Wow what a year! 2007 is finally coming to an end. What will 2008 bring? Everyone that reads this can help bring more awareness to Neuroblastoma research. 10 years ago kids diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma like Logan only had a 10% chance to survive. With research/technology it is now 40% survival rate....still way to low.
What will 2008 bring? Well 5 weeks in January/February Logan will be getting his stem cell transplant. We then get a short break in which Make A Wish is sending Logan & family to Disneyland. Upon our return he will go through intense radiation treatment that can permanently damage his kidney and surrounding organs. We also have to make a decision early this year on whether we want to put Logan through a trial after radiation. This trail would mean he would go into the hospital once a week for 5 months and receive a experimental medicine that would put him in extreme pain (affects nerves). Studies are still going on and as we find out more we will convey it on our blog. My gut feeling so far is Logan is not a lab rat...if you can't tell me that it will definitely increase his survival rate than NO we are not interested. It we decide not to do trial Logan will take some medicine at home and be watched closely for any tumors/cancer cell returning.

In the mean time we will be enjoying each other one day at a time during this short break from the hospital. Logan is doing amazing. Last night Grandma, Grandpa David, Dad, and Logan had a bowling competition on the Wii....Logan kicked our butts! He bowled 8 strikes and scores a 170! He is awesome!

Everyone have a safe & Happy New Year!

Happy Saturday to all. Logan is doing great! He is busy beating up on Mom & Dad on the Wii. Tennis is his favorite game. He also is real good at bowling. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Another great day for Logan. Dad & Logan headed up around 6:30am for his Kidney tests. They put some medicine in him and then had to prick his finger 3 times at 11:45am, 12:45pm, & 1:45pm. We will get results back next week. Logan did awesome. Not much else to report which is a good thing. Not to jinx things but right now our next appointment is not scheduled until January 10th!!!

Happy Wednesday to all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas. For our family it was amazing and one we will never forget. The amount of people that reached out to make sure Logan's Christmas was awesome was amazing. He even told us that it was the best Christmas ever. Santa came through w/ plenty of gifts but most importantly Logan got the one dream gift he asked for....a Wii Nintendo Game System. My arm is actually a little sore today from our intense bowling tournament yesterday.

Today Logan & Mom went up to the hospital for two tests and a platelet transfusion. The first test was a hearing test. Logan had one when all of this started back in early August. One of the side effects of the chemo medicine is hearing loss. Logan's test today showed he has had slight hearing loss and it is permanent. The good thing is that what was lost is only sound at very high decibels that does not hinder how he hears in a normal conversation. He also had the bone aspiration where they put him to sleep shortly and stick a long needle into both his hip bones through his back and draw out bone marrow to be tested for cancer cells. We will get those results back later in the week. Logan did great during both tests. He is a real trooper.

Tomorrow Logan & I will go up for an all day Kidney test to check function of both Kidney's. They will have him drink something then we can leave for two hours and then test & start all over all day. Hopefully the 1-4" of snow that is anticipated will not interfere with our day.

Merry Christmas To All From the Lewis Family!

Merry Christmas Eve to all. Today has been a great day for Logan. We went up to the hospital this morning to get Logan's counts checked. He is at 400 and climbing so they said he can stop his antibiotics as well as have family over tonight to open some presents.

We also met w/ Dr. Julie Park about the spot discovered during Logan's MIBG earlier this week and also about what to expect during stem cell.

First w/ the spot. Dr. Park is not concerned with it. She said 10 years ago they would not of even seen it because it is so small (5mm). They will however during the radiation therapy phase (spring 2008) zap that area w/ a double dose of radiation. The sight where the original tumor was they will also zap that entire area. The side effects is Logan could lose one of his kidneys as well as a small possibility of growth problems because they will be doing radiation close to the spine.

As for the stem cell we will meet w/ the team at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Center on January 10th, 2008. About a week later (Logan's 6th Birthday on 1/19) Logan will be admitted and given a very high dose chemotherapy...stronger than all he has received so far. This chemo will wipe out all cells and bone marrow. They will then transplant the cells from Logan's own body that they harvested after the second chemotherapy. It will then take about 2-4 weeks for his body to show signs of cells again. During this time he will be in isolation and be limited to only very healthy visitors. It is a very dangerous time because he will not have an immune system. This chemo can also do damage to other organs so they will watch that close as well. And yes she is required to tell us, even on Christmas Eve, that in a very small amount of cases this process can be fatal. They said to plan on being in the hospital for 4 to 5 weeks for the entire process.

