Been a few days

Took a few days off from writing.

Tomorrow is Alivia's surgery to put in her port. I'm relieved that she won't have to get stuck anymore and that we got to pick the type of port. We picked the mediport which is under the skin. Each time we go to the doctor we will put a little numbing cream over it and she won't even feel the stick. The other kind (broviac) just seemed way to much. She wouldnt have been able to take bathes (only sponge bathes) or swim, we would have had to change the dressings all the time (especially cause she gets so sweaty) and how do you tell Alivia, let alone all the other kids, not to touch the tubes hanging out of her body. We truly feel that this is the best for Alivia. So tomorrow around 2 she will be in her surgery. It is supposed to take about an hour. We have to arrive at 9:30 so she can get platelettes. It will be a long day, made longer by the no food rule. Alivia can't eat food after midnight and no formula after 8am. Hopefully there will be enough going on that she won't realize how long its been since she's eaten. My dad will be with me all day and James will come to the hospital around noon. Pray for us and for my mom who has to work and can't be here. She has the hardest role tomorrow...that of waiting for news.


Thursday was a good day as we send...but I got a reality check. That was the hardest part of the day. We saw a family who was in the hospital with us when we started the chemo. Their little boy (who is 3) had just been diagnosed with ALL. They were definetly in shock. When you are diagnosed things happen so fast. Their little boy was an extremely active, talkative, happy 3 yr old. So we saw them on Thursday and I was shocked. I would never have recognized him. He lost all of his hair and has gained 8 pounds in 2 weeks from the steroids. He was crying the entire time they were there and just miserable. I got to see what I've been praying for. I often find myself asking that Alivia's leukemia would turn into ALL (one of the possibilities) because it was the "easy" kind. I had no idea how sick she would get if she had that kind or how fast it would happen. I guess I thought it would be, well, easy. Obviously not. Now I'm just praying for a miracle.

Thanks to the Hughes for their generous gift. We are so blessed.

Pray for...
...surgery (good results, easy recover..etc)
...her teeth (she's gotten 6 in 3 weeks and is probably working on at least 3 more)
...peace for all of us.
...some sleep tonight. On average she is getting up 4-8 times a night. It is so hard for me to keep it all going on that little sleep.