Give Blood

Hannah had another appointment on Monday. It should have been a quick IV appointment, but her blood counts were low enough that she needed a blood transfusion. These take a while, so her "short" appointment turned into another seven hour day at the hospital. 

I have always known that giving blood was a good thing to do. I even used to give it before I got busy with having kids and being a mom (not a good enough excuse). My idea of giving blood changed completely when my daughter needed it. She had to have blood transfusions when she was first diagnosed. I remember lying there beside her in the hospital bed, watching some good-hearted stranger's blood help to save her life. That feeling hit me again Monday. I never realized, before all of this hit close to home, that this simple gift is something we can all do to truly save another person's life. It usually takes less than an hour, barely hurts, costs us nothing, and saves lives! Let's all put giving blood on our permanent list of New Year's resolutions!

Pictures

I didn't get around to posting these pictures from Hannah's appointment last week. She felt good while we were there, so I thought I would take a few pictures of how we pass the time at the hospital. 

Yes, the hospital allows kids to ride these Big Wheels around and around the clinic. Hannah loved it! (Can you tell by her expression?) Eric had to follow closely behind her with her IV pole because she was hooked up to it.

This is one of Hannah's favorite things to do -- ride her IV pole. It actually makes it much easier to get anywhere. Riding on it also helps to keep her from darting away, forgetting that she's attached to it. 

Life Is Not Fair

Hannah's blood counts were too low to go to Rocky (Eric's brother) and Whitney's wedding this past weekend. She was sad to not be able to go, but had a good time with her sweet babysitter. The wedding was beautiful, on a perfect Fall day.

She had a very long appointment on Monday. We got there at 8:00, she had a lumbar puncture then an extra long chemo infusion. We finally got out of the hospital after 4:00. She did well while we were there. She handled things much better, emotionally, this time. We were very thankful for that! The last thing of the day was a new chemo that made her very sick on the way home and for a good while after we got home. I've never known how hard it is for a child to throw up repeatedly while strapped into a car seat. She wasn't able to lean over enough to not get it all over her shirt. I'm sure some more cancer-seasoned moms have good solutions to this.

I was worried that she would be sick like that all the time for the next couple of weeks. We have to give the chemo that makes her sick by shot this week and next. It looks like she will be able to feel good until we have to give her the shot in the afternoons, then be sick for a few hours after that. We are thankful that she hopefully won't be sick around the clock and thankful for Phenergan and Zofran!

When we got up to go to the hospital this time, she was upset about having to go there again. She said, "This isn't fair!" What a young age to have to learn that there are many things in this life that aren't fair. It's not fair that she would be the one who has to have cancer. But it also isn't fair that she gets to have the kind of cancer that is treatable. It's not fair that we have access to life-saving medicines. It's not fair that we live in a time and country where we can drive just a few hours to get excellent medical care. It's not fair that with the same diagnosis, other parents in other places would have to just watch their child die. Yes, life isn't fair. 

Shootin' For Hannah

Jana Sizemore organized a skeet shooting benefit for Hannah, which was held this morning. We would like to say a big thank you to Jana for all of her time and hard work! Also, thank you to everyone who came out to shoot skeet and support Hannah! We have been blown away by people's thoughtfulness and generosity!

(Lauren was so sweet to volunteer to wear a hat too - she wanted to make Hannah feel better about wearing one. She is such a good big sister!)

Hannah's First Haircut

This week Hannah's hair started coming out in handfuls and getting very patchy. We decided it was time to go ahead and cut it. She was pretty upset about the idea of cutting off all of her hair and cried every time we tried to talk to her about it. Tonight we talked to her again and showed her how the hair was falling out. She was a big girl and agreed for us to cut it, if we promised to leave a little bit. She was happy while Eric was cutting it, but cried when she saw it in the mirror. I've been dreading this and have felt sad seeing her hair get thinner and thinner. I now feel relieved that we finally cut it and am glad that it looks better. (It had gotten to where it was still long in some places and bare in others). I know that this should be the least of our worries in dealing with this disease, but it has still been a little sad.

before

after