Auctions worth bidding on!!! Help sam

SAM'S MOM WROTE



Thursday, November 12, 2009 3:24 PM, EST



Sam's follow up appointment with Dr. Mayerson went very well this morning. He is healing really well and making good progress. Dr. Mayerson gave us some more exercises that we can continue to work on with Sam at home. We can continue to do PT with Sam at home and he will start doing it outside of the home in the next month as we prepare for him to be fitted for a prosthetic leg. At our appointment today we met another young lady who we also follow on CaringBridg​e. Her name is Jael Via and she was also diagnosed with Osteosarcom​a. She is now cancer free and doing really well. It was wonderful meeting her and her family. If you would like to visit her CaringBridg​e website and leave a message for the family her website name is jaelvia

Than​ks for the continued packages, donations, and cards that come to our home on a daily basis. We are so extremely grateful for all of this support. We continue to try and send out personal thank you notes as much as we can. Please know that even if you do not get a personal note we are doing the best that we can and we truly do appreciate all of your support.

Saturday, November 14, 2009 4:30 PM, EST



Quick entrie today- Sam is doing well and sleeping through the night. Thank God for the pain meds. He continues to struggle with the phantom pain at different points during the day but we are keeping up with his pain meds and it does seem to be helping him. Sam walked with his walker all the way from our living room through our kitchen and to our front door today....th​en he turned around and walked all the way back w/out resting at all. This is the farthest distance he has walked so far. We are so proud of him! He also had his first play date today with one of his best friends from school since he has been home from the hospital. The boys had a great time together. Sam does go back into the hospital on Tuesday morning and will be in for 5 days of chemo and 1 day of hydration before being released to come home on Sunday.

Mike and I are heading out for a much needed date night. Thank you to my wonderful sister in law who drove 2 hours to provide respite for us for 1 night so we can have a break. I love you Beth and family....y​ou are the best! We hope to bring Sam to church tomorrow morning. It will do him good to be in Sunday school and be able to see all of his friends. Have a wonderful weekend everyone and keep those prayers coming!!

Saturday, November 14, 2009 11:01 PM, EST



Added 2 new pictures tonight (on pg. 5) of Sam. Mike and I had a great date night and the kids had alot of fun with their Aunt Beth this evening. My Dad and stepmom should be arriving home this evening from Minnesota. Their course of action is to find my father a new Oncologist ​and for him to start chemo as soon as possible. They are hoping to make a trip to Ohio as well to see Sam and our family. Please continue to pray for my father Jeffrey when you pray for Sam. Have a wonderful Sunday tomorrow!



PICTURE 1 Our family with our friend Courtney and our new friend Dimitrious Stanley



PICTURE 2 Sam and Dimitrious with Sam's autographed football

Monday, November 16, 2009 8:54 PM, EST



Well, the past few days have been busy but good ones. Sam and the girls enjoyed spending Saturday night with their Aunt Beth and cousin Emily so Mike and I could go out on a much needed date. This past Sunday we were able to bring Sam to church for the first time since his surgery. He seemed to really enjoy seeing all of his friends again. He even went to Sunday school. When Mike went to pick him up from Sunday school he was actually asleep in class. He is on so many meds right now for pain control that he gets tired pretty easily. Even though he fell asleep in class we are still so glad he was able to come to church. Our church (Westervill​e Christian) has been an amazing support system to our family through all of this. Our family has had meals provided to us by church and MOPS members eve​ry other day since Sam's diagnosis on August 10th. This has been such a tremendous blessing to our family. Our church has also created "Smiles for Sam" which has brought in hundreds of cards, many packages for our family and an amazing amount of prayer. Our church has a saying "Love God Love People" and we are so fortunate to belong to a church that truly belives what is taught.

"After church on Sunday the kids enjoyed a visit with my mom (their Nana) who came to visit from Mansfield. Sam and our family also met with Make A Wish on Sunday. Thank you Aric and Rochelle for coming to our home and reaching out to our family. We are truly excited to have something to look forward to....a wonderful trip to Disney!! This will be a much needed break for our family. Thank you to Make A Wish for reaching out to families such as ours and making the wishes of these special children come true. A lot of these children who make wishes do not have a lot to smile about durin​g treatment, ​and for you to bring a smile to their faces is truly a blessing.

