Transfusion - Consolidation Day 17

Yesterday, Sarah and I spent fours hours in the Clinic getting a blood transfusion.  She did good, but was ready to go when we were done.  Sarah has done great for her last couple of appointments.  She has been excited and happy.  She gets beads for everything that happens, like transfusions, post access, chemo, etc. She keeps them in a pretty bag.  It is a program called Beads of Courage.  We need to catch up with all the beads that she should have gotten in UT.  We didn't get beads there because Sarah didn't want anything to do with anything that first month.

Sarah has gotten worse over the last couple days in taking her medicine.  It doesn't matter what it is, she says it is yuck and it takes us a long time to get her to take it.  We are lucky she doesn't have to take anything for treatment right now.  In fact, the zophran that she has been on for nausea, she won't have to take for a week and a half or so.  She only gets vincristine next week and that doesn't cause nausea.  So that means she won't need to take anything oral medications for the next little while.

I have had a couple of emails with my mother that made me think of something that I thought I should mention.  Because of Sarah's schedule the way it is, we don't tend to do a lot of forward planning.  We don't know really what is going to happen much more than a week out.  We schedule her doctor appointments for the following week at her appointment for the current week.  It also means that we can't commit to somethings very far in advanced.  I am sure things will get better as we get further down her treatment.

We are grateful for all the love and support.

Princess Party and More Clinic Visits

Sarah and Jess have been to the clinic everyday this week.  Sarah's hematocrit is approaching the level where she will get a transfusion.  During her clinic visit today, the doctor went ahead and just ordered the blood for tomorrow.   Her appointment is in the afternoon, and I will go and sit with her while she gets a transfusion.  

Sarah's appointment today was supposed to be short, or at least I thought so.  We got there around 9:30 and got labs done.  The clinic was a little late in seeing us for the appointment with the doctor, but that was fine.  We got a surprise, when Sarah was ready for the chemo meds.  She was schedule for the PEG and the Vincristine.  In UT, Sarah got the PEG in the hospital and it was a push through the port.  In Seattle, the PEG is two shots in the legs.  So we had to put numbing cream on Sarah's legs and then wait for it to numb them up.  Sarah didn't like the shots but she did pretty well.  Yes, there was screaming and Mom and Dad had to hold her still but she was done with the crying fairly quick after the shots.  They need to watch her for an hour after the shots due to the possibility of an allergic reaction.  We ended up getting out of the clinic around 2pm.  We treated ourselves to Top Pot Doughnuts on the way home.  And of course, Sarah got a pink one.

Melody, Sarah and Lilly in Princess dresses

Lilly had an early out day today.  DeeDee was watching Gus and went to get Lilly from school as well, and when Sarah got home from her appointment, she had a princess party.  Melody (DeeDee's daughter), Lilly and Sarah all got dressed up and had a bunch of fun playing and dancing together.

Lilly as a dancing princess

Thanks for all the love and support that everyone has given us.  We feel the love and support from you all often and it means a lot to us.

Sarah wants to dance too

Consolidation - Day 12

We had Sarah stay home from church today.  Even though we don't think her numbers are past the threshold, she has had a little bit of a cough and a runny nose.  Because of the levels of her hematocrit, she has some labs that they are set to draw Monday morning.  It is possible that she will have to get a blood transfusion as well.  She had a good day today and even got her church clothes on later in the day.  She loves to have a dress on.

Lilly has been asking to go to one of Sarah's appointments for the last few weeks.  I took Lilly with me to Sarah's appointment.  She had fun since it was just an infusion, and we didn't have to talk to doctors.  The main reason Lilly wanted to go was that the clinic has a wall with a bunch of PEZ dispensers on it.  Lilly loves the PEZ after she got her first one when we were in UT.  Her favorite was a pink panther one, while Sarah's is the Princess Leia one.  We grabbed some Slurpee's on the way home.  Lilly thought it was a great outing.

We are done with Sarah's four a week appointments for a couple of weeks and we are done with Sarah's back pokes for 6 weeks or so.  That means we don't have to starve her for any appointments any time soon.  We are grateful for that.  She hasn't really lost her appetite, but she has reduced the amount that she eats at dinner.

Thank you for all the support and love that we receive.  It helps to lift our spirits.

