Chemo: Day 1

From Shelley: October 4 @ 7:26 AM

Yesterday was day 1 so today is day 2 of her treatment... yesterday was a rough, day with many low points, but there were some high points as well so we are thankful for those. We started the day with several blood draws (where they are drawing the blood from her arm bend, forearm or hand.) Those got more and more difficult with each stick since she started to understand the pain more and more each time. Before each blood draw we felt overwhelmed and just sick and sad for her, but after it was over we would be back up the roller coaster and start to feel better. That's one way we have been able to explain this is it has just been a roller coaster ride. There's times where we want to take all these tubes out of her and just forget it all and take her home, but then 5 minutes later we feel encouraged that we got past something hard and we say "we can do this". God has been carrying us (that's the only way to describe it) through this. If I would have put myself in this situation before it was actually happening I would think that we would be like fish with no water flopping on the ground weeping hysterically, but although we have had many low points, we have had times of laughter, smiles and enjoying just loving her and being with her and together. Jacob was able to come here for the first time last night and that was refreshing for all of us. We explained everything to him (we have had help in how to talk to him about this from some people here) and it went good.

From Andy:
When I talked to Shelley she said that this first round of Chemo would take 9 days. Then the rest would be able to be done on an out-patient basis. They were excited about that because they thought that would mean that they could go home in the next week. It will be a long process from there though. She said that it would probably be 2-2 1/2 years before they could say that Abbey has "beaten" this.

Oh behalf of the Colberts

My name is Andy Gammons. My wife Amanda was friends with Shelley in high school. When I found out about Abbey's Leukemia, I offered to do the blog to keep people current. Shelley will be e-mailing me and I'll try and keep you up-to-date. I talked with Shelley on the phone today and she and Jim covet your prayers and support during this time.

Abigail

From Shelley on October 3 @ 4:15 AM

Dear Friends and Family,

My hands are shaking as I write this. This afternoon I was home watching new carpet be put into my house and eating homemeade popsicles with Jacob and Abigail and it is now 4:30am and I am sitting in a hospital room. Today our sweet Abigail was diagnosed with Leukemia. I will back up a little so you know how we got from there to here in one short day.

About two weeks ago Abbey came down with a fever followed by a cough for about a week. In that weeks time, I had her at the doctors office two times because at first I thought it might be strep and the doctor ruled that out and said it was a virus that needed to run its course. I took her back after about 4 days because I felt like she wasn't getting better and was concerned. I also noticed that she was sweating at night (if any of you follow our blog then you know that each night I go into her room to turn her light off before I go to bed) and each night her head would be wet with sweat. That upset me so when I went the second time to the doctor, I mentioned that. At that point he said it had turned into a sinus infection so she was put on antibiotics. We left that day praying that she would get over this quickly and didn't think much of it. On Tuesday I noticed some bruising on her arms and legs and I knew that she had not had any bad falls or anything that would have caused those so I really started to feel concerned. I called the doctor on Wednesday morning and asked to be seen immediately. They took us right in and I explained the night sweats in more detail and showed the doctors the bruises. He ordered blood work on her which was done on Wednesday. Thursday our pediatrician called to let us know that we needed to take her immediately to Rainbow Babies & Childrens Hospital in Cleveland due to an abnormal platelet count.

Since then, a lot has happened. Our precious baby girl has leukemia. We are on the hemeotology/oncology floor of the hospital with a lot of children that have cancer. Tomorrow they will be running more tests and starting chemo. They are going to look at her bone marrow to see what is going on there and also look at the fluid in her spine to see if it has gone there yet. The doctors and nurses have been amazing already and we feel confident that they know what they are doing. There is a lot that we don' t know and we have been overwhelmed with a lot of information today, but the best way that I know right now how to explain this to you is by saying that she has the best form of leukemia possible. It is more treatable than others. We know without a shadow of a doubt that God is in control of ALL things and that He loves Abbey even more than we do. We know this didn't accidentally slip through His fingers and He has made Himself very real to us already as we have gone through this difficult day. He has a plan and purpose for Abbey and our family and we are so thankful that we know Him. He has given us bits and pieces of what is happening and we can only praise Him for not giving us more than we can handle today. Please pray with us as we have a long road ahead of us.

