Update for first week of august

Since I haven't posted in a while I figured I would just do a few things at a time. Then you guys have more to look forward to!

We have had a new addition to our family! On August 4th my sister had a new baby named Easton. I made it to the hospital just 10 minutes after he was born. I was trying to make it but couldn't. I took John John with me because he wanted to see the baby. He was so good at the hospital. He was entertaining his cousins and making jokes like usual. After all the commotion had died down he sat in the rocking chair to hold the baby. He was so gentile and loving. He was talking to the baby and playing with his feet. I just loved seeing him like that.

John had a wonderful time at the RPM fundraiser. As some of you may have seen we were featured on the CBS channel 13 news at 10. John told his story and they told a little of ours. The first correction I need to make is that we are from RIO LINDA not Natomas. I don't have anything against Natomas but we live in such a great community! Our community has been very generous and supportive since our diagnosis. Since I can't correct the news this is my only opportunity to say that we love our town!

So he went through a drivers training class with his friend Chad and the got their RPM licenses which are good until they turn 16. They can go race now without having to do the training, which is nice because for junior drivers the class is 2 hours long. When they finally got to race it was so cute to see him with his racing uniform and helmet on. I know that the picture is kind of blurry but you can get the general idea of what the cars looked like. He just had such a good day! Thank you to Dr. Kris from Core Chiropractic and to RPM for making this such a wonderful day for our family.

More updates to come!!

Fundraiser at RPM

One more thing that I forgot to add. Our friend Dr. Kristofer Chaffin from Core Chiropractic Center in Folsom is putting on a great fundraiser for John at RPM in Rancho Cordova on August 7th from 11am to 3pm. Our family will be there if any of you would like to come join us. Below is a the flier that you need to bring so that they know you are there for John or you can go to the website below and print out the flier there.

www.helpjohnjr.org

JOHNNY HOFFMAN JR. FUNDRAISER  SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 FROM 11AM - 3PM PRESENTED BY CORE CHIROPRACTIC & RPM RACING

Little Johnny is in a brave fight against stage 4 cancer. To learn more about his story, please visit his blog and website. BE SURE TO PRINT THIS EMAIL AND PRESENT IT TO THE RPM CASHIER RPM will donate 50% of money collected from this event. Hot Lap winner walks away with $400 cash  Entry fee is $100 & limited to first 24 contestants, call Ryan at 916-214-6413 to register (1st come first serve basis). Enter to win 20+ raffle prizes If you'd like to just come for a friendly race, you can do that too. Please print and bring this email to the RPM cashier. Interested in sponsoring this event? Please contact Julianne@CoreFolsom.com. Sponsorship is $150 and includes your logo on the event website, marketing collateral and the welcoming banner at RPM during this event. This is limited to the first 20 businesses and only 1 business per category allowed. Payment must be received by July 29th at 10am.

© 2011 Core Chiropractic 149 Iron Point Road, Folsom, CA 95630 +916 353-2673

Evaluation Time

Last week John was sick and very tired.  I thought that something was wrong because he didnt have his usual energy. We have to get blood taken twice a week so I assumed that something was off. When we got the results back I saw that I was right.We had to get a transfusion of blood and platelets. That put off chemo until this week. If his red blood cells and his platelets are low his body can not handle the stress of chemo also. Other than not feeling well and his dad and I constantly waking up to care for him and give him medicine the week was pretty uneventful.

Today started his 17th week/ round and is a 5 day chemo. We hydrated him all night through his G-tube ( stomach tube) so we thought that he would be ready to start this morning. We had an appointment at 8:45 so that he would be done and ready for his scans by noon. He wasn't hydrated enough so we had to wait and get fluid. then we tested his urine and hydrated and tested and hydrated and so on...
He was finally ready around 11:30 but there wasn't enough time before his scans. We went over to radiology and he had an MRI done of his head and CT of lungs. He was able to do the MRI without sedation which is a first for him. He was very still and didn't complain. That cut back on the amount of time we had to stay there because he didn't have to go to recovery.

We then had to go back to the clinic to get our scheduled chemo. Since the scans took so long we were only able to get one of the drugs that he needed. For the rest of the week he will get an increased dose of Itoposide to make up for the missed dose today. The doctor said that it shouldn't affect the way he feels or anything.  He also is connected to a pump that is hydrating him 24 hours a day until Saturday. The bags have to be changed , which usually means the middle of the night. At least his port is only accessed once this week. Hopefully by the end of the week we should have the results of the scans. We were finally able to leave the hospital around 4:45 but we have to be back again at 9:30 tomorrow. It was a very long day and he was very tired.

The pictures below are ones that were taken today. the first one is from tonight. He is sleeping in a chair in the living room in front of the TV. He has his food and fluid hooked up on the pole and of course his bucket next to him. The other picture is from today at chemo. He was drawing a picture.