Tuesday

Things here continue to be good.  Abbey is seeming to 'breeze' through this phase with minimal side effects.  We stopped her anti-nausea medicine a few days ago and she hasn't complained of any stomach issues.  We will go back next Monday for her next treatment in this phase.  She has two more treatments this phase, then we will be into our last phase before the two year Maintenance phase. Next Monday when we go, she will get three chemos instead of the regular two that she has had each time this phase.  Day 31 they always do a spinal tap and give a dose of methotrexate in her spine.  Her methotrexate through her port will also be increased and she will get the vincristine.  Day 41 will be her last day of chemos this phase, then she has a couple week break before starting Delayed Intensification, which is a very intense phase.  We are enjoying these days of her feeling good as we know we have two rough months ahead.  

I am going to be vulnerable for a minute here.  Sunday was a very hard day for me.  For some reason, Sundays always seem to be my hardest day, but this Sunday was especially difficult to get through.  I so miss going to Church.  It has been four months since Abbey was first diagnosed and we have in a sense lived in a bubble since then. Before this, the kids and I spent most of our time at home, but Sunday was always our day to get out of the house and go to church as a family.  Even when Jim worked on Sundays, I would always go to church with the kids.  I miss being able to do normal things; go to the store or out to Chick Fil A for lunch.  It is hard to explain because we still can get out some and do these things without Abbey (we have several wonderful people that are willing to come sit with her or all the kids if we want), but I don't want to do things without her.  It's hard for me to do "family things" without all of us.  I miss Abbey being well.  We also have to be very careful not to take Micah out of the house much because he has really never been sick his whole life and we know the second we take him in a public setting he will be a magnet for sickness.  We just do not want to bring anything into the house because you know how it is when one kids is sick, they all get sick.  Since Jacob is a little older, has built up some immunities and is pretty mindful about washing his hands, he has gotten out a little more.  He has gone to some friends houses and has done a few things at church, which he has needed.  He has rough days here and there and there's days where I think he just needs to see some faces other than ours. 

Back to Sunday.  The main reason why Sunday was an especially rough day was because of a little girl named Tuesday Fiona Whitt.  She was a little over 2 years old and was diagnosed with cancer in July 2008.  On January 30th, her battle with this awful disease ended and she went home to be with her Heavenly Father where she will have no more pain and suffering.  From reading their blog it seemed like her tumors were shrinking and things were overall going well in her treatment.  About a week ago, a CT scan showed that her cancer had doubled in size in a very short time and the cancer was no longer chemo sensitive and horribly aggressive.  She died a few days later.  I have been sick since I heard about their story and my heart is broken for this family as they have to stay here and continue on in this life without their precious little girl.  I know this is so hard to read.  It hurts to write these words and scares me so much to be reminded of this horrible disease that we are up against. Below is the button to their blog if you'd like to leave this family a comment.  Please pray for the Whitts as they have a road ahead that no parent can be prepared to walk.