Hope4Peyton

I had to add this to today's postings.

I explained about Becky McDaniel's mother and her new breast cancer diagnosis.

This afternoon I received an email from a friend Jennifer with news that her mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. She'd beat it when Jennifer was a child and now she's battling again.

I also received word from the mother of one of our magazine cover kids, Kate Perkins. Basi, the mother, posted that her mother is waiting to get a definite answer about whether a breast biopsy discovered cancer.

This is just three of the women, mothers, wives, daughters, friends, and brave warriors who are entering into this fight. Let's keep them in special prayer.

Please make sure you take the time to get the preventative checkups that help detect problems early. I don't want to have to blog a post like this one again.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—-Anissa

Today at clinic Peyton’s counts came back decent. Her platelet count and ANC both went up…yeah!….her hemoglobin stayed the same….and I am thrilled with that. She won’t have to go back in for any blood products this week and barring any fevers that gives us a whole week clinic-free! Whooo hoooo!

I talked to Dr. Kerr about her consistent leg pain, it is always worse at night when it really hits her because she’s slowed down. I explained my anxiety at memories of her nights just prior to diagnosis when she woke in much the same manner, screaming in pain in the dead of night. With her counts staying steady at this point, it’s a good sign that it’s not relapse related. She’s pretty certain that it is all just side effect from her Vincristine and will eventually start to subside. That’s a huge relief and just gives my heart a little peace. We will continue to give her pain medication to get through the worst of it.

We go back on Monday for the last dose of chemo for Interim Maintenance 2, then we start up one of the more miserable parts of treatment, Delayed Intensification 2. As you can guess from the #2 following DI, this will be the second time we’ve done this round. It was fairly awful the first time around and Peyton was feeling a lot better in January. This round involves 3 weeks of steroids….its like an Iron Chef audition every day…Doxirubicin, which will make the head of peach fuzz she’s been steadily growing start falling out again (but this should be the last time!) and Ara-C and Cytoxin, which are two meds that drop her counts like lead balloons and a bunch of other meds that just add confetti to the party. Throughout this phase she stays steady on treatment, they don’t hold anything due to low counts or fevers, the only reason they will hold chemo is if she gets a serious infection.

I really hate that this is coming up because, like I said before, the last time she did this round she was bouncing back a lot quicker. Her body has really taken a beating and is showing the signs and isn’t rebounding a rapidly now. I’m just constant in prayer that her little body will withstand this last cycle of chemo with all the strength that God can give her.

After that 8 week cycle is done she will start her radiation treatment at St. Joseph’s Hospital, and then we will start maintenance.

The kids’ school had a Parent Appreciation spaghetti dinner tonight. We’re talking free food, that I don’t have to cook and I don’t have to clean up….this is my kind of meal!! But beyond the food was the awesome time to spend with the other families, just talking and sharing and laughing. It was so much fun and we are so thankful to have our kids in a school were they are caring of the families that are a part of the overall school family. I talked to so many other parents that I don’t often have a chance to sit and visit with, I got to love on new babies and gave many updates on Peyton.

I also got some sad news. One of my absolute favorite people at our school, Becky McDaniels (Nathaniel’s 2cnd grade teacher, and will be moving up to be his 4th grade teacher as well) got the news today that her mother has breast cancer. Having gone through this with my own mother, I know the fear and pain she feels at what her mother is about to undergo, this is a person who has spent her life caring and nurturing you and suddenly she is the one who is going to be the one who needs to be cared for. It’s frightening and I am so thankful that she has such a strong faith in God’s ability to work a bigger plan that we have.

There was other news that some teachers are moving on to other jobs, some are deciding to stay home and a staff member is retiring. Mrs. Anne Fisher has been manning the front desk of our school for years and I know there is some fear that the day she leaves the entire school will just crumble into a pile of rocks. She knows each student by name, can tell you everyone’s schedule, she’s the go-to gal for any information that you need to know about the school. I’m pretty sure that under her clothes is a superhero costume with a huge S for Super Secretary!!

