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31 Dec 2008, 6:43pm EST
Hello - Happy ALMOST New Year to you all! We have had a very lazy day around here today. Tony cleaned on our car today and got the oil changed, and I got the house picked up again, and did some laundry, but really we have just stayed in for the most part. I even got a nap in earlier today. We are headed to Watch-night/New Years Eve service at Church in a little while. It always starts around 8 p.m., and it lasts longer than usual. What better way to ring in 2009 than in God's house.... I believe with all my heart that HE has touched Kara's body. He has been there when we have been weary, and tired of this path, to give us the strength we have needed to go on. I know better days are ahead for us. He has never left our side, and I am looking for the day when scans no longer show any evidence of disease in Kara's body. I know it's coming....I believe it. I give God the glory and praise for what He's done and how He's helped us through this. God has helped Kara and been EVERYTHING that we have needed. I hope whoever reads this realizes that no matter what it is you have to face in this life - through Christ - you can make it. Through Jesus, you can experience the freedom of forgiveness of sins, and peace and joy in the midst of trials. You've heard the scripture, "God is Love." We have experienced this. He is someone to sustain you when everything around you looks dark. We have experienced this through Kara's journey with cancer. There is a better day, through Jesus. Oh how much better it is to experience salvation and it's benefits personally than to just read someone tell about it. It's definitely much better felt, than told. If you are faced with something bigger than what you can tackle, searching for something to fill up the void you feel in your life - try Jesus. He is all that you need. Trust me! I hope you all have a wonderful New Year - God bless you all,
Megan
30 Dec 2008, 5:05pm EST
Kara is doing well. We're experiencing some of the usual side effects of the chemo, nothing major, though. We have stopped the eye drops. Today was the last day to use them, and they are looking so good, that we decided to stop the mid-day dose and tonight's dose. She is still on an oral antibiotic that should last until Sunday. We are still chugging along fine. I really wanted to come on here and request prayers for Brooklyn and her family. It looks like soon she will be entering eternal rest and joy in Heaven, with a new body free of any suffering, unless God intervenes and heals her on earth. They are a precious family that I want everyone to pray for. Please pray for peace for the whole family. THANK YOU!
29 Dec 2008, 3:16pm EST
I wanted to let you know that I called clinic, and the preliminary results for the blood cultures drawn last night are "Negative" - That is great to know. They still check them for a couple/few days more. Even though we could justify the fever with her virus, it's good to have back-up reassurance with the blood cultures. We could tell she was acting like she felt pretty good, but we have dealt with 2 blood infections just this year, and she would run a low grade fever at first. Actually, our first sign would always be that Kara would say, "I'm freezing!" and she would get the chills. Tony wanted to be on the safe side. The Dr. at Children's understood us and was good with us about bringing her on in for precaution-sake. Her eyes really are looking SO MUCH better. If you could have seen them on Christmas Day, and now you would know what I'm talking about! Erica seems to be doing good ~ hoping that was the last of the episodes with all the kids! I'm trying to get laundry caught up, and the house picked up again. I have most of the Christmas decorations put away ~ all but the tree in our living room, and the little one in the girls' room. I started on Saturday, and I told Kara that day that Christmas was over, and she acted somewhat dissapointed, and told me, "I'm going to turn the tree on." I guess to her, as long as the tree was still there, it seemed like Christmas was still hanging around. The tree is still up ~ I didn't want to tackle that one right then. I'll let Tony help with that one. It needs to go up in our attic anyway! I didn't tell you that Kara & Lauren's favorite gift was their cupcake maker. Erica and Brent had a good Christmas as well. I know I've told you somewhat of what went on this past week - I know I didn't post everything ~ but I really hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Another thing that I got accomplished today was scheduling Kara's cleaning and crown repair at the Dentist. It's scheduled for Monday, Jan. 19th. If we stay on schedule with oral chemo like we've been, it looks like it leaves me with that as the only day to work with, unless I would ask SJ to repair it while we're there. Our Dentist office here wants to repair it after she has monthly bloodwork, and while she's not on chemo. So, since we'll be in Memphis this month to get her monthly bloodwork, if we don't get it done on the 19th, I'll have to wait until February it looks like, because if she stays on oral chemo, she's due to start on the 20th. But, we also don't have anything "officially" planned/discussed with her Oncologist about what we are doing after this round of chemo that she's on now. I do know what comes up next for the kids that are on the protocol that she has been sort-of going by, and it calls for more oral chemo. So, when I scheduled the dental appt., I was figuring it as if we were to start another round of chemo on Tuesday, 20th. But, the sooner the better for her tooth. Well, I guess I am rambling again, and I hope I didn't confuse everyone, so I will go. Have a great rest of the day!
