News Archive!
Easter Sunday, April 12
Hello, All! We hope you are having a blessed Easter weekend as we celebrate the Lord's resurrection--which is the event by which we can still consider ourselves blessed even through our trials.
Sorry that I haven't updated for a few days--we've been a little preoccupied being a family! =) The Florida Four arrived on Wednesday evening around 7 to be with the Tennessee Three (soon to not be so!) We've been enjoying just spending our time together--and getting some packing done. It is such a help having the extra hands with Skip helping me since it is always difficult to get much done with Zoe...I know she can tell when I'm trying to get something done because that is when she cries... =)
We got the Lion's share of the apartment packed up on Thursday, and Skip's parents came on Friday and took it up to Indiana--where we will swing through toward the end of the month to pick it up. We'll get the rest packed and Skip will take all but what Abby, Zoe & I need for our last few days here in Memphis.
Abby is doing pretty well. She is still having stomach pain. Not as often, but even this morning she was complaining about it. Last night she fell here in the apartment. She hurt her good leg, but she was fine just a few minutes later...that is something that we'll have to watch for since it doesn't take much for her to lose her balance or slip on something. She has been doing very well in physical therapy, especially on Wednesday! After physical therapy, she has the strength and confidence to walk without her crutch. I need to figure out how to work with her to enable her to have that confidence all of the time.
Zoe's cold has gotten worse, and the other kids have a mild cold too. Please pray for health for them...It has been somewhat sleepless nights for me since we are all sleeping in the same room, and the kids cough intermittently. =) At least they aren't coughing constantly...just a couple of them a couple times. Zoe has been having a difficult time sleeping because she is stopped up...poor baby. The other kids do fine because they know how to handle it...
I've sure been enjoying loving on my other 3 kids (and Skip too =) )!!! I can't wait until that is not such an uncommon occurance! I have learned through this to not take these times with my husband and children for granted! We are looking forward to going to church together as a family tomorrow for Easter Sunday. After church, we are going to go to my cousin, Jill's, house for dinner. We are looking forward to seeing them as well!
I know I'm forgetting other things I was wanting to update about, but I'll post them later if they come back to mind... =)
Have a blessed Easter! This also brings me to ask for your prayers for our country as well that we will be able to celebrate many Easter's to come!
January 13 - Hello, all! Abby got out of the hospital on Sunday afternoon after her chemo. She handled it very well this time--Praise the Lord! She really didn't complain about anything at all this time. Usually she has a pain in her belly that she didn't have this time. She has also been able to keep her food down the whole time as well--which I'm not sure if she is totally out of the woods for vomiting since she has had some delayed nausea/vomiting in the past. I've been keeping her on her meds for that.
Sunday night Abby's temp was up, so I watched it for a couple of hours to make sure it was okay. I called the doctor when it was borderline fever, and she said to just wait...I did, and it never got over 100,4 so we didn't have to go to the hospital, Thank the Lord. I'm not sure why the fevers come around bedtime, but it makes for late nights!
We went to the hospital today for appointments and everything looks fine. They said they would call if there was a problem with her counts, and they didn't, so I guess that means that everything looks okay.
The three of us are doing much better with our coughs/colds--we still have the remnants, but we are feeling much better. Not so much on the Florida homefront. Skip kept Micah home from school yesterday because he was pretty bad, and Skip has had a rough time the last couple of nights with his being sick too! Please keep them in your prayers as they go through this sick time too. Skip has so much on his plate--I'm not sure how he does everything! He and the kids are planning to come up this weekend because the kids have a 3-day weekend. Hopefully that will work out. Skip does have a closing fairly late on Friday, so that would give them a later start, but we are always thankful when we are able to help someone close on a home! =)
I also found out that on Saturday, Kayla passed away. She is the precious 2-year-old from California that I had mentioned previously. Please keep their family in your prayers!
We are so thankful to have the support of so many wonderful people--God is good to us and we are constantly humbled by the kindness of the many people He sends our way! Thank you all again for your prayers and encouragement!
January 8 - Abby, Zoe & I are back in Memphis. We pulled in to the Target House last night around 9pm. I had hoped to get here a little earlier, but I ended up taking Zoe to the doctor because I wanted to have her ears checked before we came up because of her cold and fussiness. That actually worked out pretty well because they just gave her her shots while we were there. I had been wondering how that would work out with our infrequent visits and that she was a little late for her 2-month shots. Thankfully, her ears (and lungs) are clear. She is so stuffed up and is always sneezing and coughing--poor baby. Actually, Abby and I have it also, but we can cope with it much easier than Zoe.
It was so nice being home for those few days. It was busy, but it was nice to be together in our own environment!
We saw Abby's doctor today. We are going to go ahead and start her next round of chemo tomorrow. They are going to call us when her room is ready. We have appointments with pain clinic & nutrition tomorrow morning and then she has physical therapy and school which overlap each other--I'm not quite sure what I am supposed to do about that--she has missed quite a bit of both lately. I don't know if I'm supposed to decide which is more important or split the 1/2 hour. =)
Please pray for Abby as she goes through this round that the side effects will be minimal. She has been doing very well these past few days, and she has been in pretty good spirits. I'm thankful that she doesn't dread coming back up here. (Admittedly, I wasn't any too anxious to come back yesterday.) Between the meds making her memory fuzzy while she is in the hospital and all of the special treatment she gets while she is up here, she likes being here.
Also, I talked to another mother today who told me she will be going home in the next week or two for comfort care for her 10-month old daughter, EvaLynn. This is one of the most difficult parts about being up here at the Target House. They live on my floor here. Even I, as a parent of a child with cancer, don't have a clue to know what to say to these parents who aren't given any hope for their child. She has the same cancer--ATRT which is a form of brain tumor, as the other two girls, Catie & Kayla, who I've mentioned previously that have been sent home on comfort care.
