Pumpkin Patch and More!

Emma has been feeling GREAT this past month, and ever since she started the maintenence phase of her chemo. She has had only 1 day of nausea, which is just amazing. She is developing great both physically and mentally. What a blessing! God continues to hold her and protect her little body. We are thankful everyday!! She is cruising around the furniture like a pro now and is a very fast crawler. We think she will probably be walking by Christmas if not before. She is very vocal now, but we don't understand what she is saying most of the time. She has a love for music, especially worship songs. She even dances when she hears the music and daddy has taught her to head bang : ) I think her new favorite video now is Barney's top 20 music countdown. Thanks Great Grandma Ruby!!

Her appetite is off and on now. She has eaten some solid foods like rice and chex cereal, but still struggles to get it down. But it is a start! Her favorite food is yogurt, especially white chocolate strawberry : ) This is my favorite also! We used to share, but she can now eat the entire 6 oz. Her weight at her last check-up was 15 lbs 6 oz. We can't wait until she is 20 lbs so she can be moved to the forward facing car seat.

We visited the pumpkin patch yesterday and had a blast. She loved the petting zoo(although we did not let her touch the animals). She also went on a pony ride, hay ride, and walked through the hay maze. She then helped me pick out her pumpkin! It was a great day!

She has 2 more weeks of outpatient chemo and then she will be inpatient for 5 days with a stronger chemo. She has had the chemo before, so we expect everything to go great. After that she will have 2 weeks off and then 7 weeks of more outpatient chemo. During that 7 weeks she will get 2 spinal taps. After the 7 weeks she will have 1 more inpatient stay for 5 days and then she is done staying in the hospital!! Woohoo!!! Then she has only 9 more weeks of treatment before she is done for good. WOW! We are looking at the end of April.

Please pray:

Emma's health during this flu season

Her 5 day inpatient stay

No side efffects from chemo

Her growth and development

Our family's health

Happy 1st Birthday Emma!

Emma turned 1 years old today! Wow! This year just flew by! Our family has so much to celebrate today. God blessed us with such an amazing girl who has taught us many lessons throughout the year.

Emma has been doing great this month. She had an outpatient spinal tap, bone marrow, and chemotherapy treatment last tuesday. She was such a big girl and did beautifully. After her procedures, she had a kidney function test. The test came back good. We haven't received the bone marrow test results, but are confident they are good. She will receive more outpatient chemo tomorrow morning.

We started out the morning with pancakes for the birthday girl. She didn't eat any, but had fun tearing them up and making a big mess : ) Jonathan had a CT scan today on his abdomen for some discomfort he has been having. We are not sure if his kidney stones are causing the problem or something else. The doctor thinks it is partially stress. We hope to get the results tomorrow. After his test we got some chick-fil-a and then the family took Emma to the zoo. She had a great time and got to see lots of cool animals : ) We then came back and I made enchiladas and homeade guacamole. It was really yummy and we had a good time!

Please pray for:

Chemo tomorrow(no side effects)

No infections

Continued remission

Jonny's health

Home Early!

Well, our little girl has done an awesome job again! Her counts recovered so fast and she has been feeling so good, the dr. let her go home yesterday. Just 11 days after being admitted! We were so surprised and excited since we were expecting to be there for 3-4 weeks! God answered all of our prayers and so much more! Emma didn't seem to have any side effects(other than a little nauseau) and is developing perfectly. Here appetite has recovered too.

We got to come home yesterday evening and sleep in our own bed. She had a little bit of nausea last night, but seemed to be feeling great today. She had a busy day of visiting her grandparents and playing. We are not sure what her counts are, so we are keeping her away from the general public. Jonathan and I have discussed not going out much this winter so we can stay healthy and keep all the flu germs away from Emma.

Not much else going on here. I am trying to figure out a good time to have her birthday party and I really hope it works out. Thank you everyone for your prayers...please keep them coming!

Crawling!

Emma has a had a great week here at the hospital. She is able to get unhooked from fluids from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. everyday which makes a lot easier to play and have fun! She has now mastered crawling and is always wanting to move! If she's not sleeping, she is trying to go somewhere. Her being mobile is a bit challenging at the hospital because the floors are so stinking dirty : ( They have provided us with mats for the floor which makes it easier. She also pulled up to her feet and is able to walk around the crib holding on. She thinks she is pretty big stuff : )

Her first birthday is just around the corner and I have a lot of planning to do. Jonny and I decided that we want to throw a big bash when her counts have recovered. We are setting the tentative date of October 4th, but if her counts aren't up we will have to push it back. We have so much to celebrate! She even got a pink car which can be pushed like a stroller. We gave it to her early so she could use it here. We go on about 3-4 walks a day in her cool car.

