Thanksgiving

This post is a little late...sorry...but on Thanksgiving I was not in the mood to feel thankful...

I am thankful for:
1. My loving God. He has a plan far above what I can see. This past year has been very hard but I know there is a purpose in it. I have to admit that most of the time I feel far away from God but I know that is my fault not his. My constant prayer is that I find a way to do better & grow closer to him (read the bible, witness, pray, etc)

2. My church family. Our church is wonderful. I know that I can call them at any point of the day and they will be there to listen and help. It is there that my daughter (Katie) is learning so much about God and I am thankful for her teachers.

3. My husband. I am so thankful for how much he helps me make it through this adult life. I don't know what I would do without him. He helps so much with the girls and makes me laugh like no one else.

4. My children. I have the best daughters in the world. They are different as two sisters can be, yet they are the same in that they are loving and a so much fun to be around.

5. My girl's daycare: I am so blessed that my girls go to Grannie's and Pawpaw's. I know that when they are there that they are taken of. Really they are more like our extended family.

6. My family. I have parents and a sister who love me & my girls & husband. I know that if I need them they will be there. My in-laws. I am very blessed to have married a man who has a great (and large) family. They are wonderful.

7. My friends. I have the best friends in the world. Even though I don't work with those of them from BVRC anymore I know that if I need them that they will be there. I know the best therapists in the world!

8. My job. I may not always like my job but I wouldn't trade the flexibility it provides for anything. I wouldn't have made it through this past 6 months or so without it.

9. My community. During this past couple of months everyone has really come to our aid. We wouldn't have made it without all of you.

BMT Day 6

Not much to report today. Katie hasn't felt very good today. She threw up several times but she did not require extra medication for it until tonight. She has the beginning of mouth ulcers but is still tolerating the mouth wash.

**On a side note: I read a really good novel by Linda Nichols. It is called In Search of Eden. It is a really good christian book.

Hope all of you had a wonderful day. Continue to pray for Katie to get better soon.

BMT Day 5

Today has been a fairly good day. Katie hasn't been eating much the past couple of days because of the nausea (due to the chemo) but today she did manage to eat a little bit & hold it down for a while. Laura Beth spent this past couple of days with my family & they brought her up to see us (and for William to take home with him today). We were able to sneak Katie out of the unit & let her hug & kiss her sister. (I say sneak because no one under 12 is allowed on the unit due to flu season & Katie is not suppose to leave the unit). Katie misses Laura Beth terribly, but of course after giving hugs & kisses she was ready to go back to her room. She enjoyed getting to see Nana & Aunt Ashley (Pop was coming down with a cold so he couldn't come see her). After William & Laura Beth left for home, Katie & I took a nap. We were definitely tired after last night....the IV pumps were beeping about every 10 minutes or so ALL NIGHT. But the good news is that when this chemo is done tonight, we are done with chemo! And the other good news is that week one for us is finished! Now on to week 2....Please continue to pray for her. This next week will prove to be a hard one. They tell me that her mouth ulcers will begin soon & that will be very painful. This chemo is very hard on the digestive system & causes it to be very irritated. It ranges from just uncomfortable to be put in the PICU to be intubated due to her throat closing up.

***Side note: If you have been following our blog very long, you know about Layla. She is on the BMT unit as well. She is about a week or so ahead of us in treatment. Please pray for her & her family. She has the mouth ulcers pretty bad & has had some difficulty with the narcotics. Her dad did say she was doing better when I talked to him yesterday. Her birthday was this past Thursday...she is now 2.

Craziness R Us

Today has been a little crazy. Katelyn's IV has been beeping NON-STOP...you never know how much you hate that sound until you can NOT shut it up! LOL And if that is not enough to drive you nuts, Katelyn has been in a very BAD mood...one minute she is happy and the next she is flying off the handle about one thing or another. She just is not feeling well today. She has eaten very little today and her counts are on their way down. She will probably need to get blood tomorrow. Please pray that she feels better soon.

BMT Day 2 & 3

Sorry that I haven't posted in a day or two but Katie had turned off my computer's wireless capability (without me knowing there even was a button for this on my computer)...Anyway I thought the Internet was down but then my wonderful, great, ingenious husband looked at the computer, found the button and now I have Internet again! (his words LOL). Now we are all in better moods than we were when we first got here. We had a good Thanksgiving day. Quiet but good. We even got to have Thanksgiving dinner provided by a local church. Katie has been hooked up to chemotherapy since about 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. She will finish up with chemotherapy late on Sunday night. So far, she hasn't had too many bad effects of the chemotherapy. We are so thankful for all of you and hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Keep praying that we will be home for Christmas.