Gus Walking - Sarah's Consolidation day 10

Gus is starting to walk.  Well, take a few steps more like.  He stands up kind of steady and will walk 3-4 steps to get to you.  He loves to play this when he is in the right mode.  He has tons of excitement for doing new things and is lots of fun.  Though he is also breaking his molars, so he isn't always fun.....

Sarah's numbers are finally dropping and they are dropping fast.  Her hematocrit is approaching levels where she will need a blood transfusion.  She had labs today, and she will have some again tomorrow.  The won't transfuse until the numbers are below 20 and she is at 24.  He ANC is also dropping.  It is at 1100 (Seattle uses the full numbers rather than saying it in thousands).  That means she will probably be staying home from church.  She is getting more tired, and is starting to feel the chemo take affect.  From what the treatment plan looks like, we will be on a roller coaster like this for the next 6-8 months.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.  We are doing well as a family.  We have more stress and it is nice to have the help and support that we have had during this time.

Sarah's Appointment, Day 8 - Consolidation

Sarah had an appointment today.  Her blood test were good, except her hematocrit is dropping.  We expected this since she is getting more tired.  She ANC number was still good, as was her platelets.  The will check the blood again on Friday.  It will allow us to see where she is at for the weekend.  She doesn't adjust well after she wakes up from the sedation for the back pokes (spinal tap).  I tried to give her some sprite shortly after she woke up.  She yelled at me and hit the sprite out of my hand on the floor.  I know why most of the floors in the hospital are not carpet and easy to clean.

Lilly has a homework assignment to create a poster for school on what she did this summer.  It was fun to watch her and Jess work through different ideas and place things on the poster.  Scrap-booking is something I know Jess likes to do and is good at, but she hasn't really had time to do any of it since we were married.  She enjoys being a mom and she is good at that too.  Lilly is putting things like the Zoo and swimming on the poster.  She is trying to find a picture of someone in the hospital as well, since that is truly the highlight of our summer.

Thanks again for all the support and thoughts and prayers.

Sarah's 4th Birthday

Sarah was so excited for her birthday this morning.  The first thing she said to me is "daddy, I am 4 now."  I was able to finish her cake before heading to work this morning.  It wasn't my best work on a cake but it was good enough for Sarah.

The finished cake

Sarah, with the help of Lilly, decided that she wanted a princess party.  So for Family Home Evening we let both girls wear their princess dress-ups.

Our two Princesses

Sarah got some dresses for her princess dolls, and some other toys.  She put on a great face for the camera when holding one of the toys.

What a face

Since everyone else had a picture, we had to include Gus, who loves to make a mess when eating.  He eats anything we give him.  He usually has multiple bites of Mom's and Dad's dinner each night, in addition to his own.  At least he is a good eater.

Gus

Sunday - 1UP

I figured it was about time to add some pictures again to the blog.  So there will be a few on this post.  Plus I have some funny stories.  Sarah's infusions on Saturday went well.  I went down and was with her in the clinic.  We had to wait a little but it was pretty painless otherwise.  Sarah was super good when they de-accessed her port.  She didn't even need me to hold her hand.  

Sarah's half smile

I took Lilly out to get Sarah's presents and to let Lilly get a present for Sarah.  We went to D.I. and Kmart.  At Kmart, we bought a six pack of the bottles of 7-up for a treat for Lilly.  When we got home she yells "Mom, we got some 1-ups."  Jess was very confused until I corrected Lilly, that we got some 7-ups.  Maybe she plays a few to many video games.  :)

Lilly's crazy face

Sarah was able to go to church today.  It was good.  We had dones of comments about people praying for her and us.  We are grateful for each one.  We have felt the prayers and know that they have helped us get through this time.  Sarah got a huge stack of birthday wishes.  She loved going through them and seeing all the pictures that others in the primary made for her.

Best of Friends

During church I when to the kitchen to get Gus's bottle warmed up to feed him.  As I was putting the bottle in the microwave, it fell.  I caught it but not before half of it ended up on my pants and the floor.  I had to race home and change my pants.  At least it wasn't right before and interview with the Bishop (My father will understand that).

Gus with the play kitchen

I have always been the cake maker in the family and am making one for Sarah's birthday.  I had the cakes baked and in the freezer, so they are easier to frost (a secret from Grandma Mc).  I made up the frosting.  Sarah wanted it pink, so I found the food coloring, only to find out we were out of red.  Amazon Fresh is coming in the morning, so I added it to our order and will finish up the cake before I leave for work.