This hospital stay has been extremely difficult for me. I am getting very bored and restless. Emma isn't sleeping well, which means mommy and daddy aren't sleeping well. When she first arrived here, they did meds and vitals at midnight which woke her up. Then she decided that since she was up she might as well play : ) Now, she wakes up at midnight, even though she's not getting meds, and wants to play. When we finally get her to sleep, it is 2 a.m. or after. Poor little girl is just so out of sorts from all of this. We will be ready to get home.

Her counts are very low right now, so we are being extra careful. She got a blood transfusion last night, and I think her platelets are low so she will probably get a platelet transfusion soon. Even though she is low on everything, she still has a lot of spunk. She is always up playing and talking! It is so refreshing to see her feeling good : ) God is just working through her little body daily! Thank you Lord!

Please pray for:

No side effects from chemo

Counts to recover quickly

No infections

Restful nights sleep

Protection of Emma's body from chemo and other meds

Continued remission

Relief

Thank you everyone for your prayers the other night! Emma's counts came back clear with no leukemia. It was just a bruise from being so active lately. The dr. said it is perfectly normal to react the way we did because that bruise reminded us of the first time she was diagnosed. She has started her chemo today, and so far so good. This chemo is known for causing nausea, vomiting, mucuous in her eyes all the way down to her bottom, and more. Yikes! Some of these are more common than others, but I sure pray she doesn't have ANY!

She will get this chemo twice a day for 2 days and then we wait for her to recover. She started her eye drops this morning, and hated them! We have to do these every 4 hours along with the mouthwash. This means no sleep for the next couple of weeks : ( I must have slept too much in college, and am now being punished ; )

I will update the blog once her chemo is finished and there is more to report. Have a great week everyone!

Jonny and I had a scare last night. While I was flushing Emma's lines, I noticed a tiny bruise and bump on her stomach. This was almost like the one she had when she was first diagnosed. Immediately I yelled for Jonny and told him to call the dr. All of the horrible memories came back from that first day she was diagnosed. But this time I knew that it would be considered a relapse, and they would go to a bone marrow transplant next. As we were waiting for the dr. to call, I started to pack our bags for the hospital. I don't know why, but it was my first instinct. Emma's primary dr., Dr. McNall, called back and said that she wasn't worried about the bruise. She said that if her lymphnodes were swollen and she had that bruise, she would be worried. But Emma's lymphnodes were fine.

She said that it would be almost impossible for the blasts to grow that fast, and since her cbc was clear on thursday, she said she shouldn't have any blasts. We felt a little bit better after we heard from the dr., but we just couldn't shake the bad feeling we had. We tried to convince ourselves that if she had a bruise anywhere else on her body, we wouldn't even think twice about it. But we are still scared. Home health care is going to come out today to do a cbc to see if Emma's counts are good enough to admit tomorrow for chemo. So we should know if her blood is clear or not for sure today.

We realized again last night that the worry is never going to go away. God has given us such a beautiful gift which can be taken away at any moment. Why have I been stressing over the smallest things this week!? God taught me last night to stop stressing out about my messy house, finances, and all of other stresses in life, and hand them over to him. He WILL take care of everything, and I can't always have control. No matter what happens, God is taking care of us. He has already shown us numerous times since Emma was diagnosed.

Please pray for:

Emma's CBC to come back clear today

Next round of chemo(No side effects, No infections)

A restful stay at the hospital(3-4 weeks)

Peace for Jonny and I

Emma stays in remission

11 Months Old

Emma will be turning 11 months old on the 29th! Wow, time has flown. I can't believe I have to start planning her first birthday party already. Before she was diagnosed, I had envisioned a huge first birthday bash with all of our friends and family. Now, we may have to settle for something small. Regardless, we have a lot to celebrate. If Emma's counts are good, we will probably go ahead with our big bash. But if they are low, we may postpone the party or just do something small. If she is in the hospital on her birthday we are going to throw a mini party with the nurses.

Emma's counts have been really low this past week. She will begin another round of chemo as soon as her counts recover. We have a clinic appointment for a CBC to see where they are at. Jonny is going to take us tomorrow which is nice because we will get to spend the afternoon together : )

Emma has had a few episodes of nausea, but all in all she has been feeling good. She is still trying to crawl, and will walk if you are holding on to her. She is able to stand on her own while holding on to the couch or crib. She is talking a bunch too! We wake up to her talking every morning...what a treat for us! There is not much else to report here. Thank you everyone for your continued prayers! Have a fabulous week!