BMT Day 1

Today Katie was admitted to the BMT (Bone Marrow Transplant) unit. We were told, today, that we may be here until December 30. There goes the idea that we will be home for Christmas...to be honest we are all not in a very good mood. We are trying hard, though, to remember that we do have ALOT to be thankful for. Laura Beth is staying with my parents the next couple of days while William is staying at the hospital with Katie and I. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Radiation Days 5 & 6 of 12

Yesterday I was so upset and tired by the time I got home that I thought it best to NOT blog! Being at Texas Children's Hospital for 7 hours can do that to you! First we had to wait an hour and half past our appointment time in order to get Katie's blood taken and see the doctor. Then, when I asked for the doctor to print our schedule I found out that we had TWO appointments that no had told me about...so we spent the day going back and forth between TCH, Methodist hospital, and the clinic at the Texas Children's cancer center. So I wasn't doing to good when we left. THEN a crazy man yelled at me when I was stopped at a stop sign! Apparently my car was in the cross walk and he didn't know how to walk around me! Good grief!

Today was some better. No surprise tests like yesterday. Katie did well with all the tests and we got back to the Ronald McDonald house in time to wash clothes before dinner...so all is good!

Weekend

Katie and I went home on Friday to be with William and Laura Beth. When we left both of us had the beginnings of a head cold. By Sunday (when we got back to Houston) ALL of us (William, Katie, Laura Beth and I) have the cold. Thankfully it is just a head cold and it will pass soon. We all have to be well by the time that Katie is put in the hospital for her last chemo...because NO ONE who is sick can visit her.
We had a good weekend, even though we all felt like our head was going to explode! We went to Nicholas' birthday party at the bowling alley. Katie had a blast and Laura Beth loved running around! This morning, Katie was chomping at the bit to get to Sunday School with Ms. Sharon and Ms. Joan. But now she is sleeping peacefully and we are gearing up for the week ahead. She has several tests scheduled along with radiation to get us ready to be placed on the bone marrow transplant floor sometime next week. Please pray for us as this is going to be the toughest on our family. Because I have a career that is more in demand (and because William is running low on sick/vacation time) I will be the one in the hospital with her for the month long stay (minimum is 21 days inpatient). Pray for my job as they fill my spot till January and pray that I still have a job to come back to. Also pray for Laura Beth as she will be unable to see Katie at all during this upcoming hospital stay...and she will see her mommy very little. She is such a trooper. But you can definitely tell she is jealous of Katie. If Katie gets in mommy's lap (or anyone else's for that matter) Laura Beth begins to cry and hit Katie to get her out of the way. It has truly been a difficult year BUT we are looking forward to a WONDERFUL 2010!

Radiation Day 4/12

Today went smoothly. Katie got through radiation without a hitch. And then we saw the radiation oncologist today. No new problems to report. She had a great day playing on the computer and trying to sneak around while she was suppose to be taking a nap (mom was reading a book). Then tonight we met my parents and sister for dinner. She had a blast!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have be negligent about putting pictures up on the blog so here are a bunch from the past month or so! (In no particular order)

My favorite 1 year pic of my little one


Katie getting tired during her first day of stem cell collection


Happy Katie getting her stem cells collected.

The bag in the middle (dark red)...that is the one that is holding the stem cells. And that is at the end of the day of collection. All that work for so little product! Good thing they are tiny (there are about 800,000 cells in there!)

Katie being a bull!

Katie at St. Jude's holding her picture she drew of me on a mag-na-doodle

Katie in front of her favorite fish tank at St. Jude's Hospital

Katie throwing pennies in the fountain.

Katie in front of the fountain at the Methodist Hospital.

My happy girls in their matching pumpkin outfits.

Laura Beth after her first haircut courtesy of Uncle Nap

Laura Beth getting her first haircut. She was so confused! She could NOT find her hands to get to the candy Uncle Nap had given her! LOL


Katie with her present for being so good at radiation!


Katie all dressed up as a Dora Fairy for Halloween (thank you Erica!) Even though she didn't get to go out and trick or treat she still liked the costume!


Notice the hair & the shoes (thanks to Aunt Marian)

Katie sporting her new hat at TCH in the lobby in front of a big wooden giraffe

Katie in her new outfit (cupcakes) from Aunt Marian

Our Halloween pumpkin

Laura Beth & Grandpa on the motorcycle

Katie (aka my little dandelion fluff) blowing the fluff off a dandelion!

Katie and her best friend Kate

This is the best picture! It shows a face she does quite often.

Happiness written all over her face!

The following are the pictures from last night....

