August Appointment

Today was Anya's August appointment which included a spinal tap to put chemo in her nervous system and regular IV chemo and preventative antibiotic.

We had intended for Israel to take her, but he has been suffering with an infection and though he shouldn't be contagious anymore, we didn't feel comfortable taking any chances of infecting any of those poor little kiddos with decreased immunity. So Samantha, Anya, and I got dressed and out the door by 8 so we could make it to Children's Mercy on time for Anya's appointment. (Super mommy to the rescue!) :)

Overall things went very smoothly - Anya was pretty upbeat before the spinal tap, her port cooperated, and the doctor said that she looked great. Unfortunately she was feeling pain again during the spinal tap - which isn't supposed to happen because they give her "sleepy medicine" - but I comforted myself with the fact that THIS IS THE LAST TIME WE HAVE TO DO THIS! It is so hard for me to watch her suffer...to feel so helpless to make things better so this reality is so exciting for me!

The other good news is that the doctors also give her a medication that doesn't allow her to remember the pain during the procedure, so if you asked her how the spinal tap went she would probably tell you "great!". Gotta love that medicine!

And I'd also like to "give a shout out" to the child life specialist at CM. She came in during the procedure today, and was such a big help - especially since I had Samantha there with me. She stroked Anya's head, spoke sweetly to her, and read a book to her that we had brought from home to make things as easy as possible on my baby. Thank you Jesus, for such loving people!

Family News

On Friday, July 31st, we welcomed baby Samantha Grace to the world! She was 8 lbs, 3 oz and only 18.25 inches...so she is a sweet little chunker. Wish we could show her off to you in person! Anya, Esther & Isaiah all love her to pieces...so fun watching them with her. Thank you, Jesus, for this precious gift!

And on another lesser note, we are in the process of buying our first home! It is only 3-5 minutes from our current house, but it is a little bigger and we are excited for this change! We'll be sure to post pictures after we close in three weeks.

July Happenings

July's appointment was just over two weeks ago now, and things went well. While Anya's port wasn't very cooperative, she wasn't in much discomfort and was in good spirits for most of the visit. As usual she received chemo and a preventative antibiotic through her port. And the nurse confirmed that we are still on schedule to discontinue treatment in October - so only a few more months to go!