With all that being said we (family & staff) are very pleased w/ the progress so far. We could not express enough how proud we are of Logan. He is the true Super Hero! Also thank you to all who have supported us these last five months. We could not have made it this far without your kind thoughts and prayers. As you can see from above we will still need your continued support, thoughts, & prayers!

Guess who surprised Logan this morning at our house.....Santa & Mrs. Claus! As you can see in the picture(s) Logan was so excited (Thank you to the Casello's as well as Gary & Pam for setting this up. You have made an impact on Logan and our family that will last a lifetime).

They are sending us home tonight....the catch we have to come back Monday morning for blood work. Even though Logan has zero white blood cells they will send us home w/ antibiotics since he has not had a fever. We will come back Monday and meet w/ the Neuroblastoma Doctor as well as have a clinic for Logan.

Good Saturday morning to all. Not much to report. Logan is doing well this morning. Last night he did not get to sleep until 11pm. He was wound-up. He built a fort on his bed w/ his blankets. His ANC counts are still at zero. The good news w/ counts is his hematocrit stayed at 22 from yesterday. They will transfuse blood when it goes below 20. This means his marrow is starting to produce/maintain cells.
Yesterday his MIBG test (one of four tests) showed a very small spot near where the tumor was. They are not sure if this is that tissue that was left behind during surgery. We are told treatment as usual and they will keep watch on that spot. They plan on hitting that area with radiation later in treatment as well.

Tests went well today. Logan did a great job. One test he has to lie still for over an hour. He watched the movie Star Wars and fell asleep. Enjoy the picture of the Gingerbread house Logan & I built.

Oh the sounds of the hospital.....every five minutes at least a door bell sound of a patient pushing the button to page the nurse, a child screaming in the middle of the night, your roommate throwing-up every couple hours, the speakers everywhere with someone saying "code blue giraffe entrance, code blue giraffe entrance" (someone stopped breathing). Then your own child....everything drowns out, all those horrific sounds, your child needs you because of tummy pain that is so severe it brings him to tears. You are the one who pushes the nurse button. The amazing nurse comes in and within minutes gets your child pain medicine to help.

Logan is doing pretty good this morning. They upped his pain medicine because of stomach pain. He slept through the night last night. Our room we are in is for four beds but they only have two in here so we get a little extra room. My bed is a roll-a-way bed which is a little bigger than what I usually get. It was nice except you roll to the middle....it's no dream bed like at the Westin:) Well I have to end this Logan is calling me over to join him in Lego Star Wars video game. Today we have some tests and then hopefully we will be done by 3pm so we can make gingerbread houses on the cancer floor with everyone else.

Well we finally are in our room. We are on the cancer floor which is a great thing so we have our favorite nurses. Dad is a hero (for a minute) because I found the Game Cube System & Mario Golf. Logan has had a pretty long day. A lot of stomach pain and ear pain. Also while getting his transfusion his temperature spike to 102 degrees and his blood pressure dropped so he get a lot of immediate attention from the doctors. They watch his pretty close and got him stabilized. They cancelled his hearing test today but will still do the other tests tomorrow. I told Logan that the students at Kalles Jr. High tomorrow get to wear pajamas to school in his honor and he thought that was really cool. LEAD FOR LOGAN TYEES!

Well we almost made it....Logan went up to get his transfusion today and while he was there he spiked a fever. Since his counts are at zero they will be admitting him until he does not have a fever for 24 hours and counts are above 500. Pray that we will be out by Sunday! Last night he continued to have his jaw pain/ear aches. He is getting the blood transfusion right now and this usually will give him back some energy. He also has some tests tomorrow where they will be putting under w/ anesthesia. We will keep every one updated & thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Good Wednesday morning to all. Happy birthday to my wife Kelly as well! I will take this public forum to say you are an amazing wife, mother, friend and all of the above!

Logan's ear aches were pretty bad last night. He awoke crying twice. His pain medicine worked well though and he fell back asleep. Today he is doing better. He is helping his mom wrap Christmas presents right now. We are watching him closely today because he is pretty pale today and due for a transfusion. As long as he does not get a fever we should be o.k. Tomorrow along w/ the transfusion Logan will also start a series of tests that will last two days. Hearing test, heart test, bone marrow test (this is the one where they put him under anesthesia and drill a needle into his hip bone), CAT scans for head, chest, & pelvis....I think that is all. Thank you for every ones continued thoughts and prayers!

