Day 4 at Primary Children's Hospital

Today was a busy day- we started out with an echo on Tucker's heart and then we moved straight into chemo.
now he did have chemo in his spinal tap yesterday, today's chemo's are (they gave me a hand out):
1) VINCRISTINE
followed by...
2) DEXAMETHASONE
and ending with
3) DAUNORUBICIN
and that cocktail is chased by a very strong steroid pill.
The chemo is great (great in the way of GREAT IT WILL KILL CANCER-not great for anything else), but the nifty pill is this steroid they have him on (can't remember its name). Now this steroid is made specifically target cancer cells in spinal fluid and take em' out! He get a large dose 3x a day- now let's all have a big deep sigh of relief- a pill that is going to Immanently fight the cancer directly in his spinal fluid!! YA!! however, the side effects are very drastic, horrible, and just down right- they suck! I remember before Tucker having this steroid during his first rounds with cancer, only for 2 weeks- and they are 2 weeks that i will never ever forget! I remember crying on day #15 because i was SO THANKFUL that the "steroid stretch" was done! But i think the one thing that is going to work in my favor now is i know what's coming, i know how to prepare, mentally I'm gearing up for the battle- and I'm making a shopping list in my head of what FOOD will have to fully stocked 100% of the time for tucker (like POPCORN).

I'm not sure what everybody knows so sorry if i'm repeating myself. Here is the rundown of Tucker's cancer. He had leukemia of the CNS (central nervous system- spinal fluid is what's in your brain.. so that's where it's at, scary to think about hu?) anyways the "brain" itself does not have cancer, it's the fluid in the brain. Now think about this- thousands and thousands of cells that are not suppose to be in your spinal fluid- all of a sudden are there taking up room.. lots and lots of room... they start to "gather" together on stuff- any stuff they can- like a gland in his brain the pituitary it all just gathered there and all around the brain and just kept building on top of each other. Well after a while the physical side effects become very apparent.. have you ever seen a old person who has Parkinson? and they shake all the time, their head never stops moving, their hands don't stop moving, they can't grasp thing- pick things up- simple things like a fork to your mouth, they just can't do. Well that's what tucker is dealing with now because all the cancer cells are pressing in on his CNS and on the nerve endings in his brain, so naturally they physically manifest themselves. Tucker can't grasp a fork, or open his milk- ect- his speech is slurred.. ect. However because of that nifty steroid pill and the chemo- they should right away get in that fluid and kill off those damn cancer cells and within days we should see a dramatic improvement in tucker's motor skills returning. Just today- is like the worst of the worst- so each day should get better and better. I just can't even begin to tell you how hard it is to see your child- who just 2 months ago was running, jumping, playing- now cannot grasp a fork.

It's still so surreal for Justin and I. It's like is it happening and not happening. I don't know what i would have done without Justin here by my side. He has been my rock, my strength, my saving grace. Any and everything he is willing to do, get, help... he's at home right now fixing up the house because before Tucker gets home some big changes need to happen. So he's at home holding up our life... and I'm here holding down the fort. Have you ever seen theses hospital rooms? they are SMALL- and honestly up here- its mostly waiting and waiting for something, blood test- results, chemo or doctors, but the rest of the time is waiting. So Justin has been by my side for all the important moments (all the doctor moments and those are 150% the MOST important time to have 2 ears) and we even squeezed together on the little 1/2 person size bed for a night! Wow, that was interesting! But it worked, because he is doing everything and anything he can do to make this work. Justin i love you, and there are no words enough to tell you that. Thank you.

As for now... thanks everybody for your love and support.
Amber & Tucker

*i asked Tucker if he wanted to say anything in this email to all our friends and family and he said "please tell them all I'm feeling better."

Grandma Karleen and Steve also came by today
Grandma Poulsen and Grandpa Poulsen came by today

EKG

Tucker's Teacher Mrs. Shipman came by yesterday to visit

Best News Yet!

Great News!
Preliminary results she NO CANCER CELLS in his Bone Marrow. This is the best news yet! It means probably no Transplant. IT was all your prayers that did this. A Text Message from Amber.
Please keep call Amber's Cell phone to a minimum, she is running out of minutes. They are free after 9pm please just call the room number. Also keep well wishes and short text to a minimum she is getting over whelmed with them. Only text her if it is important. Please email Tamy or leave a message on the blog for well wishes and comment. If Amber text you it is just an FYI please don't respond.