Pray please for Abbey, that she will not have a lot of pain. Pray that she would sleep good at night and not get too homesick (she kept asking us to take her home today). Pray that they would find no cancer in her bone marrow (they already said that they have never seen it not spread there with what her numbers are looking like), but we know God can make there be no cancer there. Pray that it would not be in her spine. Pray that we could be creative in keeping her happy, comfortable and occupied. Pray for lots of good talks with her about God and His care for us. Pray that she would be able to really experience God's love for her. Pray that her little body would handle all of these medications o.k. and that she would be able to bounce back quickly. Pray for strenght for Jim and I ... that Satan would not be attacking our thoughts. Pray for our relationship, that it would be strengthened. Pray for sleep for us at night. Please pray for Jacob and Micah as they will be away from Jim, myself and Abbey a lot. Pray that Micah would switch to formula easily. Pray that we would be a light on this hospital floor. That people would see Jesus through our family. Pray for my mom and step-dad as they are traveling through the night to get home from their vacation. Pray for Jim's parents as they come into town tomorrow. Pray for strengh for our parents as they care for our boys. Please pray for her to completely beat this.

We will need your prayers and support and are thankful that we have an amazing support system. I would really like to decorate Abbey's room with colorful pictures and scripture verses that we can learn as a family. If you live close, could you please pick a verse and write it on poster board in bright colors to decorate her room... Thank you those of you who have already been amazing to us. We so love our Jesus and all of you too. Please feel free to send this to anyone who will join us in praying. I will be sending out e-mails as things change and will try to start posting updates on our blog too. Thank you guys... we love you.

Jim, Shelley Jacob, Abigail :) & Micah

Final Week of Construction

We are anxiously awaiting Thursday....  On Thursday the carpet guy is coming to install the carpet in our basement, which means everything else is done :)  Jim is putting up the rest of the trim today.  He did an amazing job on this project and I can't believe he was able to add a full bath and finish our basement with very little help.  He put the tile floor in the bathroom last week and it looks beautiful.  We are so excited to have the room down there and also have another bathroom.  We are also having our living room and Abbey's room re-carpeted on Thursday. We weren't going do those rooms initially, but after Jacob's room was done we realized how nice new carpet is so we decided to do all the rooms on our first floor.  We'll post pictures after thursday...

Sleepless Abbey

Abbey usually falls asleep pretty quickly without much objection to bedtime, but tonight she had a hard time falling asleep and she kept calling me in her room.  She has been wanting us to leave the small lamp next to her bed on each night after we tuck her in and after a little while, we go in once she's asleep and turn it off (Jim used to like the light on too until he fell asleep when he was little).  Well the last time I talked to her tonight I told her to ask God to help her relax and fall asleep.  A minute later I heard her talking so I peeked in the door.  This is what I saw... I had to capture the moment :)      

Fall Festival

Today we went to a small fall festival down the street from our house.  It is at a huge garden center and every fall they have a few weekends with things for the kids to do like a corn play area, jumpy things, crafts, coloring contests....  We went today for a couple hours to get the kids out of the house.  Abbey has been sick since last Saturday so we were pretty much homebound the whole week (except School for Jacob and work for Jim) so it was good for us to get out today and do something fun.  We had Abbey at the doctor two times this week because we were concerned that she wasn't getting better.  Yesterday the doctor said she has a sinus infection and he gave us medicine for her.  Today we saw a big improvement in her so we are thankful that she's on the mend.  Here are a few pics from our outing..

Construction Update

Here are some updated pictures of our basement construction.  We are eagerly anticipating the completion of this project.  This weekend I'm going to try and tackle tiling the bathroom!  Everyone I talk to says that it's easy, once you get started... I sure hope so!  Also, I changed our slideshow on the left with some new pics.  

Want a Superbowl Ring?

