Home at Last...and Short Hair

We are finally home! Sorry I have not written in a while but life has been a little crazy! Katie is having great difficulty taking the chemotherapy medication that she has to take by mouth for 14 days each round. The first day that we were home William and I got thrown up on TWICE... However..... Thank God for Aunt Karla! She is the only one who can get the medicine down her. Aunt Karla even kept the girls on Friday night so that we could go out on a date for our anniversary. It was great to have a little break.

Today we have had a good day....I took Katie to get her hair cut. One of the nurses at Texas Children's suggested we get her hair cut so that it will not be as big of a shock when her hair begins to fall out. The following are her after pictures =) She looks so cute...

HOLLYWOOD:

Afterwards we went by Lori's School of Dance rehearsal for the recital on Sunday. Katie was suppose to participate in this recital but unfortunately can't now because she can not be in large crowds due to her low immune system. Several of the moms from dance class along with Lori (dance teacher) and some of Granny's (our daycare lady whom we LOVE) family have gotten together and created a raffle and silent auction to benefit us and help with all the expenses. I can not tell you how overwhelmed we are by the love and support we have received from our community. We thank God every night for all of you. Please forgive us if you do not receive a thank you card for your generosity. We are attempting to keep up but we are having great difficulty! Again thank you so much. We love each of you very much.

The great escape!

Good morning to everyone, we trust you had a great nights sleep. Today is the big day! We get to go home! It will be so nice to go to sleep and not have a nurse or nurses aide or a doctor come in and interrupt your sleep. You never know how precious privacy and having a routine is until you have it taken and turned upside down. We will be so glad to see our 10 month old when we get home. We miss her so much and cant wait to give her a BIG hug. We are not real sure yet about when we are going to get out of here today. We think it will be later this afternoon. There was a request for an address to send the items on the wish list.

Our home address is:
9658 Batson Rd.
Normangee Tx 77871

We thank all of you for your kind words on this blog page, we will continue it at home and will keep you up to date with whats going on in Katie's life. Thank you all so much for everything, we have been so overwhelmed with kindness and generosity to the point that is almost unbelievable. May God Bless your lives in a very special way.

Wish List

I have created the following list because everyone is asking what we are in need of. Thank you so much to everyone who has given us gifts, money, food, prayers, etc. We are truly blessed!


Wish List:

1. Travel size laundry detergent.
2. Travel size hygiene supplies, mouthwash, toothpaste, soap, etc.
3. Microwaveable chef Boyardee, (any type is fine), chicken noodle soup, Campbell's select harvest soup (any kind is fine)
4. Small bottles of Dansani water
5. Find a word puzzle book, "I spy" books
6. Gift cards to use for eating, parking, etc

Thank you again for everything =)

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

FINALLY we have a solution for the home health issue. A company out of Houston will provide the IV fluids and the pump. A company out of Bryan will do the care for the central line. Barring no other complication we will get to go home on Thursday afternoon late. Thank you to everyone who offered help in this matter. You are wonderful. And again thank you to everyone for the prayers and encouragement. William, the girls, and I are truly blessed to have so many friends and loved ones.

Better Day

Today has been a good day. Katie had a good night's sleep after getting some Benadryl for nausea. After we woke up, Katie and I spent about an hour or so playing games on the computer.

After lunch, some ladies (Mimi Sharon, Mimi Joan, and Mimi Linda) from our church came by. They, of course, brought presents for Katie! Dora GALORE....Katie really had a good time. It was a very nice visit. William and I really appreciate all the visits, calls, presents, and food that our church has provided us with. We belong to a church with a wonderful group of people. It is like our girls have 20+ sets of grandparents instead of just 2 sets.

Sleeping after a long day of fun.

Quiet

Today has been pretty quiet. Not too many people around on the weekend. I guess because the doctor's offices are closed and school is not going on. Today I looked around on the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation website and became discouraged. As most of you know, the odds are against us quite significantly. As I was praying for God to give me faith and lift my spirits, He brought the following story from the Bible to my mind. To get the exact verses, I called Tessa, who knew exactly where it was. The story is in chapter 7 of Judges. It is about Gideon and his army defeating the Midianites. He starts out with 32 thousand men and God continually decreases the army's size until it reaches only 300 men. The verses that hit home was Judges 7: 2-3 "The Lord said to Gideon, 'You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, annouce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' " My thought is that since the odds are so against us and survival rate is low EVERYONE will know that it is GOD who brought Katie through this and GOD who healed her and NOT the men and women who are giving the medications and such. Please remember to keep in your prayers most importantly Katie's recovery and complete healing. Also keep in mind our financial welfare as we will not be able to work atleast 1 week a month and during radiation for 3 weeks straight. Thanks for your prayers. We are truly blessed.

HELP!!!!!!!

The physicians just came in and informed us that they are having trouble finding a pediatric home health agency in our area to help care for Katie's central line and provide her medicine. Their recommendation was to find alternative housing in Houston. This is not an option! I have a couple of people working on finding us something in our area BUT if any of you have any ideas please let me know. You can leave a comment here or e-mail me at chelle_78@hotmail.com Thanks in advance for the help.

Just hanging out

Good morning to everyone. We hope you all had a great night sleep. Our night was pretty good except for Katie having to potty so much. She is having a bit more nausea today than she has had the last two days. Katie isn't as grouchy (so far anyway) as she was yesterday, so hopefully her body is getting more adjusted to all the changes and the medicine she is having to take. We don't think there will be any tests today because of it being the weekend, so hopefully it will just be day of rest for all of us. We hope all of you have a great three day weekend, and for those of you who plan to go fishing this weekend, William asks that you catch one for him. Thank you all so much for all your thoughts, prayers, generosity and phone calls. May God smile down on you and your family.