​ Sam is doing as well as to be expected right now.He has good days and bad days. He enjoys being with his friends that come over to see him. He got to spend this weekend with one of his best friends from school named Andrei. He also spent some time today with a great friend from church named Matthew. I think in these moments of special times with friends he feels like himself again....en​joying doing the things that boys his age like to do. Other times Sam is angry and just not himself. I know that all of this is normal as he is dealing with the loss of his leg. He is also on so many medications right now that I can only imagine how that contributes to his mood. Please just pray for Sam's attitude in general. That he accepts the loss of his leg and is able to move on. I think he is really doing a great job with this but you can tell that he has moments where he is angry and wondering "why did this happen to me", "I wish this never happened". We are all doing the best that we possibly can under the circumstanc​es and that is all that we can do at this pont. I wish this nightmare was over in our lives. I wish that after his leg surgery Sam was cancer free. This is not our reality right now. He still has many months of chemo before him along with 2 seperate lung surgeries and some radiation mixed in with this. Thinking positive we can possibly be done with his chemo and surgeries by June if no new tumors appear .Please just continue to pray for patience, strength and most of all healing for Sam. This journey is affecting everyone in our family but we are still believing and hoping for both Sam and my Dad that they will both get through this. Thanks for joining us on this journey. You are all such an inspiration and encourageme​nt to our family.

Back into the hospital tomorrow morning for a 6 day stay. Sam will be taking some new chemo drugs this time around. Please pray that he does as well as he possibly can with this with little to no nausea. Sam has proven to be a lot stronger than we ever thought he was. We will get through this. I must sign off for now to pack for the hospital. We will go to bed tonight knowing that many people from all over the world are praying for Sam and our family and expecting that miracle for us. Thank you and God bless!

Still with ya Sam. Hang in there. Lord, I pray that you HEAL Sam. Let his story be one that is spoken of when miracles are mentioned. Amen.

Amen 2riv. Allen

I pray the same Lord.....let Sam be one of your many miracles!!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 4:20 PM, EST



Sam was admitted into the hospital today. We arrived at 11:30AM. He did much better this time getting his port accessed. He was quite nervous/anx​ious leading up to it but he did not even cry when it was accessed. His chemo will not be able to start until his pee has cleared. A lot of the meds Sam is currently on is making him not pee as frequently. When he first got here at 11:30AM he had his first pee of the day and it was very concentrate​d. Sam is being hydrated now but has also fallen asleep. I am waiting for him to wake up to pee again so hopefully he can be cleared for his chemo to start. The days are very long sitting here in the hospital room. I know that he has to receive chemo for 5 days and then be hydrated for 24 hours after his last chemo. At the best he may be able to be released by Sunday evening. It will be a long few days here. Praying that all of the pain meds he is on along with the nausea medicine he will be given will not make him sleep the entire time he is here. I am having a hard time waking him up now....he needed a good nap I guess. Praying his chemo can start soon and he has little to no side effects. Thanks for joining us in prayer for Sam.

I also wanted to extend a special thank you out to all that have given of themselves financially to help our family. I know the account that has been set up for Sam has had some donations mailed in to the bank. We also continue to receive donations mailed to our home or to our church. Thank you so much for giving of yourself to join us in this fight for Sam's life. We truly appreciate the financial support and help with paying Sam's medical bills. For those that are interested, our family will be having a charity auction/ben​efit on Saturday, December 5th. It will be held at our church Westerville Christian. The benefit will begin at 1:00PM. Many wonderful donations have been coming in for the auction. We plan on being there in attendance and would love to meet any of you that are able to attend.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 5:48 AM, EST



