bed. He has thrown up 4 times total since we started giving it to him last Thursday night. Its kind of scary with the random vomiting as this is how all of this came about back in January of last year.

Josh posed a question to me yesterday for the radiologist which in turn got us a surprising response. He wanted to know if they were doing radiation on the spine right now, what were they doing to directly treat the “New growth” in his brain. When I asked the Dr, she informed me that Jace was getting radiation to his brain and spinal cavity in the entirety. So he is not getting any kind of beam radiation right now, he is just getting regular entire radiation to his brain and spine. The risks are greater in this kind of radiation, but he will only be getting 13 treatments of it. It is also a lower dosage than the proton radiation. I don’t think we fully understood this when they talked about it last week. But we do now. And it helps to know that he is being treated entirely. Continued prayers and Gods hand will guide this radiation to the right place so that Jace will not be affected in anyway.

After the 13 treatments are finished, he will then go on to get the 18 proton radiation treatments which will be more powerful and directed strongly in the tumor areas of the brain. These are the more precise machines which can generalize specific areas and attack the cancer cells he does have.

We have been prepping Jace for his hair loss, as the Doctor informed me that he will probably start losing it as soon as the end of the second week. She also told me he will probably start to get the radiation marks along his spine which are a “tanning” spot on his skin. I am glad to be prepared for this before I just notice them all happening.

Jace is a trooper. He has already won the hearts of his doctors, nurses and everyone else he comes in contact with here at MD Anderson, as you can imagine. He is a strong little guy and has the fight in him to beat this. With God on our sides, we will prevail.

God bless each and every one of you and I will try and update as much as possible throughout his treatment.

Here are some pictures of Jace with his port a cath accessed. This is what it looks like Mon-Fri. And also the markings on his back for his spinal radiation. There are none on his head, as he uses a mesh mask while sedated. We call them tattoos. If you ask him, he’ll show you and tell you they are purple and red.

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