Thursday, August 28, 2008

Hard Nights

Last night was a hard night. Over the course of the night Anya woke up five different times: because of a headache, stomach ache, and later vomiting on three seperate occassions. As she threw up, she was dry heaving, tired, and trembling yet she didn't really cry or fuss. She was such a trooper! I wish that she didn't have to go through such nights but I am so proud of her for how brave she is through it all...what a big girl!

Monday, August 25, 2008

August Update

We're back at the steroids again as of last Friday. As usual, Anya has been tired, moody, hungry, and cold. Anya typically experiences the same side effects each month, though it seems like sometimes something may bother her more one month than the other. This month, she has been especially cold. She has been bundled with blankets and a sweatshirt for most of today.


Her monthly clinic visit went very smoothly. She received her usual preventative antibiotic, medicine to sooth her stomach, and IV chemo medication. Her ANC (absolute neutropil count, or the number of a certain type of white blood cells in her body) was still high so they increased the dose of her daily chemo medication by one pill per week.


The past few months we have taken Anya to church on Saturday morning, even though she was on steroids, because she had only had three doses by that point and we knew that she enjoys going to sing to Jesus and to see friends. But this week we decided to keep her home - she seemed to do much better all day! The stimuli of leaving the house and being around so many people must have been wearing her out. So perhaps now we'll just keep her home each month. We'll see...


Israel's mom (otherwise known as "Mammy) and step-brother came to visit about a week and a half ago and just left this afternoon. It was nice for us to get to see them again and for the girls to get to bond with them a little bit. We only get to see Israel's family on rare occasions since they all live on the West Coast so visits are a real treat! Just before Mammy left, she bought Anya & Esther some fun craft supplies - we can't wait to use them! Thanks Mammy!



Here are some pictures of their visit: