Happy Birthday

Our Little Miss is three years old!!  We couldn't have asked for a better day!! So many things lined up perfectly to make her day a success!! She didn't need a G-csf shot, she was home, her counts were "normal," and most importantly she was HAPPY... All answers to prayers!!  

We celebrated with a family birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa's, a special thank you to them for having all of us and for cooking!! Her only request was a monkey cake, a small one and a big one... She is obsessed with "naughty" monkeys, we can thank her Daddy for that!

So blessed to be this little girl's Mommy!! Here is to many, many more wonderful birthday celebrations for our Addie Bean!!

The girls and I made birthday tie-dyes to wear... It was really fun for the girls to do and they actually turned out pretty good!! We will definitely be doing it again!!  I will try and post a picture of the whole crew sometime!

Scans

Scans are underway!! 

She was in such good spirits this morning and I only heard a few times,  "milky warmed up Mom!" There were a few tears after she was told no, but for Addie a few tears is nothing... That girl can really throw a tantrum and we didn't have any of those this morning!!! She requested McDonalds, a Hershey's bar, Cheetos, cheese crackers and milky warmed up when she wakes up!! We have everything but the McDonalds which we will get on the drive home! My wonderful Momma and niece, Kaylee, came yesterday so they could make the trip back and forth with us!! It is nice to have company!

The times when she is taken away from me are the hardest!! Fortunately, we had our favorite sedation nurse, Holly, and a very nice Dr. taking care of her today!! 

We won't hear about the results until Monday and once we know I will make sure and update everyone!!  He hears our prayers and we are going to get some good news :)

We were met with good news... Her labs came back from this morning and no more shots!! Her counts are high enough, which means no shots on her birthday... Praise Jesus!!

My Girl

I love this Little Miss more than imaginable! Thank you Lord for letting me be her Mother!!

I love this picture... My sweet little baby!! Taken by her Aunt TT ❤️

Stem Cells and Home

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!! That is the tune we were singing today leaving the hospital!! 

Our day started with hearing that Addie's counts went way up... Her ANC was over 1000, YAY!! We also heard that her stem cell collection would be today!  

I was definitely overwhelmed with the stem cell collection... keeping a very busy two year old in a bed for over three hours (not during nap time) would give any Mom anxiety and then I also get the stress of the actual procedure!

The procedure was very rocky the whole way through.  There were multiple points during her collection that we thought her lines were not going to work and that a catheter in her groin would be needed, but once again the Lord prevailed and prayers were answered!!  

We were taking a break for the second time after 2 1/2 hours of collecting to put what I refer to as Drain-O in her white lumen/line (Cath-flow or TPA is what I think it is technically called? It is a chemical that breaks up clots in her line and removes blockages).  Her white lumen tends to be a bit finicky and today was no exception.  It was clogging and causing the machine to shut off.  It was also causing the machine to collect at a very slow rate.  We were told that if the Cath-flow didn't work this time we would have to put the additional catheter into Addie's groin to finish the collection, a surgery that would have added risks and also added pain.  

There is a maximum amount of blood that can be removed during a stem cell harvest.  Addie's collection was going very slow and because of this we were going to exceed that maximum amount before we reached our targeted amount of stem cells.  It definitely isn't beneficial for a little lady who is already struggling to maintain her hemoglobin and platelet levels to have excess blood removed.  

Just as we placed the Cath-flow the nurses received a call from the doctor stating that Addie's blood test had come back and her stem cell circulation was through the roof!! It was so high in fact that the amount we had already struggled to collect (far less than what was planned) was going to be more than enough!!! The amount they require is 20 and Addie had 197... Praise Jesus, what an awesome God we have!! 

So to sum up a very long and wordy story... Stem cell harvest was a success, more than a success, a VICTORY!! Hopefully the beginning of many victories along this road to defeat Naughty Randall!  

Please continue to pray that Addie's scans on Friday show profound improvements and that her bone marrow biopsy shows no circulating cancer cells!! Also pray that she would have minimal pain following the biopsy and that she would feel good for her birthday and the few days she has at home!!

Overwhelmed

I am so overwhelmed right now with thankfulness!!! My heart overflows ❤️ With thankfulness and love for all of YOU, for my amazing family, and for our Heavenly Father!

I can't begin to tell you all how much I appreciate everything that everyone has been doing for us!!! It is unbelievable how much love and support Addie and our family has received!! The word thank you just isn't enough... I wish there was a way I could hug each and everyone of you and tell you in person how much all of your support means to me!!

Thank you, thank you!! We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing and giving people!! Thank you Lord for these kind and caring souls you have placed in our lives, you continue to shower us with Your blessings and make Your love for us known!  

Go Team Addie ❤️

Fever Free

Addie has been fever free for 48 hours and feeling good!! She had to have a blood and platelet transfusion, which are both par for the course.  We are waiting for her counts to come up and each day brings us closer to that magic number of 500!!   Her stem cell harvest will likely be today or tomorrow and then she has her scans on Friday!! We will basically be in Iowa City all week either inpatient or outpatient.
Yesterday was a great day!! Grandma Carol and Gracie came to stay and the girls got to play all day together!! I feel so much peace when we are all together as a family, whether it be at home or here!! The hardest times for me are when we are separated!  Who would have thought two months ago that the bulk of our summer would be spent in a hospital room!  Life can still be good and happy... It is all about what we make of it and choose to focus on!!
Please pray that her stem cell harvest will go as planned and that her scans show vast improvement... Most importantly pray that Addie is someday free of all of this and can grow up a healthy child and live a long and happy life!!!
Thank you everyone for all your love and support!!

The girls found some hats and wore them all afternoon while riding their bikes.

Pink Cheeks

Addie is doing good!! She is in very high spirits and riding her bike around the halls.  She has had to share "her" bike this time which has been interesting.  She had a blood transfusion (all expected following chemo) last night and is feeling like a million bucks this morning, she even has some pink in her cheeks :) 

We will likely be here for at least a few more days waiting for her white count to rise!! So far there has been no reason for the fever other than her counts being low... Praise Jesus!!