Friday, February 25, 2005

The Sacrifice that is Worth Taking!


Hi to all of our family's friends, prayer-partners/warriors, and family members in Abby's journey! This is "ole Rob" filling you in on the journey from a California perspective. As you can see it with your own eyes...my sacrifice is something that God blesses! My darling wife is hanging with the Colorado clan and having tons of time with Abby. This pic was taken last month when days were filled with much more tension, uncertainty, pain and chaos. We felt the presence of God in that part of the journey in ways that we cannot even begin to express. Now, we are on the other side of one of the mountains Abby is scaling...she's a "rapid responder"...she's in "remission"...all that is awesome news! There are even times when my "way too young to be called a Nana" Vicky and Abby are reporting much giggling, jumping and fun being had in these moments. Even so, just as you can scale one huge mountain in your life and feel accomplished for doing so, there are always more to climb. We are not void of a poliferation of peaks to ascend. It is the same with Abby...a few peaks have been climbed...there have been victories...but more is ahead! As Abby's grand-father (still something extremely difficult to fully admit since I'm such a young pup!), I still call each of you to prayer. There isn't a moment where we are not coming to the throne of healing and grace and seeking God's mercy! So, thank you for the sacrifice of your time, energy, gifts, love, and prayer. Believe me, it is a sacrifice worth taking! It is a sacrifice that is a "sweet aroma to the Lord". Our trust in God is filling these strenuous moments with gifts of hope beyond measure!

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

I'm running out of good titles... another appt.

Just got home from rescueing Anna from a potentially germ infested house of our freind who was watching her while Abby was at the clinic. Seems like Anna is a germ magnent! She could stay inside our super clean house, in isolation from all sick kids and the like and it seems like the first time that we go out or she plays with another kid... boom!... She gets sick. I guess we'll see this time.

I left early from work after getting a call from Tiffany who had just got a call from our freind who was watching Anna telling her that her little boy was throwing up. I sure hope Anna doesn't get it because it seems like when one person gets a stomach bug the whole family gets it and boy I really don't want to have to watch Abby get anything else if we can avoid it. But it happens and if it does no big deal, we'll deal with it. Abby's counts are up so at least we wouldn't have to take her down to the hospital.

On that note, Abby is doing good still. She's still a bit cross-eyed but that's ok, I can deal with my cute cross-eyed little cancer patient until it clears up in a month or two. Until then we still need to patch it for a couple hours a day but she does fine with it so far. I'm going to get her the pirate get up and we can pretend that we are on a ship sailing the 7 seas! ARRRR ye scurvey Dawg!!! I just really wanted an excuse to type that:)

As for her appointment today, it sounds like things went well. Abby's a bit tired and when she is like that she can change into a very, well lets say "spirited" little girl... ok so she get a bit, no not a bit... really nuts sometimes and out of control, screaming and all. Not a fun experience but it has happen both yesterday and today, hopefully whatever is waking her up at night will stop waking her up and she can get some good sleep. Better yet, since her counts are up, ANC =900 today, we can give her Ibuprofen to take the aches and pains that she may be having away! Yippee! Pray that that will help, her cute smile can only go so far, you know?

She also got her PEG shots, (one in each thigh) her Vincristine (the one that gives her the aches and pains and muscle weakness too), and she had a lumbar puncture (spinal tap with chemo). So lots today in the office but at least she is off the Ara-C and 6-MP (oral med) for a week... that will be nice.

That's my quick or not so quick update. buh byeeee

Monday, February 21, 2005

Living in a Dream

Tiffany and I both feel like we are living in a dream. Part of it comes from the whole surreal feeling of having a kid with cancer, part of it the new life style that we live in and a big part is the realization that we really have no control in this life. Just different to get used to ya know? We start to get used to it a little bit and then something else pops up, like Abby's eye problem or thoughts about potential side effects of the chemo drugs like infertility for her and once again, back into this surreal dream state.

"Take my life" from the passion CD just came on as I write this, the chorus goes "Here am I all of me, Take my life it's all for thee." That's what I feel like has happened in all of this. I feel like I didn't really have much to give before this and if that is the case I really don't have much right now. Actually though, I have a lot more now because I'm not trying to control everything.

Another aspect of this dream state that we are in just came in to play as we are in the process of putting an offer on a house. Ya crazy I know, but what isn't really crazy about my life right now... so why not buy a house. No really, we weren't planning on this at all but through some very generous gifts towards the down payment from our family we are now in a position to get something. Crazy, we're getting a house. Last week we just went to look at rentals while my folks were here because the added stress of this small apartment was getting a bit tough. If you haven't ever seen our place, it's small, a shoe box really, 11.5 feet wide and about 30 feet long. At least is it 2 floors but still, a bit small to have to live in when you can't take your immune-compromised child out to public places. So, we're moving, buying a house and now living in a dream more than ever!

The real estate agent asked us if we were excited and we had to think about it for a minute because, like I said before, this all seems so far beyond us. And yes, we are excited but it also doesn't seem real, I mean we looked at rentals last Saturday, then houses on Sunday and some more this week. And then we found one yesterday 2 days ago and away we go! So, if it all works we'll get an accepted offer on a nice 3 bedroom ranch with an unfinished basement and a nice backyard for the girls to play around in. Now we can have people come over and we'll have space for them to sit!

We'll keep you posted!