Chemo started about 8:30PM last night and ran through most of the night. Sam will receive chemo again tonight but it will be later this evening. Sam was able to sleep through most of it and so far has not been sick. Praying he has a good day with little to no side effects. He is trying very hard to be pleasant and cooperative b/c he really wants a new Pokemon Nintendo DS game and I told him he might get it this week if he cooperates with the doctors and nurses. A little bribery never hurts in situations such as this.l PT is supposed to come and work with Sam today. I am hoping he will feel good enough to actually get out of his room and go downstairs to the PT room for a change of scenery. It will do him good not to be stuck in his room the entire time he is here. We were able to visit with the family of kayleighjustice last night. They were discharged yesterday from the hospital but it was nice to see them again and visit with them for a few min. I have written about Kayleigh before but if you would like to follow her story her website name is kayleighjustice

Thanks for the continued prayers for both Sam and my Dad. Still waiting to hear back from my father with an update and then I will post specifically how everyone can pray for him. Also, people have been asking where they can send cards or Christmas gifts for the kids. If you go to the link above that says "My Story" at the bottom of Sam's story is a link that says church. Click on that link and it will take you to my church's website (Westerville Christian Church). Mail can be sent to our family through the church and will be given to us. Thanks so much for thinking of us. Your support means so very much



Wednesday, November 18, 2009 1:11 PM, EST



Sam has spent most of the morning sleeping. He still has not been sick yet from the chemo he received last night. This is a huge praise! He is eating a little bit for a snack now and said he would eat lunch in a little while. I am just glad he is eating. Sam's special friend Joe stopped by (he was in the hospital receiving chemo as well as an outpatient). Sam was asleep when Joe came by so he missed the visit. He was quite upset about this when he woke up and found out he missed his friend. Joe has promised to come by when Sam is home and have some time with him. Joe is also an amputee and he is a very special friend to Sam...very positive influence in Sam's life.

I also spoke to one of Sam's doctors this morning. The pathology report from the tumor that was removed from his right leg (the amputated leg) had just come back. The necrosis rate of the tumor (the rate that shows how dead the tumor was upon removal) was over 90%. This is excellent news. It shows that particular tumor has been responding very well to chemotherapy. We are rejoicing in this good news...any little bit gives us hope. Still waiting for the pathology report to come back on the left leg where some of Sam's fibula bone was taken out.

Dad just showed up so I am going to visit with him for a little while before I head home. Praying for Sam and my Dad

Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:54 PM, EST



I just typed out a very long journal entrie about our day and the many things I am thankful for and then the entrie did not save...very frustrating! This will be the shortened version. Sam is currently sleeping peacefully and receiving chemo. Watching him sleep and look so peaceful blesses my heart but then I look at his IV with all of the poison being put into his body to kill his cancer. All of this just breaks my heart. No child should ever have to go through this. I am thankful that Sam has not been sick from this round of chemo yet...huge praise! Sam's phantom pain has really bothered him today. The doctors have said that it can be the chemo that is causing him more phantom pain or causing it to be more intense. Chemo is hard enough without Sam having to deal with all of this along with it. Praying for a better day tomorrow. Praying for my father tomorrow as well. He will be meeting with his new oncologist tomorrow and bringing the treatment plan with him from the Mayo Clinic. We are praying that this doctor is willing to go along with the Mayo's treatment plan and start chemotherapy on my father as soon as possible.

In this season of Thanksgiving I am reminded to be thankful of all the little things. I am thankful for the friends that came to visit with me today in the hospital; I am thankful for my friend Rachel who took my girls tonight to her home for a play date and to give them a change of scenery; I am thankful for the doctors and nurses who care for my son each day in the hospital and do all they can to help control his pain and make him more comfortable; I am thankful for my in laws who have been at our home with our girls all week;I am thankful for a husband who helps to take shifts with Sam at the hospital so I can have a break....he has limited sleep here and then goes into work to earn a living...he is such a hard worker and an amazing husband and father; I am thankful for our church who showers us with support and love....my MOPS group and church members just collected donations for our family to help pay for parking tokens here at the hospital and also gasoline for our cars as we make all the trips to and from the hospital....truly a blessing; In this season of Thanksgiving I am thankful for so very much but also I have a heavy heart for the battle that my son and now my father is fighting against cancer. I would ask all of you tonight to please pray for the family of Stephanie Spielman. Stephanie lost her battle to cancer tonight after a very long battle with it. Please pray for her husband and her 4 children. Stephanie and her husband Chris were such strong advocates for raising $ for cancer research. We must find a cure!

