Abby Update Hair Watch

From Michelle:

We have been fighting this disease for 9 months. Running hard. Taking each day as it comes. Some families keep running stats on things like number of hospital stays, number of shots and number of blood transfusions. Because of the intensity of Abby's battle, we have lost track of a lot of the details.

Today we learned Abby has had 43 blood transfusions since July. 43! An adult only has 8 units of blood in their bodies and Abby, my 30 pound daughter has need 43 different transfusions. That blows me away.

We are forever thankful to the people who have taken time, out of their busy lives, to donate blood. You have saved her life and we will always be grateful.

A special thanks to Garrett's (our 16 year old son) Boy Scout troop and our church for doing blood drives to help Abby.

Update on Abby:

Abby's is doing the best she has done since this whole thing began. She has given up naps and taken to running through our home chasing Landis and Sami. Her smile is back and our home is filled with the laughter of children. We are truly blessed.

Abby still needs chemo for 2 more years, and we are not taking that lightly. As both a reminder, and something to celebrate when finished, you'll notice our Abby countdown clock up in the right hand colum of our blog. We are celebrating each and every victory, no matter how small. Abby is no longer using her feeding tube for nutrition and I only put medication down it if she is asleep. She is eating VERY healthy food and in bigger quantities than Landis. Landis has been known to eat more than many adults, so besting him at an eating contest is quite a feat.

Abby still has her gastric tube, but we are hoping to remove it soon. Abby still has pain in her legs, from the chemo, but they are controlling it well. Her headaches are gone and the wound on her abdomen no longer hurts and is healing nicely. God is good.

Last week Abby's white blood cell count was low enough to prove the chemoe is fighting her cancer, but high enough to get to go out in public. To date she has gone to Sunday School, the mall and even out to eat. She has played with friends and gone to the library. We have loved every minute of our return to a more "normal" life (a term used very loosely for us even in the best of times). So far Abby has not gotten sick yet from our outings.


She has a doctors appointment tomorrow. Hopefully her lab work will look great again.

Please pray for:

• Abby to remain cancer free.
• continued healthy weight and appetite
• her gastric tube to be removed
• her pain to be controlled
• her to remain free of illnesses
• wisdom for the doctors, nurses and Brent and I, as we make many decisions about Abby's medical care.
• Wisdom for Brent and I as we decide on a daily basis how much to let her be out in public.

Thank you so much for praying for my daughter and our family.

Our 16 year old son is going to say a public thank you to his Boy Scout troop at a big meeting tonight, with Abby in his arms. Please pray he would communicate clearly and confidently. Abby is usually gung-ho for doing ANYTHING with Garrett. It will be interesting to see how they do together.

Many people have asked about Abby's hair. Some children are bald for their whole treatment. That would be a very long 2 and a half years. Others regrow hair during the phase Abby is in, only to loose it again.

Abby and I have been staring at the top of her head for a month now. At first I tried to not let Abby see me do it, but the reality is, she thinks about it and brings it up all of the time. She is comfortable with her "little bald head" (her words), her beautiful hats and wigs, but misses her hair. Her and Brent have the "bald head club" and their gang sign is to rub each others head!

Since so many of you are asking and wondering I thought it would be fun to give you a hair update.

Slick as a bowling ball.
The first picture was taken about 3 weeks ago. It was hard to find a hair on her head. There were a few, but they were really light peach fuzz. I LOVED Abby's black hair, so let me tell you, I was praying for it to get darker quickly.


You can see the black hair fuzz
starting to grow back in.
The second picture was taken today. The hairs are obviously very short, but they are sprouting up everywhere. In person it looks like a five o'clock shadow, but you CAN see it and more importantly ABBY can see that her hair is growing in. She is one excited little girl. Every prayer now has to include a thank you for her "porcupines" (her word for her new hair).

Thank you so much for praying for everything, details big and small are such a blessing to be covered in prayer.

The auditorium tonight is dark. I will try to get a decent picture.

Never thought we'd be GLAD to see "attitude"
but we are thrilled to watch Abby regain
her personality and twinkle.