Zoe is in there crying because she woke herself up coughing--this may be a long night.
Thank you so much for all of your love & support! We appreciate all of the prayers offered on behalf of our family! The Lord has been our sole source of strength during this time!
December 2 - Just wanted to give you all a quick update...Today is Skip's birthday, and I am so thankful that we can all be together!
Abby has been having more and more pain these past 3 or 4 days in her leg. Her back pain has subsided though. They took out the nerve block yesterday, and even before that has been having quite a bit of pain in her upper leg. I didn't know until yesterday that they took out most of her femur--just a little bit of it is left at the top. Just a little bit ago, she cried out and said that all of a sudden she had really bad pain in her leg. She has been pretty weepy still these past few days and fairly irritable as well.
They did say today that the pathology report shows that they had good margins around the tumor and so they think they got all of the affected tissue. We don't have the complete results from that though--we will meet with her doctor this afternoon at 4. She'll go on fluids tonight, and will be admitted tomorrow for chemo. She will also have physical therapy and an x-ray and meet with the orthopaedic surgeon as well.
A couple things we'd like prayer for is that we will be able to have a fairly normal Christmas for the kids. Since we have no idea about what her schedule will be, we aren't sure where we will be for Christmas and is difficult to plan. We just want to make sure the kids can have a good Christmas even though it won't be a typical one. Also, we are trying to find a feasible way to get my Mom to Memphis this weekend. She wants to come to be here to help out with Abby since Skip and the kids will be going back home. She can't travel alone, so we are trying to find a way for her to get here. We are considering driving up to Iowa, but aren't sure of the logisitics yet since we only have Saturday free.
I'll try to keep you posted as Abby is in the hospital after she gets her chemo. Thank you all for your encouragement--we are humbled by how God has used so many people in our life for comfort and support! We feel so undeserving of His grace!
November 29 - We pray all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We enjoyed ourselves at my cousin's house. Everything was delicious! At least what I tried--there was too much food for me to try it all! =) We didn't get to spend it together as a family with the other 3 kids in Nashville--that would have been nice, but it comes with the situation we are in... The Lord is so good to us, and we still do have so much to be thankful for!
We are planning to have the kids come over on Monday so we can spend the week together before Skip & the kids have to go back to Pensacola next Sunday. Please continue to pray that they will not be sick since our nephew had strep throat last week! We are looking forward to seeing them again! Also Skip's birthday is on Tuesday--he is sooo old!!! =) It will be nice to be able to spend it together with the family.
Abby is doing very well! She has been having very little trouble with her tummy, and very little leg pain! The Lord is good. She is still having some back pain, and her leg is pretty swollen. Her leg still looks good as far as the incision. Her spirits are pretty good (however she does tend to be pretty whiney a lot of the time...I have to keep reminding myself that she just had surgery, and I would probably be whiney too =) ) She is having difficulty with her appetite as it is hard to find something that she feels that she could eat, but she has been able to keep pretty much everything down since she got out of the hospital. We will get another blow to that on Wednesday when she gets her next round of chemo.
Some of you said that you did not get to see the Today show last Wednesday, but you can view the segment on msnbc.com. Here is the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27925706#27925706
We hope you all have a blessed weekend!
November 26 - We did get to go home (Target House) last night. Abby continues to do pretty well. She is feeling a little sick this afternoon though. We went to the hospital where she had her bandage changed--her incision looks good! They put a pure silver strip on her incision because bacteria cannot grow where there is silver. I had not known that before... She also had physical therapy which she loves because she gets to play games with the therapist. Her leg is getting more swollen because of her being on it more.
We were going to go over to Nashville to be with the other three kids for Thanksgiving since we don't have any appts until Friday, but our nephew came down with strep this week, so we don't want to risk Abby being exposed. Please pray that the Lord will intervene with the other three kids getting it since we are planning for them to come to Memphis next week. We have family here in the Memphis area that we will spend Thanksgiving dinner with--so that will be fun. We just wish the other kids could be with us too...
They will start Abby's next chemo next Wednesday.
We saw her on TV today, that was fun. She didn't seem too impressed with it though... =)
We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! Have a great day thanking the Lord for His many blessings!!!
(Just a side note--I saw one of the other moms that I have met at the Target House at the hospital today--she said that yesterday they got the news that her 7-year-old daughter's tumor had returned, and that there isn't anything else that can be done. They gave her a weeks or months to live. Please keep them in your prayers as well. They have a lot of family coming in for Thanksgiving, but this will be a very difficult Thanksgiving for them. They will be leaving the Target House next week since they won't have any more treatments. I had just told Skip in the last couple of days that I hoped I didn't meet anyone whose child didn't make it--he said that chances of that are pretty slim considering where we are. I guess he was right.)
November 24 - A quick update...we didn't go back to the apartment today...we didn't feel that we had the peripheral issues taken care of like her eating, vomiting, back pain & abdominal pain. She has done quite a bit better today with just occasional complaints of pain. She wasn't able to eat any dinner, and lost what she had eaten for lunch. I feel like she has lost so much weight through this whole thing.
They did remove the big bandage/ace wrap today and she just has a light bandage over the incision. They also removed the drain from her leg. They will leave the nerve block in until next Monday. Her leg looked good, and she is excited to be able to feel the back of her leg! It was pretty cute how she said it felt good to be able to rub her leg...I guess so after more than 4 months of it being covered!!!
We may be discharged tomorrow. We're looking forward to sleeping in a normal bed again!
I'm sure I left out several details, but please just pray for us overall! (Sorry, I'm pretty tired tonight.)
Thank you all for being such a blessing to us!!!
Abby is doing much better today. She is starting to eat a little, and is not complaining of pain very often. She is in pretty good spirits as long as she isn't asked to do anything she thinks will hurt.