About a month ago, friends of ours, the Cherrys, attended a conference through our church.  During that conference, Je'Rod and Samua felt the Lord move in their hearts to make a huge impact in the world.  They wanted to help in the fight against starvation in Africa.  Just a little background, Je'Rod is a former NFL player of 10 years, and a few of those years were spent with the New England Patriots.  During his time with the Pats, Je'Rod was able to win 3 Superbowls!  Amazing!  Anyway, fastforward to now, Je'Rod and Samua felt the Lord speaking to them at this conference and decided to raffle off Je'Rod's first Superbowl ring from 2002 to help with the fight against starvation.  

So, here's the scoop.  Check out the video above... it will take about 30 seconds to get to the actual video... then you can go to netraffle.org and you can purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win the Superbowl ring.  Tickets are $2, but the minimum number of tickets you can buy is 5.  The Cherry's desire is to make this raffle go nationwide and hopefully raise millions in the fight against hunger.  (Be sure to pause the blog music on the bottom left to hear the video)

Great is Thy Faithfulness

As I watched Shelley and the kids go off to school today, I was thinking about my family and God's faithfulness to me.  After they left, I sat down and began to read a blog by John Piper's son and daughter-in-law.  They recently had a baby and are rejoicing in God's faithfulness to them.   One of their posts talks about the selection of their baby's name.  In that post Molly Piper talks about the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness.  As I read through this I was struck with the line, "All I have needed thy hand hath provided." From an amazing wife that loves Jesus, loves me, and loves our kids, the blessings of 3 great kids, a great job...  the Lord has done nothing but provided for me and I praise Him and rejoice in His faithfulness! 

 You can check out the Piper's blog here.  For those of you who don't know, John Piper is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota.  Our friends, the Gammons go to this church and were the first one's to write about the Pipers.

Back to Routine

Today was Jacob's first day back to preschool.  He will be going Tues, Wed, and Thurs, 9:00 am - 11:30 am.  He has been asking us the last few weeks when school is starting so he was very ready and excited to go today.  He had a good first day and told us bits and pieces of his day all day today.  While he was at school, Me, Abbey and Micah went down the road to another church where there is an aerobics class three days a week that I will be going to.  There is childcare for Abbey and Micah and they do a craft and Bible story with the kids.  We went today and Abbey loved her class (I told her that it was like her own little preschool class).  I very much enjoyed my aerobics class and am looking forward to getting some exercise a few times a week.  We all had a great day and are happy to be back in a routine.  

Abbey's Shiner

A few days ago Abbey was standing on a bag by a side table in our living room.  She somehow slipped on the bag and hit her eye on the corner of the table.  Her eye immediately started swelling and by morning it was black and blue.  It kind of looks like eye shadow so she thinks it looks pretty.  I think it looks worse than it feels because she hasn't complained about it hurting once, but we still feel bad that our little girl has a shiner. 

Geauga County Fair

Saturday we spent the day at the Geauga County Fair.  There was a lot to see and do.  We saw a ton of animals and that of course was Abbey's favorite part.  She actually fed a horse hay right out of her hand and she wasn't scared at all.  I was amazed that she kept doing it because the horses mouth and teeth were so big and she kept getting more hay for the horse to eat.  She is definitely our animal lover.  Jacob really enjoyed shooting the bow and arrows and fishing.  We ended the night with a few rides which is always fun.  We think this fair may be an annual thing for our family.  A good day for all :)

