Jack's Report - Finally / J Tip / Emmaus

For those of you sweet people who are praying for Jack, I am SO sorry I haven't made a post since we returned from Children's for Jack's MRI and Oncology visit. I have been underway trying to get a record amount of work done, among other things that are keeping me from putting thought to paper, or blog in this case. The reports were great. He had an eye dr. visit and they told us his vision had never been better over the last 4 years, he is still dealing with double vision occasionally through the day, but only when he moves quickly, like standing up or sitting down. Once he adjusts all is good. The "nodules" that were found on his last scan have not changed. They are stable at this time. The oncologist seems almost completely unconcerned at this point, he reiterated that they are not presenting like cancer and at some point could just disappear. We all have fluctuations of cells here and there, but because Jack's brain is under a microscope every 3 months with his MRI, each little change is noted. The doctor said we must still monitor these nodules but they are nothing to be concerned about at this time. We are just rejoicing.

We did get to stay at the Ronald McDonald House which is always such a blessing. There hadn't been room for us the last couple of times we went to Dallas Children's, over a year they said. Life goes by fast, it didn't seem like that long ago we were checking in and out.

Jack is feeling well, looking well and enjoying school more than he expected ; ) He is a delight and has his own ways, he marches to the beat of his own drum and we love that about him. Thank you so much for your prayers.
Thanks be to God.
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One of the reasons that I didn't post right away was because I wanted to share some new medical technology. I was going to take a picture of this "thing" and post about it, but the picture has never happened so I will have to settle for a description and a link.

J Tip


We became familiar with Emla when Jack was first diagnosed. In our little town of Abilene, you just take the pain whether your a kid or not when you go to the dr. or the hospital. The hospitals here have on a hit and miss basis instituted emla cream when asked, and I think Hendrick on the children's floor uses it for their patients. Jack was like any kid afraid of shots. To make a long story short, we got to Dallas 4 years ago, me dreading the tumor and him dreading the shots. We found out that Children's Hospitals do things night and day to adult hospitals. They quickly covered Jack up with Emla Cream to numb the feeling in the skin so when he got his blood draws and iv's he never felt a thing. The drawback with Emla is that it takes about 45 minutes to completely work. Well let me tell you that there is a new painless shot called a J Tip, it sounds like your opening a coke can, it is a little thing of C 0 2 mixed with lidocaine and it pushes the lidocaine through your skin without the needle. And there is no pain, and the lidocaine takes affect almost instantaneously. It is like a miracle. I believe that we just need a prescription, because there is no needle involved we are able to administer it. I took my emla cream with us to the ER, now I will take J Tips.

Children's is using it hospital wide.
They come in single doses and they just pull one out and administer it, before they get the needle out the skin is completely numb, even works better than the emla.

So the next time you are at your dr.'s office you can tell them about this. Ask them if they have heard of it. It is a wonderful blessing for our kids to have treatment (and adults too ; ) ) pain free. J Tip....Rocks!!! Because of the mindset of the system here in Abilene, our doctors and pediatricians for the most part think we and our kids just need to suck it up. But that is not how I feel after being in a different type of system. You might need to take the website address to your doctor, but keep on keeping on, and maybe we can together be a voice for pain free injections and needle sticks for our kids. Not all dr.'s here have that mindset, they might just not know a better way. Let's help them stay informed about the latest medical advances for our kids.

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Last but not least. I leave Thursday for my Walk To Emmaus. Will you pray for me, but will you also pray for Rob and the kids and Tom and Elaine as they navigate the rest of the school week and weekend without mom around. There is a lot going on and it is going to be crazy for them.

I am SO excited to go on the walk. I have been wanting to attend for about 12 years, with Rob's new job this year it has opened up the possibility of me going, as he works regular hours and will be here with the kids in the morning as they board the bus. He used to be at work by 5am, so there was no way I could have worked it out to be gone for several days before without making it a very complicated week. So my time has come, this is the time I was supposed to go there is no doubt. My heart is so soft to the Lord and I am anticipating Him in each moment.