29 Dec 2008, 11:11am EST
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We have been busy! On the 23rd, Tony blew up the air mattress, and got out one of the twin size mattresses and we let the kids sleep in the living room that night. On Christmas Eve a.m., we let the kids open their gifts from us. They played with their gifts, and the Grandparents, Dina, Brooklyn, & Skylar came over later on. On Christmas Day, we had a quick get-together for lunch and opening gifts at my Parents' house with them, and my Brother. It was quick because Kara had been having a lot of yellow drainage coming out from both of her eyes, and we decided to take her on in to the E.R. so they could take a look, and start her on some medicine. She has an eye infection in both eyes, so she is now on eye drops and an oral antibiotic to take care of that. Kara didn't like the drops, and even though she still doesn't care for them, she does pretty good with them. We had to take Kara back to the E.R. that night, because she seemed to be having an allergic reaction to the eye drops. Her eyes swelled up on us. They discontinued them, and prescribed a different kind. These seem to be working. She looked pretty miserable, but she goes with the flow. Sometimes, she gets agitated, but the majority of the time Kara accepts things well. I am thankful that she adapts well. She seems to have caught a cold or some other virus again. We had her back in the E.R. last night because she was running a fever here at home. We called the Dr., and they left it up to us whether to bring her on in or not. (The Dr. mentioned to us how far out she is getting from her transplant, and He also knew that she was playing through the fever - wasn't exactly acting real sick like if she was septic.) When we got there, her temp was normal. We decided to have them go ahead and draw blood cultures just to be on the safe side, and send us home. She is playing and eating through it all, and she's already on an antibiotic to take care of the bacteria in her eyes. She is having viral symptoms (head cold), so more than likely it is just a virus. We just have never been told from SJ when we can stop calling the Dr. when she gets a fever. This will be another thing we discuss when we go back to Memphis in January. We don't know the rules on this. I just assumed that as long as she had her central line, this would be the case because of the risk of blood infections. I just don't know, though. She is still eating and playing, and just acts like she has a cold, along with getting over her eye infections. Lauren acts like she has a cold, too. Then, last night, Tony thought it was Brent who came to us in the night. (I slept through it all - I didn't even know anything had happened until right before Tony left for work this a.m. when he told me about it.) One of our kids got sick in the night, and I found out this a.m. from talking to Erica that it was her. She acts alright now. She said she got really hot last night, and she has something going on with her sinuses, too. Hopefully that is all it is. Brent had some sort of bug last week, so hopefully we will be getting all this out of our systems soon! :- ) Some of Tony's family came in from Indiana over Christmas, too. We enjoyed their company, too. His Aunt, Uncle, and Brother, Sister-in-law, and Niece were all in. I hope they had a good time. We always seem to find something to laugh about when we get together! Today makes day #6 for Kara on her Accutane. 8 more to go! We are getting closer and closer to time to go back to SJ. I kinda wish I was already there. I am looking for more good news this time. Please be praying that the right decisions are made for Kara. I know I've mentioned that this year coming up seems to be a year of decisions for us. Please pray for our family that we do what God wants us to. I know His will is best, and He never fails, so what better place to be than in His perfect will! Well, the kids were playing Dr. before bed last night, and they are playing it now. Lauren is calling Brent "Dr. Brent", and Kara's asking for chicken flavored ramen noodles, so I better go. I have a lot to do today, and we start a mini-revival tonight at Church, so I better get going! Please keep praying for Brooklyn and her family. She is at UK hospital now. www.caringbridge.org/visit/Brooklyndurham God bless,
Megan
25 Dec 2008, 10:30am EST
A family's faith helps them find the best gift of all.
