January 7

Happy New Year to all! Our Christmas was a busy and eventful one. Evelyn stayed healthy and her immune system was up so we were able to attend all our family events. Unfortunately I'm having trouble uploading my pictures so this post will just be a quick update :).
In between the celebrations we had a couple clinic visits. The day after Boxing Day was clinic day - we were told to come bright and early, it was suppose to be busy since they had been closed the previous two days. We must have got there just at the right time because we were in and out in under an hour - our fastest visit yet! :). Evelyn's blood work showed she was neutrapenic that day - there's a certain point (or number) they go by to tell where her immune system is at. This means she was at a greater risk of getting an infection or sick. Our nurse told us it should start to go up over the week. Until then we stayed home and away from people to ensure Evelyn stayed healthy.
Unfortunately the next week proved our longest visit. Because of the crazy snowstorm that hit on Thursday we made it two minutes down the road before realizing we would never make it to Hamilton safe so we went in Friday instead.
Every other week one of the chemo drugs Evelyn gets is a bit of a longer process - a needle is inserted into her port and an IV hooked up, the chemo runs through for an hour then her blood pressure gets checked three times after it's done. This drug is called Oncaspar. On the other weeks she doesn't get hooked up to an IV - her port is accessed, chemo pushed right through her needle then she is de-accessed and we go home. This week Evelyn was scheduled to receive her Oncaspar. It was really busy so Evelyn was one of the last ones to get taken care of. The chemo was going smooth but over the course of the morning Steve and I noticed a few spots making their appearance on her legs and belly. The doctor checked her out and prescribed something for a yeast infection (she had a bit of a rash on her bum so the doctor figured it must have been travelling up a little since there were only a couple other spots). Once her chemo was finished and nurse was taking out her needle I noticed a bigger spot on her neck. The nurse suggested we take off her shirt so the doctor could get a better look - we then noticed the rash had spread to her arms, most of her stomach and cheeks. The doctor was called in again to take a better look - between her and the three other nurses they figured it might have been an allergic reaction to the Oncaspar. They weren't 100% sure so in two weeks they will try the drug again and if Evelyn gets the same reaction her treatment might have to alter a bit since she can no longer use that drug. This makes us a little nervous but we will cross that bridge when/if we come to it :). The nurse gave Evelyn some Benadryl and we were told to wait it out for a little bit - see if the rash changes at all. We hung around for about two more hours - the rash was less red but still very much there. Because she wasn't experiencing any other signs of a reaction (trouble breathing, etc) we were able to go home and advised to come back if the rash got worse. Thankfully by dinner time the rash was pretty much gone.
Evelyn was also sick for about 24hrs over the holidays so of course that tube came out again. The tube was put back in on that same clinic day so needless to say it was a long morning for Evelyn and she was wiped by the time we rolled in the driveway at 3:00pm.
We are knee deep in steroids and colds right now, symptoms turned up to the max and someone's asking for more chips right now, so until next time :).

Lindsey and Stephen

Romans 8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."