Day 13

Emma is still not feeling well today. She has been extremely tired, and will not eat. One of the side effects of the chemo is sores in the mouth all the way down through the esophagus to the bottom. We think she has some sores in her throat and further down because she acts like it hurts when she eats. She gets about four to five drinks in before she just screams in pain. This is to be expected, but she is not eating so they have hooked her up to TPN (total nutrition) and lipids. This will help her get the calories she needs to gain weight properly, and get her through this tough time. This will not take away the hunger pains so we are still attempting to feed her because in some cases children lose their appetites when they are on a nutrition substitute and we don't want this to be the case with Emma. She is also acting like her body is sore which is understandable because of the procedures she had done on monday. She loves to be held right now, so we hardly ever put her down.

She has had tuesday-sunday off of chemo this week, and will start up on monday again. They will do the weekly spinal tap with a chemo treatment, and then have two doses of chemo after that. We are hoping that she starts feeling well soon, so she can have a good week next week. We keep asking if she will bounce back soon, but they say that everyone responds differently and we will have to see.

All of her cbc's are where we want them to be, and we are hoping the spinal test is zero again. They have started checking her blood every other day since her counts have not changed. She will be getting another blood transfusion and platelet transfusion tomorrow to get ready for the spinal on monday. She has done extremely well with the transfusions and don't expect any complications this time.

On wednesday the OU girl's basketball team will be visiting the hospital. We would love to get Emma out of the room if her counts are up, and she is feeling well. We are also still hoping Bob Stoops will come visit her soon! Jonathan and I will be staying in the Ronald McDonald Family Room tomorrow night so we can get a full uninterruped night of sleep. This is a room in the hospital that family can stay in if need be. I do not want to leave the hospital over night, so this is a good way to be close but still get some sleep. We thought it would be good to recharge before another week of chemo. My mom and mother-in-law will be staying the night with Emma so she will be well taken care of.

Jonny and I did get out of the hospital yesterday. We went and walked around bricktown for a couple of hours. It was so nice to see the outside world, but I sure missed and worried about Emma. Of course she was fine, but its hard to be away. We are also going to try to go to the Arts Festival next week to get some lunch and dessert.

Please pray specifically for Emma's sores to go away, and that she will be able to eat regularly soon! Pray that her soreness goes away, and that she will be able to play again. Pray for the spinal tap on monday that it goes smoothly without complications. And as always, Pray for a complete healing! God has been so good to our family, and he constantly reminds us that he is here holding our little girl.