August 20

Today was procedure day! The plan was to do the bone marrow biopsy, lumbar puncture, an echocardiogram on her heart and insert an NG tube - they like to do as much as possible under one sedation. Evelyn slept all night and is getting more comfortable in her crib. Her procedures were scheduled for somewhere in between 8:00-9:00 in the morning. We were lucky and was able to go at 8:30. She was happy to walk all the way there, a little freedom out of the room. They sedated her quickly, we gave her lots of kisses and prayed the Lord would guide the doctors hands. Everything took about two hours so Steve and I grabbed a quick shower and breakfast and was back when she woke up. She was angry when she first started to come around but soon had us all laughing. It took most of the morning for Evelyn to totally wake up and once she was she decided she didn't want the NG tube up her nose so out it came! Her stomach was upset and got sick a couple times but was her normal self in between :). It was a long day of meeting with doctors discussing details and treatment for Steve and I - a bit exhausting and overwhelming at times. We will not know specific treatment until our results come back tomorrow morning but today they were able to confirm it is ALL type B (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) the most common and treatable leukemia - positive news for us - thank the Lord. Treatment in a nutshell is for the first 4-5 weeks  it will be aggressive and Evelyn will be staying overnight/every day in the hospital. After that she is considered an outpatient and will go back weekly for chemotherapy for the next two years. Early afternoon we were informed there was a chance Evelyn would be getting her Port IV tonight - an IV inserted under the skin connecting to a main artery in the chest - common in cancer patients receiving treatment over a long period of time. This will give Evelyn the freedom in her right arm back and make things like bloodwork easier and quicker. They will also reinsert her NG tube - hopefully this one stays in! :). After a long afternoon of not eating or drinking for Evelyn we were able to get in at 9:30pm for her surgery. It is now 11:15pm and I am cuddling a sleepy baby in recovery - the procedure went well and we will be heading back to our room shortly. Hoping it is a restful night - it's been a long day for our sweet girl. The plan for tomorrow is going over test results and Evelyn's first round of chemotherapy. We cannot express how thankful we are at the amount of prayers and encouraging words from everyone - just when we feel like we are at our end we get another message and are lifted up again.

Psalm 16:8
"I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken"

Lindsey and Steve