Logan had another good day today. He had to go to the dentist to get x-rays and he did excellent! We are watching him closely because his counts are on there way down and he is looking a little pale. He is scheduled for a blood transfusion on Thursday. Tomorrow is Kelly's birthday (Logan's mom) so he is going to spoil her all day.

Many of you also follow Ben Townes website that is linked to ours. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts tomorrow as he goes in for his surgery to have his tumor removed.

Logan had his appointment yesterday and everything went well. If he does not get a fever then we get a little two day break from the hospital. However yesterday we did get news that they may delay his stem cell transplant. The reason for this is they are having a higher than usual amount of kids w/ respiratory infections right now. They want to get this under control before they bring Logan in and wipe out his immune system (if he got any infection while getting stem cell transplant it could be deadly). They said they will probably let us know within the week what they want to do.

Good Monday morning to all. Logan woke up this morning w/ ear aches. We gave him his pain medicine and that seemed to work. Today he has a scheduled clinic appointment in Seattle to check blood & see if he needs any transfusions. Other than that we just hope for no fevers and that we can control the pain.

We have already been to the hospital this morning. Logan had to get a scheduled shot at 9am. It is a shot of medicine that helps his white blood cells come back quicker. He slept through the night last night. This morning he had a little tummy ache but is doing great now. Tomorrow is a scheduled appointment to get his blood checked and get a transfusion if needed.

Happy Saturday to all. Let the jaw pain & ear aches begin. Logan woke up this morning w/ pain in his ear which is from the joint pain in jaw. This is a side effect of the Vincristine chemo medicine. We gave him some pain medicine and that seemed to work. Right now he is watching Mickey Mouse. Today we will continue the pain medicine all day as well as the constipation medicine since that is a side effect as well. The only catch is that the pain medicine constipates him. I asked Logan if he wanted me to type anything for him and he said to say "Thank you everyone for reading this." & he said to tell his friend Elise "I really like the thing you sent me (Advent calender)." He also got a Build-A-Bear from Grandma's friends the Coopers'. He is excited because it is a dressed like a Seattle Mariner. Today Logan said he is going to have a birthday party for his bear named Lucky.

We are home! Logan is doing great. Grandma & Grandpa David brought Logan home about 1pm today. He was very hyper all day because he was so glad to be home. One of the side affects of this chemo drug (same one he got in round 4) is severe constipation as well as joint pain in the jaws. We are trying to stay ahead of the constipation by giving him laxatives and it seems to be working.....if you know what I mean. We have to go back Sunday morning for a quick shot and then Monday for blood draw to see if he needs a transfusion. Hopefully tomorrow will just be a day of laying around.

Another great day for Logan. Last night w/ uncle Pat was good as well. Besides getting up every hour to go potty the night went well. Logan did not get sick at all. This morning he had a little tummy ache but then was off and going. Tonight Grandma is staying w/ him and if all goes well he should get to go home in the morning. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Logan had a great rest of the day today. He was, and still is, full of energy! The biggest surprise is he ate a big dinner. He had tacos and then asked for more. His nurse put in a special order for another taco for him. He also walked around w/ colored surgical tape (red for Cougars, purple for Huskies, & Blue for Seahawks) and asked nurses who their favorite team was. He then would put that tape on their finger. His favorite team was the Seahawks.Uncle Pat is staying the night w/ Logan so let's all pray for a good night for the both of them.

Good Wednesday to all. A rough night last night. Logan was pretty sick to his tummy. We seem to have gotten the sickness under control this morning w/ nausea medicine. Last night just as he got comfortable and asleep the nurse would need to move him for a blood pressure check or temperature check. This would wake him up and he would think about his tummy and get sick. He is coloring right now as well as cutting things out. We have already taken one nap this morning and hopefully will take more.

