Blood Drive and Next Round of Chemo!

Jonathan, Emma, and I would like to thank everyone for donating blood on Sunday in Emma's name. THANK YOU THANK YOU! We haven't gotten the final result from the blood bank, but I will let you know. We appreciate your donations so much! I was anemic on sunday, but am going to try to donate later this week or next.

Emma has been in the hospital since tuesday morning getting another round of chemo. She will get chemo through saturday, and we should be able to go home saturday evening. Unless she has to get a blood transfusion, then they will keep us until sunday. She will start her nupigen shots on monday to help her rebuild her white blood cells. When she makes counts, she will admit for the two days of high dose aricie (sp?) and then they will keep a watch on her. This chemo will totally bottom out her counts so we will have to be extra careful washing our hands and hers.

She has done extremely well with this round of chemo, and is acting like a normal 10 month baby. She has hit the stage where she doesn't want to sleep at night, and fought me for 45 minutes last night. I feel sorry for our neighbors : ) We are going to let NaNa put her to sleep tonight just to see if she will fight her. She is not taking very good naps either, but it is really hard on her being in the hospital. It messes up her entire routine. Plus, she is getting 2 chemo's a day which is very hard on her little body.

Please pray for:

A restful stay at the hospital

No infections

Protection for her body from the chemo

Emma will stay in remission

Garage Sale

It is 7:30 a.m. on friday and we are sitting out in the hot and humid garage having a garage sale. Emma didn't make her counts on wednesday so we are planning to admit on monday if she makes her counts today. We planned on having the garage sale next weekend, but plans changed when we found out that she would be in the hospital next week. So, with the help of Jonny's parents and grandparents we got everything ready. We have already sold our dining room table and some odds and ends. I will update the blog once I know how Emma's counts are today. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Week 13 of Chemo

Emma will begin week 13 of her 48 week chemotherapy protocol thursday. She will be receiving Cytoxin and Mesna for 5 days. This is an inpatient chemo treatment and tends to make Emma sick the first day. We will go into the clinic tomorrow afternoon for her pre-admit and then admit thursday morning. She will then get a week off and then start the Aricie (sp?) which is given twice a day for two days and then will stay for 3-4 weeks so they can keep a good eye on her.

She has been feeling well since the last round of chemo. She got a little nauseaus on sunday and had to have a platelet transfusion on monday, but other than that she has been happy and playful. We think she has some sores in her nose from the last chemo because she has been getting minor frequent nose bleeds. I think the main thing that bothers her is swallowing the blood which makes her nauseaus. God has continued to answer our prayers and kept Emma in remission. I thank him for everyday I get to spend with her and for protecting her body from this chemo. We serve a powerful and faithful God!

Jonny's golf clubs were stolen out of his truck last week along with some tools. This isn't the first time we have had stuff stolen, but the nerve of those people to actually steal a man's golf clubs! : ) So, since then Jonny has been eating and sleeping new golf clubs. It has been very important to replace every single club as well as accessories. Today Emma and I went to Golf Galaxy with him to get the last wedge to complete his set. I was also informed that you need more than 1 wedge to complete your golf set : ) He also purchased a new towel, golf balls, hat, and a cute hat for me : ) Now he just has to find time to play!

We want to thank everyone for your continued prayers! Everytime we go out, we hear from different people that are praying for her and our family. We love to talk to everyone and how Emma's story has affected their lives.

Please pray for:

Next round of chemo

A restful stay at the hospital

Continued protection on Emma's body from chemo

Our families health

Emma to stay in remission

Feeling Great!

Emma just completed another round of chemo last week, and is doing great! She was a little out of sorts on thursday because she had a spinal, but by that evening she was normal happy Emma. She did receive a cathedar which fell out the first night and leaked the second night. So she had 3 cathedars put in in 3 days! She is sleeping in the hospital crib by herself now, so I actually get to sleep on the couch or chair.

She will admit again on Thursday for another round of the high does methotrexate and then the following week for cytoxin and mesna. That treatment will be for 5 days and we will be discharged on the 6th day. After that we will wait for her counts to recover and then she will start another round of chemo. This is a brand new chemo med that she hasn't had yet. It is called high dose aricie (sp?). She only gets 2 days of this, but they are going to keep her for 3 weeks in the hospital. About 20% of children get a blood infection from this chemo and they would like to keep a close eye on Emma because she is so young. After that, our in-patient visits will not be as often or as much.

Ugh! 3 weeks in the hospital!! Jonny and I can handle it just fine, but poor Emma. She gets so incredibly restless being in the hospital for just a few days, but 21 days just might push her over the edge! She has been such an amazing little girl through all of this. She is always so happy. She is very talkative right now and is able to wave bye bye. She will also dance if you ask her to (although she doesn't do it every time you ask). She isn't crawling yet, but can roll where she wants to go and is also very good at scooting sitting up and on her tummy. She is a mama's girl right now and cries everytime I leave the room. It is very sweet, but sometimes I find it hard to leave even when I'm just going to the bathroom : ) Maybe this stage will pass soon. She is sleeping in her crib about 2-3 hours and then cries until we put her in bed with us. As soon as she hits the pillow(she has her own pillow in our bed), she looks at Jonny and smiles and then looks at me and smiles. Then she closes her eyes and falls asleep. Boy does she know how to work us : ) Although Jonny and I don't sleep well with her in our bed because she takes up all the room, we enjoy those moments with her.

Please pray specifically for:

Next round of chemo

No side effects from chemo(short term or long term)

A restful stay at home

New chemo treatment(no blood infection or side effects)

Jonny and my health

No relapse

PRAISES!!

