Christmas Weekend

We are a bit delayed in our update. As we've said before, no news is good news. Last Thursday Maggie went in for low dose chemo (LD Methotrexate). We found at our visit that Maggie's ANC was 270. This was very low, however her monocytes were extremely high, so the idea was that her counts would be coming back up. We were awaiting Dr. French's okay to travel to Andy's family for Christmas. After seeing her ANC so low, I was very doubtful, but being that her monocytes were high, he said it was fine to go.

So, that's what we did this past weekend. We were able to celebrate Christmas with the Bixler's and also watch some of the Messiah on Sunday. It was good to see several people from the church who we hadn't seen since diagnosis. They were able to see Maggie and we were able to fellowship with them briefly.

We left late Sunday evening for the 3 hour trip back. Maggie has never been one to travel well, especially since her diagnosis. She actually did very well by sleeping the first 45 minutes and then talking to herself and eventually being entertained by me. Maggie has become the night owl, wanting to go to bed between 12:00am and 1:30am. We need to get her off of that cycle because both Andy and I are whipped by the end of the day. On the other hand, she does then sleep in until 9:30 or 10:00, which is nice.

Since we have returned from Bixler Christmas, Maggie has not wanted to sleep in her crib. She will sleep the first hour or two, but after that she will cry without ceasing until she is picked up and held. Eventually, after calming her down, we are able to put her in our bed so that we might all get some sleep. Not at all the ideal situation. It doesn't take her much to get set back.

Tomorrow we go back into the clinic for more low dose chemo. We will get her counts checked and hopefully will be given the okay to go back up to my family's side to celebrate Christmas. Continue to pray that Maggie will steer clear of any side effects to the low dose chemo she is getting weekly and daily. Pray that Maggie will not get any infections or viruses as she is around other people more often.

Thank you all for your prayers, emails and letters of encouragement, and gifts. We appreciate all the support we have received from those we know and those we've encountered through this experience.