Duffy’s Entry

(I would just like to apologize to all the English teachers out there that I am offending with my grammatical errors)

Today was a mixture of emotions day. Kaylee and I woke up just about every hour last night due to the nurses doing their job (meds, vitals, taking her blood, and more vitals.) So, I woke up feeling like I had been run over, but knew today was surgical procedure day, which was like a natural pulse amp for me. We woke Kaylee up and had to wipe her down with CHG wipes (anti bacteria pre-surgery skin wipes) and dress her in my not so favorite Scottish Rite purple nightgown. We waited for about 20 minutes before the Dr’s were ready, and carried Kaylee down to the OR. The point of today was to insert chemo drugs into her spine, change out her port in her chest to keep it sanitary, and extract spinal fluid to test for leukemia cells; we will be doing that every Monday for the next three &1/2 weeks. The DR allowed us to hold her when they gave her the sedative like drug and did not prepare me to see K’s eyes roll up in her head before she went limp in my arms, which was alarming enough and then I was being ordered to put my daughter on the operating table immediately which was also unsettling. We were asked to leave the room and wait to hear how the surgery went. AS soon as the OR doors shut behind me, I let myself cry a minute. Chris put his arm around me and reassured me she would be fine. I just have a hard time having to see her have to go thru this, and at times I let myself crack.

About an hour later I could hear my child being rolled down the Aflac hall and I ran to the door to greet my crying little girl. Normally after a surgical procedure, one would want to sleep…my daughter? She wants to eat… and that girl feasted! (thank you, Steroids) So after downing a large homemade apple muffin, a yogurt, applesauce cup, a cup of milk, an apple juice box, and some macaroni and cheese, she settled down a bit. (This is actually a huge Praise God thing, b/c she wasn’t eating much & losing a lot of weight. The Dr’s mentioned that if the steroids weren’t working soon on the weight gain thing, then we would need to discuss a possible feeding tube! (Not Ok) So seeing her freak out when I wasn’t handing her a piece of muffin fast enough, made us smile. (Eat baby, eat.)

My mom and Stepdad kissed & hugged goodbye to us as they left to head back to Florida to handle a few business things before returning soon. Chris also needed to return to work, so he left shortly after. So, my mother in law, cousin Jenn and I were in the room to keep K occupied and happy. While K was starting in on her third chemo treatment, my friends arrived for a planned visit. :> You may have seen the picture on here already. They brought a super creative, giant box of fun things for Kaylee to play with, and said they had a big surprise for us and it might make me cry. I responded with “I reached me tears quota this morning, I hope it doesn’t.” So Courtney and Hannah pulled out this gorgeous handmade quilt with family pictures, and pictures of Kaylee sewn into the quilt and I was done for. I tried to hide the ugly cry as I heard picture snaps going off. Take a moment to check out the picture on here. It was so incredibly thoughtful and something we will love for years to come! (We have received get well cards in the hospital mail, as well as a care package and we are so very thankful for those as well, so I didn’t want those people to feel left out either!) We always have K help us open any gifts and this girl LOVES flinging tissue wrapping paper! Ha-ha.

The Chief Oncologist met with me to warn me about the side effects of today’s chemo and…(Get ready for this, prayer warriors-good news!—>) to tell me that the oncology team was very happy with her blood results so far and even though she will definitely need a platelet transfusion tomorrow, they think the chemo is doing its job, and doing it well! I think highly of this Oncologist but K wanted him nowhere near her and screamed in horror when he used his stethoscope on her. (Won’t have to teach this girl about ‘stranger danger!’)

K took a long nap while she and I were alone. Once she woke up (from getting her vitals taken) we played for a bit, then took a long walk to welcome daddy home from work. I left the hospital (what? Yeah I did~) to pick up dinner a mile away. So, walking into the lobby with my hands full with dinner, I can hear my child squeal with laughter (first of all, where is she? Second of all didn’t she have 3 chemo treatments today, and I’m hearing laughter?! ) That’s all due to prayers people! Chris called my name near the gift shop and apparently they had discovered a giant Elmo doll for sale! “Emmo Momma! Emmo!” I love that girl!

We walked back to the room and ate dinner (she ate a cracker…didn’t want anything else but her milk. (C’mon sweet baby, eat.) I don’t want to mislead anyone either, there were large portions of the day that she moaned and whined…all the more reason for me to cuddle her! :>

So we got her in her jammies and did story time but she wanted to play. Finally, at 9:30 (!) her little eyes fluttered closed and I silently prayed over her for God to heal her, because He will! I think this girl is only at the beginning of amazing everyone, and due to prayer she will overcome this cancer battle! She is a strong fighter, and is already showing us that she will not allow “this chemo stuff “to stifle her laughter!

I thought of a different closing paragraph for this blog, but instead am feeling I need to encourage everyone to listen to ‘Who shall I fear’ by Chris Tomlin to find out where I am at today. This is a song I listen to at full volume when K isn’t in the car with me. Find the version on YouTube with the lyrics. Love.

Thank you to all the people praying, and we ask you to keep praying! I’ve always said there is no such thing as too many prayers!

Psalm 27:1

#Pray4K