kaedyn is fighting for his life he needs your help

Hello folks.
Kaedyn is doing super. We have been keeping busy this week with trips to his favorite park Silver Springs or the “zoo” as he says. He loves the animals and I can’t wait to take him to the real zoo with many more animals!
As of now we are back to nightly and weekly oral chemo. Kaedyn will go in 2 weeks for his IV chemo and spinal tap.  Monday we make a special trip to Shands for an IV infusion of IVIG to boost his immunoglobulins.  It will be a long day as the infusion lasts 6 hours.  This will help his little body fight off infections, bacteria, germs, viruses and all the nasty stuff that invade our bodies.
Good news for Mom as she will receive her last IV Herceptin treatment Monday.  It has been a long year for her too!  She will meet with her Oncologist in March to discuss port removal and her progress!  You go Mama.
The title of this blog is P 4 P.  It stands for Prayers for Paxten.  She is a baby I have meant through the Infantile Leukemia Support Group on Facebook.  She recently had a bone marrow transplant and is having major complications.  Paxten is in ICU and had a lobe removed from her lungs that was infected with a mold.  She is very ill and her parents are praying for a miracle, but know she may be going home to heaven soon.
Thank you for your love, support, and for your prayers concerning Kaedyn, my Mom and other children we ask you to pray for.

Love,
Shelsie Ballew

Kaedyn has bounced back from that nasty stomach bug and Mommy feels he can handle getting back on chemo.  It was a long week of not feeling well.

He is going to Shands today for IV chemo and the medicine to keep him from contacting the RSV virus.  It will be great to have his counts checked and to have medical staff look him over.  This is the longest break for Kaedyn and Mommy from visiting Shands Clinic since he was diagnosed.

Thank you for your prayers during his recent illness and for praying he’d get strong enough to get back on track with treatment.  Pray all goes well today with receiving chemo and that Kaedyn’s counts are right where they need to be.

May God Bless, and we appreciate your continued prayers, love and concern.

Love,

NanNan

 Looking precious and innocent as he sleeps.

Kaedyn has been a sick little guy since last Friday.  The chemo and spinal tap scheduled for this week have been delayed.  His little body isn’t ready for the chemo and the spinal tap is rescheduled for next month.  He will get IV Vincristine (chemo) sometime next week when he has bounced back from the awful stomach bug, and of course when Mommy feels he is ready.  Your prayers are wonderful as Kaedyn has improved, but needs to regain strength and get his appetite back.  Keep praying he gets strong enough to get back on track with treatment and his stomach can tolerate the oral chemo.

As you pray please lift sweet little Paxten up in your prayers.  She is fighting ALL Infantile Leukemia and has relapsed.  She was given a 40% chance of survival with a bone marrow transplant.  Paxten had the transplant a few months ago and is presently sick from pneumonia, and other complications.  Please pray her family look to our Father for comfort and pray Paxten gain strength to bounce back from the pneumonia and complications so she can fight the cancer.

Thank you for caring about these children, and pray every day a cure is found so precious children do not suffer with cancer and side effects from treating the awful disease.

Knowing that God doesn’t change and He is our strong foundation doesn’t mean we won’t have burdens to bear and sleepless nights.  When the world changes around us, either by our choosing or not, our God stands firm.  Our God does not change!  His love will always be with us whatever change we experience.  As we obey, rely on, and trust in God we can find confidence, assurance, and peace in the fact that He is unchanging regardless of what happens in our life.  He promised in writing that He never changes.  We have His word on it!

“For I am the Lord, I do not change.”  Malachi 3:6

May God Bless.

Love,

NanNan

We are thankful and happy to inform you that Kaedyn and family are back in Ocala.  Shands medical team thinks he has a stomach bug that is making many children and adults sick.  Hopefully he will be well, playing and running around soon.

