Quick Update

Abbey had a great day today.  Her best in a long time.  She was smiling pretty much from the time she woke up and laughed at little things all day long.  We think she was making up for not smiling or laughing for a couple weeks because she had a lot in there that came out today.  That sparkle in her eyes was back.  It was a gift.  We will never take that smile or sparkle for granted again.

The nurse called around 4:30 to let us know that at that point they didn't see any signs of infection in her blood, but she explained to us that they will allow the blood to be in this container thing again overnight to see if anything grows by tomorrow.  I guess the earliest they look is after 24 hours, but it is better to wait longer (does that make sense?).  She has had no fevers today so we feel pretty confident that she is o.k. We're not sure what that on and off fever was for a couple days, but we are just thankful that it's gone.  The nurse will call us again tomorrow.

Abbey wanted to play today.  It is the first time that she wanted to get off the couch and go into other rooms.  She is very weak and having a really hard time walking.  She was walking a little in the morning (while holding my hands), but after a few minutes her knees starting getting weak and she would fall to her knees then bottom.  She wanted so badly to get around that at one point she was crawling.  It was sad to see her so weak, but encouraging that she was determined to play today and get off the couch.  Some of the side effects from the chemo is muscle weakness and joint pain.  She also hasn't walked at all in weeks so her muscles have just really weakened from no use. The nurse gave me some exercises to do with her legs to help strengthen them.  We did some tonight and she thought they were pretty cool.

Tonight is also the first night that she has wanted to sleep in her beautiful, new bedroom.  Jim and I have been sleeping in the living room on an air mattress and she has been on the couch, but earlier today she said she wanted to sleep in her bed tonight.  She is sound asleep in her princess bed now and we think it's pretty fitting since she's our little princess :).  We'll see if she makes it all night in there alone (or if I make it all night not being right by her side).

Thank you again for following our journey and for praying with us. We feel blessed beyond words by you.  We have been covered in prayer and very well taken care of by our family and friends and we couldn't be doing this without all of you.  We have seen God at work in many lives through our little Abbey's story.  She is going to have an amazing testimony to share one day.......  

Bye for now... we're off to sleep in our bed...