Lilly and Gus

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers.  We are grateful to all those who have reached out and sent letters or phone calls, and to those that have served us through cleaning or making meals.  We have felt the love of all of you.

Sarah and Jess

Friday - 16 Sep 2011

It is the end of a long week, but not quite.  Sarah still has an appointment tomorrow.  It is a short one (90min) but still requires us to go to the clinic.  Lilly wants to come along.  She got a pez dispenser while we were in UT and she was told that the clinic has a wall of pez dispensers.  She wants to go see them.  Since most of Sarah's appointments are during school time, this might be one of the few times she is able to go.

Gus is trying to walk everywhere.  He loves to stand in front of the toy kitchen and pull things out of the sink.  He pulls himself up on his stroller because he wants to always go.  He is an active kid.

We are so grateful for all the support that we have been given.  It is so nice to have a meal brought or have Jess just be able to take one out of the freezer.  We have gotten a number of cards and people telling us that they are thinking of us.  It helps our spirits and helps us to stay positive.  Thank you so much.

Thursday - 15 Sep 2011

I have trouble coming up with different ways to put how Sarah is doing.  When people ask, I usually say, she is doing good.  She has remission but that doesn't change the treatment.  She has been getting infusions the last couple of days.  I was in the clinic with her for 6 hours yesterday, and Jess was there for a couple hours today. She has appointments for the next two days as well.  It is going to be a long two years...

She is having nausea due to the chemo medications that she is on.  We have her on Zofran to help, but this morning she wanted a soy nut butter sandwich for breakfast and about hurled after the first bite, since she hadn't taken her Zofran yet.  Hopefully the Zofran will continue to be enough for her.

Sarah's birthday has snuck up on us.  It is Monday.  Jess and I were talking about what she needs.  Her leukemia treatment overshadows any of her other needs.  We came up with a few things that we can get her.  She has asked for a cake with two front teeth.  Similar to the ones I made for Gus's birthday but she wants it pink.  

Tuesday - 13 Sep 2011 - Normal?

Someone asked the other day how things were going and I replied "normal."  I quickly realized that our live hasn't been normal for the past month or so.  Going to the hospital multiple times a week is not normal.  We have gotten used to the routine and it is becoming normal for us.  That probably isn't a good thing but it is our life for the next while.

Sarah's appointment went well.  Her numbers were amazing.  Her ANC was 3.6 which is normal.  Her hematocrit was a little low but just barely into the low region.  Her platelets were normal.  It was nice to have a good set of numbers.  We know that the will drop again multiple times over the next few years, so we need to celebrate when they are good.  We did find out that she will have a tablet that she will have to take daily for the next 2 weeks.  We hope we can teach her how to take a pill.  Hopefully she will do good with it.

If our live wasn't busy enough, Jess's teeth wanted some of the action.  Jess has had temporary front teeth for the past 12 months waiting for crowns.  Our dentist sent her to a gum specialist who says that her gums have some issue where they don't come down far enough on the front teeth (I don't know the technical terms here).  We had pushed back the procedure of getting that fixed due to her being pregnant and breast feeding Gus.  We just haven't had time where she could go and get a surgery with a week or so of recovery time.  Well, shortly before dinner, the temporary teeth decided they no longer wanted to be in the mouth and came off.  She called the dentist and he was able to put them back on early this morning (Wed).  But it is just something else in our busy lives.

We are grateful for all the support that we are given.  My work has been amazing about supporting us and helping us through this.  Our ward has given us great support as well.  I got an email from my mother today, letting us know that her ward is asking how Sarah is as well.  I am sure I left some people off but know that we are grateful for all those of you who are prayer and loving us.

Monday - 9/12/11 - Lilly's First Day of School

Monday was Lilly's first day of school.  She had a lot of fun and was excited for the whole ordeal.  Jess had packed her a lunch.  When Jess picked her up, her lunch was still in her bag.  When Jess asked what happened, Lilly told her that she just went to lunch with her class and ate in the lunchroom.  She had grilled cheese.  We had to talk to her about how careful she needs to be so that she doesn't eat something with egg.

