Update! Thankfulness!

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and found many things to be thankful for. We have so much to be thankful for! Koen is doing so well! He's been very happy, had tons of energy, eating well and is gaining weight. We couldn't be more thankful for the healing of Koen! He has his fourth shot of vincristtine today. I'm really praying he handles going back to the hospital okay. We haven't been there since the 21st. It's so weird because is has only been 9 days since we've been there last. It seems like forever ago. We can't believe this fight against cancer is getting closer and closer to the end. At the start of this 4 months ago it seemed like a long forever journey ahead of us. So that brings me to another thing to be thankful for! It has only been 4 months and will only be 5 months from start to finish of Koen having cancer. His last treatment will be Dec. 24th. Man what a Christmas present, and he will be declared cancer free then too!! We'll have one more clinic appointment sometime in January and then another in 33 months. See how much we have to be thankful for! I am so very thankful that Koen was so brave and strong and fought hard against cancer. He's so unbelievable strong and I couldn't be more proud of him! I am also so very thankful for all of you that have prayed for Koen! He couldn't have made it through this fight without all your prayers! THANK YOU!! I don't know how I can get a cross to all of you how Thankful I am for all of you. I know I couldn't have made it either without knowing there were so many of you standing behind us. I am most thankful for my heavenly Father! He is the one that truly gave Koen a second chance, the strength to fight this fight and the peace for us as parents. I hope you all had a Blessed Thanksgiving like us!

There is Thanksgiving pictures on our family blog, please feel free to check them out!

Home!

Koen and his Mommy at the hospital.

Koen and I just got home from the hospital. He is doing good! But he has been really grouchy today and just down right mad. I'm not sure if he's just really feeling the chemo today or he's just having a little angry moment. He's so ready to be done with the hospital stuff, nurses and doctors. Please keep praying for him to have the strength to finish this fight. The end is very near! I am having some weird feelings about the end of this journey. I am really excited to see the end almost here. To when I have my little man Koen back. But then I feel so guilty for being happy because I know of all the sweet little faces that still have quite a journey ahead of them. Even though they are not my kids today I am feeling the pain of them being my kids. I guess because I know what their parents are going through and how tuff it is on them. It just really breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes. I know I will always be a part of children's cancer and I hope I find a GREAT way to give back and give some other parent hope! Please remember to keep those prayers coming for not only Koen but for the rest of the kids that are going through all this. Thanks!

Koen's Uncles came to visit while he was in the hospital.

Koen and his new friend Ainsley doing crafts together at the hospital.

Doing Okay

Koen is doing okay today! He's thrown up 3 times so not enjoying that. He seems to have better spirits this time about it all! We now just get to hang out until tomorrow morning. He'll have his other two chemo medicines watched for an hour and be able to go home. I asked the doctor yesterday what the plan would be for when he's done with his chemo treatments. From what I understood just check ups once a month for 3 months then once every 3 months for 2 years. Then yearly check ups after that. Thanks for the prayers for my little man. I know there helping and getting Koen through this fight.

Round 5 is a GO!

Today Koen started round 5 of chemo! It is both good and sad! Good were getting started with his last two chemo treatments but sad that he has to go through the sickness of it again. It's so hard for me as his mama to see him have to feel so crappy and not really be able to do anything about it. I am in hopes this round goes well as the last. With the last round he only threw up twice. Please pray it's the same this time! Today he received his cisplatin which caused the nausea. For the start of each round he has a three day hospital stay. The reason for this is because the cisplatin can cause damage to his kidneys so they have to make sure and flush them well and keep track of his urine out put. He has 4 hours of fluids before then it takes four hours for the chemo to go in and them 20 hours of fluids after. Then on Saturday morning he will have his dose of vincristine and F-5U and be released to go home. We always look forward to that day! It's so hard on Koen to be away from his brothers. You should see how cute they are when they get to see each other again. I'll try and get some pictures and videos of it this time.

Today Koen met a new friend! This brings smiles to not only Koen's face but to mine. He keeps talking about her and how she gave him a sticker. I think it's so GREAT for him to have a friend that's kind of going through the same thing as him. She doesn't have exactly what he has but does have the cute little bald head too. She knows all about the many things like port accesses, medicine, hospital stays, pain, etc.

I never thought that I would ever have to go through or even step foot in a Children's Hospital. Know that I am I am forever going to be tied to this hospital. Having a child going through cancer just opens my eyes to the many sick kids there are in this world. Something one of the nurses pointed out to me once is there is a special month of Breast Cancer and a couple of other cancers. There is one for Children's cancer also but it is not noticed as much as the others. As being a parent of a cancer child (still can't believe I can say that) it makes me want to really push to open people's eyes to this and for others to see what these little ones are going through. So I urge for any of you reading this to find someway to get involved somehow. Donating to Make a Wish, A Children's Hospital close to you, A Children's Cancer Society, or some other way. If you google Children's cancer you can find many resources to do this!

