Napping in our own beds...

WOOOHOOO!!! What a praise!! We are back home and Kateli is elated to be in her own bed napping this afternoon. While in the hospital she refused to sit on the bed, saying that "she didn't like that bed" so you can imagine how happy she is to be home. Of course we are happy to be home too!! She's fever free, but she still has a horrible cough--I'm sure it sounds worse than it is. Her runny nose is better than it was yesterday so we are praying she is on the mend. Please don't stop praying though, especially for wisdom for Dan and I, that we would ask the right questions and seek the right advise.

Your prayers requested...

We are well into the year, it's hard to believe that we're already in September. As the fall season sneaks up on us this year, I wanted to request your prayers for our family. Please pray that we all stay healthy through the season with nothing more than maybe runny noses, but nothing major. As it is, Kateli is in the hospital tonight because she's caught some bug, and has had a runny nose, a phlegmy cough and fevers above 101.5. The fevers started yesterday afternoon, and Dan and she headed out to their little resort stay about 3am. I was with her all day today, and she was fever free, so she maybe home again tomorrow. The good thing about being in the hospital, if there could be a good thing, is that they keep her well hydrated, and they have tested her to see if she's got the flu virus, or RSV. The test came back negative, so that's good, but she's fighting a bug. However, her lungs sound clear, so the doc says it's upper respiratory. Nonetheless, her numbers are super high with is a praise!! So, please pray for her more immediate healing of this bug, and for any subsequent illnesses we maybe exposed to this season. Both kids have had their flu shots, and we are waiting for the H1N1 shot which is more specific for the swine flu. Dan and I are pending getting our flu shots this season but it's on our list to do. Sorry if this post was more rambling than anything else....I'm really tired, and almost 5 months pregnant! :)

Thanks again for keeping up with our family and especially our little princess. We really appreciate your prayers and your coming back often to check our blog.

Random Fevers

So, this morning we woke up to random fevers at home, well, specifically with Katherine. She was running 101.3 under her arm. Last night, we went to bed and she was measuring 100.4. She ran 100.4 consistently through the night until this morning. Needless to say a call to the clinic was in order, and the nurse asked me to bring her in. The protocol is to have her come into the clinic, check counts, give her an antibiotic, and have her see a doctor. If her numbers were fine, and she showed no signs of infection we would be released. Well, after being there nearly 2 hours this morning, we were released to go home. Her numbers were high, she was at 3300 this morning, and she looks just fine. Where the fevers are coming from? who knows. The doctor that looked at her, said she looked great. Her ears were clear, her tummy felt soft as it should, and her throat was free from redness. So, we have to watch her for the next few days, but the antibiotic covers her for 24hours. So, if she runs a fever in the next 24 hrs, we are free to administer tylenol, but if she runs a fever after 24hours, well...that means another visit to the clinic. Please pray that she stays fever free, and that it was just a random case of them that has come, and gone now! Above is my princess...yesterday while I was working she came into the room and asked what I was doing and wanted to snuggle the baby. So, I took the oppty to ask if she would let me take a photo of her, and she agreed...anyway, when I get those moments I have to take advantage. So here is the image of her from yesterday afternoon. I know I have mommy goggle on, but to me she looks absolutely beautiful, and so grown up.

Which wish will she be granted?

