Beach Break!

Well last week our kids got the whole week off from school for fall break, so we decided to take off for a day trip to the beach.  I know it may sound crazy to some folk, but Grace desperately wanted to see the ocean, so we took her.  I am happy to report that we had a wonderful trip and really enjoyed our time together as a family.  We did not see any attractions, but spent the day walking and playing on the beach and then the rest of the evening in the heated pool .  We kept with vacation tradition this time and ordered in pizza Friday night and then we were all so tired we crashed out before 10.  I wished we could have stayed an extra day, but we had our annual church fall festival on Saturday so we had to head back home. Before we left we stopped off at Mammy's kitchen for breakfast. The food was fantastic and to make it even better someone took care of paying for our meal, what a blessing.  We stopped off at a place called the Berry Patch for ice cream and a bathroom break about half way home and then we headed straight for our church.  It was so much fun seeing our church family and the kids really enjoyed the games.  I have to admit today I am just slap give out, but the weekend was wonderful.  Tomorrow we face heading back into the hospital for our daughter's 4th chemo treatment. My emotions are always mixed about it, on one hand I dread it and on the other I know it just puts us one step closer to beating this cancer. 

"That's my 'two-cents worth', what's yours?"

A Break from our Battle: A day at the fair

First off I will give y'all just a little update: My daughter is doing very well in her battle against this cancer. She has just recently completed her third round of chemo, like the champ she is and is getting a few days off.  It seems that we have adjusted well to the new medication she is having to take and are hoping to be off of it in a few weeks.

We decided to take a break form everything and go out to our local fair today. It was so much fun spending time with the girls. We watched a magic show, a tractor pull and my favorite, the pig races.  We got to ride a few rides, but mostly we just ate. We got to eat nachos with cheese, ribbon fries, chocolate chili flavored ice cream and a Krispy Kreme burger. In case you wonder it is a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and pickles with two doughnuts as the buns. It was so good!!

We really enjoyed being able to go out and spend some time together and get away from everything for a while. You don't really think about how much time you spend going and doing when you have a sick child. It is always a doctor appointment, blood work or something on your mind. We can never really plan to go anywhere because you just don't know what is going to happen. Thank God for allowing us to have some much needed family time today! Now it is time to snuggle up with my babies and watch a little Star Trek before bed.

And the battle rages on!

Man oh man what a crazy last couple of weeks it has been for us, I will try to catch y'all up as best as I can.  Last Wednesday we went to the hospital for our daughters scans to get idea of how the cancer is doing.  We hadn't been home no time at all when they called and told us to come back. They had found a blood clot in one of her main arteries and she needed to get back as soon as possible.  Let me tell you hearing the words "blood clot" is almost as scary as hearing the word cancer.  I rushed around to get everything together and took off to the hospital.  We ended up with a two day stay and having to be on blood thinner, but everything seems to be going well.  We went back in this week for our regular chemo treatment (round #3) and was told by her oncologist she will not need any radiation. Oh my word, let me tell you, I was one happy mama.  All I could do was just praise  the Lord for that good news, but God wasn't done with us yet. The dr. then told us that after consulting with some other oncologists they had come to the conclusion that she was only going to need 4 rounds of chemo in total and we had already finished two. It was so good to hear that we may be done with these chemo treatments by Thanksgiving. Let me tell you it took a couple of seconds for that to sink in!!  God just kept blessing us yesterday and sending us positive and encouraging news.  As I sat here at the hospital writing this blog I can't  help but think about how much our lives have changed over the last couple of months.  I have decided to reflect back on that in a later blog, after she has beat her cancer, and I know she is going to beat it. God has been so good to us, not only in her healing, but also in how he has used our family, friends and church family to help us out during this time. I am so glad we have had them to support us. I am going to end on that note and stop to watch The Phantom of the Opera with my daughter. 

"That's my two cents worth, what's yours?"

 

 

 



Muddy Rain Boots

The last couple of blogs have been of a very serious nature, so I thought this week I would take a break from blogging about our cancer journey and do something fun instead. I wrote this blog a couple of months ago, but had not shared it with y'all yet. Hope you enjoy! 

Looking back over my lifetime I can not ever remember us having such a cool, wet summer as we have this year.  Usually we are burning up by the end of July and all of August with no relief in sight. It is normal for our light bill to be sky high with running the air all the time, for the grass to be brown and "burnt up" and for everyone you meet to be completely miserable.  This summer has been completely different!!  Of course I'm not complaining, I mean the weather has been great and it has giving us lots of chances for playing outside.  We have enjoyed every chance we have had to get muddy!  It sure is fun to get those boots out and get them dirty.  We love to tromp through the mud and splash in the puddles. It has been so rainy here that our pond has almost overflowed.  We love to walk around the bank and hear the water squish while our dog swims and chases frogs.  I heard somewhere as long time ago that rain contains vitamin B-12.  I don't know if that is true or not, but it gives us one more good excuse to be out playing "in the rain".  

Of course when I was growing up we never wore rain boots or galoshes as some call them. We just always ran around barefoot for the entire summer and sometimes we do that too. 

So get out there and enjoy all the rain and mud. Take the time to squish, stomp, and make mud pies with your kids. They will love it and so will you. 

*(I have to remind y'all of this: If you can hear thunder you can be struck by lighting. So please don't play outside during a thunderstorm.)