Thank you all for the prayers for Koen! I would also like to ask all of you to not only keep Koen in your prayers but to also pray for all the other sick kids that are having to go through all of this. For their healing, pain, sadness, family, etc. God Bless!

Doing Better

Koen's white blood cell counts had doubled yesterday which means he has some kind of infection. They didn't find anything wrong with him other then he needed to have a bowel movement and he is fighting a viral cold. His white blood cell count is back down to 17 today, so whatever his body was trying to fight it did its job! Koen is getting to go back home today! Not exactly sure when they will start round 5 of chemo.

Stomach Pain

Update from Nana Stacy~ Koen has been in pain and Lindsay took him to the hospital. They are afraid it is a bile leak so they have scheduled a CT Scan. Please be praying as if it is a leak he will be taken back to surgery to have the leak stopped and they will have to flush out his internal organs. We need a miracle right now. This little boy has been through SO much. Please Pray!

Fever is Down

Koen's fever is down! He still is not sleeping well at night and not feeling the greatest.

High Fever

Please lift Koen up in prayer today! He had a rough night. He ran a 105 fever at one point and the junk in his chest is gettting worse and worse.

SICK :(

Update from Lindsay: Koen is SICK :( I was really praying he wouldn't get what Kaitin and Gavin had. Last night he came down with a fever and isn't doing so hot. Please pray he can beat this without ending up in the hospital.

UPDATE~~Koen is sick with a viral infection. He should be able to fight it because his counts are really good. We just have to keep a close eye on him and give him tylenol. Round 5 of chemo is scheduled for Nov. 19th. Really pushing to be cancer free and done with chemo by the end of the year. Please pray he can beat this fast and that we don't have any delays for the next two rounds left.

Doing AWESOME!

Koen is doing VERY well and really enjoying life again. He is recovering quickly from surgery. It's unbelievable how much he has changed since the removable of the nasty tumor. He has more energy and is getting he's appetite back.

Home & Praising God!

Update from Nana Stacy~ THANK YOU GOD!! Our Koen is home. Thank you to all that have lifted up our Koen in prayer. I know the power of prayer and I believe it was your prayers that gave him back to us. THANK YOU!

Koen is pretty weak and wouldn't even walk while in the hospital but when he was home the first thing he did was walk over to get his balloons for mommy to untangle them. He was a little slow but made it without a stumble! It is amazing what being back home does for him. He wants to play and grows stronger everyday when around his brothers.

We now have pictures of this ugly tumor. I can't believe how gross and evil cancer looks. We are all so happy to know it is no longer destroying our little guys body NO MORE!

Good Day!

Tuesday Evening~Good day for our Koen. He looks so much better today. More color in his face, less swelling and even a few smiles. :) He did point at the doctor and demanded the doctors to leave the room, NOW! He is ready to get out of there! :)

Financial Donations

THANK YOU to everyone that are prayer warriors for Koen and have given financial donations to help him and his family during this time.

Koen became ill during a move from California to Colorado when his Dad was in the middle of a job change. Since his Dad was between jobs the family was uninsured. Koen has bills that have exceeded the $500,000.00 mark with more to follow since the recent surgery and the continuing chemo treatment. Koen qualified for some help in getting the medical covered but his parents have still been left with over $23,000.00 in out of pocket medical expenses to cover his cancer treatment. Koen's parents are concerned about the bills but at this point they have to trust it will all get paid somehow. Their main concern is having a cancer free, healthy, strong, and happy little boy again.

There have been many people that have asked, "How can I help?" If you feel led to give financially this is a way that you can help to relieve a lot of stress from Koen's parents. A financial gift in any amount would be greatly appreciated! Also, if anyone has ideas on what types of fundraisers would help out as well please email Koen's Nana Stacy at godsgifts12@yahoo.com.


Most importantly please keep the Slovek Family and Koen in your prayers everyday! God is working in many ways through this hardship.



Acts 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Great Accomplishments Today!

An update from Koen's Nana~ Koen has made great accomplishments today. They didn't have to take him back to surgery to replace the port which is a huge answer to prayer. They were able to draw from the existing one which means less needle pokes for our Koen. They have introduced him to food again but he is afraid to eat since he doesn't want to throw up. His pain has been more tolerable but he is not off the iv pain medication yet. He is still a pretty unhappy little guy and I am looking forward to the day when we have our Koen back. He was always a happy easy going joy to everyone he met. Cancer has caused him to be leary of most people and more clingy to us. We are so close to beating this and I am so grateful to all of those that continue to lift our Koen up in prayer! We all need it and it means so much to us!

Pray for Pain Control

Please be praying for our Koen. They are talking about doing surgery today to change out the port as it will not draw blood. Koen has to go through so many needle pokes that is very hard for him. He was pretty swollen yesterday and hurting quite a bit. We are praying the pain gets under control soon.

Update around 10:45am~Koen woke up a little grouchy today but is coming around. His central port worked so NO surgery for that today! Thanks for the prayers! He'll be losing a lot of lines and stuff today. Hoping to go home tomorrow or Wednesday. Just need to work on pain control in order to go home. BIG prayer request.....Pain Control.