Kara's story in the Knoxville Sentinel
23 Dec 2008, 10:09am EST
The time-frame for Kara's blood cultures to have grown something will be up around 2 p.m. today. No call from the Hospital - which means the fever was from the virus only. The girls had a wonderful birthday ~ Lauren was the last to wake up, and we told her that it was her birthday. She smiled, then her countenance changed, and she said, "I don't want to go to school." She had it in her mind I guess that when she turned 5 she would go to school. I told her she didn't have to go until next year. So, that seemed to ease her worries. The girls received a couple cards in the mail, too. They enjoyed opening their own mail. So, THANK YOU!! My Brother, Morgan, came by and visited for a while. Tony grilled hamburgers, and we all ate lunch together. Last night, was their party. We kept it small, had some family over for cake and chips. I tried something different for their cake this year. Erica found a recipe on the internet for a rainbow cake. You make a boxed cake-mix in a bundt pan, and cut the cake in half after it's cooled. After you set the cake up on it's ends, it's shaped like 2 half-circles. I used food coloring to make pink, purple, and green icing, and iced the cake to look like 2 rainbows. They were happy ~ and they each had their own candles to blow out. After they opened their gifts, Kara pulled out a present under the tree, and wanted to start opening Christmas presents. Erica and her cousin, Brooklyn stayed overnight at Mamaw & Papaw Lee's house afterwards, and Brent had his cousins, Austin & Skylar overnight here afterwards. We also had a nice visit from Morgan's girlfriends' Mom and her husband last night. We enjoyed their company, and they brought over some delicious home-made bread ~ Jana's speciality~ THANK YOU! Brent has been under the weather, and Kara isn't feeling well today. I know it's that time of year for viruses, and bugs, so please pray that all of this goes away for good and it doesn't spread! We have a busy few days ahead with Christmas here, and we want everyone well! We are planning on letting the kids open their gifts in the a.m. when they wake up, and go to Mom's on Christmas day. Friday, Tony's Brother and family will be in for the weekend to visit and celebrate Christmas together. We got a detailed schedule in the mail from ST. Jude. We will be traveling to Memphis sometime Tuesday, January 13th. Everything starts on Wednesday, 14th a.m. and continues on Thursday, 15th. I'm guessing we will come home sometime Friday, 16th. I hope to know something ASAP while we're there about the results. Well, I will go for now. If I don't update before Christmas, I wish you ALL a blessed, healthy, and happy Christmas together with family and friends. I was talking to someone the other night after the Christmas program. She said life is too short to bicker and fuss. I totally agree. I hope you all enjoy special times together this year with the ones that mean the most to you, and can look back on them as happy memories. (Congratulations to our cousins, TJ and Kate, on their first baby, Hunter !!) GOD BLESS & MERRY CHRISTMAS !!
Megan = )
21 Dec 2008, 1:48pm EST
The play last night went so good for the kids! It consisted of most of our children in the church (which is close to half of our congregation!) We have been blessed with children to say the least! Bro. Ingram told everyone that a few years ago they prayed for children, and that's what we got! We are truly blessed! Afterwards we went over to the Fellowship hall for food and fellowship and a gift exchange. We were also so glad to see our visitors who came last night! Some we hadn't seen in a long time! We went to Sunday school this a.m., and the girls put their birthday money in the offering plate, and then they got to dig for pennies in the penny jar. That's the usual (Birthdays and anniversaries are acknowledged, then the little ones get to cash in on pennies.) Lauren said she was scared about going up front, but they did fine. It is so good to see them together for another birthday this year. God has really helped us. Please remember especially Princess Brooklyn and her family in your prayers, and Carrie Maniscalco. They have found the reason why Carrie's blood levels keep dropping. Her immune system has developed antibodies that are attacking her red blood. Things seem to keep moving in the wrong direction for her.
Thank you for also remembering Caleb - brain tumor, Claire - brain tumor, Alexa - ALL Leukemia, and our neighbor, Margaret who is also battling cancer.