"That's my "two cents worth", what's yours?"

...And The Battle Continues!

Let me apologize for being absent from blogging, but I'm sure that y'all understand the reasoning.  When I left off last time my daughter had not yet completed her first round of chemo, so let me catch y'all up. She went that Monday and finished up that round of therapy and was able to return to school for 1/2 a day on Tuesday. On Thursday she had her blood work done and her WBC  counts were almost nothing. She had to miss a day of school and was very unhappy about that. Finally on Tuesday of the following week her counts were back up and she was able to go to school for the rest of the week. It was so good to pick her up from school and see her run to meet me, what a blessing the Lord gave us. We were able to go with her Sunday School class last Saturday to a local amusement park, it was so good to get away for a few hours and not think constantly on our situation.   She had to return to the hospital this past Monday to begin round two of chemo. We spent three days there, but she did so much better this time. Her number one complaint with the chemo is that she just feels so tired all the time and that just when she feels like she is getting back to "normal" it is time to start all over again.  I have to take her again today for her injection to help build up her WBC and RBC counts and then Monday for the last treatment this round. It is a 22 day cycle that will just continue to repeat until she is cancer free and we are hoping and praying that time will come sometime soon. Through all of this I have been reminded daily of the verse,

Psalm 46:10a 

 Be still, and know that I am God:

I know that the Lord is looking after us and helping our entire family through this. He has blessed us with an amazing hospital, doctors and nurses to care for her.  He has allowed us to live close by so our family is not apart during this time. He has giving us family and friends to encourage and support us. His blessings and mercies have been too many to name and I thank him everyday for each of them.  Her battle is not over and she is fighting this cancer with all she has in her, but she knows her strength comes from the Lord and he is with her. Sometime within the next two weeks they will do more scans to see how the cancer is responding. It is very hard to wait so long, but I know that the Lord is taking care of her and  I know that he still can do miracles, which is exactly what we are looking for. Thanks to all of you for the prayers and please continue to say them for us, it means more than you will ever know. 

The Battle: It has begun!

Let me start off by saying what a week we have had, it has been unbelievable! Let me fill you in on the events of the week: 

 Our daughter had her surgery on Monday to put in her port, she did great and had no problems. The site is still a little sore, but they say that is normal for about the first week.  She also had a bone marrow biopsy done which came back negative. That was a huge blessing and much needed good news. She was admitted to the hospital on Monday afternoon and began her first chemo treatment. It really zapped her, she got sick on her stomach, but thank the Lord she had no throwing up.  When her doctor came to visit on Tuesday he said she did so good they were going to move up her treatment time for that day. She was so pitiful that night, just tired and grouchy. In fact she was out by 9:00 and she slept almost the whole night, only waking up a few times. On Wednesday the doctor was so proud of her and how well she was doing they moved up her last treatment and let her come home a day early. We were so happy!! She was very excited to come home and sleep in her own bed. 

On Thursday, she went to school for the whole day and that took a lot of her energy. She came home did her home work and spent the rest of the night laying on the couch.  She only went to school 1/2 a day on Friday, she had to get an injection to help build up her WBC (white blood cell) and RBC (red blood cell) counts. She felt good enough last night to go spend the night with her grandmother and I'm glad she was able to. 

I have to admit that my anxiety level has been greatly reduced. It was so hard for me to sit here at the house day after day knowing that this horrible cancer was in her body and there wasn't anything being done. From the time of diagnosis to the time she began her first treatment was 10 days. I have to say that was the longest 10 days of my life!! I have never been a patient person, but I have had to learn to have some through this whole process.  She has one more chemo treatment on Monday and that will complete her first round of therapy. She will get a couple of weeks off and then start the process all over again. After that they will repeat her scans and see how the cancer is responding. We are praying it will all be gone and she will be in complete remission. It is a very long wait for me!!  Just knowing she is being treated and getting medicine makes me feel so much better, but there is still the anxiety of the unknown and I believe that is just the mother  in me. I know that the Lord is working in all of this. He is not only working in our daughter, but in our lives as well. I ask that you please continue to hold her up in prayer, it is greatly appreciated. 

The most scared I have ever been!!

First let me apologize for being blog absent for two weeks. Our family got some heart wrenching news a couple of weeks ago and I just haven't been able to write anything.  That is what my quickly thrown together blog is about this week. So here goes our story....

....two weeks ago our 13 year old daughter was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I can tell you that is the scariest sentence I have ever heard in my life, "I'm sorry, but your daughter has cancer."  I had to get the doctor to repeat himself so I could make sure I heard him right. At first I was just numb and in shock, but after that I couldn't breath and felt as if I was going to die.  For the first three days I just felt as if I was walking around in a fog, unable to even go about my daily routine.  After meeting with the oncologist and having a whole days worth of testing done, we have been told that this is highly curable and that they are very optimistic about her outcome.  We head to the hospital next week for surgery and her first chemo treatment. I would like to ask all who read this to please remember her in your prayers. I know whose I am and I know whom I serve and I know that my God is greater than this cancer. He is the great I Am, the maker of all things in Heaven and Earth and he is the great physician. I am putting my faith and trust in him!!

I'm sure that many of my blogs will be about our journey together as a family through this and also some of her story and input will go in as well.  I will do my very best to keep updated on all that goes on and ask again for your prayers and for you to please pass along this request for us.