Night with Nonee

Tonight I took the Ronald shuttle van back to the McDonald House to sleep while Christi will spend a special "overnight" with Grandma Nonee. (Plus, I want to be the one to go to the garage at 3:00-4:00 AM to let Shayne drive in, not my sweet mother who would be nervous and I'd worry about her not sleeping well.)

Christi's chemo went fine today. We have been richly blessed by the good Lord!

There is an increase in the amount of "neck bending" which concerns me deeply. She occassionally says it hurts, but.......it is what it is (Problem is: we just don't know what "it" is and our prayers are asking for its rapid resolve.) We can never thank all of the people who have been praying, supporting and cheering for Christi; yet we do pray that their reward will be great!

She had a wonderful morning-thanks to this incredibly awesome webcam. Her school hooked up one of the student's webcams (Thanks, Grant!) and she was able to "chat" and see her friends at school for 45 minutes. It was awesome! Thank you all!! She's so fortunate to have teachers and friends who love her so. Shayne and I continue to be amazed and deeply humbled. She really misses school while we are away and we truly appreciate all they do to help her cope. If there's just one thing we've learned in this 3 1/2 year journey, it is God's people are good!

Today I received an email from Rich and Andrea telling me Christi received a "youth award" from the American Red Cross at a breakfast in town this morning. That was very sweet! And the timing was perfect as I believe she'll be receiving life saving blood and platelet transfusions VERY soon (perhaps tomorrow already). I don't believe she looks as well as she did a few days ago and I believe her counts tomorrow will reflect that. Thanks to sweet life-saving blood donors, she is able to continue fighting this beast. (And fighting it with the grace of a ballerina and the courage of a prize fighter! Quite frankly, I don't know how this girl does it, but she does it well!

Tonight she asked if she could pass out the darling distraction puppets to the "sick kids" that sweet Angel Karel knitted and sent her. (I always chuckle when she does stuff like this; she gets a HUGE charge out of making other kids smile.) Because the kids on 3 South (oncology) are typically VERY ill and stuck in their beds after walking the entire circle without seeing a single child out she suggested, "How about finding a waiting room? There are always kids there," so I checked with her nurse and off we went to spread some Friday night cheer. Not only did she pass out the puppets, she was even able to read some books to an 18 month old which brought both girls great joy. When parents asked her how much they cost, she roared with laughter and said, "Nothing costs in the hospital except for the treatments." (Oh, she's got A LOT to learn!! smile)

Back at the wonderful Ronald House there was a package for Christi. Her wig arrived!! It's not the Locks of Love wig (yet) but the synthetic one they send while the wig with real hair is being made. (It takes months.) The color was a bit darker than I expected and I'd like to have Cindy shorten it, but I think it'll be just fine and she'll like it very much. (We'll find out in the morning and I'll post a picture as soon as I snap one!)

Shayla and Shayla left home at 6:00 PM and were 187 miles into the journey to Philly just a little bit ago. I'm terribly anxious to see them and so grateful for God providing me with the most incredible husband and sibling! I anticipate a 3:00 AM arrival. (Christi knows Shayla and I will be greeting her at the hospital in the morning. She can't wait to show Shayla around and to perform some new magic tricks she's been working on. She really got the nurses the other night- and Nonee today!)

While I hate to be about 11 blocks away tonight while she is with her Grandma I know she's in the best of loving hands. Shayne and I were parents who could never understand how others could drop their children off with their parents and go out, or go on vacation WITHOUT their kids. We've always enjoyed the children immensely and it's going to be very hard not running back over to the hospital tonight to join in on the fun! (There was talk of popcorn and another showing of the new "Chicken Little" DVD as I was leaving.) Seriously, time with Christi is special and knowing how precious "this situation" is makes being away from her for one single second, VERY hard.

Being away from Christi leaves me with a pit in my stomach tonight; yet, I can't even imagine how much worse it's going to feel come Monday when Shayla and I leave Christi in the hospital and fly home without her.

Only through His grace,
Angela