The Visit

So much for having some extra time over this Thanksgiving break to keep up with the blog. Once again, we were able to keep most of the weekend packed with adventure! Perhaps the next couple of days can be taken to catch up on all of our stuff, but it is more likely that we will keep adding stuff faster than it can be posted! Of course, the alternative is to write a book, but I doubt that you would be interested in reading that much! So here is but a snip of our weekend...

Emily, our 15 year old niece, has recently experienced a leukemia relapse. Obviously, any prayers you could offer on her behalf would be greatly appreciated! On Friday, we had the opportunity to spend the day with her in Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. Before we arrived, she had a rough morning and spent most of her time in the bathroom with her stomach and digestive tract in disarray (putting it very mildly!). But when we arrived, she was getting her appetite back and feeling much better. Emily asked Dawn to warm up some pasta for her which she then had to eat with a spoon (there was not a fork to be found!) - but it was very entertaining to see her giggling as she chased the food around the platter with the spoon! Then, she had a brilliant idea - in order to get a fork, she ordered this pizza and baked potato!

"You'll see," she said, "I will never be able to eat the pizza, but at least I will have a fork!"

In the 30 minutes it took to get her meal, she figured out how to finish the pasta with the spoon and was still hungry, so she ate her own words along with the pizza! Emily said that it would never stay down through the day, so we prayed that the Lord would calm her stomach.

As you can see, she didn't get a chance to eat the potato - needless to say, Dawn likes baked potatoes!

Then it was time for me to climb in with her for a little rest... after all, the turkey was still working on me from the day before (you know, the tryptophan thing...). Do you think we could get any sleep? No way, Dawn is full of questions you know! [Although, truth be told, I was picking at Emily quite a bit so the lack of rest was my own fault! Don't tell Dawn that I admitted that, okay?]

Emily's stomach started bothering her a bit later in the day, but it calmed down as her sister, Leah, came in. Leah stayed the night with her and has been ultra supportive! Just try to keep them apart - it simply cannot be done. By the way, she was able to keep her food down for the rest of the evening! One of those small answered prayers.

After we left, Leah shaved Emily's head. After the treatments, her hair was falling out and with each stroke of her hair, gobs would come out. In fact, she couldn't even brush it because it was all matted on the back of her head like a beehive doo! She was able to laugh about it though and looked forward to having it off. She told us, "it's so itchy, it is driving me crazy!"

Emily's next big round of chemo treatments came on Sunday. As part of that treatment, there are three shots that must be administered in her legs. She told us that she prefers getting them all at once, so three nurses came in and counted off, "One, two, three!", and stuck them into her legs at the same time! She insisted that is the way she prefers it, "much better than getting three different shots, isn't it? That way it is all done at one time."

She is a tough kid, no doubt. Obviously, we are praying that her treatments and upcoming bone marrow transplant go well and are 100% successful. Will you join us?