Thank you for your prayers for us over the Christmas season...Asa had a great Christmas filled with many great moments, fun gifts, and a lot of family time!

The past few days have been filled with a series of unexpected news and the beginning of a long hospital stay. But let me back up a bit...

On December 22nd, Asa's Dr. called and let us know he got favorable results from the biopsy and that he would soon be entering what is called the "Consolidation Phase" of his treatment plan. We were told this would entail 3 rounds of a 1 week hospital stay followed by 2 weeks of recovery. 

On December 29th, we took Asa to the hospital, prepared for a 1 week stay. Soon after arriving, we were told Asa's in-patient stay would last around 3 weeks because his recovery needed to happen at the hospital due to a depleted immune system. 

::Pause:: 
This is the course we are wanting for Asa and is considered the most favorable track. It is just not what we were expecting nor what we were prepared for. 
::Play::

When Asa's Neutrophils(good white blood cells) reach 100, he will be released to go home where he will be able to recover just enough to repeat the process. This will need to happen a total of 3 times. This hopefully puts him at finishing the Consolidation Phase around Easter.

Where we are now... This has been a lot for us to take in. We are still processing it and trying to work out the best course of action for us to balance our family life, school, work, and staying with Asa at the hospital for these long stretches. 

Asa completed a 24 hour chemo treatment last night that is now being flushed before receiving an additional chemo later tonight.