Hope4Peyton

Today is donation drop off day for Peyton-Palooza, so there will be no big updates until the shindig is officially over. But there should be a good one after with details, pictures and scratch and sniff extras!

PRAY PRAY PRAY!

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—Anissa

Pete made the blanket statement "Is everyone back to feeling healthy again?"

Leave it up to ever practical Nathaniel to state it baldly "Yeah, except for Peyton's cancer, we're all good!" Right….except for that cancer thing we're the picture of health. That darn cancer is always ruining the health curve in our house.

Rachael had a huge landmark of childhood today! She lost her first tooth. Gaping hole, she ran around gleefully shoving her bloody little tooth in my face shouting "I pulled it out all by myself and it didn't even hurt, and I thought it was going to hurt, but I pulled it out….I am tough!" Mind you, the thing was hanging by a whisper thin, butterfly eyelash piece of gum fiber…but yes, the actual final pulling is a monumental thing and we are very hopeful that the Tooth Fairy doesn't forget and pass out on the couch before making her nightly deposit tonight.

We went to the free weekly movie our local theatre puts on during the summer….14 theaters full of kids…I mean, packed like sardines full…they don't even bother to show that "please don't add your own soundtrack, don't make noise" pre-movie warnings…why waste the electricity?

The three kids and I trekked up to the clinic today where it was confirmed that Peyton's spots are definitely not chicken pox related (yeah!) and she got her chemo (boo!) and her counts were low (boo!) but we did get our roadmap that starts us into maintenance (yeah!). Wow…all that emotion…are you feeling drained?

We are rolling safely into Peyton-Palooza weekend…threats of plague, fevers and other hospital-related ick are for the most part behind us! I say that knowing that "all plans are subject to change in the blink of an eye". We are also praying that the 50% chance of rain falls in our favor! Please pray with us on that one.

We remain in prayer for [url=http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nikkihawkins]Nikki Hawkins[/url]…her fever has finally broken at last update and they think that they will be able to transport her home to receive the rest of her 9 days of treatment for the arm infection at All Children's Hospital. We are hopeful that this will happen so that she can be back where she's familiar and so that she and her mom Penny can see her brothers Will and Jared more frequently. I know one of the hardest parts of being stuck in Orlando for Penny has been the extended stay away from her boys. So we just pray that the Lord keeps Nikki safe and continues to provide healing for her sick little body and patience and strength for the whole family.

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
–Anissa

I told Peyton to do something today and she walked away muttering "Blah blah blah".

It's wrong to beat your kids…it's wrong to beat your kids…it's wrong to beat your kids…….

I'm glad to report that Rachael's chicken pox are now completely crustified, Nathaniel is fever-free and bouncing off the walls with the energy that only 9 year old bodies can contain, and Peyton has no new spots! It is a good day.

Because we were trapped at home one last day before I unleash the Mayhew hounds of plague on the general public, it was a keep 'em busy or they'll drive me wild sort of day. We constructed a nice fort in the living room, I made them clean for a while (because I like to torture them just a little bit) and then I promised them the sun, moon and stars….basically, the free movie in the morning, a McDonalds lunch and a trip to Target if no one gets sick during the night. This is the deal I made with them, I will take you places and let you be around other human beings again if you swear to keep your little germy bodies under control! As if this were all their doing.

We also have a late afternoon chemo trip to the clinic to make up for our "we don't get nothing?" appointment on Monday. As long as her counts are good, we should be seeing the last of our Delayed Intensification 2 round and head swiftly into maintenance!!

Hallelujah!!

And then only 24 more months of treatment to go. 730 days. 17520 hours. 1,051,200 minutes left.

Well, that was a little depressing. That's why I dislike math.

But this does mean that we've gotten through the roughest part of it, the 4 times a week trips to the clinic, the radiation, the hair loss. We now have clinic chemo once a month, count checks every other week, chemo and other meds to take at home around the freaking clock at home, but it IS at home! It just feels good to know that we've made it this far, getting to maintenance is a landmark…we're just that much closer to being done with treatment. And now I can watch her hair grow back and know that it's here to stay this time….3 times it came out completely, and now we should be done with all of that.

It's 10 PM, Peyton's still awake in her bed, but she's spent the last three nights going to bed in the room she shares with Rachael and not coming in "until the sun comes up"….I still wake up with her cuddled up next to me, but it's progress. She's fought going to bed EVERY night…tonight she got her little fanny smacked…but it's a step towards getting her back to what the rest of her life is going to be….I guess, now the preferential treatment has to stop and we have to move forward in all the things we've let slide. It's time to get back to business on the potty-training and getting rid of the binkies, and sleeping through the night in her own bed….we aren't asking for much….just the whole world as far as she's concerned.

We got a write up in the [url=http://www.ospreyobserver.com/200706/story404.shtml]Osprey Observer[/url] here in Brandon, a small local newspaper, for the Peyton-Palooza. Anyone interested in coming out to lend a hand on Friday or Saturday is more than welcome to come, we're sure to find something for you to do. We are also just jazzed about the number of calls and offers of stuff! It's going to be such a fun day, I can't wait.

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
—Anissa

What a day!

Nathaniel is maintaining…not much better….but no worse….and NO bumps or red spots for him. He's still running a low grade fever and is complaining of a headache and on/off stomach ache. I know that it's just a high grade paranoia, but because we're creeping up on July…my least favorite month of the year (the month I had a stroke in 2005, the month Peyton was diagnosed in 2006) I feel dread at any big stir in our waters. Random unexplained fevers last June led us to cancer in July….the thought just makes me a little sick inside, but I know that it's just a bug, it will pass and I will come to grips with the fact that my every time my kids get sick it WILL NOT lead to a critical illness. I almost wish he would come down with chicken pox so I could know that "Yes, that is what it is".

