We went for a checkup after round two and they told us they wanted us in Fort Worth the next day to start the stem cell harvest. We flew in my sister in law the next day and Gracie and I drove the 5 hours to Ft. Worth. We stayed in the Ronald McDonald house and checked her counts at the clinic the next morning. The next day they took her in for surgery to place a catheter on the side of her neck for the stem cell harvest and they also placed a feeding tube down her nose while she was under since she was not eating well and down to 25 lbs. The plan was to stay our nights at the ronald mcdonald house and check her counts at the clinic each day but she developed a fever after the surgery and they kept her at the hospital. She had a lot of nausea and actually puked up the feeding tube. it was pretty traumatic for her. They placed another tube the next day and she held so still and did awesome. There were 3 nurses in there and all of them stated that they had never seen anyone do so good with it. I was so proud of her. She started the stem cell harvest a couple days later and it went for 4 hours at a time for 2 days. she did really well with that too. But she puked up the second feeding tube as well. After that they thought of putting in a tube through her tummy straight to her stomach but couldnt do it for a couple days so we decided to come back home and do it here at some point since her appetite had improved greatly. she has been eating non stop for the last week and gained a few pounds back. When the doctor took out the huge catheter he said she did better than he had ever seen. i said "im starting to think you guys must say that to everyone!. haha" but he said no she really was the best and even better than most adults. She is such a strong brave girl.
Monday we took her in for round three here in Tulsa and she was there 4 days. We just got home last night. We are so thankfyul that the last couple rounds have gone so much better than the first. We know it is because of all the thousands of prayers being offered in her behalf, and we feel the blessings of these prayers individually and as a family. We are so blessed despite this awful situation, or "stupid cancer" as Gracie calls it. :)

THANK YOU!!!

We want to express our heartfelt thanks to all who have prayed and donated money to Gracie's care. WOW! we feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family, There are so many other people we don"t even know who have prayed and donated and we thank you so much for helping a stranger. The world is filled with angels blessing the lives of others. I dont know who has donated since it is anonymous through the account my sister set up but we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts!! Gracie is an angel who blesses our lives every day just by being in it. We hope you are blessed as well. God is hearing all the thousands of prayers and we thank you and ask you to continue to pray for our family and especially Gracie. <3

Easter and Chemo-round 2

Gracie did awesome being at home for 5 days! It was wonderful beyond words. She was SO happy the whole time and eating well and playing a lot. It did our hearts good to see so many smiles after a very hard month.

It was great to have her homw with the family to enjoy Easter. She had a ton of fun hunting for easter eggs and filled her basket to the top!

Gracie went back for round 2 of chemo on Monday and it was a 3 day dose. She did so well with hardly any sickness. She was laughing and being silly in the hospital from time to time. She did so well, we were able to come home today on the 4th day!! She is happy to be home again. We will go in twice a week to test her blood counts and they will give her blood or platelets when needed.

Home!!!

Gracie kept eating "good" and keeping it down, so they let her come home on Wednesday for the weekend. She will start the next round of chemo on Monday. She was so excited to come home. ever since she got home she has been playing and talk talk talking! it is so wonderful to see her so happy!!

on the way home daddy was being silly to get a smile. then later on I looked over at her and saw her smiling. I said "is daddy being silly again?" and she said "No. I"m smiling cause I"m excited to go home!" It melted my heart. She was at the hospital 28 days.

So happy to be home!!!!

Yesterday we made cupcakes and today we colored easter eggs. We are so happy she is home for easter and that we can spend the weekend as a family. Please keep praying that the next round of chemo will be easier on her. hopefully now it will be since we seem to have the right combination of medicines for nausea etc. :) :) :) thanks!!!!!

There's that smile we've been missing!

We took gracie for a ride in the wagon down to the cafeteria again. she chose a corn dog and fries. then we went outside to have a little picnic. She was laughing at daddy climbing up the playground and I caught a picture. We havent seen her smile in weeks. It made me sooo happy to see it.

Gracie woke up and had some cinnamon roll, then some corn dog and fries, and a few bites of pudding. more than the last 3 weeks combined! The doctors are happy with her progress and weight gain and blood counts. We are hoping to bring her home in a couple of days before chemo next week. It will be nice to have Easter at home. :)

looking at nemo and dory down in the cafeteria.

Looking better

March 25th 2010-3 weeks in the hospital

March 28-2010

Thank you to everyone who has fasted and prayed for Gracie. We feel the Lord blessing us and little Gracie. She has been on the iv nutrition all week and is back up to 32 lbs! She looks a lot better and is starting to feel a bit better too. She hasnt puked in 3 days so that is good. She wanted to eat last night but didnt know what she wanted. she tried a little bite of chocolate and said it was gross. then tried a bite of cracker and spit it out. then she had a few bites of bean burrito and seemed to like it. She woke me up at 11:30 and said she wanted a corn dog and fries so I got her some from the cafeteria and she had a few bites of that too. :) Good thing the cafeteria is open til 2 am!

Her mouth sores seem to be all gone now and she is back to sucking her thumb. :) I never thought I would be happy to see her suck her thumb because before this all happened we really tried to discourage her from doing it. Today she was rubbing her head and said "I'm mad". I said "why are you mad?" and she said "because my hair is gone" I told her I understand she is mad and that it will grow back in a while. She isnt interested in wearing any hats or anything so far.

Her blood counts are all up to normal now because of the shots she has at nights for the white cells and she had her 4th transfusion of packed red blood cells, they also gave her some platelets this week. We would love to take her home before the next round of chemo but she needs to eat bette than a few bites. :) we are definitely making progress though!

Haircut and hair loss

Gracie had a ton of hair on her pillow today and her hair was pretty messy from laying around. I got a brush and started brushing it very softly and got a big pile of hair. Then when it was all combed through, i gave her a haircut. She sat still and did a good job. It keeps falling out pretty steadily and it wont be long before it is all out. She knows it is happening and doesnt seem to care too much for the time being.

Gracie had her 3rd blood transfusion yesterday and platelets today. She is pretty miserable still and nauseated. She hasnt smiled in a week. she also has developed mouth sores that cover her mouth, lips and tongue. I dont understand why she has to go through all of these things. why cant the nausea leave already? why does she have to have the sores? why cant she have an appetite? I feel like she has to go through so much that isnt necessary and the Lord is trying my faith. We have not lost our faith though. It is what keeps us going. We know the Lord is mindful of us and knows our needs even if we cant understand why this has to happen. It doesnt make any sense. but neither do a lot of things in life...Gracie is strong and a fighter. She will beat this. We feel so blessed to have her in our family and to be her parents, she is an angel.