He's Baaaaack!

Justin was readmitted on Wednesday to Children's Hospital for another round of chemo. This will most likely be a 4-week stay, giving him time for a course of treatment and monitoring of his recovery. This is mostly good news -- it means that his body has recovered sufficiently from the last round and is ready to start the fight again.

Having just gotten a bone marrow biopsy and a port put in for his chemo, Justin is understandbly sore, so let's try to plan a visit for sometime next week.

Hang in there Justin! We're all thinking of you.

Headed Home

Justin was discharged from the hospital last Thursday!! His blood cell counts looked good after the last dose of chemo a week ago and he is now back home on the Cape with his brother and will be following up weekly at the oncology clinic to monitor his counts. I will try to keep everyone updated with his progress as much as possible!

I know he's glad to be home although I'll miss visiting with him! The pictures above is of our last team visit. We were all in the yellow gowns because his whole floor was on contact precautions, there has been a nasty norovirus going around! Also there but not pictured were Ali, Gaby and Myldred.

Memorable moments from my last few visits:
- Going out to the garden with a Nerf gun to get some fresh air. A couple volunteers and I put paper cups upside down on our heads and had Justin shoot them off. He was an awesome shot! Although he got us in the back off the head a few times... not sure if that was accidental ;)

- Playing Speed (an awesome card game if you don't know), our rounds got consecutively faster and more competitive, I'm now addicted to this game!

- Playing Call of Duty (Justin's fave video game)... this didn't last long, Justin is a pro and killed my character 5 times within the first 10 min!

First team visit!

Exciting News! Boston's Team in Training has picked Justin to be our team's Honored Hero. Justin now has over 20 people who will be running half and full marathons this summer in Providence and San Diego in his honor!!

This past Sunday, we organized our first team visit to Justin. We all brought snacks and goodies (everything from fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies to gummy bears and oreos, I wish I took a photo of the overstuffed bag of treats!). One of our team members, Amanda, brought Catchphrase (so fun!) and we played for over an hour, really getting into the spirit and causing quite a ruckus on the normally quiet oncology floor. :) Justin is so polite and serious, getting some smiles out of him was priceless!!

We had a wonderful time and hope to make this a weekly Sunday occurence while Justin is in the hospital.

I'm also on my way to visit him in a couple hours to play some card games. One of Justin's amazing nurses, Lynne, has been making him homemade food and bringing it in. Justin told me that today she's bringing tacos, maybe I'll get to try one!

As always, if you'd like to leave a message for Justin, just click "comments" at the bottom of this post!

If you're complled to help patients like Justin battle blood cancers, PLEASE consider donating to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am training daily for my first marathon (ran 6 miles in the rain last Saturday!) because I am very committed to this cause!! However, I am still far from my fundraising goal and I need your support. Thank you!!

Click Here to View My Fundraising Page

Love,
Lina