Last night she did get an enema to try to help with her back and abdominal pain--it seems to have helped some--however, she has complained quite a bit even today of the back and abdominal pain.
Today she got out of bed and stood for a while (about 5 or 10 minutes) and sat in the chair for a while. She also walked with the physical therapist down the hall and back (with her crutches and very little if any weight on her leg of course), but we are all pleased with her progress.
The last two nights she has had a fever, and tonight she had a 100.5 fever, but it went down on its own. Her swelling has gone down quite a bit all over her body.
Overall, we are pleased with how Abby is doing! The Lord is good, and we look forward to her full recovery!
Thank you all for your prayers for Abby!!!
November 23 - A quick update...Abby continues to do pretty well as far as her leg goes. She still has the back & abdominal pain. Also, she hasn't been eating well, and now today, she hasn't been able to keep anything down. She has vomited twice today, and overall doesn't feel well at times. I'm not quite sure why she's having this trouble.
If everything goes well, the surgeon said he'll release her to the Target House tomorrow. I'm just concerned about her tummy troubles! We'll see how that goes...
Please pray for her to be able to get and keep some food down. That is a big challenge right now! She has hardly eaten anything since Wednesday, and has thrown up most of it! Nothing sounds good to her to eat, and she can't force herself even if she tries.
it is almost 4pm, and she hasn't been out of bed yet today because she just doesn't feel well. Please keep praying for her!
Thank you all, & Have a great Sunday!!!
November 22 - Abby is doing much better today. She is starting to eat a little, and is not complaining of pain very often. She is in pretty good spirits as long as she isn't asked to do anything she thinks will hurt.
Last night she did get an enema to try to help with her back and abdominal pain--it seems to have helped some--however, she has complained quite a bit even today of the back and abdominal pain.
Today she got out of bed and stood for a while (about 5 or 10 minutes) and sat in the chair for a while. She also walked with the physical therapist down the hall and back (with her crutches and very little if any weight on her leg of course), but we are all pleased with her progress.
The last two nights she has had a fever, and tonight she had a 100.5 fever, but it went down on its own. Her swelling has gone down quite a bit all over her body.
Overall, we are pleased with how Abby is doing! The Lord is good, and we look forward to her full recovery!
Thank you all for your prayers for Abby!!!
November 21 - Sorry it has taken so long to update you all...Many people in and out, Zoe is pretty grumpy today, etc.
Abby is doing pretty well today. They did have to catheterize her because she has been unable to void. Last night before bed, they did a quick in and out, but at 4:00 am when she wasn't able to go, they just put in a foley. They will leave it in until at least tomorrow.
She was out of bed for a couple of hours in her chair, and that was quite the trial. She is in quite a bit of pain when her leg is moved. As long as she is still, she has very little pain. They cannot us the cpm machine to move her leg because Abby is much too small for the machine. They will have to move it manually...
She is in fairly good spirits as long as we can keep her distracted. If she thinks about anything that hurts or could possibly hurt, she starts to cry. She is so brave though, and has handled everything quite well considering all she is having to go through.
She did get her blood transfusion last night, and they said she may need another one this weekend.
Thank you all again!!!
November 20 - Another Quick Post -
Abby is just now getting a blood transfusion because of the amount of drainage from her leg. She also has had a fever for the last couple of hours that we're having a hard time getting rid of...she's gotten Tylenol and will also receive ibuprophen to try to bring it down. She is resting pretty comfortably, however, she is having a hard time going potty since she has to go in her bed...the bed pan didn't work, and if she doesn't go soon, they will have to catheterize her. She also is having a little bit of labored breathing while she is sleeping. They'll keep a close eye on her through the night.
Please keep praying for her...
Also, I keep meaning to let those who have asked about the Today show know when to watch. Abby should be on on Wednesday the 26th during the 10 o'clock hour. Abby (and the whole family) was invited to New York for next week to be on the show live...Obviously, that isn't a possibility, but it would have been fun!
Also, my friend, Alisha, asked me to spread word that she is having a jewelry fundraiser for Abby now through Dec. 7...her website is www.inspiranzadesigns.com/alisha please contact her if you have any questions.
Thank you all so much!!!! You don't know what you all mean to us!!!
November 20 - After a Long Day - Here we are after a long day. God has shown Himself faithful again. After having her leg opened up, bone and tumor removed, prosthetic bone and knee put in...here we sit all watching animal planet talking about which animal is the best on pet star.
Tonight will be long but Abby is doing very well under the circumstances. We are praying they can keep ahead of the pain. We are also keeping a watchful eye out for infection which would most likely mean amputation. They come in every 2 hours to give her breathing exercises to fend off pneumonia. Let's not forget about the nurse checks. They start leg movement machine on Friday. Let us not forget about the upcomming chemo.
We are so very thankful for all of you praying for Abby. We are not by any stretch of the imagination out of the woods yet but I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for all your love, support, & prayer. No matter what part the LORD has lead you play we love you all...family & new and old friends.
I will let you all know how the night goes...
November 20 - Doctor Just Left - The Doctor just left our room. He said all went "picture perfect". She was still getting the nerve block in her leg to manage the pain. He also said her leg will have a massive bandage that can be reduced in the next couple of days. She will also be in a brace or a machine to move the joint so it will not get stiff. Please pray that she has no infection, the prosthesis works properly, pain can be managed and quick healing. Kristy and I will be here with her during recovery so please pray for us also. Praise the LORD!
We will post again after she is settled in her room.
November 20 - Mid Morning - Just a quick update.
They have removed the bone and the tumor and said all is well so far.
Giving God the glory...
November 20 - This morning I am reminded once again how Great God is and how weak I am, in my morning walk with Him he gave me this...
Psalm 20
1.The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call.