Opening act

Aladdin

Army men from Toy Story

It's a Small World

Another one from It's a Small World

From Pinnocio: Notice the man on the unicycle!

From Beauty and the Beast

Mickey and Minnie

From the Lion King (Katie's favorite!)

Nala from the Lion King

From the ending act

More from the ending

The Snow Cone that Katie HAD to have!

And her enjoying the snow cone

Radiation Day 3/12

Today is going pretty smoothly. Katie had her third radiation appointment and did great as usual. Then we came back to the room and have been doing chores (calling hospitals about bills, changing doctor's appointments, washing clothes, etc.) After I put our clothes in the dryer we are going to go enjoy ourselves some Chinese food and then take a little nap before we head to the Disney on Ice with the Ronald McDonald House. Katie is excited to be able to see the characters from Lion King and the princesses. We are praising God for such a wonderful BEAUTIFUL day! Go out and enjoy it!

Radiation Day 2/12

Today was a little frustrating! They told us yesterday that Katie needed blood but they didn't have room for her so we were to come back today at 8:45. We arrived at the doctor's office a little after 8. By 9 they had moved us three times and still had not started the blood. The officially started giving her blood at 10:45!!!! And that is WITHOUT pre-medication. Geez! But Methodist hospital was kind and worked around TCH. Katie received radiation about 1. Then it was back to the Ronald McDonald house for a little nap. AND I signed us up for Disney on Ice tomorrow! Thank you for keeping us in your prayers and sending encouraging messages. They help alot! Also thank you to everyone who has given blood. Today Katie received blood from a designated donor. We appreciate your sacrifice (those needles are BIG!)

Radiation Day 1 of 12

Today was Katie's first official day of radiation. We arrived 10 minutes late for our 8:45 appointment (even though we left the house at SIX). Katie did wonderful! She had to lay perfectly still without ANYONE in the room or anyone talking to her for about 30 minutes. I was able to watch her from a t.v. in a separate area with the radiation technicians. She looked a little scared but did GREAT. She didn't move a muscle the whole time. Even with things moving around and making noise. The doctor said that she is the youngest patient who has been able to do radiation WITHOUT sedation. For a surprise I got her a leapster (that way she will have something educational to do while she is doing all this waiting for doctors and procedures. We are now waiting to see if they can do a blood transfusion today. If not, we will get it tomorrow before radiation. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Please pray that we will not run into any glitches. If all goes well we WILL be done the Tuesday before Thanksgiving! It would be so good to be home for this.

Radiation

Yesterday, Katie & I went for her first radiation appointment at Methodist hosptial in Houston. At this appointment she did not receive radiation but they did something called a simulation. They took CT scans and marked her so that they would know where to do the radiation. We thought regular radiation would start the next day. (I had taken off work and reserved a room and the Ronald McDonald House). However, we learned that radiation will begin on Monday 11/9/09 **SURPRISE** Other than being really frustrated...I was happy becuase Katie did very well. She laid perfectly still for the whole time and she didn't get upset that I could not be in the room with her the whole time. I could tell she was nervous and a little scared but a stranger would not have known. I was so proud of my little girl! She will have 12 radiation appointments that last about 20 minutes each day (excluding weekends). Hopefully we will be done the Tues before Thanksgiving. Though this year has been really hard, we do have a lot to be thankful for. Again thank all of you for your prayers and support.

Finished

Today was not that bad until the end. Katie watched t.v., painted, and read books during the procedure. A long boring day for William & I. They collected 2.3 million stem cells (more than enough). Then they came and pulled out the line. This was a long process (took about an hour total) and was VERY painful for Katie. It took me, William, two nurses & two doctors to get it done. BUT we made it through it okay. We will begin radiation on Wednesday. Thank you for all of your prayers and please continue to pray for Katie's health (both mental & physical).

Stem Cell Harvest Day 2

We arrived at TCH at 7:30 to find that they had NOT gotten anything ready BECAUSE they did NOT know if we really were coming...even though they called me 3 or 4 times yesterday to confirm that we were indeed coming. Everything did not get started till after 9. As of right now (1:30 p.m.) they have finished the stem cell collection today. We should know if we have to come back tomorrow or not about 3 this afternoon.

Now time for my soap box..... While walking back to the hospital from picking up lunch I saw a well built guy sitting outside one of the restaurants. He was wearing running shorts, expensive looking sun glasses, and listening to his ipod. You could tell that he obviously goes to the gym to work out. AND he had the nerve to ask if I could buy him a sandwich!!!!! GET SOME PRIDE!!! I was so annoyed. **Okay now I feel better**