Thank you for your prayers tonight.  Please remember to pray concerning Kaedyn’s medical procedures this week.  He is getting chemo Thursday and has a spinal tap on Friday if all goes as planned.  Please pray for no cancer cells in his spinal fluid and ask he be relieved of fear and pain as he has the procedures.

Thank you.

NanNan

Nothing is too big to ask God to handle.  When we plead and ask Him to answer our prayers we should be happy to give Him the glory and grateful for those answered prayers.

Sweet little Kaedyn has been very sick yesterday and today.  Shelsie held his oral chemo last night to give his tummy a break and he probably couldn’t hold it down anyway.  He hasn’t been very playful and has been sleeping much of these two days.  Mommy called Shands earlier this evening and they wanted Kaedyn brought to the ER to be examined.  They are thinking he has a stomach bug.  Shelsie and Nic are waiting for blood work at Shands to see if he is nutripedic and they are checking his electrolytes to be certain he isn’t dehydrated.  If Kaedyn’s blood work is normal he can return home.  We are hoping he doesn’t have to be admitted.  Please pray he is strong enough to fight this off and is well very soon.  Our family tries very hard not to be fearful when he is ill.  Prayer is a beautiful and comforting way of keeping our thoughts positive and to remain focused in having our hope and trust in God.

Thank you so much for praying for our wonderful little Kaedyn.

May God bless each of you.

Love,

NanNan

Kaedyn continues to be such a strong little man. He is playing, running and growing like a normal two year old, but has a battle to fight and beat cancer.  You look at him and he looks like any other normal healthy kid.  I know in 5+ years, cancer will be an awful memory of the past and I pray for no long term side effects.
Next Thursday (1/12) will be the routine monthly chemotherapy at Shands.  He will have IV chemo injected through his port, the medicine to help protect him from getting the RSV virus, and blood counts taken.  If his counts are above 1500 (absolute neutrophil count) or the cells that help you fight off infection his chemo will be increased.  I hope it is right at 1500 or just below.  I don’t want him to have an increase in chemo because sometimes too much chemo causes a child’s immune system to bottom out which could mean an admission to Shands due to an infection.  No thank you!  Friday (1/13) is the dreaded spinal tap. This is the scariest part of Kaedyn’s treatment plan.  He is nervous and scared when we walk into the building where they do the procedures.  It is really sad for me because I cannot ease his fear.  He is such a bright little boy and he understands a procedure or something is going to happen to him. He says, “the Dr. hurts me” because his back is a little sore after.  I give him Tylenol every 6 hours after a spinal tap for 24 hours to prevent headaches. This is the most common side effect following a spinal tap.
Please pray for his fear to be eased and pray that Kaedyn not have any headaches following the procedure.
May you all have a blessed New Year.
Love,
Shelsie Ballew

I am asking that you say a special little prayer for sweet Marlie.  She is 8 years old and is going to be entering heaven soon.  She has a rare and aggressive brain cancer she has been fighting for a few years.  She was in remission for a while but a few months back the cancer returned.  After rounds of chemo they found the tumor was still there.  Marlie asked her Mom to stop treatment and said she was ready to go be with Jesus.  Her pain is constant and she is on a morphine drip.  Her mother cannot snuggle in bed with her because it hurts to touch her.   Please pray her pain goes away and pray for peace and comfort for her family, but mostly pray for peace and comfort for this amazing little girl.
Also pray that God give someone the knowledge and wisdom to develop a cure.!.!.
Love,
Shelsie Ballew