November 19 - Well, here we are the night before the surgery. Thank you all for your words of encouragement, love, & support! The Lord is good--He has been, and we know he will continue to sustain us.
Emma, Micah, & Zach were picked up by our brother-in-law this evening to spend some time over in Gallatin with Skip's sister. Please pray for them as they are away from both parents. Skip's Mom is also there to help out since there will be EIGHT kids at that house! =)
We will go to the hospital at 6:30 in the morning, and her surgery should start at 7:30. The surgery will last about 5 hours, and then she will most likely be in ICU for at least the first night. She will probably be on a machine as she wakes up that will keep her leg bending at the knee so it won't get stiff. Please pray for Abby as they work on managing her pain. She is in pretty good spirits, and doesn't seem to be afraid at this point. I'm a little worried about her after she wakes up--she didn't handle the pain from her biopsy well at all.
Please continue to pray for her surgery, for wisdom for the doctors, and that it will overall be successful. Please pray for high pain tolerance for Abby, that the pain will be easily managed. Please pray that this surgery will go the way the Lord wants it to go. The limb sparing doctor told us today that there WILL be complications. They may be small, or they may be big, but there will be problems...but, we can pray that the Lord will take care of her... He explained all of the 'could happens' to us, but we will continue to take her care one day at a time and not dwell on what may be in the future. God hasn't given us the grace for that yet.
We'll try to update as soon as we can after the surgery.
Thank you for your prayers!!!!
November 17 - Hello, All! I know many of you are interested in when Abby's surgery will be, etc. I did call today and they gave me her schedule. Wednesday will be a full day preparing for her surgery we have appointments back-to-back from 8am until her last one at 4...They will be Assessment & Triage, Surgery Clininc, Pain Clinic, school, x-ray, Meeting with her after care nurse, Limb Sparing Clinic, Anesthesia, & then lastly Respiratory Therapy. On Thursday morning, we need to be there for pre-op at 6:30--I imagine her surgery will be around 8am.
Specific prayer needs are for Abby's nerves...it was pretty cute today she was explaining what was going to happen during her surgery to Micah. She was telling him that it won't hurt because she'll be asleep, but it will hurt a little bit when she wakes up. Then she looked at me and said that she really thinks it will hurt a lot, but she didn't want to scare Micah! She's a brave little girl. So please pray that she remains calm about it, and that they will be able to manage the pain well after the surgery. Also, please pray for the surgeons that the surgery will go perfectly! This is something that would be bad if it were not done exactly right.
Please also pray for the other 3 older kids as they will be at Skip's sister's house that they will behave and enjoy their time. Also for Skip and I that we will have the grace before, during and after the surgery. That we will be able to help & comfort Abby as best as possible after the surgery.
Also several have asked which day she will be on the Today Show, I called today, and they said they don't know yet. They said they will try to let me know before it airs--it is a last minute decision by the network I guess. I'll post it if I know ahead of time.
Thank you all for your support this week! We are in need of your prayer support! I have to honestly say this is about the toughest week we've had so far!
November 8 - Hello! Abby, Zoe & I were able to travel home yesterday, and we will spend a week here in Pensacola! Abby's counts came back up some on Wednesday, as they had been keeping an eye on her ANC, platelets & magnesium.
On Thursday, Abby was able to show Hoda Kotb of NBC's Today Show around the hospital. She enjoyed that tremendously. For those who may want to watch it, it is supposed to be on the week of Thanksgiving, and Hoda is on during the 4th hour of the Today Show (starting at 10am). I'm not sure which day of the week.
Yesterday, I got a call from her nurse practitioner which I missed, but she left a message saying that Abby's surgery date has been changed. Now, it will be on the 20th of November instead of the 24th. She was going to have a round of chemo on the 17th, but they will postpone that one until after her surgery. Please pray for Abby that she will have minimal pain, and that she will have a very quick recovery from the surgery! She is very anxious to be able to walk again!
Abby was very excited about coming home, but it is such an adjustment for her to be back with her siblings! She gets very agitate with them easily, and it seems like she gets frustrated that she can't play as easily as they can. She enjoys being active, but that is so difficult. She and Emma were playing with the strollers, but Abby can't push hers, so she rigged up a way to pull it, but was still frustrated because she was slower and didn't have as much control. Please also pray for her this week while she is home.
I'm sorry it took so long to post a new update. By the way, I had a couple people ask me about the MRI image. That is just a picture of her upper leg, her knee is at the very bottom of the shot. The bend you see in the leg is the actual break. Just to clear that up... =)
I hope this finds you all well! Thank you!!!!!
October 2 - Just a quick update...Abby had her labs done today, and her liver enzymes are very high again--600 something and 900 something. This will delay her chemo again. She was supposed to get it tomorrow, but they are going to check her labs again on Monday and if her enzymes are low enough, they will put her on fluids on Monday and admit her on Tuesday for her next round of chemo. That will give us a fairly relaxed weekend. We'll have several appointments Monday & Tuesday as they will be checking her eyes for her 6-month check as well as her normal appointments.
Abby did have a hard time keeping things down on Tuesday, so I had to give her her meds around the clock for about a day & a half. She has been doing pretty well since Wed. morning. Tonight, Target had dinner for us at the Target House... It was delicious and really was a lot of fun! There were several different regional managers there from around the country. Abby had a lot of fun decorating cupcakes! Of course, she didn't eat them.
Zoe is a month old today. We weighed her at the hospital today, and she is almost 7-1/2 pounds. She's grown quite a bit, but she is still pretty small! She is starting to get a little spoiled. She tends to not be happy unless I'm holding her. It's hard to get much done with a baby who wants to be held! Plus it's also hard since I am the only one here to hold and console her--it's not too easy to hand her off to Abby when she's grumpy! =) Just the extra responsibility and I don't want to bother others with a screaming baby, so I don't like to let her cry it out very much. The walls here aren't too thick.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, please keep remembering us when you get the chance! We appreciate you all!