I am going to bed tonight thankful for all of my many blessings, saddened that cancer has taken yet another innocent life, and praying for a cure!! Thank you for joining us on this journey. Expecting a miracle in Sam's and my father's lives. Praying for better tomorrows.

SAM'S DAD WROTE



Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:50 AM, EST



Hello One and All:

Dad here this morning to give the daily update. Sam had a bit of a rough day yesterday, not quite sure why. He took a nice nap yesterday afternoon, but once he woke up it seems like he was in pain quite a bit. They kept up with the meds he is on at home, and then some to try and get him comfortable. But it was a bit difficult to do so.



They gave him a med through the I.V last night which made for an easy night, but he woke up to pain again since he wasn't getting his regular meds during the night. He seems to have calmed down a little for now.



They say (unofficially) that the chemo he is on currently tends to spur on the phantom pains, and it does seem to be true with him right now. The meds he takes at home works alright, but here they don't seem to be doing much, in addition to a few others.



Please pray for a good day for him. Pray for comfort for his leg so he can be more comfortable for the remaining time he is here.



Thank you Prayer Warriors, we are truly blessed to have you on our team! We feel your prayers each and every day.



Also, I need to thank Wingler Construction for their donation of material and labor to redo our hall bath recently. They were SO generous in giving us a new bath and surround to assist Sam in getting in and out of the tub. They added grab bars as well so he can get in and out of the new tub. We truly appreciate everything you did for us!



God Bless you all!

Dad

Sunday, November 22, 2009 9:54 AM, EST



For our great prayer warriors who want some one else to pray for. Our family has met another family up here on J5 (The Winkler family). We actually met them a few months ago when we first started this journey. Tammy and Paula have been a great encouragement to our family and we typically see them every time Sam is admitted. Paula has a form of leukemia called AML. She is typically in the hospital for very long extended periods of time. Her current hospital stay has been 40 days. She can't go home until her ANC rises and with the cancer that she has it takes her body a long time to recover. I know that Paula and her mother Tammy would appreciate the prayers and support as they fight the good fight. I am complaining after being here for only 6 days and Paula is up here all the time for over a month at a time. Please encourage this family or send e-cards through the hospital to Paula. I know it would bring a smile to her face. Her CaringBridge website name is caringbridge.org/visit/paulawinkler

If this does not work when you click on it then go to the main log in page for CaringBridge and just type in paulawinkler where it asks you for the website name

Sunday, November 22, 2009 8:00 PM, EST



This was posted on an Osteosarcoma online support group I am a part of. I thought this was explained beautifully so I wanted to share it with all of you. I did not write this nor do I know who did. I just wanted to share this b/c what it says rings so very true for many. Also, thanks so all of you who have reached out to the Wingler family. I know that Paula and Tammy truly appreciate it. Also, just a reminder about little Connor Belle- I have written about him in the past and directed people to his website. He is having his surgery on his leg on November 30th here in Columbus. I hope to go to the hospital to meet his family while they are waiting while Connor is in surgery. Please pray for this family- especially Connor as his surgery date nears. Thanks for the support! We love you all!



Parents of children with a terminal illness are often referred to or viewed as having strength “like a rock.” Albeit flattering, it isn’t quite true. It is more like the strength of an egg. An egg, you ask? Yes! If you’ll think about it, you’ll see my point. An egg has a polished, smooth outer appearance, with no cracks or weak spots visible. It seems almost inconceivablele that the inside might not be so smooth or solid. Most children, at some point are shown the famous egg trick. An egg set at just the right angle can withstand enormous amounts of pressure and cannot be cracked or broken. Yet the same egg, tapped gently at an ever slightly different angle, will break. The contents, once so neatly concealed, will come spilling out. The no longer perfect shell will be crushed. It looks so fragile that it seems inconceivablele that it ever held any strength. A rock, on the other hand, is solid all the way through. To break it is almost impossible. If you succeed, you will find that there is nothing inside but more rock. It takes a lot more than pure hardness to hold the hand of hope. Parents of [medically fragile] children are not solid all the way through. We hurt, we fear, we cry, we hope. It takes a very careful balancing act to keep the shell from being shattered. “Balancing an egg” while running a household, going for doctors’ visits and hospital stays, keeping the family together, and holding on to the constantly unraveling ties of your sanity can be very tricky indeed! Occasionally, the angle will be off and the shell will break, shattering hope and all the neatly secured appearances of a truly fragile existence. Unlike Humpty Dumpty, though, parents of medically fragile kids will pick themselves up and put themselves back together again.