As sad as I am to see her go, I am seriously wondering if God is opening a door for me. I’ve been thinking about ways that I can go back to work and help with the kids’ tuition, something that has just been out of the realm of possibility throughout Peyton’s treatment. I also wanted a way to give something back to our school who has been so supportive and encouraging through the struggle of my stroke and her cancer. If Peyton handles maintenance well, if a lot of things play out correctly and if it is God’s will for me to be find a position in the school, then maybe this will work out. This would not only allow me to have the kids’ schedule, it would also help with tuition costs. So, let’s keep this in prayer as I go to speak with the principal and see what the future holds. It may be hard to want to hire someone who has to drop everything for an unspecified amount of time at a moment’s notice, so pray that we are shown the right thing to do.

Peyton and I took a long and lovely nap this afternoon, I think I may finally be back on my feet from the Relay. I just can’t hang like I used to. My mom made fun of the fact that I’m getting too old to stay up all night….thanks, Mom….glad to know you’re enjoying this. Much like the way she laughs when I call to complain that my kids are driving me crazy, or gets tickled at some story I’ll share about how one of the kids did something completely insane…..Mom’s prayers have been answered. When your mom says “I hope you have kids just like you someday!”…thanks, Mom.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—-Anissa

I have really neglected the gallery, choosing to post pictures during each individual post, but I put up some new albums and you may have seen some of the pictures, but some are new.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—Anissa

It’s Saturday night, I’ve had about 2.5 hours of sleep in the past 39 hours and I finally got a shower so I’m not scaring myself. Because I was so busy during the event I took no pictures….I know!…..can you believe it?…but many good friends took pictures and I will be posting them as they trickle in to me. I can’t wait to share them with you, many are unforgettable.

By the time Relay finally started I was so excited that it was finally actually happening, but I was equally happy it was almost over. In the morning, driving away from the field, sore and exhausted, my heart filled with the most extraordinary memories, I was sad to see it gone and full of excitement for next year.

Friday morning we had friends dropping off all kinds of baked goods for the bake walk portion of our relay fundraiser. They were amazing…frankly I’m surprised some of them even made it out of the house, but we showed incredible control and got them all to the camp site. My friend Kathy brought a trailer that we packed to the gills with tents, chairs, coolers, a helium tank donated by our friends the Schallers, our auction Cracker Barrel rocking chair and as much of the stuff that we could imagine we’d require. That’s not including the hoards of stuff we had filling the Suburban.

After we made a trip to pick up the kids so they could be a part of the set up process, we hit the USF soccer field. **Future Relay Rule #1 When picking out the campsite, make sure to find out where the parking lot is in reference to the camp sites so that you are not carrying all your belongings….HEAVY belongings….across the length and width of a soccer field. Wow, one heck of a workout! It was hot, sunny and I felt like a work horse. We got the site set up and for the most part put together with the help of Kathy, our neighbor Greg and another dear friend Lisa Bedrosian.

We decided to make a run home because we still had lots of things to take up, namely baked items and item items that we were afraid would walk away if no one was there to watch the site. On our way we ended up getting stuck in terrible traffic….go figure for Friday night at 5:00 pm on a major highway. We did make it on time, but pretty much everyone else, my parents included, got stuck in the traffic mess made by a chemical spill on the highway.

Once everyone got there and we got tents set up, got the auction boxes ready to rock and roll and had mountains of cakes, cookies and brownies displayed to their maximum appeal, it was already time for the events to start. In fact, we were running so far behind that they started the Survivor lap before we were able to get Survivor t-shirts for Peyton and my mom. But, we made it to the track, Peyton in her stroller and my mom really wishing she’s found a bathroom first, and we walked.

—Ok….it’s officially Sunday afternoon because I was too tired to continue to write….I HAD to nap or it was possible that my eyeballs were going to fall out of my head.
So, I’ll start back where I left off….