Jacob

We haven't written much about Jacob lately.  He will be going back to preschool next week and is really looking forward to it.  He turned 5 this summer and we went back and forth with sending him to kindergarten this year, or waiting until next year since he has a late birthday.  We opted for waiting and feel pretty confident that we've made the right decision.  He is very smart and social, but also very much a homebody and we thought 5 days a week would be a lot for him this year.  Everyone we talked to said to wait and we figured we can't hurt him, but only give him an advantage.  The thought of kindergarten next year is crazy... I'm not quite ready to cross that bridge just yet, but we know he'll be ready next year and we will have to be also.  Jacob is maturing so much lately into such a thoughtful, caring boy.  He is so kind to his sister and has such a sweet heart.  Abbey got a late birthday present the other day and as she opened it Jacob said "I'm so excited for you Abbey."  Tonight we were playing memory and Abbey still isn't quite sure how to play, but when it was her turn, Jacob would help her out by telling her which cards were matches.  Then, when she would make a match he would smile and tell her "good job".  Abbey also hurt her eye tonight and as he went to bed he reminded me and daddy to pray for her eye.  At dinner lately he has been thanking me several times during our meal and telling me how good it is (he's going to make some girl so happy someday).  We are so thankful for the blessings of our children and it is such an encouragement to us to see them growing into these neat little people.   

Abbey's Dream

When Abbey got up this morning she kept telling us about the dream she had last night.  She was at the pool and.... I'll let her tell you about it.  Make sure you pause the music on the blog to hear her.  She keeps us laughing :)

Bedford Pool

Summer is coming to a close.  Today we spent one of our last days (maybe our last) at Bedford Pool.  We have spent many fun days there this summer running through the sprinklers, playing in the pool, jumping off the side and having popsicles at the concession stand.  This summer has gone so fast (kind of sad), but we have had many conversations with the kids about fall and the excitement that the new season brings... pumpkin patches, hay rides, pretty leaves, sweatshirts, hot chocolate and preschool (for Jacob).  So, as this summer comes to a close, we look back at all the memories we've made, and look forward to what is to come.    

Scout & Sophia

Scout and Sophia are the two black labs that live next door to us.  Over the last 6 years we have gotten to know our neighbors Denise and Jessica really well and have grown close to them and their dogs.  We spend a lot of time with them outside talking and playing.  Scout is actually Sophia's mom and about a year ago we watched her have her puppies.  They kept Sophia so we have known her since she was first born.  They are really good dogs and the kids love spending time with them.  Here are a couple pictures of the kids using the ball thrower to play fetch with the them.    

Our Little Love

It doesn't take much to make our Micah smile.  He is such a happy, laid back, go with the flow baby and he's a joy to be around.  It's hard for me not to get the baby itch when I see this face. I'm ready for another one like him (or like any of them )  :)

Abbey & Micah

No one can make Micah laugh like his big sister.  She hardly has to do anything and he thinks she's hilarious... (pause the music on the bottom left to hear)

Happy 3rd Birthday Abigail

Ms. Abigail turned 3 on Saturday and we had a small afternoon get together with family and friends with snacks, cake and some activities for the kids.  We had a moon bounce, a teen from our church made the kids balloon animals and a pinata. It was a fun day. Some people ended up staying after the party for pizza that evening and the kids unpackaged all her presents and had fun playing with her new toys.  I was feeling pretty sick that whole day due to my surgery and felt a little "out of it" the whole party, but I made it through the day.   Abbey really enjoyed her special day and we loved celebrating our sweet girl.

Shelley's Kidney Stones...

Shelley had her kidney stone surgery on Thursday.  Overall the procedure went very well.  But before surgery she was given two antibiotics by IV and she had a reaction to the first.  She got what is called 'red man syndrome' and had extreme itching on her scalp and upper stomach.  The first nurse that was taking care for her dismissed the symptoms as nerves (she wasn't a very good nurse to say the least), but later in the day another nurse said that definitely was a reaction to the medicine.  The doctor was able to break all the stones into tiny dust like particles that will easily pass.  They placed a stent into the tube that connects her kidney to her bladder and the doctor had warned that it is painful, having the stent in your body.  They will remove the stent next Thursday and Shelley will be very happy to have it out.  It is definitely bothering her... mostly in her back.  They gave her some medication for the pain, but she is trying to take it very sparingly because although the doctor said it was o.k. while nursing she knows that whatever goes into her body is coming out at least a little so she likes to stay on the safe side.  

They will be running some tests over the next couple months to try to determine why her body made these and hopefully this will be the first and last time that she will have to deal with these...