We're Still Here....

Is anyone still reading?  So sorry I've been so bad at posting lately... If you're still checking in, thank you...  I have lots to update you on.

Overall Abbey has been feeling great.  Last Friday we had to go to clinic just for a numbers check to see how her body is handling all of her at-home medications.  Her blood looked great!  Her ANC was over 3,000 (which is the infection fighting part of her WBC), her platelets were within normal range and everything else looked just like they would expect it to at this point.  

Relay for Life was last weekend and it was awesome! As you see we got tons of great pictures thanks to my dear friend Melissa (thanks Melissa... you're the best! :)!!!  It was a weekend filled with laughing, memories and fun, but also a weekend of reflection and tears.  We were so proud of our Abbey the whole weekend and so touched by the many others who are walking or have walked similar roads as ours.  We had three families come up to us and tell us that their child had cancer as a child and is now older, healthy and completely normal.  There were many different stories represented over the weekend, but we all had a connection to each other.  The survivor lap was emotional and awesome (it was my favorite part of the weekend).  Each survivor got 1 balloon for each year that they've survived cancer.  Abbey of course had one and there were people with over 20 balloons!  They had us line up with the newest diagnosed at the front of the track and then people with more balloons (more years being cancer free) lined up behind with the most years surviving in the back.  They had us all turn around and look at the many people that have beat this disease for years and years to encourage those of us who are just starting our journeys.  It was very moving and emotional. Abbey was the youngest survivor there and it got me thinking that someday she will be walking around that track with 70 or more balloons! 

Our church's team was called "Walk by Grace" and overall our team raised over $7,000 toward cancer research!  We also passed out bottled water the whole weekend to anyone and everyone who was there.  Many people from our team stayed all night to be a smiling face and an encouragement to others who are fighting for the same cause.  Abbey was our "super hero" as you can see on the banner.  We also had buttons made for the whole team and our family got the special "Praying for Abbey" t-shirts made (Abbey's shirt said "Praying for Me :)".  The back of all of our shirts (both the teams and our families) had Phil. 4:13 on it... I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  How true it is!     

As I said before, she is feeling great overall, but we learned on Saturday afternoon (when Relay was over) that she is having a major sun sensitivity from her medications.  When we got home that day she had a horrible rash on her arms and face and although she was sunblocked up, her skin was very irritated by the sun.  It wasn't sunburn or red, but bumpy and rashy.  We learned quickly that this new medication that she's on may make it hard for us to enjoy the outdoors as much as we'd like.  I have tried some new sunblocks since learning of this reaction and the last one I used seemed to protect her skin the best so we are praying that this will not be something that we will have to deal with all summer and that we can figure out the best way to protect her delicate skin.  

Also, a few nights ago, Abbey woke up throwing up and feeling really yucky.  Today she is feeling much better, but it seemed that she caught a little bug while out and about.  Thankfully she had no fever to go along with it (or we would have been making a hospital visit), but we were in close contact with her nurses and she seemed to kick the bug by herself.  Although these couple things have been minor, it is so hard to see her sick with a regular "kid thing" on top of her being sick with leukemia.  Our nurse encouraged us to not isolate ourselves after these couple little things (she knows me so well), but to continue to try and live as normally as possible and expect her to get regular kids sicknesses every once in a while.  

So tomorrow we have another exciting thing going on.  Abbey will be playing Kick Ball at Progressive Field in Downtown Cleveland with some of the Cleveland Indians!  It is a promotional event to kick off a Kick Ball fund raiser for childhood cancers.  They will be taping the game and it will either be aired at the field on game days or possibly even on t.v.  We'll know more after tomorrow and I will be sure to share with you the details in case you'd like to get involved or play in a kick ball game with your families to support a super great cause.  We are ready to go in the afternoon with Abbey's Indians Cheerleading outfit and great Indians attire for the boys too :)  I'll be sure to take pictures and share them with you all...

Well, I will stop writing a book and will try to start updating more often.  Thanks for checking in on our brave little warrior.  God Bless.