back to clinic

Elizabeth finished chemo a little over a week ago. It felt like a rough chemo round. None are easy, but Elizabeth's port is usually a bit challenging for the nurses to access (that just happens to kids sometimes with port placement) and she a few days where the nurses took multiple times to get the needle in. HATE it! I hate it for the nurse (they always feel bad) and hate it most especially for Elizabeth because it's stressful and painful. We had a visit with the neurosurgeon last Friday. Elizabeth's back is a little worse...slightly worse in alignment and compression. That was discouraging to hear, but we are thankful that she doesn't have bad back pain. Yesterday Elizabeth went back to Neuroworx for the first time since March. It was nice to see her Physical Therapist and make a plan for her to maintain some strength and mobility. She won't be able to go during chemo weeks, but hopefully she can get in once a week the rest of the time. Today we are at the hospital getting platelets and blood all day. Her blood levels were awful😝 no platelets (seriously...they should be at least 150 and hers were 4) and she also needed 2 units of blood. Not exactly how we hoped to spend our Friday, but, again, thankful for the good care she can get. It's difficult to be spending summer days away at Dr appointments and in the hospital and I am thankful for the dear family and friends that have my kids today. I am thankful for the nice dinner the ward sent home with me last night from the ward RS activity. I am also thankful for a few other wonderful family happenings from the past few days. The first one is that our bird that flew out the door 17 days ago was found and brought home safe and sound yesterday. So CRAZY! This was seriously a miracle! (Thank you amazing neighbors for spotting him and helping us get him back!!) The other very BIG, EXCITING thing is that Josh got his mission call! He will leave on Oct 10 to serve in the Toronto, Canada mission. We are so excited for him and thankful for this opportunity he has to serve the Lord. 

Thankful for a miracle

Elizabeth had scans today and the oncologist reported that there is no evidence of any new tumors in Elizabeth's spine. There are no visible tumors other than those in the lungs that were seen in March. There are no new lung tumors and all existing tumors significantly shrunk in size, with only 2 that remain visible. All this indicates that the chemo is working. We will continue chemo for the next several months and scan again to see if radiation will be necessary in coming months.There is a possibility of perhaps adding some focused radiation or even excising nodules that remain after several more rounds of chemo. We are praying that she won't have to do radiation again and chemo is totally effective. 

Elizabeth's labs recovered well and we start another 5 day chemo tomorrow. She's having some negative effects on her nerves from the chemo and this is painful and discouraging for her. The nerves flare up the worst during chemo days. We are praying also that this nerve pain with not increase and will stabilize.

Thank you for your continuous faith and prayers on Elizabeth's behalf. God is working miracles because of your faith. We can't say enough how much we appreciate your support...we couldn't do this without you!! We continue to pray and thank God for all of you.

checking again Monday...

Elizabeth's platelets had come up by 1 this morning, so they told us that since it's a trend up, they will recheck on Monday to make sure it's still going up and we can wait on the transfusion for now. We just have to get her in ASAP if she gets a bloody nose or bad bruising. Here's hoping for a very uneventful weekend!🤞

Transfusion week

Elizabeth's hemoglobin was really low due to chemo. (It should be close to 12 and hers was close to 6.) She was feeling crummy Saturday and I had a feeling she needed blood and asked for a blood draw Saturday evening yesterday and, sure enough, her hemoglobin was way below the level that they transfuse at. Glad we could get in Monday. It was a little rough to end up at the hospital on a holiday mainly because they have half of the regular staff work throughout the hospital and it took 6 hours to get one unit. (It usually takes about 2 hours for one unit.) With driving we were gone 8 hours...it was a really long day. The one bright spot in our hospital day was that we ended up right next door to one of my favorite cancer mom friends😊 She's been in the hospital for an entire month with her 15 yr old son while he is recovering from his bone marrow transplant. They get to go home any day now!!!🎉 Elizabeth's feeling better since getting blood a few days ago, but her blood draw this morning showed low platelets and so they want her to come in for a platelet transfusion tomorrow.😝 They agreed to redraw in the morning and see if it's trending up in hopes that we can avoid having to go get platelets. Other than that, it's been a good week. Elizabeth's been able to enjoy some time with family and friends, which is the BEST! Chemo starts again at the end of next week as long as her blood recovers. Love you all! Thanks.for prayers! They mean everything!!