We are at the Hospital...yeah how fun. Logan is doing great. He already has found a video game and is currently playing it. Pac-man car racing. It was really hard for us to come back this time since we had our two week break. Logan was loving life, going to school, playing w/ friends etc. Now back to getting sick, staying in isolation, and trips back and fourth to Seattle. I guess we can look at the bright side and know we are that much closer to finishing everything. Also another bright spot is all the amazing support we have received! Last night we went to a awesome performance at Rogers High School (dad's old school, go class of 91)! All proceeds were donated to Logan. It all came about through cousin Sydney talking about Logan to a gentlemen at the YMCA that was watching her in the daycare. That gentlemen, Jeremy, who is in a amazing band thought it would be great to do their annual fund raising concert for Logan. It turned out great. Logan went up on stage (and loved it) and thanked everyone on the microphone. He also told them about his brother Peyton. Thank You Jeremy & friends for everything. You touched the lives of many but most of all an amazing 5 year old boy!

Order your Neuroblastoma Car Awareness Magnet or Bracelet at the following links!

Logan wants to see pictures of every ones Christmas tree! Please e-mail your pictures to post to jasonyewis@gmail.com. THANK YOU!

Wow what a great get a way! Logan was treated like a prince by the Westin & PF Chang's. The Westin put us in a suite on the 17th floor w/ a panoramic view of the Seattle skyline, Olympic mountains, city of Bellevue....wow! We got up to our room and started to get situated when the first knock on the door and a platter w/ cookies and milk for Logan (and a bottle of wine & cheese for the parents) arrived. We then went shopping and stopped at PF Chang's for dinner (Logan loves white rice). The manager Jenny greeted Logan and bought us dinner as well as made Logan a personal sundae and gave him a tour of the kitchen. Logan loved it! We then watched the snowflake festivities outside our hotel. We were pretty tired after that so we headed up to our room. When we got there room service again knocked on the door and surprised Logan w/ Spiderman sheets for his bed. Just has Logan started to calm down two more members of the amazing Westin staff knocked on the door about 8:30pm and they brought Logan a tray full of Jello as well as Starwars figures and Starwars comic books. He thought it was awesome. In the morning Logan ate a big breakfast of fresh blueberries and eggs and then as we checked out he received one more gift...a Starwars Light Saber! THANK YOU TO WESTIN IN BELLEVUE AS WELL AS PF CHANG'S, YOU MADE A LITTLE BOYS WEEKEND (AND HIS PARENTS)! View Pictures here!

Many of you follow Ben Townes blog as well via Logan's website. Ben had a scan yesterday to get ready for his surgery. The doctors found pockets of air between the lining and the wall of his intestines. There is not supposed to be air there. They admitted him for seven days to monitor it as well as fight it w/ antibiotics. During this time he cannot eat anything. Please send your thoughts and prayers to Ben & his family.

Happy Friday to all! Logan is doing amazing. Today is his last day of school for awhile since we start chemo next week, then his school goes on winter break, then stem cell transplant. This afternoon we are going to escape for a fun night in Bellevue. The great staff at the Westin in Bellevue has surprises for Logan lined up. There is also festivities up there where soldiers come out, a light show and then a bunch of bubbles that represent snow. Logan is so excited. If we are lucky maybe he will get his picture w/ Santa. We of course will get pictures to place on the blog. It has been so nice to have this little break from all the hospital stuff. We just got our schedule for the next month or so and we will be very busy w/ chemo, tests, & then stem cell. Thank you all for your continued support!

Thank you cousin Andrew & Ms. Peterson's art class at Aylen Jr. High in Puyallup! They made all the origami birds to display in Logan's hospital room while he is up getting his stem cell transplant.

Sorry we have not updated the blog lately. We have been enjoying being a normal family again. Tonight we went to Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo with Logan's friends Alexa & Elise and their families. Logan had a great time and was sleeping in the car 5 minutes after we left. He has been going to school every day and loving it. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers!

Day 7 of no hospitals / appt / or any illness. We are having a great time relaxing and having our family whole. Logan has been eating, we love to see that. We are still keeping him on his NG tube. He is still alittle guy and we need some more weight on him, but he is doing very well. It is nice to see him have interest in food again. Logan's papa in New York had a stroke last night, so Logan called him this morning in the hospital to give him some moral support, it was cute. "Hospitals aren't scary Papa". * Papa is doing well and is planning on being released this afternoon. Logan is back to school tomorrow for another whole week, what a blessing. No appts. next week either, we are not scheduled back until the 10th, yeah!
P.S, I LOVE YOU PAPA, be sure to put stickers on the backs of the doctors shirts. Love, Logan