Abby's MRI - For those who may be interested, I uploaded a shot of her MRI which shows the fracture in her femur. Hopefully you can make out what it is. The top portion of her femur is at an angle toward the front of her leg, and the bottom portion of the femur is pretty much straight up and down...this shows the separation of the bones pretty well!
Thursday October 30th - I'm sorry for taking so long to update you all...there hasn't been too much to update about, and we have been keeping pretty busy with appointments and just stuff!
Abby did get out of the hospital Friday night. We pretty much stayed in on Saturday and Sunday and rested up. We were pretty tied down to fluids and IV meds, shots, etc. Then we started our appointments and school again on Monday. On Tuesday, they found that her magnesium was very low, so they gave her a 2-hour infusion of magnesium and put her on magnesium by mouth. Wednesday, her magnesium was even lower, so they put her back on fluids to try to boost her magnesium. Today, they checked again, and it is up some, but her doctor told me that he'd take her off the fluids again, but to give her up to 4 doses a day of her magnesium.
They are going to check her counts again this weekend and we are going to try to go home on Monday if all works out well. We should be able to stay until the next Monday to be back for her appointments on Tuesday and we'll start her next 2 weeks of the methotrexate before her surgery on the 24th.
A couple of things we need prayer for is Zach has come down with a pretty bad cold...please pray that the family will be as healthy as possible for us to come home and not expose Abby to too many germs. Her counts should be high enough to fight it, but we like to keep her as healthy as possible for her strength. Also pray for safety for our trip and that everything will be coordinated with her counts and the trip.
Thank you all for your encouragement these past few weeks! The Lord has helped us tremendously!
Wednesday October 22nd - I hope all of you are doing well! Thank you for all of your prayers! We did get a little more positive news yesterday. Abby had her cast replaced, and the doctor got to look at her leg without the cast. He felt around the fractured area, and he said he doesn't feel anything that causes him concern. Which is good since she had been having a little bit of pain.
She did get 2 new casts yesterday. They put a new one on and it was bent a little to much for it to be comfortable, so they recasted it.
We were admitted yesterday and started her chemo last night. She has done pretty well. She only vomited once in the night. I think they have done a very good job knowing what medicines to give her for her to feel as good as possible. She has been having pain in her belly which is common with her chemo--it is not nausea, but a pain. She is pretty groggy from the meds and sleeps some. Also, the steroid she is on tends to make her a little grumpy. But at least she feels pretty good for the most part.
Other than that, we're just hanging out in the hospital...we'll probably be here until about Friday or so.
Monday October 22nd - I have been a little encouraged today about Abby's surgery. Dr. Galindo called me today and said that he had talked to Dr. Neal and they should be able to move her surgery to the week of November 20. At least that will be a couple of weeks earlier. I was also able to talk to the nurse who schedules the surgery, and she is going to see when is the soonest that she can be scheduled. We'll see...but at least I feel now that they are going to get her in as soon as possible.
We still need to pray that she can stay stable until that time. She is in good spirits (at least until her chemo tomorrow).
Thank you so much for all of your encouragement! We appreciate the love and support!
Monday October 20th - I have been a little encouraged today about Abby's surgery. Dr. Galindo called me today and said that he had talked to Dr. Neal and they should be able to move her surgery to the week of November 20. At least that will be a couple of weeks earlier. I was also able to talk to the nurse who schedules the surgery, and she is going to see when is the soonest that she can be scheduled. We'll see...but at least I feel now that they are going to get her in as soon as possible.
We still need to pray that she can stay stable until that time. She is in good spirits (at least until her chemo tomorrow).
Thank you so much for all of your encouragement! We appreciate the love and support!
Friday October 17th - I'm sorry for not updating you all until now. I've been planning to write this since yesterday, but I haven't been too anxious to type it out...
We met with her oncologist yesterday. He was a little surprised that Abby's surgery to remove the tumor/femur & knee was so far off, and he said that it may take that long to get the prosthesis since it will have to be custom made because of Abby's age. He said he would talk to Dr. Neal about the surgery and date. We are going to do chemo in the mean time, and she should be going in on Tuesday for her next round as long as her liver enzymes will allow.
I asked him about the scans from last week, and he said that her leg has completely fractured and is misaligned. I'm not sure how that is not hurting Abby, but she complains very little about any pain in her leg. He said that because of the complete fracture, there is always the concern that the tumor will no longer be contained and may spread to the surrounding tissue.
Dr. Galindo also prepared me yesterday that if they cannot remove the tumor completely with the limb sparing surgery, because there needs to be enough good tissue to save the leg, that Abby may have a full amputation (I think because of the potential of the tumor spreading now that it is not contained). If there is any part of the tumor left, he said the tumor definitely will come back. I think he is a little concerned because of her scans since he usually doesn't talk like that.
He also prepared me that if the chemo isn't working, which we won't know until the surgery, that Abby will have to be put on another chemo agent or two which he said will add about 3 months to our stay. That was disheartening since March or April already seems so far off without adding 3 months. I'm a little concerned about her leg in the mean time before her surgery since the cancer has been so agressive, and there has been such rapid bone deterioration to cause the break in her femur in spite of her cast. Skip said I was full of good news when I talked to him about my conversation with the doctor. =) I think he was somewhat overwhelmed as well.
On a positive note, her chest CT came back clear, so her lungs are good so far. We will have another Echo/EKG, audiogram, and one other test on Monday (I can't remember which one), and she will also get a new cast on Monday.
