Thankful

I am sure that a lot of people would look at our current situation and wonder how we could say we are thankful.  Even though the past 7 months have been incredibly difficult, they have also taught us to be thankful for the little things.  We have the most amazing support group of friends and family.  Brianne is in so many people's daily prayers, and the prayers are all being answered.  God is good!  I am thankful that I was able to stop working to take care of Brianne.  There are so many children left at the hospital alone becuase their parents cannot afford to miss work.  I am thankful for strangers who have become friends.  The list could go on and on....

Now to catch up on all the fun stuff Brianne has been doing.  On the 15th we went to the hospital for a Children's Cancer Network event.  Brianne was excited to see her friends Grace and Bella there too.  They made scarecrows, pumpkins, and cards along with painting nails and getting makeup. 

Brianne, Bella, Grace

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving Brianne had her appointment for chemo.  The nurses decided to give her the chemo VERY slowly in hopes that it would minimize the side effects.  IT WORKED!  Brianne did not feel horrible from her increased dose of methotrexate.  We gave her Zofran around the clock for the next two days to insure that she would not get nauseated. 

Brianne had a great Thanksgiving.  We were able to go to both side of the family to celebrate.  Brianne even ate some, which is pretty rare the day after chemo.  We went on a bike ride Thanksgiving morning, and guess who was at our door when we returned...Heidi (our Elf on a Shelf).  I wish I had my phone recording when Brianne saw the package at the front door, she was so excited. 

Heidi made Brianne an ornament out of perler beads.

 

Brianne may have had a little too much fun on Thanksgiving.  She ended up spiking a fever of 101.1 on Friday which landed us in the hospital.  When we arrived we realized that her hemoglobin had dropped to 8.3.  After receiving a blood transfusion on Friday night Brianne was back to her normal self on Saturday morning.  We were already planning on stopping by the hospital on Saturday to drop off all the toys we had collected from neighbors, friends, and family.  Brianne was so excited to help fill the toy closet.  She even sold some of her toys so she could purchase new toys for the hospital.  For those who do not know, any child at the hospital who has to have something painful done gets the reward of going to the toy closet.  It is a great way for children to not focus on the pain, but to get excited about a new toy.  We are very thankful to all those who donated.

4 carts full of toys filled the once bare toy closet to the brim.  Thank you Connor, Carli, and Dawson for all your help.

Brianne was excited to help The Purple Society with their bagel and cookie delivery.  The Puple Society was founded by a girl named Natalia with a brain tumor.  She earned her angel wings, but her family is continuing to follow her dreams.  Brianne was able to tell Natalia's parents that she had her Natalia bear in her hospital room that she received at one of the Purple Carpet events that they put on.

We were able to leave the hospital on Saturday afternoon.  Dr. Smith said Brianne was way too healthy to have to stay the normal three days.  We spent Sunday and Monday decorating the house.  Yesterday Brianne had to have her counts checked to make sure she hadn't dropped too far.  Her hemoglobin and platelets were great.  Her ANC dropped to 750.  We are praying it does not go any lower, because it needs to be 750 on Thursday in order for her to get her chemo on Friday.  We do not want any delays.  The way her chemo schedule looks now she should feel well enough to enjoy the North Pole Experience for a night and have the two weeks before Christmas completely off with no chemo.