Home

Emma was discharged yesterday from the hospital, and did wonderfully with the chemo. She was so happy to be home and play with all of her toys. She didn't have much of an appetite in the hospital, and didn't last night either. She woke up this morning sick and vomited first thing. We gave her some nausea meds and she has been sleeping all morning. I'm going to try to keep her asleep most of the day so she doesn't have to feel bad : (

Please Pray:

For Emma's nausea to go away

NO MORE side effects from the chemo (short term or long term)

Day 1 In the hospital

Emma was admitted today for her last in-patient treatment. Although we are very excited to get it over with, we are completely wiped out from the long day! We knew it would be a challenge to keep Emma occupied, but Jonny and I are exhausted. Since she is constantly walking around the room and the halls, it is our job to chase her around with the IV pole. And Emma doesn't give us any warning when she takes off, she just goes : ) We have decided to take shifts so we can each have a break. We would have more visitors, but because of the weather it makes it dangerous to travel. But her Nana and Gramps came up for about an hour today to visit. That was nice!

Emma has completed her first chemo for the day and will be on a rescue drug for 4 hours and then fluids all night. This will clear all of the chemo out of her system so it won't damage anything. Emma usually tolerates this chemo very well, except it will probably make her hair fall out again. I don't mind her little bald head, but I'm so ready to do her hair in pigtails : )

I think we are going to all turn in early tonight! Goodnight everyone!

Walking Days!

Emma is officially a walker! And is very good at it. She just decided to take off one day and hasn't stopped going. We love it! She is also talking non-stop which is just so much fun to hear. She says a lot of words that we recognize, but sometimes she just babbles. She knows what she is talking about, but nobody else can understand. She has blossomed so much in the past month or so. She is doing something new every single day.

She made her first visit to incredible pizza and had a blast. It was very scary for mommy though because of all the germs, and I literally followed her around with hand sanitizer : ) I know she was getting annoyed, but she would stop playing and let me sanitize. I don't think we will be going back there until she is done with treatment because it was too stressful on me : )

She was going to admit into the hospital today for her last visit, but she didn't make counts so we will try again thursday. We are so ready for this chemo to be over and do not want anymore delays. But she does get 4 days of rest from chemo, which is a praise. She is still having a hard time eating most solids, but has some favorites. She loves cheese, popcorn (the white cheddar flavor), captain crunch with berries, apples and peanut butter (she loves to dip dip dip). And when she dips, she has to say "dip, dip, dip." So precious!

After this 5 day stay, she will have chemo through mid-april at home and at the clinic. And then we are finished!! She will still have frequent clinic visits for blood counts, and she will have to leave her central line in for several months after, but no chemo! The doctor told us that the first year is the most risky year for relapse. I was not prepared to hear that, but I have complete faith in God that he has healed Emma and she will NOT relapse.

Please pray:

Emma have a restful and relaxing break from chemo

She will make counts on thursday so she can admit on friday for her last in-patient chemo

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

Strength for our family to finish this treatment out

Pray for our new baby(for their health and development) Due date is August 21

Getting Caught Up!

Sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. Things have been quite crazy for our family the past few weeks, and it is nice to be able to sit down and do this. Emma's Great-Uncle John passed away unexpectedly on November 19. It has been very hard on the family and always will be. He was an amazing man who touched each and every one of our lives in a different way. We will miss him so much! It has definetly made us appreciate eachother so much more and not take our family and friends for granted.

Emma has been doing so great! She had a spinal on monday, which made her a little nauseaus. She had to stay about an hour longer so they could run fluids to make sure she didn't dehydrate. She was a little out of it the rest of the day, but by Tuesday she was her normal self. She will continue to do daily and weekly chemo treatments thru April. She has a five day stay coming up mid-January, and then is done after that. We are so ready for this all to be over and get back to normal!!!

Emma is cruising around the furniture like a pro now, and crawls so fast. She has started to stand on her own, but has not taken that first step yet. I'm hoping it will be soon! She has 7 teeth now and is saying some words. She says, "cracker", "night night", "cat", "hi". She also says mama and dada and knows exactly who we are. She can do the baby sign more if she sees something she wants too. She is such a joy in our lives and we enjoy each and everyday with her. If Emma is around, we are always laughing. Her new best friends are her cousins Rachel and Hannah. And her cousin Matthew is trying to teach her how to say Bueno : )

On another note, Jonny and I found out that we are going to have another baby in August. We were not planning on this, but are very excited. Emma is going to be a great big sister! She has no clue what we are talking about when we talk to her about it, but once the baby gets here she will know : )

Please pray:

The Griffis family (Great Uncle John's family)

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

Emma continues to stay in remission FOREVER!

A restful week for our family

A long 5 days!

Emma has comleted 4 days of chemo and will finish tomorrow and be discharged in the early afternoon. She has done very well and has had no side effects. Her IVIG infusion was great and she didn't have a reaction. They will be doing blood work tomorrow to check all of her counts to make sure she is good to go. We will still keep her in the house most of the time because of the flu, but the dr. said that she is as protected as she can be. She will start her neupegen shots on thursday to help boost her white count.

We are so excited to go home! Emma gets 2 weeks with no chemotherapy and then she will start up again with 7 weeks of outpatient. 5 of those weeks she receives an oral chemo which is taken at home everyday. This chemo usually doesn't cause her to be sick, it's more of an inconvenience because she has to take it before bed on an empty stomach. Well, she is used to getting a bottle at bedtime so we have had to move some things around. Whatever works I guess.

On a different note, Jonny's uncle John Griffis is still in a medically induced coma at presbyterian hospital. The doctor's have done all that they can do and said that the swelling in John's brain needs to come down. We had an awesome prayer with family and friends, and believe that God can still perform a miracle in John! We continue to pray throughout the night for a complete healing of John, just like he did in Emma. God is Good and he will be with us through it all.

Everyone remember to tell your family and friends how much you love them on a daily basis! Stay close to your family and friends, but most of all, stay close to God.

Please pray for:

John Griffis

John's family, pray that God will give them peace

Emma's last day of chemo

No side effects, short or long term

She will stay in remission

A restful 2 weeks off of chemo

Emma's chemo and Great Uncle John

As Emma was being admitted for her 5 day in-patient chemo treatment, her great uncle John Griffis was across the walkway at Presbyterian Hospital being treated for a head trauma. He was roofing saturday morning and fell off the ladder and hit his head. Luckily his son was there and called 911. He was rushed to the emergency room where he underwent surgery and was stable. After the CT scan this afternoon they realized that there is still bleeding and swelling of the brain. He is currently in a coma and they will repeat the CT scan tomorrow morning to see if there has been anymore damage. Our family gathered around his bed this afternoon and had a healing service. We are praying for a complete healing of John's body. Please pray that he fully recovers from this. Pray for his family who have very heavy hearts right now and are still in shock. It is not easy to see your family member in that condition. Pray that God gives them a peace in this situation. God has already given our family one miracle and we are ready for another one!!

Emma is on day 2 of chemo and is doing very well. She has had no side effects from the chemo and is now receiving an IGIV transfusion to help boost her immune system. This is a 6 hour transfusion and can have the same reactions as a blood transfusion or platelet transfusion. She is 2 hours into it and so far so good! She is getting extremely restless in the hospital because she is not able to crawl around and cruise on the furniture here. She has a catheder and is hooked up to fluids, so she can only go so far without risking pulling those out. She will have 3 more days of chemo and is scheduled to go home on wednesday. Please pray that she continues to have NO side effects from the chemo here or at home. Pray that the Lord protects her brain and organs from long term side effects from the chemo. Pray for a restful stay at the hospital for Emma and our family.

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