I asked Skip & my Mom what I should include in this update since so much of it is what if's and maybe's, and they both said that I should include as much as possible so that everyone will know how to pray. So, please, as you think of us, please pray that Abby's leg will be stable and the tumor will not spread in the next 7 weeks. Also that her chemo will work as it is supposed to so we can go home to our family as soon as possible. And thirdly, that the surgery can be successful in completely removing the tumor so Abby can keep her leg. Also, please pray that this round of chemo will go smoothly as this is the one that can make her very sick.
Abby's spirits are good, and it is very enjoyable to see how happy she is in spite of all that is going on in and around her.
Thank you all in advance for your fervent prayers for Abby and our family! These next few weeks before her surgery are going to be difficult as we try not to contemplate "what might be". We know that we can only take one day at a time as God's grace is sufficient for today only. He will take us through one day at a time and sustain us throughout our ordeal. We cannot worry about the future since it is all in God's hands. He hasn't failed us yet, so there is no reason to believe that He will not continue to uphold us no matter the outcome of the trial. Please also let others know about Abby that be willing to pray for us as well!
Wednesday October 15th - Well, we saw the limb sparing doctor today, and basically found out that her surgery will be December 8. I had thought it would be sooner. I am not sure what her schedule will be until then--I imagine chemo. We will see her doctor in the morning and I should know more then.
Sorry so short...Zoe needs to eat!
Sunday October 12th - We trust you all had a good weekend. Abby did get out of the hospital on Thursday evening. Skip and the kids surprised us and showed up at 11 in the morning on Thursday! They left Pensacola at 3am to get up here to surprise us. I thought they were going to leave at noon when Micah got out of school. That was a wonderful surprise, and we had a nice weekend together. Abby really enjoyed having the kids to play with. We were able to go to the zoo, have a cookout, and get family pictures among just spending quality family time together. The goodbyes were sad as usual though!
We were able to visit a church in Southaven, MS this morning. The pastor and his wife are brother and sister of some very good friends of ours. That was nice, and it was wonderful to fellowship with them. They were so caring and many said that they have been praying for Abby consistently!
Abby did have a fever on Friday night of 101.1 just after we had gotten to Germantown at my cousin's house. So Skip had to get back in the car and take Abby back to the hospital. They did blood tests and gave her an antibiotic just in case there was any infection. She has been fine since. She does look a little rough the last couple of days with dark circles under her eyes, and just looking tired. Please pray for her strength. She is a trooper though, and just keeps trucking on.
Thank you all for your keeping up with Abby. It never ceases to amaze me the love and support we have received. We appreciate the prayers and concern.
Tuesday October 7th - We were admitted today for Abby's next round of chemo. She is currently about half way through the 4-hour dose. She's not feeling the best, but she is at least keeping her food down. We should be in here until around dinner time on Thursday as long as her body clears the chemo like it should. Just in enough time to see Skip and the other kids since they will be here Thurs. evening. We are looking so forward to seeing them!
I found out today that we will be meeting with the surgeon next Wednesday to talk about her surgery and schedule it.
I also talked to the genetic counselor, and they are going to do genetic testing on the other 4 kids for the retinoblastoma gene. The chances are very slim that any of them would have it, but it is just to make sure it can be ruled out.
We hope your week is going well. Please keep Abby in your prayers this week as she clears this chemo and for her liver to be able to tolerate it. Also pray for Skip & the other kids as they plan to come up that they will get everything wrapped up there that the need to and that they will have a safe trip up here.
Monday September 29th - We were able to leave the hospital early evening yesterday. Abby is doing pretty well and has been pretty much her normal self. I don't know what any of her counts are yet. This is the chemo that is hard on her liver, so I am curious to see what her liver enzymes are. I don't think she'll have any labs drawn until Thursday. Then we'll know the plan for her next round of chemo.
Today was a fairly relaxed day. Abby had school from 11-12, and then a short visit in her clinic to remove the access to her port. However, when we were leaving the hospital, I managed to start my van, and lock the keys in it! When we start the van, the doors automatically lock.
I was just telling Skip last night that I was worried that I would do that. Mostly, I was afraid that I'd lock Zoe in there though! Today, neither of the girls were in there, however, if Abby were in there, at least she could unlock the door for me! I went inside and told them that I had locked them in the van, and security came and jimmied the lock for me, thankfully!
Tomorrow we don't have any appointments, and then Wednesday, she just has school. Having treatments over the weekend sure makes for a light week!
Tomorrow, we will get to spend some time with my cousin, Jill. We look forward to that fellowship.
Thank you all for your encouraging words! We covet all of the prayer we can get! God Bless...
Thursday October 2nd - Just a quick update...Abby had her labs done today, and her liver enzymes are very high again--600 something and 900 something. This will delay her chemo again. She was supposed to get it tomorrow, but they are going to check her labs again on Monday and if her enzymes are low enough, they will put her on fluids on Monday and admit her on Tuesday for her next round of chemo. That will give us a fairly relaxed weekend. We'll have several appointments Monday & Tuesday as they will be checking her eyes for her 6-month check as well as her normal appointments.
Abby did have a hard time keeping things down on Tuesday, so I had to give her her meds around the clock for about a day & a half. She has been doing pretty well since Wed. morning. Tonight, Target had dinner for us at the Target House... It was delicious and really was a lot of fun! There were several different regional managers there from around the country. Abby had a lot of fun decorating cupcakes! Of course, she didn't eat them.
Zoe is a month old today. We weighed her at the hospital today, and she is almost 7-1/2 pounds. She's grown quite a bit, but she is still pretty small! She is starting to get a little spoiled. She tends to not be happy unless I'm holding her. It's hard to get much done with a baby who wants to be held! Plus it's also hard since I am the only one here to hold and console her--it's not too easy to hand her off to Abby when she's grumpy! =) Just the extra responsibility and I don't want to bother others with a screaming baby, so I don't like to let her cry it out very much. The walls here aren't too thick.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, please keep remembering us when you get the chance! We appreciate you all!