Meltdown CITY

Today has been HORRIBLE. We didn't sleep well and then about 10:30 we were taken to audiology for Katie to have a hearing test. They needed a baseline for her hearing because chemotherapy can cause hearing loss. Katie had the biggest meltdown I have ever seen...and I have seen ALOT! Just not in my own kid. This kid that is here with me is not the little girl I know. My daughter usually can be rationalized with but NOT this one. When they put the soft little probes in her ears you would have thought that they put a large needle in it. Then they took us to the sound booth and asked her to point at pictures and she lost it. Please pray for her and William and I to have the calm and peace that passes all understanding.

Another Day of Waiting

Good morning everyone last night was a pretty good night although not as good as the night before, because we didn't sleep as well. But all in all it wasn't to bad. The second dose of chemo is now complete and Katie is still not having bad of side effects from it. They are going to have to give her more blood because her counts were a little low again last night. The steroids they are giving her are causing her to be a REAL bear first thing in the morning, but after a little while she mellows out and all is well. We don't know what today holds as far as what tests they are going run on her, so right now it is just hurry up and wait. Katie is starting to warm up to some of the nurses which makes their lives and ours easier. Katie has also gained a little bit of weight. We want all of you to know how much we appreciate reading all of your sweet and thoughtful comments. May God bless your day.

Clowns, Glitter, and an Olympic Swimmer

Today was a wonderful day. Katie had a lot of fun. I haven't seen her like this in a couple of months. It did both mine and William's heart good to see her so happy and smiling today. She played in the playroom. We played a game of Wac-A-Mole and built with blocks. Later two clowns come by and Katie LOVED them. And Rowdy Gaines a 3 time Olympic gold medalist came by and Katie got his autograph. Of course I missed the clowns and the gold medalist...I was out getting lunch for myself and William. But she has talked about it all day. The Radio Lollipop (radio station that plays in the hospital for the kids) volunteer came by with crafts. Katie and I created a foam flip-flop with stickers and glitter. We got glitter EVERYWHERE...on the floor, on the bed, and especially on ourselves.

But that is okay Katie really needed a sponge bath anyway. AND we were entered into a contest for our 'artwork' and Katie won a little teddy bear. Also Wayne and Sue Woodall (some of William's extended family) came by and we had a good visit. They were so sweet to bring Katie a game and bunny rabbit. All in all it was a great day.

Feeling Better...Well for a little while.

Today has been better so far. Katie even got up and went to play in the play room for about 15 minutes or so. But then they came and took her IV out. That is a great thing because now she has both hands free to play and color but of course it hurt which isn't so good. And then she had to have her first dressing change to her central line, which hurt ALOT. But we made it through it, got some Tylenol 3 with codeine, and Katie is now resting in bed watching t.v. So all in all we are doing okay. They probably will run some more tests today to get a baseline of everything but the tests should not be painful. Just pray for peace for Katie, because although the tests are not painful they are scary for her. Thanks again for all of your prayers, calls, comments, and actions. We continue to be overwhelmed by the generosity of not only our family and friends but also strangers. God is WONDERFUL and he IS going to get us through this!

After much persuasion from my articulate husband we finally were able to convince the doctors to give her the chemo at about 12:30 a.m. It is now 6:45 a.m. and so far so good on the nausea. She also had to take some chemo orally ( which doesn't taste very well) but when mixed with apple juice is tolerable. She was able to take it without any problems. There will be more chemo later tonight sometime. We were also able to convince our headstrong child that this hospital does have a playroom. We took a walk to show her were it was. She finally showed some signs of interest in playing.

Another Delay

Well we were suppose to start chemotherapy today...but again things have changed! First we were told that we would begin chemo late this afternoon...then we were told at midnight...NOW we have been told that Katie needs to be given blood FIRST and THEN we can begin chemo. So that is pretty much the long and short of it....basically all we are doing is waiting and looking at all the wonderful things you have said to us. THANKS bunches. Please pray that things begin to move more quickly.

A Little Housekeeping...

Thank all of you who have signed in to follow Katie's journey and for those of you who have made such encouraging comments. Please, if you would, sign your name at the bottom of your comment so we can make sure we know who said what =) Also if you learned of our site through a friend, please let us know that as well. Thanks again for all of your prayers, scripture verses, and encouraging words. They really do mean alot to us. --Christa & William

Step One Complete

The Central line is in! We have a room and are beginning to settle in. They didn't have to do the biopsy of the tumor after all. This was a good thing because there are alot of risks associated with surgery and especially with this type of cancer because it has a tendency to bleed. Things are looking up.

My bible verse for today is:
There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; He cries out "destroy them".
Deuteronomy 33:26-27

That verse reminds me that God has his arms around us and that makes me smile =)

Diagonosis & Waiting

My name is Christa Connor. I am the proud mother of Katelyn (her family calls her Katie) (age 3) and Laura Beth (age 10 months). I have created this site as a way to keep everyone updated on my Katie's condition. After taking her to the doctor numerous times for leg pain, stomach pain, and fatigue we were finally sent to Texas Children's Hospital on May 7th. To make a long story short after 2 weeks they diagnosed Katie with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma. Dr. Heidi Russell, our primary oncologist, stated that within 3 weeks Katie would have died without intervention. YET they are taking FOREVER to get anything done. It has been quite frustrating to say the least. Hopefully within the hour we will have a room. Tomorrow she will have a central line put in and they will do a biopsy of the largest tumor which is on her adrenal gland. THEN she can start chemo.