Emma feeling great

Our health

Emma's development

Another Week at Home!

Emma wasn't feeling well on the 4th of July, but we got to celebrate twice because they didn't do fireworks until the following friday. She was in such a great mood and feeling well so we kept her up to watch the fireworks. She seemed to enjoy them, but she was so tired that it wasn't the reaction I was expecting. She sure looked adorable in her outfit though : )

She has had a fabulous time at home with the majority of good days. We have taken her out because her counts have been great, but we have to stay indoors because of this horrible heat! Maybe we will get a break this weekend and we can do something outside. Emma isn't able to get her central line wet, but maybe we will just stick our feet in the p0ol!

She had a pre-admit appointment yesterday but her platelets were still too low to start another round of chemo. Her hemoglobin was also on the fall so she may have to have a transfusion tomorrow. She has been a little pale and sleeping more than ususal so a transfusion maybe a good thing. They scheduled her an appointment for tomorrow morning for a cbc to see if her platelets and hemoglobin will recover on their own. She will then go in for a pre-admit appointment on wednesday and a possible admission on thursday. Another reason for the week break is to clear up a bad diaper rash she has had. It has improved tremendously, but they would like for it to be completely gone before starting the methotrexate. This chemo is known for causing mucoucitis which can cause sores in her mouth all the way to her bottom : (

So, we are happy that we get another week at home with our little girl! She was able to go to daddy's softball game and take a picture with the team who has been playing for her. We have also been shopping a few times because she enjoys it so much! Oh no daddy, she may already have a shopping problem : ) I know I do when it comes to buying stuff for her. I keep telling everyone how she has too many clothes, but then I come home from the store with 3 new outfits! I think it is impossible for me to come out of store without buying something for Emma.

She is really trying to figure out how to crawl, but just gets so frustrated. Instead of saying "dada" and "mama" she is just clicking her tongue. She has also developed this laugh that sounds fake, but I think it is just her laugh now. It is precious! We are working on eating more solid foods too. She has a problem with the textures of foods rather than the taste (or atleast thats what I think it is). The nutritionist said to try at least 25 times before giving up on a food. Boy do we have our work cut out for us! My parents are in town this week so she is enjoying spending time with them, and I'm enjoying the extra sleep : ) Poor Jonny has to go to work and is getting no extra sleep. Plus he is having to work in this horrible heat!

We praise God everyday for Emma's health. She is still in remission with no signs of leukemia blasts! I guess I just thought that she would be so much more sick on chemotherapy, but he has protected her little body from that. I'm not saying that she doesn't feel bad, but even on those days I feel him swoop her up in his arms to get her through it. I still don't understand why she has to feel bad, but what parent understands that anyway. Never did I think that I would be able to handle my child being sick with a life-threatening disease, but God has given me a strength I never thought I could have.

Praises:

Emma's remission

Minimal side effects from last round of chemo

Protection of Emma's body from chemo

Prayer requests:

Continued protection of her mind and body from chemo

No side effects from next round of chemo

Her hemoglobin and platelets recover on their own(No transfusion and she can start next round of chemo)

A restful stay at home

Mine and Jonny's health so we don't get Emma sick

Healing of her diaper rash

Protection of Jonny from working in the heat

Nike Women's Marathon to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

On April 5, 2009 we took Emma into the emergency room to check on the unusual brusing she had developed. That morning we found out that she had ALL. In triage our nurse, Cherlyn, checked Emma out and was with us when the doctor brought the news. Cheryln, along with her daughter Camber, have decided to run in the Nike Women's Marathon to benefit the Leukemia and Lyphoma Society in Emma's honor. We would like to ask everyone for their support. Their goal is to raise $3800 each. You can make your 100% tax deductible donation, keep up with their progress, and give them encouragement online at pages.teamintraining.org/ok/nikesf09/ccraig.

This is such a wonderful thing that they are doing to benefit LLS. There are so many wonderful people out there who have and are giving their time to benefit such a worthy cause. We are so thankful for Cherlyn and Camber! Because of people like them, Emma is in remission!

It's Official!

Dr. McNall called me yesterday to let us know that the final results came back from the bone marrow, and Emma is officially in remission!! Praise God! They didn't find 1 blast in 100,000 cells : ) This is great news for us and such a huge weight lifted off our shoulders.

We have been home for a week tomorrow and are loving every minute of it. Emma had a clinic appointment on wednesday for a cbc and a quick chemo treatment. Her counts have almost bottomed out so she is extremely neutropenic. We are being careful to wash our hands and not take her around huge crowds of people. She has been feeling a little under the weather due to a nasty diaper rash that has been caused by diahrrea. She has had this ever since she got home and it has gotten worse. The drs have prescribed a new medicine that we will try and will hopefully cure the rash. She cries everytime she goes to the bathroom.

We go back to the clinic on monday for another cbc and then on wednesday for a spinal chemo treatment and another chemo called vincristine. Spinals usually make her sick so we will load her up with meds before she goes. She is on 8 different medications at home, three of them are as needed. I have started a notebook so I can keep track of everything that I need to give her and the times I have given them to her so I don't get mixed up. She is getting better at taking meds orally, but still cries because they don't taste very well.

She now has her two bottom teeth in and she makes this clicking sound when she rubs her tongue on them. It is so cute. She also has said "mama" a couple of times, but it is still kind of mumbled : ) She had a good day today and we expect better days once her counts recover. Thank you everyone for checking up on us and I hope you all have a great 4th of July!