Monday, November 23, 2009 3:52 PM, EST



SAM IS HOME! HE WAS RELEASED TODAY BEFORE NOON. IT IS SO GOOD TO HAVE HIM AT HOME WITH US AGAIN.



For those of you that live in Ohio, the Ohio News Network (ONN) came to the hospital to film footage of Sam coming home for the holidays. They also came to our home to film footage of us bringing him home. The reporter said it should be on the 9:00PM news tonight and that they would show clips of it over the next few days. I believe it will also be able to be viewed online. If I get the link sent to me I will post it on here or tell people where they can view the broadcast. Check it out and let us know if you are able to see it. GOD IS GOOD! OUR SON IS HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:15 AM, EST



Here is the link for the news interview that was done on Sam and our family yesterday. If this does not work you can always try going to the Ohio News Network (ONN) webpage and Sam's story should be on their home page. I believe it is titled Young cancer patient gets to come home for the holidays. Let us know if you are able to view this. There is a small comercial at the beginning of the interview but Sam's story should come right afterwards.

Sam is enjoying being home. He is still having phantom pain but it does not seem as bad as it was in the hospital. I think there are more distractions for him at home and he does not think about the pain as much. You will actually see on the video a small clip where he was having some phantom pain and they kept it in the video broadcast. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our family has so very much to be thankful for.

Video: http://www.10tv.com/live/content/video/onn.html?referralObject=11876142

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:56 PM, EST

http://www.facebook.com/l/bbd3d;www...s/2009/11/24/cancer_kid_released.html?sid=102





This is a link for the news story (not a video clip but just a story of Sam's homecoming). I am so glad that many of you were able to view the video clip of Sam and that you enjoyed seeing him and our family. Keep those prayers coming. Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours.

SAM'S MOM WROTE

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 3:20 PM, EST



Sam has had a pretty good day. The day started out with Sam having to go to a local Close to Home Clinic for a blood draw. The hospital called with his counts- they did not have an ANC yet but his WBC count was only 0.9 which means his ANC his also quite low. This is normal coming off of chemo...typically counts can go down 7-10 days from the start of chemo. Sam is acting fine though and does not have a temperature...this is something we need to watch for though. We should still be in the clear to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mike's family tomorrow.

Sam had a close friend that he has known since preschool come and visit him today. They enjoyed playing and eating lunch together. This was the first time that Sam's friend Caleb has seen him since Sam's surgery. When Sam came up to the door in his wheelchair the first thing he said to Caleb was "Look Caleb, I have 1 leg now". I was just amazed by his strength and his acceptance of his current situation. This is further proof to me of God working in Sam's life. I have also noticed that Sam's pain was at a minimum today and I believe it was b/c he was distracted and had a friend over. He does not focus on it as much when he is kept busy.

All is well with the Bish family and we are just thankful to have Sam home for the holidays. As you are praying for his healing please just continue to pray for his spirit. Though he has accepted what has happened to his leg he has been asking me a lot of questions about death, heaven and how I "know" that he will be healed. As you can imagine these are very difficult questions for me to answer to my 8 year old son and it just shows me some of the anxieties that he has weighing on his heart. Please continue to pray for our son. We thank all of you for your support and prayers over the last several months. Sam has a long way to go but God is working in his life....we are confident of this. Happy Thanksgiving!

SAM'S DAD WROTE

Thursday, November 26, 2009 10:24 PM, EST



Good Evening Family, Extended Family and New Friends:



Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving today!



