January 12, 2022

We are free! Lucy had her last chemo Sunday. As we were leaving the hospital we got to have a small "gong" ceremony to celebrate the end of chemo. Several nurses stood in the hallway and cheered as Lucy did a victory lap and then rang the gong. Lucy's main doctor even came in on his day off to be a part of it, which was really touching. It was a beautiful time. Lucy isn't going to need nupagen shots but the doctors still expect her numbers to drop. We'll have to be extra careful about germs until we can see how low her counts drop. We have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. If her counts are good, I think our next appointment will be at CT scan and echo cardiogram on January 24th. Then on February 7th we'll have an appointment with the doctor to discuss "end of treatment" stuff. There will likely be other doctor's appointments scattered in there as well, depending on how she is doing. After that it will be monthly appointments for at least a year where Lucy will have her blood drawn to be checked for the cancer. So, we are done with chemo, but definitely not done with various other logistical things. We don't know how long we will have to wait to get her port out because those surgeries are still on hold. We have to wait for the hospital policy to change and keep praying for continued protection against infection for Lucy. We are so happy to be done with chemo though! It is so wonderful to finally be in the stage of rebuilding Lucy's body, instead of continuously tearing it down. And of course, we are beyond thankful that the Lord gave us back our sweet daughter, through effective medicine and His own healing hand. This spring will be a season of catch up and rebuilding for our family, spiritually, relationally, emotionally, physically and academically. We are so thankful for all of your support and we ask that you would continue to bear with us as we get our feet back under us again. Prayer needs: - Strength and patience for dealing with all the final details of Lucy's treatment over the next year - Courage for Lucy as she faces new challenges with having her blood drawn through a regular IV instead of her port. She is very anxious about this. - Healing for all of our family as we find our new normal - An extra prayer for me, if you don't mind, as I battle lots of stress and sleeplessness. About Christmas and other things: I forgot to give a report on how Christmas went for us. It was excellent. We were so glad the timing worked out for us to be home and not have to do chemo or doctor's appointments. We had a relaxed Christmas at home with just our household. Children's Cancer Network provided presents for our whole family and they did a marvelous job. The kids especially loves their gifts. I posted a picture of them in a dress and ninja outfit they got for Christmas. David got some really neat toys as well. I was a wonderful day and very relaxing.