Monday September 29th - We were able to leave the hospital early evening yesterday. Abby is doing pretty well and has been pretty much her normal self. I don't know what any of her counts are yet. This is the chemo that is hard on her liver, so I am curious to see what her liver enzymes are. I don't think she'll have any labs drawn until Thursday. Then we'll know the plan for her next round of chemo.
Today was a fairly relaxed day. Abby had school from 11-12, and then a short visit in her clinic to remove the access to her port. However, when we were leaving the hospital, I managed to start my van, and lock the keys in it! When we start the van, the doors automatically lock. I was just telling Skip last night that I was worried that I would do that. Mostly, I was afraid that I'd lock Zoe in there though! Today, neither of the girls were in there, however, if Abby were in there, at least she could unlock the door for me! I went inside and told them that I had locked them in the van, and security came and jimmied the lock for me, thankfully!
Tomorrow we don't have any appointments, and then Wednesday, she just has school. Having treatments over the weekend sure makes for a light week!
Tomorrow, we will get to spend some time with my cousin, Jill. We look forward to that fellowship.
Thank you all for your encouraging words! We covet all of the prayer we can get! God Bless...
Friday September 26th - We are in the hospital getting Abby's chemo. She just finished it and is now on her fluids. She did vomit earlier, which she hadn't done with the 2 previous doses of this chemo. She is resting now, and hopefully they will be able to keep her comfortable through the night as her body gets rid of the methotrexate... We had to wait until today because there were no rooms available yesterday. Please pray for her body as this is so hard on her liver, etc.!!!
We were able to stay home until Wednesday this week which was so nice to have those couple of extra days with everyone at home.
We found out today that Abby's surgery won't be for probably another 4-5 weeks because of the schedule of the surgeons and such...She may have another round of chemo in the mean time.
Zoe is doing pretty good. She is still sleeping much of the time, and is a relatively good baby.
I know this is somewhat sketchy as I am typing this...I'm ready for bed!!! =) Please pray that I can get some sleep in the next couple of days...
Also, please be sure to keep Skip and Emma, Micah, & Zach in your prayers as well as they have to get back on their rigid schedule. Skip has quite a bit of work to do along with his many other responsibilities. Also, please pray that it works out that Skip can find a couple of days to come up to visit since the surgery got pushed back.
Thank you all for your kind words and prayers!
Wednesday September 17th - Sorry it has been so long since I have last updated you. I know being busy is a lame excuse! =) Abby did get to come home last Friday. Skip drove up and back on Friday and brought her and his Mom home. They got home about 2:30 Saturday morning. We have enjoyed being all together for the past few days! We will head back up to Memphis on Monday as Abby will have appointments on Tuesday. Please pray for us since it will be several weeks before we will be able to come back home again.
She is doing pretty well. Her blood counts yesterday were pretty good, but we still need to monitor them while we are home. She has been pretty tired, but she has been getting up pretty early with Emma.
Also, I wanted to mention that we have so many thank you's that we owe people. I apologize for being slow, but please know that we ARE truly thankful for all of the love, gifts, cards and support that we have received over the past several weeks! God has truly blessed us with an unbelievable support system in those who are praying for us!
Please continue to pray for us in these couple of weeks or so leading up to Abby's surgery. We still have two rounds of chemo to go through before the surgery. Please pray for Abby's strength and ability to recover quickly!
Zoe is doing well. She is still tiny, but I'm sure she has grown quite a bit! I'll be thankful to get a good night's sleep someday! =)
You all are a blessing, and we are thankful for each of you!
Friday September 5th - Abby was able to get her chemo this week Wed. & Thurs. evenings. I've been able to talk to Grandma Geiser a few times these past couple of days & to Abby for a while yesterday. She is doing pretty well as far as tolerating the chemo this time. She has been vomiting less. Her face is very swollen (we think from the Dex--her steroid). She has been pretty weepy as well--a mixture of Mommy not being there and the meds she's on. Please keep her in mind as she's going through a hard time without me there with her.
Zoe is doing pretty well! She's eating well, and overall, she's a good baby so far. I'm doing pretty good also--an achy back, but very little discomfort otherwise!
Hope all is well with all of you--please continue to pray for us during this transition and for Abby to be able to come home very soon so we can be a family for a while! After this round of chemo, she won't have any more treatments until Sept. 24--I believe.
Thursday September 4th - Just a quick update from Skip. Zoe Ruth arrived on 9/02/08 at 7:04 P.M. 6 lb 6 oz. Mom and Zoe are great (not that it matters but I came through ok also). Please remember Abby as she is starting her next round of treatment today with grandma Geiser up at St. Jude. This drug will make Abby VERY sick. Please pray Abby recovers quickly from this round of drugs, Grandma Geiser stays strong & Kristy can get rest before she & Zoe go back to St Jude. I am very thankful for all who have been lifting us up in prayer, you will never know how much you mean to me...Skip
Thursday August 28th - Pray for us as we remember to praise the Lord for the good and the bad. Today Abby started out the day pretty rough. She vomited 3 times this morning, which was strange since it has been a week since her chemo. They gave her IV medication as well as 2 hours of fluids, and she is feeling so much better! I have been having the hardest time getting her to drink enough, and I think she was dehydrated.
Her liver enzymes are critically high, so they are not even going to consider giving her chemo until possibly Tuesday. A normal number according to the doctor would be around 50. Last week hers was 200 and 400. Today it was 850 and 1686. Her doctor here has been out of town, and will be back and he will decide what to do with her by then. I am really pretty thankful that she didn't get her chemo today as her little body has taken such a beating with these last two rounds. She's been having several bloody noses also. I'm thankful for the break for her sake.