I hope you are enjoying the greatest gift of all this Christmas - Jesus in your heart! We truly love and appreciate you all for everything you've done for us, and for standing along side of us as friends, and praying for us.
~ God bless,
Tony & Megan
Erica, Brent, Lauren, & Kara
18 Dec 2008, 8:38pm EST
Hello all- It has been a very busy last few days! Tuesday, I was able to get Kara into the Dentist over her missing crown. They said it would need to be replaced fairly soon, but they wanted to go along with St. Jude's protocol, and also wanted a medical release letting them treat Kara. We found out that SJ wanted bloodwork first. So, we went to Children's Clinic Wednesday (this was already scheduled to get Kara released for the next round of Accutane.) So, her labs checked out as acceptable, and SJ faxed the release to the Dentist so they can repair her tooth. I was planning on getting her into the Dentist today, and I thought I would've been able to update that "Princess Kara has a new crown!" but it didn't happen. Kara's temp was elevated this morning, and she's having some viral symptoms, so I called the Clinic at Children's to see if she needed to come in. Since she was having some chills, they wanted her to go the the E.R. (It's always better to be on the safe side!) Kara's strep test was negative, and her chest x-ray was clear. I need to call the Oncologist in clinic tomorrow to check the status of her blood cultures. She was diagnosed with croup, and mild bronchial irritation. The Dr. could hear some wheezing, and Kara's cough is somewhat "barky". They gave her an i.v. dose of Decadron/Dexamethasone - (The lovely steroid that she's had before -you may remember us journaling about it at transplant time.) It really affects her attitude and moods. (She had to have been miserable on it in the past. It caused her to have extreme mood swings.) They gave her a 1-time big dose - this will last for a couple days to get her past the croup part. She just woke up from a 1 1/2 hour nap, and she's in a decent mood. It does hurt when she coughs, but I know "this too shall pass!" Please pray that she gets over this quickly! We didn't go to play practice 2-nite, and the kids have it again tomorrow night. The play is Saturday evening, church on Sunday morning and evening, and the twins' 5th Birthday is Monday! Guess what ?! I have the dates of Kara's upcoming scans and bone marrow biopsy. I don't have the exact schedule yet, but I was told over the phone today they will be the week of Jan. 14-15th. Kara will begin round #7 of Accutane on Tuesday, Dec. 23rd. She will take this for 14 days, then get a 14 day break. Her scans will be when she is on the 14 day break. They've scheduled them for when she would normally be getting her monthly bloodwork here in Knoxville. I know God is right along side of us - He never leaves us. I believe He has everything under control. He's been so good to us through all of this. I know He's touched Kara! Brent was in the spelling bee at school yesterday. He was out on his first word. He said it was a Latin word. I told him that was o.k. - Then, he and Erica had their Christmas parties today and they got to eat pizza in class. Tomorrow they only go to school until mid-morning, then that begins their Christmas Break - Yippee! Can you believe there's only 6 more days until Christmas?! Please keep remembering Brooklyn, Claire, Caleb, and Alexa. Then, there is also MaryKate, Carrie, and our neighbor, (which I apologize that I got her name wrong, for some reason- her name is Margaret - not Hazel!) Please pray for them, too! I will go for now. I hope this finds you ALL healthy, happy, and counting your blessings this time of year!
God bless,
Megan
15 Dec 2008, 4:15pm EST
Just a quick update for now.....You're not going to guess what happened to Kara today.....
I had made home-made turtles yesterday, and had some caramels leftover. Well, the girls were asking for some. I let them have 2 each, (even though they wanted more!) It wasn't long, and Kara was worked up and upset. She said something along the lines of "Mommy, my tooth is out!" I looked and stuck to a wad of caramel was her silver crown......Ugh! The caramel had pulled her crown right off of her tooth! I asked her if it hurt, and she said no. I was a little concerned, but like Tony said, it's not an emergency. I have to call & talk to Kara's Nurse Practitioner this week over her bloodwork results, so I'll mention it to her. I'm sure I'll just need to make an appt. here at the kids' dentist. She's due for a cleaning anyway. Nothing like an incident to get me motivated to make an appt. She told me later, "It didn't even hurt~ I guess I'm a big, brave girl!" That you are Kara, in more ways than one! I spoke with a St. Jude rep. from their fund-raising dept. She was confirming Kara's doctor's name so he can be interviewed for the newspaper article. What she told me is it's planning on being published Christmas Day.... =) If the dates change, I'll let you know.