A few months ago, the social worker at the Oncology clinic approached me and talked to me about the Make-a-Wish Foundation. I was always under the impression that this organization granted wishes for children that were terminally ill, but Jana (social worker) explained to me that that's not entirely true. While they do grant wishes to terminally ill patients, they strive to make wishes come true for children that have been diagnosed with a life threatening illness, such as ALL. So, she asked if we, as parents, would be okay with them submitting a referral for Katherine. We accepted, and her name/case was submitted. A few weeks later, I was contacted by the make a wish foundation to get a little bit of information from me as well as to get a little info on Katherine, i.e. her favorite color, her favorite book, what she likes to do, if she has any siblings, etc etc. A couple of months after this initial call I was contacted by the volunteers that had been assigned our case. It took a while to get a meeting lined up, mainly because I kept forgetting to call them back, or we just played phone tag--but we were finally able to set a meeting up for this past Friday. We met with the ladies, Sherri and Leah, who were super nice and very amicable with Katherine, Joshua and with us. Dan and I had been hyping up the meeting to Katherine, so that she didn't retreat into her shy-side, as she does when she meets strangers, and we had been probing her for ideas of what would be the wish that she requested be granted. Needless to say she was excited that she was going to get a wish, and a few times this week she would tell Joshua, "Joshua, I'm going to get a wish, because I'm super special..." She also asked us/me, once or twice, if Joshua would also get a wish. That was a hard question, that made me a bit teary eyes, and my response to her was "no, baby. He is not going to get a wish", when on the inside my heart was hurting and I thought, "no baby, we hope he never has to have a wish granted through the make-a-wish foundation".

We arrived at Braum's, where we agreed to meet, and Katherine was asking "were are Sherri and Leah...??" When we met them, she got a bit shy but quickly came out of that when she got a bag of goodies that the ladies had brought to her, filled with stickers, coloring books, and crayons. Joshua also lit up to see that they had brought him a little gift as well, and what better than another car for my little man. THe meeting went smoothly, Dan and I had to fill out some forms, and sign some papers before we got to the meat of the meeting. Leah turned to Katherine and asked "Katherine, if you were to wish for something, what would it be?" Katherine got a little quiet, and retreated into my arms, but with a little bit of encouragement, I got her to open up and tell them her wish. She looked at Leah, with a huge grin across her face and said "I wish to see Shamu, and Nemo and swim with the dolphins"...it's a loaded wish, huh?? This all came from her though, we didn't coach her or tell her what to say, this is what she wants. Leah and Sherri took notes, and then asked for a second/back up wish...to which we helped respond to since Katherine was stuck on her first wish. You remember that we were recently in the hospital, and that one of those times we came back from the lake to take her in. Well, our plan at the lake that afternoon was to ride in a pontoon boat, and she's been asking when we are going to go out and ride on the boat...so as her second wish, we said "she'd like to ride in a boat"...of course I had to interject more specific, "a big boat, maybe even a cruise"...I know, wishful thinking, but they did ask for a WISH right?? well, we will see which wish will be granted and when. Stay tuned...

In the comfort of our home once again...

YIPPEE!! We're home!! Kateli is home!! She was discharged from the hospital this morning. She has been fever free since Sunday late evening, and her numbers are back up. Her chemo treatment will resume once again tomorrow, following our regularly scheduled wed appt. She and I just got up from a nap, and it was so good not to sleep on a hospital bed, where every time you turn your bones ache. Thank you all for your continued prayer and support. Thank you for your phone calls, emails, and your comments left on our blog.

Back at our favorite resort

Yes, you guessed it...St Francis Children's Hospital. Our impromptu trip to the lake, which daddy planned totally spontaneous on Friday, was cut short when Kateli ran a high temp shortly after lunch. We called the doc and arrived about an hour later after the kids napped. She and I spent the night together, and while she slept pretty well, she did run fevers through the night. Actually, we didn't know how high that fever could go until this early afternoon. She actually ran a 39.9deg Celcius, or if you are like me and Farhenheit makes more sense, that was 103.8F. She was burning up, my poor baby, and feeling "yucky". She ran pretty high fevers through late morning, but this afternoon they seem to have subsided a bit. The good news is that her ANC count is way high. She is at 4000, but they don't know where the fevers are stemming from. So, the doc said that her labs show it may be some type of bacterial infection, so they are running all kinds of tests. They have given her an antibiotic that works against some type of bacterial infections in the meantime...which we have learned she is allergic to. She quickly started itching on her head like crazy--the nurse said it was a common occurence, and they administered benadryl which seemed to help. Katherine is now resting. She seems to be feeling a bit better, but the "yucky" feeling seems to come and go without warning. Please continue to lift her in your prayers. That they would find out what is causing the fevers, and be able to treat it quickly. If they can't figure it out, please pray that the fevers subside and that our baby girl would start feeling like herself again. It is not easy to see her lying in bed, saying that she feels yucky most of the time, or listening to her whimpering in her half sleep. Pray for strength for all of us, especially for me, as the pregnancy is enough to wear me out these days. Pray for the baby, that he/she stays healthy and growing strong despite any stress I may be experiencing. Grandma Marsh came in this morning to help us, so that is a blessing.

thanks again for coming to visit our page!