She also started "school" this week. Poor girl, she has to go to school 1 hour Monday, Wednesday, & Friday! =) She's enjoying it.
She did get a new cast yesterday. It is so nice and clean! Her leg is so much skinnier now that she has the new cast because the old one was so bulky at the top after extending it on top of the other one! While her cast was off, I got to see her leg. It does have a large lump on the front of her thigh, which I was assuming was the tumor...
Grandma Hoffman got here in Memphis today, so Abby is in the height of glory having Mommy, and TWO grandmas all to herself!!!
I'm not sure if I'm forgetting anything important...but please keep praying for Abby. We appreciate all of you!
Thursday August 21st - We hope all is going well with each of you, and thank you for taking the time to stay updated on Abby.
We came in yesterday for the blood work, and the enzymes were going down, so they put her on fluids for pre-hydration, and went back to the Target House for the night. We got a call this morning that all of the in-patient rooms were full, so we had the option of waiting until tomorrow to see if there would be an opening, or we could come to the medicine room and have her chemo outpatient. Since we were already behind schedule, I opted to try the chemo outpatient. This entails our being in the medicine room for 12 hours (we'll probably get out of here around 11pm tonight) and I will have to give her her scheduled IV drugs every 6 hours for 6 doses. The upside is that we won't have to spend 3 days in the hospital.
She started her chemo around 11:30, and she is now complaining that her tummy hurts.
Pray for her that she will clear this round of chemo quickly and that her liver will not suffer further damage.
Thank you!!!
Tuesday August 19th - Well, we enyoyed our few days off. We spent Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon with my cousin Jill & her family. We enjoyed the different pace and got to do some shopping as well. Jill & Lauren took Abby to Build-a-Bear workshop where she made a great bear! She really enjoyed that!
We went to Abby's appointments today, but they said that Abby's liver enzymes were too high to start her next round of chemo. That sets us a little behind. She will go back in tomorrow for more blood work to see if the enzymes are going down. If they are, they will put her on fluids overnight on Wednesday, and we'll go back in on Thursday for her treatment.
So, our main prayer request is that her enzymes will go down so we don't get further behind schedule.
Pray for Skip & Emma, Micah, & Zach also this week. They are going through a big transition period with getting back to school. Skip also needs extra prayer as he has been having a hard time getting everything done during the day that he has on his plate! He has been putting in late nights as well as getting up by 5 a.m.
One other thing we would appreciate prayer for is that the Lord would lead us to the right vehicle. Since we are going to be a family of 7 now, we have outgrown our 6-passenger car. Skip is going to the auction with a good friend of ours this week to look for something that will work for us. We really do want the Lord's will for this next vehicle as we will be relying on it to travel back & forth to Memphis and we don't want an undependable car for that! Please pray with us that the Lord will provide the RIGHT vehicle.
We appreciate all of the love and prayers we have received during this time! Everyone has been so supportive of us!
Please keep praying for us whenever you think of us and feel free to pass this site along to anyone you know who is willing to pray for Abby as well!
Saturday August 2nd - Abby has been getting better over this past week and has been getting less nauseous. Her counts are dropping, and they will continue to keep an eye on them. Her spirits are better. She doesn't really remember even being in the hospital for her chemo a couple of weeks ago...I guess from all the meds.
She had been on extra fluids until Thursday and we haven't had to carry around the IV pump the last couple of days which makes it easier to get her around! It makes a big difference. Abby is also wanting to get around on her own more now.
I was not able to go home this week as I had hoped because of her nausea and the doctor wants to keep an eye on her counts until they begin to recover. They will assess her on Tuesday and determine if we can go home at that time. Please pray that we will be able to go home. As it looks right now, we may be able to go home from Wednesday until the next Monday the 11th. She will start her next round of chemo on the 12th and will have 3 weeks in a row of chemo.
We had an appointment with the orthopaedic doctor yesterday and instead of taking her cast off, they extended it all the way up to the top of her thigh. Now, her leg is more bulky, however, it is easier for her because it supports the femur better. He said the cast was only slightly above the fracture, and it had been painful for her if we didn't position her leg straight. She is doing much better on her crutches, and hopefully we will use her chair less and less.
Thank you all for all of your prayer and support through this time!
Skip & Kristy
July 23rd 2008 - Last night Abby started her chemo. She is currently receiving her second round for this session. She has feeling pretty rough throughout the day with nausea/vomiting, leg pain, stomach pain. She has to get out of bed every two hours to go to the bathroom because of the volume of fluids and because of the toxicity of the chemo to her kidneys.
They are learning how she is reacting to the chemo and are adjusting her meds to keep her as comfy as possible...in the evening, she receives a steroid, which makes her so silly and giddy. Tonight that was definintely nice to see since she was pretty mellow and somewhat agitated today.
She will have another round tomorrow night and will probably get to go to the Target House here in Memphis with my Mom & I on Friday... We'll watch her over the weekend and judging by her counts, etc., we may be able to go home for about a week and a half by the middle of next week--which will be great because I need to catch up on my o.b. appointments.
Specific things to pray for would include Abby's comfort during the chemo, Abby's counts to stay/recover as well as they possibly could, and for Skip & the kids in Pensacola since they have so much on their plates with business, etc. Also, that we can come up with a good plan for me to have the baby in Pensacola.
We appreciate all of the prayers, love, concern, & comfort we have received from so many...please continue to pray for Abby that this will be as easy as possible on her.
July 22nd 2008 - Abby started chemotherapy
July 19th 2008 - Abby's new update site created
July 18th 2008 - Abby underwent surgery for a biopsy test and diagnosed with osteosarcoma. A 2nd Surgery is scheduled in approximately 10 weeks to remove the affected bone. A port was installed in her left shoulder so that they can begin administering the chemo which will start next week.