Rachael is doing awesome, her spots are starting to clear up already and she's just a little itchy on her back. The doc had told me that since her symptoms were mild and her rash was small, that even though it was definitely chicken pox, it would probably be an easy case. Easy case for her, rough on the rest of us as we wait and see what will happen for Peyton. But Rachael is cruising through, feeling fine and sassy as ever.

Peyton's clinic visit was uneventful. She didn't get her port accessed, she went straight into a room for isolation, she didn't get her chemo because of the uncertainty regarding some spots she's popped up with and her reaction was "I'm not getting nothing?" Like, "Lady, you make me put on cream, you drive me all the way up here and all so the doctor can draw circles on me with a Sharpie?" Yeah, pretty much. When we got to the clinic they noticed some red spots on Peyton…no biggie in the grand scheme of things, but in the face of potential chicken pox, a giant pain the butt. They don't look like pox bumps, but with her being vaccinated AND in the throes of chemotherapy, they can't say for sure what form chicken pox might take. So, as a laugh in the face of medical science we simply got out a marker and circled all the current spots and I've got a different colored marker to watch for any new bumps or spots that may breakout.

I loved the conversation with Peyton explaining that you have to be a doctor to be able to use a marker on yourself or others without getting in trouble. She may seriously consider a career in the medical field simply so she can wield a Sharpie with the MD to back her up. I can see her now "Mom said I could write on you when I finished medical school, Rachael!"

Here's the deal with the mystery vaccine. The manufacturer now only supplies the vaccine for specific clinical study situations, and because Peyton's initial diagnostic blood work showed that she had a high immunity for chicken pox she doesn't qualify to get the vaccine as a safety precaution. Because of the chemotherapy, she may no longer have that immunity, but that doesn't matter…it's the initial counts back in July of last year that they go with. So, unless she comes down with what they feel is a confirmed case of chicken pox, she can't get the vaccine.

If she should get a lot more spots, the become more pox-like, she gets a fever to go along with the spots or if she breaks out in a rash of feathers or grows a beak…then we go to the hospital. Not just for the one time vaccine shot…for a minimum 7 day treatment of vaccine shots. Sweet! I can always use more quality time with the nurses and staff at the hospital. But, seriously, her current spots are very sporadic and I haven't noticed anything new and interesting so far. No fever. I'm praying that if she's going to get chicken pox, it'll be conscientious enough to wait until Sunday so that she and I can be at the Peyton-Palooza this weekend. I'd hate for her to miss her own fundraiser, but que sera sera, right?

The rest of the week is just prepping for the yard sale..pulling together last minute stuff and staying organized. In the face of all that has gone haywire this weekend, it has seemed like the yard sale is needed more than ever, but is also this huge commitment. But I have faith that even if Peyton and I do happen to get stuck at the hospital or whatever calamity might befall us, it will go off without a hitch because I have an amazing group of friends supporting us and backing us up on this! I just want to mention a huge THANK YOU to Lisa Bedrosia, Chris Toth, Kathy Vida, Kim Kennedy, Sarah Feakes, Linda Linderman, Wendy McPike, Baylife Church, Heather Duckworth, Sherry Tucker, Holly Wirth, Melanie Shenning and the Blooms (which sounds like a great doo-wap band, right?), and Monica Tappan. It's just phenomenal to see the angels that the Lord puts around you to protect you and uplift you and support you when you need it most and these are some of my most precious Angels.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—Anissa

Extra prayer request!
[url=http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nikkihawkins]Nikki Hawkins[/url] is still admitted at Arnold Palmer in Orlando. An infection that she got in her arm due to an IV has spread and is causing HIGH fevers and much of the problems she is having. According to Penny, Nikki was to have an MRV…like an MRI, but of the veins…and it appears to be a deep tissue infection. It could require surgery and I know that Penny is so afraid for her sweet daughter and that Nikki is in a lot of pain and sufferering right now. Please keep this family in prayers for answers and a solution and for guidance and wisdom for the doctors treating Nikki.

Can I just share with you that God works to make His moments POP??

I was sitting here with a phone book in my lap, stressing out about finding a decent person to come out and work on the washing machine. I have this "thing" about new repair people, I am so not mechanically inclined so when they tell me something is wrong and it's going to cost xxx amount I just have to trust them on it. I hate not understanding what's going on, so that really bugs me. And I'm praying "Please, Lord, don't let the repair be more than the cost of a new washer. I'd love a new washing machine, but now is just not the time."

But I'm going to find someone because I don't like to stink!

Here's the cool God-steps-in-and-works-His-mojo part! I no more than open the first page of the phone book than an email comes in….it's from [url=http://www.givinghopethroughfaith.org]Sherry Tucker[/url]….and it says this (I'll paraphrase)

"[url=http://www.brandonfoundation.com/]Brandon Foundation….Angels Among Us[/url]…local businesses help cancer families with home repairs….washer bad….help good….would you mind if I set it up?"

I swear that's about all the words I saw! Would I mind? Are you kidding me? That's the best news I've had all weekend. AWESOME! I am ever thankful for the ways that the Lord reaches out to remind us no matter how much of a load we carry, His plan is to show us that if our faith is in Him He will show us His power to shoulder that burden and carry it for us.

It's not every day you're praying and God answers via email AS you're praying, so that's a pretty cool way to start off my day and week.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
–Anissa