I also wanted to clarify Sarah's schedule a little since I had a few people asking.  Sarah has an appointment every day for the rest of the week.  On Tuesday, she meets with her doctors and she has a spinal tap.  Here in Seattle Children's, they do the spinal tap right in the oncology clinic.  Her doctor's appointment is at 10:30 and the appointment for the spinal tap is 1:00 pm.   On Wednesday, Sarah has a long infusion appointment.  She goes and gets 2 drugs through the IV and 4 hours of fluids.  On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, she has shorter infusion appointments.  She is only getting one drug and they don't need to have her on the fluids as long.  It should be an interesting week for the schedule.  Luckily Lilly is in school and it makes it easy to find a sitter or to take Gus with Jess.  Jess and I are still planning on both going for the appointments when Sarah sees the doctor, but are going to split who takes her to the infusion appointments.

Thanks for all the support and love that you have shown us.

Sunday - 9/11/11

It has been 10 years since the fall of the trade center towers in New York City.  I look back over the 10 years and have seen what has changed in my life.  I am married and have 3 children.  I have completed college and am working for a great company.  My family has had a number of challenges, like Sarah's Leukemia.  During stake conference today (it was a broadcast from Salt Lake City and Elder Holland and Elder Packer spoke), Elder Holland spoke about the Holy Ghost and how it can give us peace.  Even though we might be more aware of some of the terrorism that goes on in the world, we can find comfort and peace in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am grateful for my testimony of the Savior and how I know that he is involved in our lives.  It allows to me to get up with confidence each day and face what ever challenges may come.  The knowledge that God has a plan for me and my family has helped me to not mourn for my daughter, but to walk forward with faith.

I was able to take Lilly shopping yesterday for her school supplies and take her to lunch.  We had a good time on our "daddy-daughter date."  It is crazy that I now have a child in school.  Next thing I know, she will be starting college.

We were all able to go to stake conference today.  It was nice to not have leave Sarah at home.  A number of people were glad to see Sarah.  She was excited to see people too.  Hopefully her numbers will continue to stay high through the next round of treatment.

I forgot to list her ANC number from Friday.  It was 1.4.  It was almost normal and means that she has cells to be able to fight off sickness.  It means that she can go places too.  Jess is talking about going to the Zoo with her tomorrow after Lilly is dropped off at school.

Friday - 09/09/11 - Remission

So we got the results back from the bone marrow test from day 29 of Induction.  The smear (someone looking at it under the microscope) can back negative or they couldn't see any cancer cells.  The machine also came back as negative, where they couldn't see any cancer cells.  That means that Sarah is officially in remission.  That means that she is a rapid responder to the therapy.  Unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that she still has two years of treatment left.  We know that prayers and fasting helped to get Sarah where she is.  She was a high risk ALL diagnosed, and she is in remission after induction.  We think she is doing well.

Well, most of the time the good news comes with some not so good news.  The doctors here in Seattle feel like they should still treat Sarah as CNS positive.  What that would mean is that she would go through two rounds of Delayed Intensification rather than one in the coming years as well as going through a cranial radiation treatment.  I threw the fellow a curve, when I asked what the risks were if we decided against treating her as CNS positive.  You could tell it was the first time that someone had asked that.  We don't know what is best for Sarah and will pray about it.  We have time to decide as the treatment is the same for both paths.

We start Sarah on consolidation next week.  It is a different set of medications as well as a different schedule.  So next week, we will be at the clinic everyday from Tues through Saturday.  Tuesday will be Sarah's spinal tap and weekly appointment with the doctors.  Wednesday will be two drugs through the IV.  One they need to hydrate her, so we plan on spending ~6 hours in the clinic for that.  Thursday through Saturday will be about 90 minutes in the clinic and she only gets one medicine pushed through the IV.  Consolidation is a 64 day round and we do this 4 day medicine twice during it.  In the coming days, I will try to list out the medications that she will be getting and lay out the schedule more.

Thanks for you continued prayers and support.  We feel the love that you have for us.  We are grateful for all those who reach out and help from providing meals or watching the kids.

Thursday - 9/8/11 - Lilly's School

Thursday was a quiet day for us.  Jess was able to go over to Lilly's school (Broadview) and meet the office and the teacher.  Her teacher is Mrs. Fredicks.  She seems like a really nice teacher.  Jess tells me that she had cancer 20 years ago.  She told Jess that she would help out any way she could.  If she needed to stay after school with Lilly or even take Lilly home, she would do it.  What a blessing that the Lord directed us to have an understanding teacher.  The schools also seems to understand the severity of Lilly's allergies.  Jess talked to the Nurse who has been a school nurse for a while and understands how things work.  We found out that the school won't just give Lilly Benedryl.  If she has an allergic reaction, they will give the Epi-Pen and call the paramedics.  While this might be overkill in some situations, I understand where the school is coming from and I am glad that they are trying to be more conservative.