Christmas was an amazing day. We opened gifts, laughed, smiled and cried. This year was hard because it was the first without our Grandma.  Although I miss her everyday, Christmas was hard. We always sing from our Christmas songbook and it was not the same especially the Twelve Days of Christmas song.  We gave Grandma 2 turtle doves because she had to sing alot and she had the softest voice.  It was sad without her.   We also cried because 2 very important family members are still fighting to stay alive. One who is way to young and another who could have half her life left.
Medically Kaedyn is still doing great.  He gained 2 lbs in one month and is getting taller and smarter.  Sadly, his next appointment at Shands is Thursday the 12th for IV chemo and the next day bright and early another spinal tap.  This is the most difficult procedure to deal with of Kaedyn’s treatment.  After the spinal tap in January we will have 2 left.  Although it is sad to see him go through this, it is wonderful to think of only 2 more.!.!.  His taste buds seem to be getting back to normal.  Many chemo drugs change or destroy cancer patient’s taste buds.  Some only like salty foods.  This would explain Kaedyn’s constant desire for fries and nuggets.  But, he is now experimenting a little with different foods and actually enjoying them.
Mom/NanNan is doing well also. They have even discussed removing her port very soon.  I am so proud of her and her wonderful attitude during all of this.   She is an amazing person.
I read the other day that childhood cancers are the least funded of all cancer. That makes me sad considering the sweet children I have met over the last year and a half dealing with cancer.  Also, a child somewhere dies every day to this disease.
Pray for a cure in 2012.  Have a Healthy and Happy New Year.

Love,
Shelsie

Kaedyn Christmas shopping with Mommy.  He was watching a movie while she shopped.

Kaedyn getting ready for Santa.  He is helping Mommy make cookies to put under the tree for Santa to munch on!

Look how much fun Kaedyn is having the day after chemo.  Prayers continue to help him and this picture says it all!

Kaedyn received chemo, meds and a flu shot yesterday 12/15.  He could not get the flu shot by IV so he had to get the injection.  He did great.  His port was pulled out by accident so he started bleeding pretty bad and had to get reaccessed.  All in all it was not the best day.  Kaedyn left Shands with a smile though.  Imagine that! One postitive thing is we talked about Kaedyn’s “Make A Wish” adventure while there.  We will sign up next month since he has to be 2 1/2.  I am hoping  we will go during the summer so bubba (Kaleb) won’t miss school.  It will be for the four of us.  His wish will be to go to a zoo and get a back stage experience hopefully with someone awesome like Jack Hanna.  They do the most amazing things for these children.  Thank you to all those who donate to this foundation.  We donated prior to Kaedyn getting sick.  I never expected to be apart of the experience.  I am grateful Kaedyn will have this adventure.  It will be something special for him and he truly deserves deserves it!

Saturday was a busy day for us. Aunt Berber and Jesse came into town for a visit.  At 5:00 Kaedyn had to wake up from his nap to get some warm clothes on and head to the Ocala Christmas Parade. Last year we were not able to go because his immune system was wiped out.
Our family sat with the Nelson family and friends and we had a blast!  About 40 of us screamed loudly as my Mom/NanNan waved to us from the “I’m Dreaming of a Pink Christmas” float. The float was put together by a local breast cancer store and a husband and wife whose lives have been touched with breast cancer.  After we blew her kisses and cheered her on Pappy (Mom’s hubbie) and I both looked at one another and our eyes were full of tears. It was an exciting moment, but also a sad one. We are very proud of her, but this is not where we want her to be .
Little Kaedyn loved the parade! He tried to run out in the road when Santa went by. He is really excited this year for Santa to come. We have been reading books and watching Christmas movies. His favorite is the Grinch. He says you better not steal my presents.  I think he is already getting the wrong concept of Christmas as many kids do. But this year he deserves to be spoiled rotten!.!.
Today Nan Nan, Kaedyn and I watched “The Muppets” together. As Mom held him I couldn’t help but think of what is going on in their bodies. Most people say wow they both look so great. But as someone once said your outside can look great, but the inside may be very sick. When the 3 of us are together I think about that. I do have hope, but dark dreary thoughts creep in at times.
Let’s all pray for their inside to be as healthy as their outside.  Pray for all those bad cells to be gone and the therapy/treatment to continue working.
Bless you all and be so happy to spend time with your loved ones during this holiday season. I truly appreciate every moment with my family. The holidays really do have a new meaning to me.
Love,
Shelsie Ballew