It was perfect, hot and sweaty, rushed and stressed about the details not taken care of….it was perfect. That moment made me realize why I was there and why all these people were there. I was walking on that track with my mother, who survived breast cancer, and my daughter who in the fight of her life….for her life….and everything just fell away. I thanked God for the pure joy of that moment when I realized how truly blessed I am to be a part of the lives of these two brave people. All the stress that had really been building up in the face of preparation and wanting everything to be perfect for this day just rolled away and I was at peace with God’s purpose and will for this event. He provided a “This is why I brought you here” and I felt it with so much thanks that it was hard not to just start bawling through the walk….but I was in such a rush that I forgot to take any Kleenex and I refused to snot all the way around the track.

During the Survivor lap, all the team members line the track and applaud the walkers, and Peyton really grooved on that. She did a lot of waving and smiling and basking. It was wonderful to walk around near our camp site and see the faces of our friends and family giving extra loud encouragement and feeling the love that rolled over us in waves. **Relay Rule #2 Do Not forget to take your Kleenex during the Survivor lap.

We were well behind all the other Survivor walkers because of our slightly late start and for a while we were the only ones walking and Peyton looked up at me and said “Mommy, I think we’re winning!”

There is so much to tell you, so much that I could go on for hours and hours about all the fun and events and the wonderful people we met, but if you want to know the realness of all of it, you have to come out and participate next year. I can’t encourage you enough to get some of this goodness for yourself.

I do have to name some super special people who were involved in making this day happen for us, the ones who came, the ones who helped, the ones who baked, the ones who slept in tents, the ones who helped us bring this day to reality.

-The Greg, Theresa, Matthew and Carl Wynn
-Kathy, Mike, Savannah and Garrett Vida
-Kim, Bud, Lily and Jesse Kennedy
-Chris, Paige and Morgan Toth
-Monica, Scott, Corey, Chase and Carson Tappan
-JuLee Chaffee
-Wendy, Brian and Alyssa McPike
-The Brian Raulerson family
-Lisa, Josiah, Luke, Ester, Grace, Isaac, Daniel Bedrosian and all the Bedrosians that wanted to come but were with us in prayer
-Jonalynn and Dave Waldman
-The Poole family
-Paul and Amy Carlucci
-The Lehtola family
-Maryellen, Justin, Jacob and James Flint
-Jill, Wade, Kyle (bless his jogging little heart), Lauren and Brookie Bonilla
-Sarah, Ivan, Emily and Eden Feakes
-Jennifer, Justin and Meghan Fletcher
-My mom and Dad, Dale and Dixie Means
-My mother in law, Sharon Mayhew
-Doug, Angela, Bowen, Mason and Adelaine Powell

-ALL those who prayed for this event, those who brought us baked items that helped make our bake walk such a success (and our stomachs a little happier) and donated items that helped us raise almost 900 dollars for the night!!!

Team Peyton still has some money to turn in, but at this point we’ve raised over 4100$ at this point! What a blessing and success and I am just full of thanks to God and to all of you who donated online and helped make this possible. ***Relay Rule #3 Start Fundraising earlier so that we are able to stay in first place!

We had so much fun throughout the night. There was incredible energy in the event and all the people there were as wrapped up in the purpose of the night and that made for an amazing overall feeling.

Peyton was in a state of bliss with so much to do, friends to play with and endless opportunity to play. She got to take a ride around the track in a wagon decorated to look like a taxi cab, she got to smash many whipped cream pies into someone’s face (which she looooved apparently) and had her best friend Adelaine there to spend the night. It was so good that in the morning when we started to take down the tents, Adelaine started to cry because she didn’t want to leave! Peyton was hard core, she didn’t fall asleep until well after 1 AM. We met some lovely girls from the Tri-Delta sorority who were enamored of Peyton and Adelaine. The national charity that they support is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and these two little girls really brought home what they do work for. They invited us to be a part of a fundraising effort that they are doing later in the month as guests and I thought that was so sweet.

