18 Treatments Down!

This post is #53 in a year-long series ... Through this series of posts I plan to share our family's experiences during our 17-year-old daughter's year-long battle with brain cancer, which began in February of 2008. My desire is to process through the events of that year from the perspective that a decade of time has brought ... for myself, really. But if you'd like to follow along, you're welcome to join me.

April 7, 2008

My email from ten years ago today ...

Hannah had her 18th radiation treatment today and her weekly appointment with her oncologist at Children’s Hospital. As you know, her blood is drawn every Monday, and they check to make sure her blood counts are within normal limits. If they were to drop to a certain level, we would have to discontinue treatments for a short time while waiting for them to rebound. These verses are always a little nerve-wracking, because Hannah is what the nurses call a “hard stick”. It usually takes two or three nurses to come and stick her two or three times before they can find a good vein. Thankfully, today she had a nurse that was successful on the first try. The oncologist came in and visited with us for a few minutes and explained that it is usually at this point in the treatment that he sees blood counts begin to drop, then went to check the results of her blood work. When he returned, he jokingly told us that Hannah’s counts are so good, she could donate blood! Her white cell count was a little low, but he explained that that is to be expected when undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. So, we are praising God for this good report!

Hannah is still going to school every day, and keeping up with all of her school work. She is tired in the evenings, but for the most part feels good. She is beginning to experience some hair loss from the radiation, and this is difficult for her. She dreads washing her hair, because that’s when she is able to see the most loss. To look at her, you still can’t tell that she’s lost any, because she has such thick, curly hair. Hopefully, it will just thin somewhat, and that will be all. Please pray that she will be able to deal with the emotional aspect of possibly losing a significant amount of hair.

We are still awaiting test results for Bethany. She continues to run a low grade fever (99.7 tonight) and has abdominal pain from time to time. However, her energy level has definitely improved, and she is clearly feeling better overall.

Thank you so much for all of your continued prayers and kindnesses. We truly feel God’s love through all of you!

God is good, all the time!
Jill and Brad