How You can Help.....

Dear Family and Friends:

Thank you once again for your prayers and support. They are felt, needed and appreciated. We feel loved, honored and humbled.

A quick update on the last couple of weeks. Dave has passed his medical crisis, I am standing strong (with some weak moments) and Cody is doing well. As you may know, we have had a couple of weeks off from the chemo torture. It has been so nice to see Cody gain some weight, get some of his appetite back and his spunky attitude and wit. As each day passes we can see an improvement with his energy level and over all health. He still has some days where he is just plain fatigued and his stomach hurts. But there are now more good days than not, so we are grateful for that.

In this time off we have taken full advantage of catching up. We have gone to the beach to fly a kite, have gone bike riding 3 times, gone for a hike on aunt Kim's birthday, shot some arrows (archery) with Uncle Jeff and cousin Jessica, visited grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles (and a brand new cousin), gone to the fun zone, played with friends, went bowling a couple of times, saw a couple of movies and even got some schoolwork done! All, of course, when the masses are not around and when Cody has the energy.

We have plans this weekend to go to the desert for more R&R&fun before the next round of chemo starts. This time spent together has been precious. Times like these really make you aware of how precious time really is and how short life on this earth is, in the scheme of things.

This week we have testing to do. Tuesday 2/7 we have speech, hearing and eye exams. We also have follow up with radiation. Wednesday 2/8, we have a GFR scan, Thursday 2/9 the biggy, an MRI to see how effective radiation was. We would appreciate your prayers that all is CLEAN and radiation made all of the cancer bad guys go away, forever.

Our next phase of chemo starts 2/14/06. We have six weeks, six weeks, four weeks X 3. (This puts us at about 1/15/07 to be done if we don't have any delays) Each of the 6 weeks he gets an 8 hour IV drip of cisplatin on the first day (requiring a night stay at the hospital) and an IV push of vincristine once a week for the first 3 weeks of the six weeks.

Each of the four weeks, he gets cyclophasphamide 1 hour drip per day for 2 days, (all these big fancy names and they don't even come up on spell check! They should call it what it is...poison 1,2,3 and 4) :) vincristine push once a week for 2 weeks, then a MESNA IV push twice a day for the first 2 days. (requiring 2 - 3 days in the hospital) The big fight is on 2/14 and we are up for it as we find strength in our Lord, God. He has been with us all the way.

Many of you have asked how you can help. There is now a way.... our church can take donations earmarked for Cody's medical. Every little bit helps as the costs are out of sight and we are not in a financial position to handle what the insurance company doesn't cover. If you are so inclined, donations can be made out to: Calvary Evangelical Free Church, 468 Legion St., Laguna Beach, CA. 92651 (for Cody medical).

Thank you for your continued prayers. Again we ask that you specifically pray 2/9 for no sign of cancer tumors or cells on the MRI and blood results...and while we hunker down for this next year that God continue to give us strength, peace, health and wisdom.

With Much Gratitude,

Dallas, Dave and Cody