Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I really need to keep this up better!


I'm a bad blogger. And, I'm glad about that.

See if I was blogging on this site everyday still, something would be wrong... either wrong with me or wrong with Abby. And the simple fact is that no news is good news. Therefore, no blogging.

I don't know if I should retire this site or make it the "Schreiber Update... a vision of healing (that part will aways work). I guess I'll just post when I feel like the time is right. People that still read this, I hope it helps you in some way understand what the process of having a child with Leukemia was and is like. It was a crazy time. One that has changed us all, for the better, profoundly and will never be forgotten.

I'm so glad for everyone that journeyed this road together with us. It was a wild ride. Wow, what a ride.

So, here's the much over due update:
  • Abby is continually taller, and weighs the same as she has for the last 2 years.
  • Abby is in 1st Grade, she'll turn 7 in January!
  • She is a beautiful, silly, inquisitive, strong, empathetic, girl who loves life and lives it minute by minute to the fullest.
  • She is, just as her name means, her fathers joy.
  • And, she is, to the fullest and truest extent.... ALIVE in every way... (big sigh... big Smile...) Thank you all, and thank you God.
Till we post again...

Abby's Daddy

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Port will be out on Friday!

Well, it will has been almost 1 year since Abby has been officially "off treatment". Actually the 19th will be a year. She will be getting her port out 1 day shy of that anniversary and we are very excited. It all started a long time ago in a whirlwind with her getting this implanted access port and so this seems a suitable end to the journey.

I've been reflective again about this experience, about what our family, our friends and all those that have been touched by Abby have learned and grasped. I've said it before but I'll say it again, If I could go back and change this whole thing, you know push a little button that just erases it all, stops the cancer and I never had to watch my daughter go through all of this... I don't think I would.

I don't know if I'll ever be sure about that thought but I'm pretty certain that I wouldn't press the stop button. There is too much good that has come from it, too much that I and those around me would be missing from who we are.
  • All those smiles that she gave to the hospital workers, and to the people at the clinics.
  • All the people like you that have read and maybe related to the trials of this little girl.
  • All the memories of the good times contrasted with the painful memories of the bad.
  • The understanding that life is way better at the top when you understand the bottom and that living in the middle gray area is not a good option.
  • Grasping the concept that I really don't have control and that in that there is tremendous freedom.
  • Seeing what true community is.
  • Being only able to receive and unable to give back to all of you who have blessed this experience... and being ok with that.
  • Seeing what Abby's head looks like when she's bald and being able to laugh at a lot of things that really should make me cry.
  • Experiencing the mercy, tenderness, compassion, and kindness of God in a way that I never knew was available.
  • That picture of her in the Fort Collins paper where she is looking like she is going to beat the crap out of any cancer cell that comes near her.
  • Being able to experience so many little and big celebrations through the eyes of a little girl that really knows how to appreciate celebration.
  • The ability to look back through the pictures from those years and instantly be drenched by the emotions that they evoke.
  • To really know, I mean really know, how precious it is to have any of my girls sit in my lap and smile up at me, even if only for a moment.

I wouldn't trade it. It has all meant too much.

So, with all of that in my mind, the port has significant meaning. I look at her in her little low cut PJ's and I see that little bulge and trailing tube under her skin and I long for her to be fully herself again. Fully Abigail. No extra parts in her, especially ones that have been used to inject Chemo into her veins. Freedom from the medical devices. And on Friday that will be a reality. I wonder if we can keep it and bronze it? Maybe that would be too weird.

I guess I should ask Abby... she usually has good advice on those types of things... and of course, it really does belong to her. With all the needle sticks into that thing, she's earned it.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Say buh-bye to Mr. Med-o-Port

Well it looks like things are moving in the right direction. All the doctors agree that Abby can have her port out soon! Yippee!

Dr. Smith just reviewed here chart to make sure everything looks good on his end too and it does! So, they are going to schedule the removal of the port to happen in a couple weeks, probably 2 weeks from today if that works for the surgeons.

Abby still has to kick this cold and pre-sinus infection thing that she has. We just went to the doctor yesterday to get some antibiotics for her nose but they said it doesn't look to bad, but with her history the opted to give her some antibiotics.

Lily, Tiffany, and I also have the cold... Anna just seems to sleep these colds off so she is doing great after a couple huge naps in the last couple of days.

Wow, almost back to "Normal", whatever that is...

The dad.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Abby's doing alright

Hey just a little update. You may have know that Abby has been having some persistent fevers and tummy issue for the last couple of months. Well we finally scheduled a bunch of tests for her. On Tuesday she had a CAT scan and we just got the results that the her sinuses are doing great.

2 weeks ago she did this Hydrogen breath test that came back positive and Tiffany is going down today to discuss those results with the GI guy. Basically it looks like there is some off-balance bacteria in her stomach that is eating her food for her so that she doesn't get the nutrients. Kind of weird I know but we'll know more today.

If the GI guy says that she can stop the IVIG then she will get her port out too!!! Hopefully she'll get her port out in mid April or May. That's our hope.

I'll let you know when we know more. Pretty soon we may have our truly normal little girl!