Moving Backwards

After feeling strong for several weeks, Kate began to regress over the past week and a half. She has been dragging and feeling low on all counts...physically and more so emotionally. As we've shared before it's always very discouraging to make progress, be feeling great and then to go backwards again. The movement backwards seemed to show itself a little each day in strength, stamina and appetite, with an increase in fatigue, and nausea again. Kate had been doing great and her counts dropped, but she was still going strong and not symptomatic of the lower counts. She received a transfusion of RBC's and platelets, just to keep her counts up at that point. Last week she continued to feel a little worse each day. The weekend was a really low point all the ways around. She has literally been in bed most of this week.

Counts this past Monday morning showed low platelets and hemoglobin. We spent the day Tuesday at Children's oncology clinic getting transfusions of RBC's and platelets. She had some anti nausea medicine IV, plus some benedryl to avoid allergic reactions to the blood products. By late afternoon, even the hospital staff said her color had improved.

As the week has progressed nausea has only improved a little and Kate is still soooo tired. Eating is with great effort. The nurse practitioner reinforced what they have said all along... Kate's body is going to take a long while to recover. Her bone marrow had not even fully recovered from the 2004 - 2005 radiation and chemo and now she has been heavily treated again over this past year. It will take quite some time for her bone marrow and consequently her counts to recover. Her platelets have hovered all summer around 40 but over the past two weeks began dropping.

We repeated counts Friday morning and found that once again Kate's sodium level had dropped. We began IV fluids again last night and have increased her steroid dose in hopes of quieting the nausea. We'll check counts first thing Monday morning and see where to from there.

Please pray that the month of August will bring steady upward movement in Kate's counts, that the nausea will disappear completely and she will be strengthened and renewed from the inside out. We are believing and praying that Kate will be able to enjoy and experience her senior year to the fullest extent, unhampered by the residual side effects of treatment that still linger. School begins August 29th. Please pray that the transfusions will help Kate to feel better physically. Please especially pray for her spirit that God will lift her heart and tenderly embrace her with His arms of love, strength, peace and healing power.

God always gives cause for praise...
~Maggie just returned from a few days at the beach with a friend and her family. This journey with Kate's illness has been long for Maggie as well and we're glad that she was able to enjoy some refreshing time away, especially during this low week.

~The summer has been one filled with God's grace gifts in opportunities to reunite and visit with heart friends and families that have been part of the previous chapters of our lives. While time and distance has separated us from many of these, they have journeyed faithfully beside us in prayer and with countless, long distance expressions of love and encouragement. How grateful we are that miles and time cannot break the bond of love that God creates between His children. What perfectly timed gifts these visits have been to Kate, Maggie and Me.

Again we are grateful that we can call on you for prayer support. We are thankful for the small increments of improvement that we have seen during the course of this rather long week. We know that strength, hope and healing come from the Lord and He pours them daily into Kate's life! Thanks for continuing to lift up Kate's needs.

Thankful for His grace and love that know no end,
Elaine