Sarah has her appointment this morning (Friday).  I will try and get a post up early tomorrow with what we learn.

Sarah's quote of the day "Leukemia is very very yuk".  :)

Wednesday - 7 Sep 2011

I watched Sarah and Gus this morning while Jess took Lilly to the school district offices to get her registered.  We are still a little worried about how the environment is due to Lilly's Allergies.  We are praying that the teacher and school will be understanding and work with us to make sure that Lilly is safe.  I am beginning to feel old, in that I have a child who is starting school.  Next thing I know, Lilly will be graduating high school and leaving the house.

Gus is climbing up on everything.  He is ready to be walking.  Jess and I are not ready for that yet.  We are constantly finding him where he shouldn't be.  He is fast it getting around too.  At least we don't have stairs in our current home.

Sarah and Lilly play really well together.  I know that Sarah is going to miss Lilly when she is at school.  Hopefully Lilly can teach Sarah what she learned in school each day.  My brother Aaron did that for me when I was younger.  I know that it gave me a head start in school.  God is truly in our lives.  He puts us in families where we each grow off each other.  We help each other to reach our potential.  He also gives us people around us to help to grow and he gives us opportunities to become like him.  I am glad that I know that I will be with my family forever.  I love them very much.

Thank you for all the support that you have given my family.  We are very appreciative of all the love, thoughts and prayers that have been expressed on our behalf.  It means a lot to us.

Tuesday - 6 Sep 2011

My first day back in the office was Tuesday.  Jess was with the kids alone at home.  She got a lot done.  She talked to the clinic to see if Sarah needed any labs early this week.  They said that she probably didn't need to have any.  We won't know any further details until Friday then.  Sarah is in good spirits and is happy to be home.  We all are still adjusting to getting back on schedule here at home.

Jess is getting Lilly registered in school.  We were trying to get Lilly into a shoreline school but there wasn't enough room.  Because of Sarah's Leukemia, we hadn't done what we needed to in order to get Lilly registered for the local school.  Jess called and got the information she needed but has to go downtown and register Lilly in person.  Lilly will probably start school on Monday, even though the first day of school is today.  That is the way life goes sometimes.

Labor Day 2011

It was nice not having to go to work after driving home on Saturday.   It was nice to just be at home with the kids.  Unfortunately that means that I have a lot of work ahead of me this week to catch up.  I think I on here that the clinic here couldn't get Sarah in until Friday.  I guess that the appointment will be one where we talk about how to treat Sarah.  We need to make a decision on CNS positive or negative.  Hopefully with that being a major topic, it means that Sarah was a rapid responder.  I did forget to mention that when I picked up paperwork on Friday that I tried to see the results of the bone marrow.  The machine didn't come back yet, but the smear under the microscope didn't show any blast cells (cancer cells).  That is a good sign.

So I also learned some more about what a blast cell is yesterday.  ALL, is a cancer of the lymphocytes (white blood cells) and the cancer cells are called lymphoblasts.  So when the doctors are referring to blast cells, they are referring to the cancer cells.  I am sure that the doctors had told that to us early on, but it didn't stick in my head.

Thanks for all the love and support.  We feel the prayers and the love you have for us.

Sunday and some thoughts

It was nice to be home on Sunday.  All of the kids spent time playing with toys that they hadn't seen for a month.  Gus's Cars toy that he got for his birthday was no longer making sounds.  I decided to put on my fix it hat and got it working.  One of the wires connecting the speakers had been pulled off.  I had to get out my soldering iron and solder it back one.  It has been years since I soldered anything.  It wasn't pretty but it seemed to do the job.