She also told me they are getting rain and sleet in Memphis....another reason I'm glad I'm here! Hope you all are staying warm!!! God bless,
Meg
14 Dec 2008, 11:50pm EST
Hello! I know I've slacked on updating this week....so I thought I better get one sent to let you all know how it's going. First off, Lauren is a whole lot better....What's left is mainly a little bit of a runny/stuffy nose, and sometimes a little cough and a little hoarseness. She is definitely on the tail end of things. Brent is doing fine with whatever he had, but now Erica is hoarse. She has complained off and on with her throat hurting this past week, but no fever. Amazingly, Kara is still going strong. She seems to have been the healthiest this past week. Thank the Lord for NO MORE FEVERS !! Kara is headed into her 2nd week break off of chemo. Wednesday is her appointment at Children's Hospital for her monthly bloodwork, and clearance for round #7 of Accutane, due to start on the 22nd.....Next step is the very thorough testing (that I sound like a broken record on)....I am hoping to know more soon about the official dates of Kara's testing. January will be on us fast! Since I last updated, we've had a get-together at my Parents' house, went over to some friends of ours to play Wii and eat pizza, wrapped gifts, and made Christmas candy. The Knoxville NewsSentinel (newspaper) came over one day to ask some questions about Kara, St. Jude, and our family. They wanted to run a story about a St. Jude patient. Thanksgiving time is normally when St. Jude has a lot of information put out in the media for fundraising. It's called their "Thanks and Giving Campaign", (Give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who are not). I do have to say, if you were ever wondering about a charity to give to, there's always St. Jude = ) Today, we were in the living room, and the kids had been looking through their gifts under the tree. Tony asked them if they knew why we give gifts at Christmas. (Erica said, "Because the wise men gave gifts to Jesus.) So, then Brent started naming off what the wise men brought to Jesus. I got tickled at him. He said FRANKENSTEIN was one of the gifts they gave! = ) Well, this will be the last week for the kids to practice their parts for the Christmas program. Dress rehearsal will be Friday night, and the play is Saturday. Following the play, the kids are having a small gift exchange, and we will have food to munch on, too. I am looking forward to being there. Early December last year, we had made a trip home and then headed back to St. Jude. We didn't want to be at home with Kara when her blood counts were so risky for infection, so we ended up staying at St. Jude for Christmas. Kara ran a fever, and was inpatient during Christmas. That doesn't sound like fun, but I tell you, Lauren & Kara may not remember it years doen the road because of their age, but I know Erica & Brent shouldn't forget it. One of the nurses came in and said Christmas had exploded in Kara's room. I think we counted about 10 bags (probably 3 ft. tall) full of gifts. Our family wasn't able to come, but we had some special friends of ours make a surprise visit that day to come and be with us. It really meant a lot to us. We enjoyed a nice meal together that night, too. I often think back on the time we spent at St. Jude. Tony and I have both asked Kara about things there, to see what she remembers. You know what she told me the other day? One of the things she remembered was wearing a patch over her eye during an eye exam. Who would've guessed? She is at home, being able to be a little kid, with her siblings and parents all under one roof again. We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas. It is so good to be home! I hope you have a great week ! God bless,
Megan
08 Dec 2008, 10:27pm EST
We have only 1 more dose left of chemo for Kara to take in the a.m. to finally wrap this round up! Whoo-hoo! I ordered a prescription refill last week of the pneumonia preventive antibiotic that she takes weekly. She should have started it today, but it didn't arrive....Hoping it's delivered tomorrow so we can get it going again. Update on Lauren: I took her to the Pediatrician today - results are in: so far strep test is NEGATIVE, and they said she has Parainfluenza....or easier terms to comprehend: croup, laryngitis, and bronchitis. It's just a virus, but it is painful in her chest when she has to cough, and her throat hurts too. She sounds like a barking seal when she coughs, and her voice is raspy. She's been quiet today. The fever part can last 2-5 days. We are giving her tylenol and benedryl. After the Dr., we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some items we