October News

October has been a fairly uneventful month overall although last week had us spending more time in the clinic and hospital than planned. Anya was only scheduled to be in the clinic for chemo last Wednesday but her hemoglobin count was low so they had us check into the hospital for the day to get blood. We were home Wednesday night in time for dinner but due to a low platelet count they wanted us back into the clinic last Friday to make sure the platelets were recovering. Praise God they were and we were allowed to go back home from the clinic, rather than spending another day in the hospital to get platelets.
This week is scheduled for a clinic visit Wednesday to get chemo. Since Anya's counts had begun to recover as of Friday we are hopeful that they will be even higher on Wednesday and no additional visits will be necessary this week. Her ANC is still extremely low thus she is at the highest risk for infection. As a result we've kept to the house for the most part and tried to limit her exposure to anyone outside the family.
I (Israel) have been able to attend church the past few weeks, but it's been quite a while since Anna went so we are hopeful that she'll get an opportunity for fellowship soon. Anya does well most the time and is usually happy and energetic, however the past few weeks she has definitely shown a decrease in energy and a tendency to be fussy at times. She is also pickier about foods and requires extra rest throughout the day. All of this is expected with her white blood cell counts being so low- a direct result of the chemotherapy. The past few nights she's also woke up very upset and crying, apparently in her sleep. Please pray that these night terrors would stop as they are very hard on everyone in the house. Esther and Isaiah continue to do well and we are thankful for the ongoing love and support we recieve from so many across the country. We will update the blog later this week with Anya's counts from this Wednesday and give info concerning what lies ahead for next week. Thank you again for your prayers.