Here is a little update from Kadens Care Page site….Carrie, my wife, Isaac, THE boy and myself went and visited the Tjossems about a 1-1/2 weeks ago. Kaden was HOME literally One Week after having part of his leg amputated. Can you believe it, WOW kids are resilient and strong. He absolutly loves his “New Leg” and he couldn’t be better considering all he’s been through. So all your thoughts and prayers are working as you’ll see in Jamie’s post.
We headed to the Clinic this morning at 9:00am for blood work followed by an echocardiogram. Kaden’s first echocardiogram was done before his first treatment 12 weeks ago. The results of this echocardiogram were GREAT! No changes in his heart’s ability to pump blood! His ejection fraction was 66% 12 weeks ago and was 65% today…no change. Ejection fraction refers to the % of blood that gets pumped out of the heart with each beat (some blood always stays in the ventricles or big chambers of the heart each time it beats). The reason they do the echocardiogram is because Cis-platin (the chemo drug he is getting this round) can weaken the heart muscle. But Kaden’s heart CANNOT be weakened! 
All of Kaden’s blood cell counts were good as were his liver enzymes. He’s the same weight as he was the last time they weighed him…even though he lost part of his leg! So all in all, he is healthy and strong going into this round of chemo. We got to the hospital around 2:30. We are in Room 3-146 for the next three days. Our favorite room, 3-109, was available but all of the kids getting chemo need to be in the same hall because there is only one chemo nurse on right now. Autumn, Carson and Kaden are all in a row! You’ve all heard me talk about Carson before but you’ve probably not heard about Autumn. Carson, like Kaden, had good test results yesterday as well…no new lymphomas and his heart is beating strong too! Autumn is a 2 year old girl that has been getting treated for Wilms Tumor, a rare cancer of the kidneys. Autumn was actually the first little chemo patient that I met on the floor when we started treatments in September. Autumn had a large tumor on her kidney and they were 2 weeks away from being done with treatment when they found that it spread to her lungs. Autumn had to start more chemo but unfortunately the cancer hasn’t responded to the chemo. The week that Kaden had surgery Autumn also had surgery to try to remove some of the tumors in her lungs. Apparently the surgery was not very successful and they couldn’t get all of them (there are about 6 tumors I believe). So Autumn is back in treatment now for radiation. Please add Autumn and her family to your prayers!! I haven’t talked to Autumn’s mom, but apparently she is losing hope. When I first heard that I got a huge pit in my stomach because I know that cancer has it’s own agenda and just when you think you’re cancer free…there it could be again! Kaden has been doing so great with everything that I can’t even imagine starting all over and going through this again. In my heart I feel that he WILL be cancer free at the end of this! All of your prayers are working…I know that is what is getting Kaden through this! We saw Dr. Rose during our oncology appointment as well and he was just amazed at how well Kaden is healing. Usually there is a big difference in the contour between where the thigh and lower leg come together but in Kaden’s case it’s very gradual and you can barely tell that they were once two different parts of his body that have been joined! Logan and I honestly expected it to look “irregular” for a long time but it doesn’t. He’s healed so well that they might start taking out some stiches this week. Once Kaden starts chemo the healing will slow down but he shouldn’t lose what he’s already gained…which is very good! I can’t say that this has all been easy but I never would have expected everything to go so well…it’s the prayers, I know it! So please continue to keep us in your prayers over the next 19 weeks. I am praying that Kaden’s good health right now will ward off the mouth sores. His body isn’t fighting the cancerous tumor anymore so hopefully chemo will be even easier on him…we will see! Kaden got the Wii in his room but he’s tired and has already drifted off to sleep We will hopefully start chemo around 6-7pm tonight. We are looking forward to “breakfast supper” tonight from the Brinkman family…my mouth is already watering!!
No reason to stop. Ever!