We are at home but not out of the woods yet...

What I mean is, Katherine was released from the hospital on Monday afternoon, however, she was/is still neutropenic (her counts are low, and she is highly susceptible to infection). We were elated to be coming home, however, both Dan and I were under the impression that Kateli's numbers had increased. The discharge papers were signed, discharge orders/instructions given to us, and Kateli's port removed, when I went to the desk to ask for a copy of her morning labs to have for our records. God was watching out for us, as he always is, because when I looked at the lab report, I realized that we were under the wrong impression, and I was so confused. Her numbers were not at 1000, not even above 500. In fact she was only at 300, still neutropenic mind you. In the past, this usually meant we didn't get to go home, much less resume chemotherapy, as her immune system was compromised. I was so puzzled, and asked. Luckily at that moment, Katherine's doctor walked up to the nurse's station and heard me inquire. He answered, giving me an explanation as to why her numbers had been so low the week before, but were up to 1200 both on Sat and Sun, only to drop again for Monday's lab. His explanation made some sense, but it still didn't explain why we were supposed to resume chemo at home. NOTE: In case you are curious, his explanation was that last week her numbers were low, but her immune system/bone marrow had kicked in with the fevers to make those infection fighting cells, now that she was done with the fevers, and maybe even fighting anymore infection, her bone marrow was now stabilizing to what it can normally make, so it had come back down and would build back up slowly. Anyway, so I asked if were really supposed to resume chemo...yeah...he looked at me a little confused and said "no, hold the chemo until her numbers are back up. Come back on Wed and see where she is at" He did say to continue the antibiotic, but the frequency was a bit different than what we have been doing for the last year and a half. With that we were on our way home, both Dan and I still questioning where the ball had been dropped. Had the discharge doctor not looked at her labs for that morning? Had he made a mistake in discharging us? Was the mistake in simply telling us to resume chemo, when clearly we both knew better? I was confused, but I can't lie and say that I wasn't very frustrated with the whole thing.

So, we did as instructed (by Kateli's doctor), and went to clinic this morning. Come to find out she is still neutropenic. In fact, today she was lower than she was on Monday morning. What is going on? I was utterly confused. If she is done with the fevers, has no other symptoms, and we have stopped her chemo, why is she going down rather than up. So, not the news we were looking to hear, but something we have to deal with. How?? We continue in the confines of our home, keeping her away from any possible exposure. Praying that the mysterious fevers do not return, and that none of us get sick in the meantime either. Hold her chemo another week, and this time also hold the antibiotic (apparently, it too can suppress her immune system). We go back to clinic next week, on Wed for counts again. Please pray with us that her counts start coming back up and that she is in her normal range next Wed. After this morning's appt, I was even more frustrated with the doctor who released us from the hospital--maybe not with him, but with his lack of attention to detail and giving the incorrect discharge instructions. At the same time, I was so thankful that God prompted me to ask for those lab results, so that we would know NOT to resume chemo at home. I don't even want to think about where her numbers might have been today, had we come home confident with the instructions we were given, and totally oblivious to the fact that by giving her chemo we would have been further suppressing her immune system.

How do we need your prayers?
* Please pray first and foremost that Kateli stays healthy while she is neutropenic
* Please pray that her bone marrow kicks into gear making all the infection fighting cells.
* Please pray that I can let go of my resent, if I can call it that for the lack of attention to detail by the doc.
* Please pray that we all stay healthy, especially this week

Thank you so much for coming back over and over to read updates on our little Katherine!

Just when we were getting comfortable...

with not seeing the inside of the third floor at the St. Francis Children's Hospital, God says, "not so quick"...