needed, and get her some more tylenol, and some Sno-Cream ice cream. I let her pick out some candy of her own, too. I think it was good that we had the one-on-one time today. She needs some extra attention sometimes, too. Tony rocked her to sleep tonight. Pray that she gets to feeling better quickly! She would tell me today, "Help me, Mommy." or, "I need somebody to help me." when she needed to cough, and knew it was going to hurt. I just hope nobody else ends up with it....please pray it stays contained. I asked Brent after I came out of the Dr.'s office how he felt, and he feels fine. He does seem to have something sinus related going on - like his allergies. The insulation got finished today. It didn't take too long to blow the insulation, but if you ever have to do it, I don't recommend doing it after you're already cleaned up....thankfully I hadn't gotten ready to go to the Dr. yet! I had insulation on my eyelashes, my glasses, in my nose, on my eyebrows, on my hands, and on the jacket. Tony came out of the attic and looked worse than me....He said the insulation was a foot deep up there. I guess he was telling Kara to tell me that I could stop running the insulation through the machine. I saw her in the window, but I kept telling her to go to her bedroom. (It was so dusty!) It would remind you of when you remove a cold air return filter, you know how dusty they get - Tony and Kara really helped out afterwards. Tony vacummed, and he and Kara ended up dusting the house afterwards. We can already tell a difference in the house. It has really helped. It looks like tomorrow will be another busy day around here. There's stuff I need to take care of and try to get done, so I may not update, but please keep praying for all the little ones that are sick! Pray that Lauren gets better quick and no one else gets the bug, and keep remembering Brooklyn, Caleb, Claire, & Alexa, too. THANK YOU! Good night ~ God Bless,
Megan
07 Dec 2008, 11:18pm EST
I wanted to check in so you would know where we stand, and request prayer for some little ones fighting tough battles. Please visit: www.caringbridge.org/visit/brooklyndurham
www.caringbridge.org/visit/littlecaleb
www.caringbridge.org/visit/clairedevins It would be a great encouragement if you could visit their sites and let them know you are praying for them. Also, the little 3 year old girl that has leukemia that I requested prayer for the other day is named Alexa. Her 2 sisters, Kayla & Bethany, were at church with us today. Their Grandma is Sis. Ingram's sister. Alexa is in Ohio right now at the Hospital having her treatments. I would like for you to remember this family in prayer also. At the end of service tonight, Bro. Ingram had Tony hold Kara up and also told Nathanael Pruitt to stand up for the 2 sisters to see. He told them that God is no respector of person. I hope that they are encouraged. God has helped Nathanael & Kara so much. I know He can do the same for Alexa, and all the other children that are sick. He loves them all the same. Kara is doing better. She will be finished with round six's oral chemo on Tuesday a.m. She is having the usual side effects, and we will again be glad to throw the last empty chemo packet away on Tuesday! She seems to be feeling pretty good. Lauren and Brent, on the other hand, slept until 11 a.m. Saturday, which isn't normal. Brent acts like his allergies (or a cold virus) is working on him some. Lauren has also acted like something's been working on her. Yesterday evening, she complained that the inside of her cheek hurt. SO, I thought maybe it was a canker sore. Then, tonight she complains that her throat is hurting. They had benedryl before bed 2-nite, and Lauren took tylenol. I hope by in the morning she is feeling better. Pray that whatever it is, Kara and Erica don't get it. Tomorrow, Tony plans on blowing insulation up in our attic above our master bedroom. When the room was added on, insulation wasn't added. It has been pretty cold the last week or so, so the sooner the better! It seems like we have as many snow flurries so far this winter, as we get sometimes all winter long! Well, I will run for now. I hope your Monday is blessed! Love,
Meg
05 Dec 2008, 12:53pm EST
