Super Hero Cooper

Monday was a LONG day. We were thankful to be home but we still had a big day on Monday at our first day of clinic. Cooper had another OR procedure where he got a Lumbar Puncture and they administered another round of chemo into his spine. This procedure was a little easier than his last OR visit with the exception of one thing...STEROIDS and no food! Cooper in the clinic playroom with his new stuffed friend who also wears a mask:) Cooper handled the anesthesia much better this time. When he woke up he said "You're lucky I'm happy today." Never a dull moment. The doctors said he is responding really well to treatment and they expect to see dramatic changes in the amounts of leukemia in his bone marrow already. When we started he was at 84% in his bone marrow. They expect after Monday to see 1%. WOW! This will not change the length of treatment since leukemia has a way of hiding and is also really good at coming back. However, this news gives us a lot of hope th

Many of you are probably wondering how we got here. We often wonder the same thing. It has taken us a while to be able to revisit the ugly. Don't get me wrong, it is all ugly, but it takes a while to revisit the day that would change your life forever. My mom heart just wasn't ready for that yet. At the beginning of July, Cooper was complaining of pain in his legs, We saw his docs and everyone figured that it was growing pains. He had grown 2 1/2 inches since December. The pain seemed to come and go and wasn't changing his activity level. After Evyn was born on July 15th, Cooper was continuing his ice hockey lessons. We noticed that he was regressing. Cooper told us that he was afraid of falling and that his legs were hurting from week to week. When Evyn was 2 1/2 weeks old Cooper spiked a fever of 103 and got a tummy bug. This was odd for our child who doesn't get fevers. With a newborn in the house, we were super concerned about her with a fever that high. Once ag

Today was a good day! After careful review of Cooper's counts, and overall response to his first few rounds of chemo, the doctors made the decision to send us home a few days early!  Initially they were expecting to send us home on Tuesday (Day 8) however he seems to be doing well enough that they sent us back today (Day 4).  We still have a long (long) road ahead, but if there is one thing we have learned over the last  6 days it is that you need to focus on the positives and not the bad things.  With that in mind, we are thrilled at his continued positive prognosis, our return home today, and his overall spirit!  We also continue to be extremely grateful for Coopers doctors and nurses at Johns Hopkins. Cooper will begin his twice weekly outpatient chemo regimen on Monday.  The next 24 days (his first "block" of chemotherapy) will be a challenge but we know God, and his work through Cooper's amazing medical team, will get us through this! Finally for today

Yesterday Cooper had another uneventful day. We like these kinds of days here. He got to play, build some legos, and even go to the gym. We are still working through steroids which I know will be an uphill battle through the next month. Sometimes my kid is Bruce Banner, sometimes he is the Hulk. He learned how to take pills with chocolate pudding since the night before, Hulk spit all of his meds out a mommy, daddy, and the nurse, and doesn't remember a bit of it. Many times we need so much patience, and need to realize that this isn't really our child, and one day our sweet Cooper will be back to normal. Cruising the halls in his Mercedes Benz Doctor Cooper in the house Our good news from yesterday was that his spinal fluid was clear, which means no cancer in his spinal fluid and less OR procedures for chemo in his spinal cord through his treatment. Most definitely a blessing. If all goes well, we go home today. We can't wait.  Love, Hugs, and hopefu

Yesterday was a good day. Good is relative these days, but Cooper got disconnected from his "IV leash" and got to run around the unit and be a kid. If we have learned anything, it is that you have to try really hard to look for the good. If you don't it can take you under. After 2 chemo treatments and blood transfusions, he already looks better, and seems to have more energy and better color. He was back to his old tricks and keeping the nurses on their toes. When the nurses ask Cooper how he is feeling he says "I'm better than the grown-ups." Cooper got to do a jelly bean activity with the child life specialist to help him understand what is going on in his body. He ate most of the jelly beans and sprinkles during the lesson, but still learned a lot. The lesson helped mommy too. Cooper has been a CHAMP through everything and oddly enough our biggest struggle through all of the needles, OR visits, and treatments has been the darn EKG stic

So I am new to this whole blogging thing, so please be patient as I learn this new medium.  Sorry again for a long post. I realize I posted the initial "announcement" a few days late.  I hope you can understand that it's been a whirlwind few days for us. I have some news though. Cooper's diagnosis has been confirmed to be Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).  If you are like me and know nothing about the various stages/types of leukemia, I won't bore you with all the details, but here are the highlights.  As we understand it... ALL is the most treatable form of leukemia. Cooper's age (5) puts him in a lower risk category for this disease This was caught very early. A few specifics on the past few days.  Cooper was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Saturday evening with a suspected diagnosis but not yet confirmed.  His blood results gave the ER staff and Oncologists a fairly high confidence on their preliminary diagnosis; however the

18 Aug 2018 So it begins... There are certain days in your life that you will always remember - wedding day, birth of a child, the day you bought your first home, graduations - you get the idea. Unfortunately not all these dates are remembered for a positive reason... It is with absolute heartbreak that Kristy and I want to let our family, friends and loved ones know that on Aug 18 2018, our son, Cooper was diagnosed with child leukemia.  I cannot put into words how we are feeling or even if we have fully comprehended what this means for us as a family.  As most of you readers probably know, Kristy and I were blessed to welcome Evyn Wylde Trueblood into the word on 15 Jul 2018. So adjusting our lives to a newborn and a family of 4, to now have this news is more than we ever thought we would be able to handle. I am opening this page mainly for three reasons.  First and foremost to remember Cooper in your thoughts and prayers.  Our God is the creator, great healer and more impo