Counts are up!!

Friday we were blessed to get some wonderful news. I had been stressing out in a big way about waiting until Wednesday for Peyton’s CBC to find out if her blood counts had come up and wasn’t quite sure how I was going to make it through the weekend without obsessing about it. In fact, all I was thinking about was how I was going to keep myself from thinking about it, which really wasn’t getting myself anywhere. So, Friday morning we went to the clinic so that Peyton could make her second tv camera appearance in a commercial shoot for a Moffit/Pediatric Cancer Foundation venture in pediatric cancer research. Peyton didn’t do much, she painted and looked cute…more of the normal, I guess. It was a funny thing though, most of the kids that were there that day were either kids that were already in maintenance or kids that were there for hematology issues, so most of them had their hair, Peyton was the only baldy in the room, that was definitely out of the ordinary. But while we were there, I asked them if they could squeeze her in for a lab and the were gracious enough to shuffle her into an already busy schedule and get a finger poke.

Peyton saying "I am a ROCK STAR!"

It came back great!! All her counts were up. Her ANC was over 1000 (up from 600), her hemoglobin was over 10 and her platelet count was over 200. The thing is, these are all still well below normal for a healthy child, but for one in chemotherapy, these are fantastic! I was thrilled and just relieved because this meant that her body had finally rebounded and there was nothing suspicious keeping her counts down. Now, that they’re comfortable with her counts she won’t need the bone marrow test on Wednesday and we’ll proceed with her next phase of treatment. It’s pretty ironic when the nurses hug you in excitement of great counts, knowing how happy they make you so that we can all start giving her medicine that will drag them all down again. But we were all happy that the counts had come up, and were relieved that we no longer had the immediate cloud of relapse hanging over our head. Yes, it’s always out there as a threat, and we’re never completely free of it, but at least for now we know that she’s responding as she should. And we’ll take that as a blessing and thank God for it.

Friday we also said goodbye to Peter’s father who had been staying with us for several days for a visit. It’s hard for us to get time with Bob because he has Parkinson’s and cannot come up and visit on his own the way he’s been able to in the past and we haven’t been able to get down to visit him. `The kids so enjoyed having Grandpa here to push them on the swings, to joke with over dinner and to listen to their endless chatter. It seems liked Grandpa soaked up a lot of memories to take home with him also. The kids change a lot in six months, and times goes by too fast. Pete and his dad had a great visit, luckily Pete’s work schedule allowed him to have the time off that Bob was here and they got to spend that time together. Thanks for Bob and Pat for working it out so that Bob could come up to visit, it meant a lot to us and we loved having him here.

Saturday was Bowen Powell’s (Adelain’s big brother) birthday! We met their family for a day at Busch Gardens, and we had a blast!! It is such a different day going with six kids than going with just two adults, fun in its own special way. We had coolers of food and drinks, changes of clothing, all sorts of random supplies, in fact, we could have made a six day excursion up Everest and probably held our own.

We took turns, dads taking off to ride the big rides that the small kids were too short to ride while the moms hung out in the kid’s areas and then vice versa. It worked out great and it was so much fun. It was one of those days that the kids were practically crippled with happiness so that they complained all the way to the parking lot about how much their feet hurt. Note to all: Sheikra is fun the first time, and the second time, but the third time is overkill….just ask Angela Powell!! She was green until we finally left the park. Poor Angela.

Today we celebrated spring and daylight savings with the first car wash of the season. Of course if turned into a free for all, with everyone drenched to the skin. I am a firm believer that once you’ve put on your bathing suit, you’re just asking for it! And the truck did get moderately cleaner.

We don’t always get the answers that we want to prayer. If we pray the way we’re supposed to, we do it with open hearts and ask God that His will is done, but it’s hard not to remind him that we do have a preference in the way that the outcome might go. I have faith in God’s wisdom in the path that Peyton’s life will take and I am so thankful that He continues to give us more time to be a family, to be blessed each day with Nathaniel, Rachael and Peyton. Life is so precious and uncertain, but the one thing we do know is that we are loved and that is a mighty and wonderful thing.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—-Anissa Mayhew

Ps….I just saw this newscast….I couldn’t believe it. Grandpa Bob took us to DQ this week and I saw the flyer about Jessica Rose, a little girl who has neuroblastoma while we were there. I later realized that she goes to the same clinic that we do and we've met her and I never realized that she had such a poor prognosis. This little girl had a donation jar at the DQ and someone actually stole it off the counter. This truly stunned me and I can only imagine the kinds of terrible things that should happen to this man….something along the lines of being staked to the ground and attacked by fire ants! But please, visit Jessica Rose's website and keep her family in your prayers!