I'm Feeling Better - Praise God!

Well I think it's about time for some good news! I am feeling MUCH better - Praise the Lord! On Friday night I was still having a couple of, what I refer to as, "attacks" where I am in tears because of the pain in my legs and then my hands get this itchy/painful sensation and turn all blotchy. My stomach was also bothering me quite a bit still on Friday and my energy was not so great. Then, Saturday morning I woke up and thought, "Hmmm..I feel pretty good today." I was hesitant at first because I thought that maybe I was just having a good day. However, yesterday and now today have both been good days too, with virtually no pain and much more energy, so I'm thinking now that I'm healed. I still do have a few of those lumps on my legs, but I think they are shrinking. My heart rate has been much better, which I'm not sure if due to the medication I'm on or to the fact that I'm better. Whatever I am healed from, I do not know, but for now I'm extremely thankful to be feeling pretty much like my usual self, physically.

I am also happy to report that our little girl was able to come back home on Sunday after spending several days with her grandparents, while we tried to figure out if I was coming down with something else or not. After a few days of swollen glands and a slightly sore throat, I saw the doctor, who did not think it was much of anything. That, combined with the fact that I've started feeling better, helped us decide that we could bring her back home again. I missed her SO MUCH! Here is the crazy thing; until these last couple of weeks, we had only left her for the whole day (not even the night) ONCE since she was born, and she is almost 15 months old! You can imagine how hard it was for me to be away from her when I was in the hospital 3 nights last weekend and then have to send her to her grandparents for another 3 nights right away again. I know she had a really fun time with her grandparents, though, and I'm pretty sure they enjoyed having her visit, too! However, I am happy to have our little girl HOME! She even slept the WHOLE NIGHT THROUGH at home last night, which, if you know anything about her sleeping history, is pretty much a miracle in and of itself!

We have also been blessed beyond belief these last few weeks with all the people praying and caring for our family during this difficult time. Honestly, it brings me to tears often when I think of the amount of love we have been shown by people we don't even know. Just this evening as I dropped off some dishes at a friend's house from a meal she graciously brought us, someone phoned her and was asking about our daughter and my blog updates. Please know how thankful we are for all of you, from our close friends and family, to people we don't even know. Thank you for your prayers and for your thoughtfulness and help. We have definitely learned how even simple words and acts of kindness can make a huge difference for someone going through a tough time. I know my husband and I have talked a lot about how we need to show more compassion to those around us. It is so silly that it takes something like this to show us how we need to help people more, but it is the truth that God has used this experience to teach us this is something we need to work on.

We are expecting to find out about our daughter's test results this week sometime. We are hoping that the fact we didn't hear anything last week is a good sign. It is a bit strange because part of me feels like everything is almost normal today with me feeling better and our daughter home again and looking good, clinically. Then there's the other part of me that knows that with one phone call from the doctor, everything could get turned upside down again and reality will hit us with the fact that even though our daughter looks healthy on the outside, she is actually a very sick and fragile little girl.

How can you pray?

First of all, praise God that I am feeling so much better right now and that our daughter can be home with us again for now! Praise God that our daughter still has no signs of infection! Pray that we will have test results back this week. We still haven't had a definitive, "No, this isn't cancer", so that is still in the back of our minds. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and us parents as we will likely have to make some decisions as to treatment options for our daughter. Depending on the diagnosis, she may have to be treated with a drug that is quite possibly linked to developing leukemia later on (as high as 20% treated with the drug develop leukemia in 10 years).

Stayed tuned, I'm going to share a picture or two of our little girl next time! With all the people we don't even know praying for her, we figured it might be nice for them to put a face to that little girl they are praying for! Names...well we are going to hold off for now online. If you know us, and want us to publish your comment, please don't refer to our real names. If you prefer, you can leave a comment with our names, and we will definitely read it. However, we probably won't publish it on our blog, just for the sake of being extra safe for now. We DO appreciate all the comments and support, though!