Overall, our day went well. We traveled to my brothers house to partake of turkey with his family and our parents. Sam did well on the 2 hour (1 way trip) drive both going and coming home. He had a few very minor shots of pain, but they were fortunately short lived.



The day started a little rough, as he had a headache and stomach ache early this morning. Fortunately we were able to take care of it prior to leaving. So, the whole family piled into the van and headed north.



Sam seemed to enjoy seeing everyone, and getting a change in scenery. Even in our situation, we are very fortunate to have have the love of God, who abundantly blesses us each and everyday! I have a good job, we have a wonderful home, amazing family, church family and friends from around the globe! We are blessed with wonderful bounty on the table today for our feast!



Thank you one and all for your continued prayers and support. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.



Blessings to everyone!

Michael (aka: Dad)

Saturday, November 28, 2009 7:44 PM, EST



Hello to all. I hope this journal entry finds that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I know that Mike posted that ours went pretty well. We were thankful that Sam was home with us and feeling well enough to travel to be with family for the holiday. This past round of chemo did not upset his stomach at all so he was actually able to eat and enjoy the Thanksgiving food. We are so thankful for this. Sam's hair is actually starting to grow back in again b/c he had several weeks w/out chemo before and after his surgery. We are expecting it to start to fall out again very soon as he just finished a hospital stay for chemo and that is one of the side effects. He has been feeling pretty good at home for the most part. He continues to struggle with phantom pain at different times throughout the day. Thankfully this is sporadic and it does not last for a very long time. It does cause him a lot of discomfort and pain though and must be controlled by several meds. Sam is currently taking 5 drugs/meds a day to help control his phantom pain and repair the nerve damage from his surgery on his legs.

Sam's blood counts are currently pretty low. This is normal and happens about 7-10 days after the start of chemo. He has been kept pretty isolated the past 2 days and we have not taken him out of the house unless he was going for a blood draw. He was able to enjoy a short visit with his friend Luke today at our house. He misses his friends so very much. Sam won't be able to attend church tomorrow due to low blood counts. Our church and MOPS group are continuing to provide meals for our family a few times a week. This has been such a tremendous blessing. Thank you so much Adrienne and Dustin for a wonderful meal tonight. They brought us a great meal and also picked up Sam's favorite pizza from CiCi's for him. So very thoughtful and he really enjoyed it! He even ate 2 pieces of pizza.

My father Jeffrey will be starting his chemo on Monday. His chemo will be done on an outpatient basis. He will go into the hospital and receive chemo for about 4 hours and then will be able to come home. I am thankful that he can rest and recuperate at home in between his chemo treatments. My dad shaved off his hair and mustache this weekend b/c he knew that losing his hair was inevitable. My sister sent me a picture over the phone of our Dad with his new look. Please pray special prayers for him on Monday as this new journey for him begins. Please pray he responds well to the chemo and it does not make him very sick. Thank you for the continued prayers for my Dad and Sam. Our family is so thankful for all of you. "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Monday, November 30, 2009 5:48 AM, EST



This morning I will be taking Samuel back to Children's Hospital for him to have his blood counts checked. He has really been acting like he is feeling pretty well over the past few days so I am anxious to see if his counts are on the way back up.

I have asked for prayers before for a little boy named Connor Bell. He has Osteosarcoma as well and Connor will be having his surgery on his leg today at the same hospital where Sam is treated. If you can please remember Connor's family and if you would like to send them a message of encouragement you can go to his website which is connorbell1

Sam and I hope to be able to meet Connor's parents Dave and Vonnie today after we are done with our apponitment at the hospital. We are going to try and visit them while they are in the surgery waiting room. Please pray for Connor's family. His surgery is scheduled for 7:30AM I believe and is supposed to last 8 hours. He is having a surgery which is a form of amputation called rotationplasty.

I will update some more later with Sam's blood counts after his appointment today. Our family is looking forward to the benefit/charity auction that is planned in our honor for this Saturday, December 5th. It will be held at Westerville Christian Church at 471 East College Avenue in Westerville. It begins at 1:00PM. Mike and I would love to be able to meet some of the prayer warriors for our family if you live in and around this area.