Another good week

Well it has been 5 weeks since Cameron's MRI and he is still going on with life. We have hopefully found the right dose of steroid to keep his headaches away and with limited side effects of the meds. He's still not sleeping great; often getting up in the middle of the night to do math, an art project, or get on Ebay and look at all the HotWheels. Yes you heard that correctly. He asked Ernest for his Ebay login to which we both said "NO". I can't imagine the credit card bills and the shipment of cars that would arrive if Cameron figured out how to buy something. Haha. Tonight, Cam and I went to Southpoint for a couple of hours and ate supper together, went to a few stores, had some ice cream and just enjoyed a mommy/Cam date.

For now, things remain "stable" and we seem to be in the strangest of waiting rooms (as Pastor Beckett preached on this past Sunday). It's so easy to get wrapped up in the sadness, fear, and sickness that may be around the corner for Cameron. But then I watch him approach each day without any of those worries and I pray to find what he has found; childlike faith so strong that nothing can penetrate, not even cancer.

I received an email this past week containing a magnet design a 3rd grader at Cam's school created with the following attached:

Inspired by Cameron Jackson's amazing optimism and resilience throughout his battle with brain cancer, fellow third-grader Foster Hager designed these "Today is the Best Day" magnets. She thought of the idea after hearing the story of how Cameron attended a Nascar event that was rained out at the last minute. As he and his family were leaving, people all around were grumbling and complaining about the cancellation. Meanwhile, Cameron bounced along, all smiles, singing, "Today is the best day ever!!" His ability to see each day as the best day is a gift that he spreads to others. We would like to spread Cameron Jackson's incredible attitude to others, encouraging everyone to view each day as the best day.

What more can I say? Here's the picture she drew.

It's been a busy few days

Hello...LeAnn here! I thought I would post an update since it has been a few days. I am happy to report that things are still "stable" in the Jackson household. We had a pretty busy weekend. On Saturday, Cameron had a very special visitor...Kentucky Kristin came by to see him. They played with his bowling set, watched some basketball, took some pictures, and he showed her some of his cars. Then he was hungry so he got a very cool lunch date with the beautiful, and oh so sweet blonde from G105. On Saturday night, we all went to see the Hurricanes play which was a lot of fun. My company was kind enough to give us tickets to the game so we went with several of our friends and several of the boys friends as well. Connor had a great time with his buddies; I just love to see Connor smile and laugh! Sunday, Cameron had a "date" with Mrs. Germano (his teacher from kindergarten) to see the Lion King which was a really special treat. It was a long play and he didn't last the whole time but still had a lot of fun. To wrap up the long weekend, on Monday we went to Duke to get his port flushed. As always, he was such a brave little guy. We were about to leave and Dr. G popped around the corner, on his day off, with a Subway bag containing Cam's favorite sandwich, a cookie, and chocolate milk. Cameron got the biggest smile on his face and I almost cried thinking about the relationship which has developed between Dr. G and Cameron over the past three years as they have battled this nasty tumor together. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful doctor watch over and love our son.

As I said, things are stable with Cam. We are starting to decrease one of his medications to find the right dose to keep his headaches away while decreasing the side effects of the medication at the same time. He hasn't been sleeping well which has kept him from going to school. But, last night he actually slept through the night and today, he had a lot more energy and even sang tonight in the car as we were traveling home. It was the most beautiful sound to my ears. Cameron has always been one to just walk around the house and sing constantly. He's been so sleepy lately that I haven't heard his little voice sing so hearing him tonight was such a treat.

As for the rest of us, we are all hanging in there. Many thanks to those who have sent cards, meals, giftcards, etc. And more than anything, thank you for your prayers. We are able to get up and put one foot in front of the other each day because so many people are praying for us and for Cameron. While this is such a trying time for our family, we are all strangely at peace. I know I will never understand why Cameron has had to travel on this journey with cancer. But he continues to teach me so much about faith, hope, compassion, courage, love, trust, and the list could go on and on and on. So I'm taking life one day at a time, knowing God will handle the rest. Love to you all.

Cam's feeling "well"

We were FINALLY able to get to NYC last weekend, so I've posted the pictures over to the left. Cam’s not had any headaches since the scan thanks to meds, but he’s pretty tired due to the meds whacking out his sleep patterns and everything else that’s going on. The meds have made Cam want to eat all the time, so he’s putting on weight like crazy now. We’re actually having to be careful now as to how much we give him. He’s gone from around 40 pounds at the scan to 46 last night and has a nice little belly sticking out…you can’t help but smile at him as he’s SO proud of it. It’s pretty hard to see him start out so well in the morning and see how things start wearing on him as the day progresses. He’s still taking things like he always has, with a smile and “I’m ok” every time we ask…which is VERY often. The good news is the meds have somewhat stabilized things at this moment, but we still have to view the future with the same outlook. It's all in God's hands at this point....well at every point, but you get what I mean.

One thing LeAnn and I would ask right now is to make sure any conversations with little ones be very guarded. As adults, this is a very difficult situation for us to process and even more so for children who do not always have the ability to understand and use discretion in what they might say to Cameron and Connor.

We know there are prayers going up across the country for our little boy and we so appreciate them. LeAnn and I have no idea what we need right now, so just pray for God to deliver us all through this and to help Cam be as happy and comfortable as possible through it all.