Katherine was admitted to the hospital yesterday afternoon and she and I had a little slumber party last night in her room. She was acting a bit tired, and felt warm to the touch in the early afternoon. When we took her temp the first time she was about 99.5. While were out running some quick errands, she came up to give a hug and she no longer felt warm, she was now hot. So, we promptly returned home, took her temp and called the dr on call. She was measuring 101.9, so we knew we would be going to see the nurses. Sure enough, the doc called back and said to take her in, he would call the floor so they would expect us. We ate a quick dinner, called some friends to watch Joshua while we got her all checked in, and well...

we're still there. She has not run a temp since yesterday, and her lab results were so encouraging. I was worried that her counts might be lower than on Thursday. On the contrary, thursday she was at 420, and last night she was back up at 1200!! Praise God! So, she is NOT neutropenic, but we have to stay in the hospital until she is fever free for 24hrs and the cultures come back all negative.

She's in good spirits. Enjoying being catered to, and eating all kinds of snacks she doesn't usually get at home, like oreo cookies, and popcicles, and "jugo yummy"...well, you get the idea!

Please pray that her fevers break, that the cultures are all negative, and that we are home soon--like TOMORROW!! :)

Thanks for keeping up with our little girl! Your prayers are appreciated.

Happy News

So, we have some happy news to share...

Baby #3 on the way

10 1/2 weeks along

Due 1/31/10

Please pray for healthy pregnancy, healthy baby, a dr that will deliver VBAC, and a fast and easy delivery

I apologize for the lack of updates lately, seems like the days just fly by these days. We just returned from our trip to Houston for tio Walter's wedding. It was an awesome, fun trip. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was fun, and our stay with family unforgettable. My cousins from Europe were able to fly in for the wedding as well, so we were able to spend a week with them and share fun memories. I will have to upload pics later, I have too many to go through :). Katherine was a beautiful little flower girl!! She did wonderfully and walked down the aisle, both during the rehearsal and during the actual ceremony. She was so excited to be participating in tio Walter's wedding, she talked about it a lot. Of course, I'm sure it helped that I had promised her a LOLLIPOP if she made it to the end of the aisle and sat quietly during the ceremony. She totally impressed me!! Both Dan and I were a bit worried about how she was going to do during the ceremony, when we realized during rehearsal that she would not sit with us, but with the bridesmaids, rows and rows in front of us. She was amazing. I could see her from where we were sitting and she sat there like a big girl. I did hear her "whispering" once or twice to one of the girls, but for the most part she sat quietly!! Then after the wedding she was excited that she now had a new TIA!! Welcome to the family Tia Martha!!

I'll update more on the wedding on our family blog, so stay tuned: http://marshy-corner.blogspot.com/

Now to update you about Katherine!! She has been doing very well. Treatment is going well and staying on track. Everyone except daddy weathered a cold not too long ago, and it lingered just too long with Kateli that I took her to the pediatrician before we left for Houston last week. Turned she had a sinus infection, so she had to take antibiotics for 7 days. We are done with the antibiotics, but the sinusiting caused her numbers to plummet just a bit. This morning her count was down to 420, so we are holding her chemo at home. We will be going into clinic again next week to see if she's back up. Chemo will resume as soon as her counts are back up to 750 or higher. She's still in good spirits, and happy as can be. Looking at her, you would never guess that her counts were low. However, the nurse said that based on Katherine's labs, her bone marrow is working hard to put out the good cells, so she wouldn't be surprised if her numbers were back where they needed to be next week. Nevertheless, please pray that they pick back up so that we can resume treatment and stay on track. Her numbers had not been low since November of last year, which has been a huge blessing. Thanks again for visiting our page, and keeping up with our family!

Completely into panties

Yep, that's our girl!! As of a few nights ago she is completely potty trained. She opted one night to go to bed in panties, and woke up the next morning dry. She pee peed in the potty ajavascript:void(0)nd was so excited that "mommy, I sleep in my panties all night, like a big girl" as she put it to me the next morning. Woohoo!! I just hope Joshua is this easy to potty train. We'll see.