Day 3 at Primary Children's Hospital Update

We just got back into our room, Tucker is sound asleep sawing logs.. Justin and I had some time to think over our best plan of action-just for today to get to tomorrow (seriously, that is all we can plan right now), and we came to the decision that he needed to go home. He needs to pick up the kids, do house work- i don't know really- but i sure sent him with a long "honey-do" list. We have alot of things that have to change because of our current situation. In reality only one of us needs to enjoy the 1st class comfort of the awesome char that folds out into a bed- now bed may not be the exact word I'm searching for, cause to me a bed is soft, with sheets, lots of pillows- and it just has a "cuddle factor" that you can't get from anywhere else other than your bed- so this (I'll use the word bed loosely) BED that I'm enjoying is just a step up from the floor in more ways than one.
The best part is that its just 1 foot away from Tucker and honestly, that's all that matters to me.
his surgery went fine, no complications. They took out some bone marrow for testing and now he has 2 brand new beautiful white tubes coming out of his chest. Well its more like one tube coming directly out of his chest for about 2 inches and then it splits into 2 tubes. This will help with him getting chemo & anti nauseating & antibiotics all at once. But i think one of the saddest heart breaking things about this- no more swimming for Tucker. : He is such a little fish, ever since the first round of cancer and he was "FREE" of the tube, we have had a hard time keeping him out of the water. He could swim for hours and hours... my heart just breaks thinking about the moment i have to break THAT news to him... Cancer is bad sure, to you and me- but to him its "that sucks!"... but when get down to the 10 year old level- swimming ranks right up there with cartoons, DSI, & Xbox.
but hey, we will get through this and by damn I'm going to throw him the biggest swim party of his life the first day he is TUBE free!
anyways- that's all for now.
amber

Justin & Tucker Playing video Games

Day 3 at Primary Children's Hospital

Family & Friends

We just got out of a meeting with Tucker's Oncologist Dr. Afifie. Now just to keep you all updated; Dr. Afifie has been Tucker's doc from the start when he was first diagnosed back in 2005, and she will continue to handle his care.

Here is what we found out:
We had initially been told that it was most likely a different type of cancer due to the way it manifested itself but we have confirmed that it is leukemia. Tucker is having what is known as a late leukemia relapse, in his case a VERY late relapse since he's been "in remission" since 2005.
Most kids if they are going to relapse would typically do so in that first year after chemo was completed. The fact that Tucker has waited this long to relapse is actually good news! This means he has not built up an immunity to his past chemo. All of the chemo's he received before will be the exact same chemo's that he'll get now just in higher dosages mixed with steroids and radiation. So the fact that the dates are very far apart works in our favor, and gives us a better "success" edge. Today he will be having a bone marrow biopsy and they will be inserting a Broviak line (this is the line by which they will administer the different chemo's over the next 2 years). The Broviak line is on the outside of the body as opposed to a port-o-cath that placed under the skin.

The plan is start chemo therapy immediately and to treat this very aggressively. The next year will have us spending alot of time at Primary Children's Hospital. Dr. Afifie is trying to get Tucker in a trial program for an experimental antibody that kills the cancer cells without harming his normal cells. We are hoping to get accepted into this as it can only help his recovery. We don't know if Tucker will need a bone-marrow transplant until later, the biopsy today will help determine if there are cancer cells in the bone marrow of if it is isolated to his spinal fluid.

Those of you who want to visit Tucker at the hospital are welcome, just be aware that they will not allow anybody who is sick or children under 14 to visit and only 2 visitors at a time.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We will continue to update our blog and keep you informed as we find out more.

Email from Amber

1st Post

Hi Family and Friends,
This is Tamy, Amber's little sister. She has asked me to set a blog so that she can post daily updates on Tucker's progress. I will be managing the blog and comments since her time right now limited and precious. I will pass on all comments and well wishes. She really appreciates all the love and support that has been pouring in for her and her family.
Please email your address if you want to be in the email loop also.
Thank you so much for all your prayers.
Tamy Wilson
beautifultamy@hotmail.com

The title from the page was what Tucker said when they told him the cancer was back.

Day 2 at Primary's Children Hospital

Saturday January 29, 2011
Tucker had his spinal tap today and had some visitors.

Tucker, Ryan, & Dad (Justin)

First Day at Primary Children's Hospital

Tucker was admitted Friday night January 28, 2011 after receiving a CAT Scan.