Jess went to church with Lilly and I stayed home with Sarah and Gus.  Jess enjoyed church and she was able to bear her testimony about how she knew that God is very involved in our lives.  He know what we are going through and he wants to help.  I was reading the introduction page of the Book of Mormon yesterday, and a phrase stuck out at me.  It said that Book of Mormon is to help people find peace in this life and Salvation in the life to come.  I was reminding of a quote from Emerson that says "That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved."  God won't take away our trials or make life without hardship, but he will give us peace.  That peace makes it easier to accomplish all of life's trials.  Jess and I have sure felt that while we are going through this trial with Sarah.  We also know that God sends angels to help buoy us up and help bring us peace.  We know that angels are seen and unseen.  Many of you have been God's angels through your service to our family.  We are extremely grateful for all that has been done.  We pray that God may return to you the thoughts and prayers that you have offered on our behalf as blessings and knowledge that God loves you too.  Thank you for all that you have done for us.

Sarah's Cancer: Home, Sweet Home - Saturday

We spent most of Saturday driving home.  We made good time and got home around 4pm.  The drive was good except the DVD player stopped working around Pendleton.  That meant the girls had to play with each other or their toys for the last 4-5 hours.  This meant added stress when they started fighting.  They were pretty good and we stopped at a couple of fruit stands on the way home.  The girls tried some fresh plums that were not completely ripe, and they weren't very big fans of them.  We are grateful that Sarah didn't have a fever or any problems on the ride home.

I had cleaned/organized our garage before I left Seattle and it was nice to come home and see the added space that I had created.  We added a bunch of stuff and brought the car top box home, so I had to park the car out of the garage and empty it out and take it off before the car would fit in the garage.  The car was full from the added stuff that I brought down on my trip, the things that Anna (my cousin) brought down from our house, the gifts that Sarah received, and the gifts that Gus received for his Birthday.  My parents also gave us some food storage to bring home.  We are grateful for all the love that those gifts represent.  It is truly touching to see how much people care.

It was amazing to see the love that people had for us when we got home.  The ward here had gotten some bunk beds for the girls and set them up and provided new sheets for the beds.  The house was squeaky clean.  There were a bunch of frozen meals in our freezer, and food in the fridge and on the counter.  We are so very grateful for the love and service that has been shown to us.  It was extremely nice to not have to worry about trying to go out to the grocery store, after coming home.  For those who participated, we thank you and know that we can't do enough to let you know how much it means to us. We only hope in the future we can help others who find themselves in need.

Sarah's Cancer: Heading Home

So I thought I would post a quick note.  We are on the road home.  We didn't leave until about midnight so we hope to be home around dinner time but we will see how it goes.

A couple of things to report on.  I went up to Primary Children's with Lilly today to get Sarah's file to take to Seattle.  It is a decent amount of paper and they didn't want to fax it all.  We also got a message from the clinic in Seattle.  It looks like they scheduled an appointment for Friday.  They say it will take a while since there is a lot to cover with the transition.  Sarah's ANC number was .2 so it is on the rise.

Sorry about the short update.  I am using my playbook through my phone, so I am not as fast as when I am typing.  We are grateful for all the love and support we are receiving.  It makes our lives less stressful and lets us focus on what is important.

Sarah's Cancer: Induction finished - Thursday

We don't have the final numbers from the bone marrow yesterday, but it looks like induction is finished for us.  From others that we have talked to, this first month is the worst and we have had a long month.  We are planning on leaving for home tomorrow evening.  There is a slight chance we won't leave until Sat. morning, but not likely.  We are all ready to be home.  For Jess and the kids, it will have been 6 weeks since they were home.  We have loved being here at my parents.  It is nice that we don't have worry about baby sitter's and both of us can go to appointments.  We hope that we can make it work for both of us to continue to go to appointments.  It has been good for both of us to be there, since we hear and remember different things.

We have been on the phone with the Seattle clinic and the clinic here today.  It looks like we will have an appointment for Sarah on Tuesday and on Wednesday in Seattle.  The Tuesday one will be primarily to get acquainted and to talk about whether we are going to treat her as CNS positive and negative.  Wednesday will be her primary clinic day, just like it is here.  I need to read up to solidify what the next round (consolidation) is all about and what the schedule is.

Lilly was able to go to a birthday party of a neighbor.  She has enjoyed playing with the neighbor kids.  It has helped us and it gives her more things to do.  She even got to ride a horse at this birthday party.  It was a "Tangled" theme and she thought it was fun.  She dressed up as a princess and looked cute.

We are grateful for the support and love.  Thank you all for the prayers and thoughts and notes that you have given to us.  I will try and make a quick post tomorrow before we leave.