more waiting

had biopsy today

A grueling day of uncetainty and waiting for appointments and doctor conferences; exhausting/stressful. Jordan was a trooper and held out all day until his biopsy surgery at 5:15pm (pretty much no food or water for him since early this morning). The procedure lasted for nearly an hour and half and then he was in recovery for a while after that. Both the urologist and cancer doctors spoke with us tonight before we left the hospital at 8:15pm. The samples from his tumor have been sent to the pathology lab and we will know more information tomorrow (Wednesday). They are hopeful that it is not more cancerous growth, though that is still a possibility as to what it could be. Thanks for your continued prayers...specifically for his pain to subside and for good rest. all our love, Team Busby
(I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me- Phil. 4:13 & be strong in the LORD and in His mighty power- Ephesians 6:10)

on hold

we're on hold for more specific information about Jordan's tumor. The scans today revealed that there is a mass again pushing on his bladder. Worst case is the tumor is growing, but other real possibilities may be that it is scar tissue that has shifted to a different position or that there is bleeding from the dead tumor causing it swell. Chemo has been postponed for tomorrow and we will be seeing a urologist in the morning, in order to set up a biopsy that will take place in the next day or two. Our hope and belief is that the biopsy will show dead mass. Please continue to pray for us during this time. We love you. Team Busby

A Week of Joy and Heartache

I am not even sure how to summarize our week. Camp was incredible. The week started out rough though. We came home from the hospital frantically threw our stuff together and headed out for camp. The first night everyone sat around and introduced themselves. I unfortunately was sitting by 2 parents whose kids had the same diagnosis as Jordan, but their tumors had come back. That night Jordan was up every hour screaming with cramping. His symptoms from treatment are so often the same as they were from the tumor and the events of the night made me extremely upset. Sue, our nurse practitioner helped calm my anxieties the next day and agreed to do his scans early believing that they will give us more peace of mind. So they are scheduled for tomorrow. That day was the spa and as I described before, it was amazing. Things got better with the following night as we tried a new medicine and he slept the whole night giving us more assurance that his pain the following night was due to treatment issues.

On Wednesday morning our other nurse practitioner, my friend Kristin, showed up for the day. She told me that my cousin and her husband were at Children's that day on the oncology floor and their son was being diagnosed. I was in complete shock. Ben and Jordan are about the same age and we had just been in Hawaii with them a month earlier. Even more unbelievable, her husband is a pastor at UPC the church that sponsored the camp. He had commissioned the Side by Side team that Sunday before camp. So all the people leading the camp knew and love Carin and Jeff and they too were shocked. The rest of the week was bittersweet. My family was being served by such amazing people who were going above and beyond to make it a wonderful week for us, and yet my heart was so heavy for Carin, Jeff and Ben. As the news got out to the camp staff, I realized that beyond all the fun there was an incredible prayer team and people praying constantly and fervently for our family and now for my cousin's family. I was overwhelmed. We are believing and hoping for the best for them. And the one consolation in hearing such bad news was that all the wonderful, Christ filled people we met at camp are their church body, and will love, serve and walk with them through this trial. Please pray for them. They have a long road of treatment ahead them and it is overwhelming. Please also pray for our scans tomorrow. This is the final scan that will indicate if we are done with treatment.

Please Pray

Camp has been going great, but we have been absolutely heart sick to learn of a family member whose child has also been diagnosed with cancer this week. Please pray for them.

Tully's, go carts and a whole night of sleep!

Another great day. The biggest blessing was that for the 3rd time in his life, Jordan slept the whole night. We tried a new medication and maybe that was it, but it was a relief after such a bad night on Sunday. The kids competed in the fishing competition and Luke and Brent caught the biggest fish at 7 lbs., they did the zipline, and square dancing, swimming, tie die, beads...it goes on and on. They really go all out. Jordan spent lots of time riding in the golf cart, playing at the playground, doing playdough and climbing in the tunnel. He has been visiting the Tully's cart for smoothies. Regular juice is just not good enough anymore! To say the least, the kids are into it. Brent got to go with the guys today for go cart racing and going out to dinner. We have had a great time. It's nice to have people to entertain the kids and relax a little. Everyone here has different ways of dealing with cancer and a lot of people like to talk about all the time. We are staying away from that. As best we can, we are trying to put all that aside and just have some good time with family. Jordan's chemo has been rescheduled for Tuesday and he is actually going to have his scans on Monday which will be the "end of treatment" scans even though he will have one more treatment which will now be probably on September 7th.

Camp Side by Side

We made it to camp! Everyone is having a great time. It was a rough start, as the kids did the packing and it was chaos getting out of the house. Tate actually packed Sitara's bag for her so she has an interesting wardrobe this week including 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts (one came dirty) and nothing that goes together, but oh well. They each have their own "buddy" which caters to their every whim. They did water balloons, the zipline, arts and crafts, canoeing, swimming, the slip and slide and have visited the all day free Tully's cart for their italian sodas. They had a spa day today for the moms including haircuts from an upscale salon in Belltown, manicures, pedicures, facials, and massages. The helpers (younger kids) passed out chocolates and brought custom orders from the coffee cart. It was amazing. Jordan likes his buddy. She is a grandma and retired nurse and is great with him and very helpful to me with all the antibiotic stuff. Jordan still having bad nights, but is currently sleeping peacefully so hopefully tonight will be better.