Kara has had some diarrhea over the past couple of days and no word from the Hospital, so all this really makes us think it was just a virus. She is doing good....I keep checking in with St. Jude about her upcoming scans which are next month. They're still not in the schedule yet. This weekend will be busy it looks like. Friday p.m., the women from church are having their annual Christmas Dinner together, & Sunday is church and play practice. The twins know their lines, and Brent and Erica know their parts for the song, but they still need to work on their lines. I was talking to Heather last night, and she said all the kids are excited about it/being in it. On Saturday, we have a birthday party we're going to . Tony was telling the girls the other day that Jesus' birthday is coming up. Lauren piped up, and said, it's ours too, and Bryanna's (their cousin). Can you believe they will be turning 5 ?! They're growing up on us! I was talking to Tony about it one night, and mentioned how old they'll be and I didn't act too enthused about it. He said I should be glad/happy that they are turning this age. (It's another year we have them.) I definitely am thankful. I was looking through pictures yesterday, and got teary-eyed. We have a picture of when the transplant was going on, where Lauren is standing up and Kara is asleep in the hospital bed. Lauren's cells are flowing through the tubing behind her, and you can see the tube coiled between the two of them and it's laying on the sheets. To see the pic and what it represents is amazing. Then I was looking through pics of Kara when she had the engraftment syndrome at transplant. She looked absolutely horrible in one picture. I was showing my Aunt's when they were here for Thanksgiving 3 pics. One in Nov. 2006 , one in Nov. 2007 & then this November. To see how she's changed and how well she looks now is a blessing. I don't want to get my focus out of whack and become ungrateful ~ (which is easily done when you get wrapped up in the daily things.) Well, I guess I'm rambling again, so, I will go for now. I hope you all are having a blessed day,
Megan
02 Dec 2008, 10:43pm EST
We did end up getting enough snow to stick yesterday, and school was delayed an hour this a.m. But, this evening, Erica & Brent spent a good amount of time studying Science who both have tests this week. Kara continues to do well. I took care of Kara's dressing change on her 'buddy', and it went fairly smooth tonight. It's time consuming, so during it, Kara asked me if I knew what a joke was, so I went on to ask her about why the chicken crossed the road. So, then it was her turn to tell me a joke, and it was the same one, only her answer was something along the lines of the chicken and ketchup, of all things. I think she must have remembered a punch line to another joke Tony told her one time. But it got us laughing together. Then she wanted me to cross my eyes and then I was teaching her how to cross hers. Before bed, I had her show Tony what she learned. Then, Erica, Brent, and Lauren had to do it, too. Lauren caught on quick, then Brent was raising her eyelids up with his fingers while she was crossing her eyes. He said, "Look Dad, Lauren's got talent!" Not so sure it's called talent, but it got them smiling. The kids are laying in bed right now having a hard time falling asleep. They don't act like they're too tired right now! I will close tonight with some prayer requests: www.caringbridge.org/visit/clairedevins
www.caringbridge.org/visit/brooklyndurham
www.caringbridge.org/visit/carriemaniscalco Please hold them in your prayers, along with a little girl who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. I don't remember her name, but she is related to our Pastor. She is currently at a Hospital in Ohio. Also, a lady's brother that we know from our hometown in Indiana just recently passed away from cancer. Please remember their family, also. Thank you!
01 Dec 2008, 12:23pm EST
No call from the Hospital so far ~ I'm taking that as a good sign that maybe what we are dealing with is a virus of some sort, even though she really didn't have any specific symptoms other than the fever and chills. That's fine ~ we'll take that over a line/blood infection anyday as long as her immune system is good! The waiting period on the blood cultures is 5 days, beginning around Sunday a.m. around Midnight/1 a.m. Kara hasn't had a fever anymore ~ hoping what we dealt with over the weekend was the end of it all. She is still acting good. She slept 12 hours last night. I guess her body needed the extra sleep! I think Erica & Brent were able to catch up on sleep, too. This morning was the first morning that I can remember in a long time I didn't have to keep telling Erica over and over to get up for school, or how late it was getting. Even Brent sat up in bed right away ~ maybe they were just anxious to get back! :) Hope you all have a great Monday ~ try to stay warm ~ Tony told us this a.m. that is was snowing hard here ~ The girls and I missed the big snow flurries he was talking about ~ they didn't stick! I probably won't update anymore today - No news is good news!
God bless,
Megan
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