July 1

On June 19th Evelyn was scheduled for her routine lumbar puncture and chemo. Steve was able to go with me so we were all up with the sun and at the hospital by 7:30. After fasting all night Evelyn's stomach was quite upset - she ended up throwing up on the car ride there. Once she got out of the van and into clinic she perked up.

 

Since clinic was busy that day and we were first on the procedure list Evelyn got her IV hooked up while we waited on her blood counts. Unfortunately it was determined that her counts were too low (she was neutrapenic) to go ahead with the lumbar puncture. This came as a surprise because Evelyn had been feeling well and been in a great mood - it all depends on those blood counts. When Evelyn is neutrapenic this means she is at the highest risk for infection/colds/flus and usually procedures aren't done to eliminate that risk of infection. Of course we understood the reasoning but couldn't help but feel disappointed - this meant the lumbar puncture, chemo and steroids all had to be pushed until those counts came back up - treatment was put on hold for the weekend. This was the first time that treatment has been delayed - we are incredibly thankful how well Evelyn has been, it's such a blessing she has stayed healthy and on schedule. We focused on this as we headed home to wait despite the discouraging news. Moments like these humble us, reminding us where to put our focus despite the change of plans, knowing He is in control. It also emphasizes how fragile Evelyn's

immune system is and how careful we have to be to protect that. Since Evelyn's blood counts were just below what they needed to be the doctor told us to come back on Tuesday to try again instead of Thursday. If her counts were good her schedule only shifted a couple days instead of a whole week - this way her schedule is able to be slowly shifted back on track instead of pushed a whole week (adding a week at the end of treatment). We spent the weekend at home with limited visitors and no going out in public to reduce any risk of her catching anything and delaying treatment again. Since steroid weeks tip our life off balance we have planned our summer vacations around those weeks; along with not wanting to add any extra weeks to treatment, it was vital that treatment went ahead on Tuesday. We said a lot of prayers, put our trust in the Lord no matter the outcome and waited for Tuesday.
Tuesday came and back to the hospital we went. Our prayers were answered and those counts were up! Evelyn got hooked up to her IV and we waited our turn.

 

 

A Child Life worker was in the waiting area this time - she was a great distraction for Evelyn while we waited to go in.

 

 

Picking from the treat box

 

 

The lumbar puncture went smooth, we got our prescriptions filled and back home we went.

Steroids have come and gone this past week; we are saying goodbye to Evel and hello to our Evelyn :).

 

 

 

Lindsey and Stephen

 

Deut 8:2-3 "And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."