Rachael frolicked around all night, playing games and eating only who knows how many different forms of junk food. She had several friends there to run with throughout the night and took full advantage of the freedom to run wild and enjoy the night. She was a huge help in running the bake walk, bossing people around and loving every minute of it. She even walked a few laps. ***Relay Rule #4 Don’t bother bringing our own food when there is unlimited amounts of junk food at your disposal, and it’s all in the name of fundraising!

“Sport Nathaniel” came out and participated in much of the activity of the night. He played 5 games of volleyball with the college students, and they were awesome in letting him play. Never did they turn him away or play around him. In fact, he told me yesterday “I really think I was their strongest player”…bless all of them for being big enough of heart to know that winning was not as important as making a young boy’s desire to be involved the priority. He also had many of his friend there to play with throughout the night and a whole soccer field at their disposal…he didn’t finally drop into a tent until 4 AM when I made him go to bed.

All of the kids who were there got involved by selling helium balloons, we actually ran out of string before they were done. They were thrilled to be involved and it was so fun to watch the excitement in their faces as they came back with their quarters and dollars. **Relay Rule #5 No one can turn down anything sold to them by a child….next year the balloons are going for 100$

Because of all the generous help we had, Peter and I were able to have the time to enjoy some of the relay events too. Peter, Lisa Bedrosian, Carl and Greg Wynn got to participate in a poker tournament and Lisa came back with a winning poker bracelet!!! GO Lisa! I got a track ride in the Taxi Wagon as well….I felt reallllly bad for the guy who had to pull me, but hey, he earned his buck, right? I had Peter thrown into jail at the Moffit Cancer Center site, but he was almost immediately bailed out by some generous soul.

I can’t count the number of people who commented on the wall of cancer kids that we had displayed. Every time I got tired, I would look up at them and remember why we were there and get a burst of energy. I gave out tons of brochures for different pediatric cancer groups, encouraging people to get involved in other ways. Those faces, the stark reality of seeing Peyton and Adelaine’s sweet little faces roaming our campsite with such happiness and energy was touching to so many. I’m glad, because if Peyton’s going to have to have cancer, then we’re going to use it to make people aware, to pull at those heartstrings and make them want to do something. This is one of those great goods that God provides that can come out of a great bad that has happened.

We saw some of the USF students that volunteer at our clinic participating in different teams, they were excited to see Peyton and she didn’t recognize them out of their clinic shirts! Nikki Hawkins, one of our magazine cover kids and her family came out in support of our efforts and it meant a lot to see her out there. They have their own Relay event next weekend in Temple Terrace where she’s the honorary chairperson, but they came out to encourage us as well. This is what the cancer family does, we support each other!

There is so much more I could tell you about the night, but this would go on forever and I just want you all to know that it was everything I had prayed for and more. God had His powerful hand in orchestrating the night and I just give Him so much thanks and praise for giving us this chance to do His work. Our pastor Mark spoke today about every day heroes, the one who are able to do extraordinary things in ordinary circumstances, and I just think that God has given us this cancer as a chance to do extraordinary things.

Thank you thank you thank you to all those who participated and helped and donated! Be prepared because next year is just 356 days away! ***Relay Rule #6 Work towards doubling the number of people involved for next year and sharing the wealth of fun and memories!

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—Anissa

ps…As pictures of Relay come in from all sources, I will be posting them to whatever post is handy….it will seem random, but hey, isn't life anyway??

This is the TEAM PEYTON Volleyball team who was, and let me just say this with extreme pride….UNDEFEATED!!! Yes, all those 20 something college students and our team of dads, moms and kids triumphed!

I’m tired….I’m worn out…I’m going to make this brief.

Anissa = tired, RELAY-overload, house is wrecked with Relay stuff, I’m covered in a fine layer of glue and I’m hoping to get to bed and sleep enough to make up for what I’m not going to get tomorrow night.

Peter = at this very moment gluing informative sheets to a poster board for Relay…while I ponder how exactly I had planned to display these boards…hmmmmmm

Nathaniel = bummed because I’m making him go to school tomorrow and not allowing him to come help set up for Relay, unknowing that I’m secretly plotting to pull him out of school half day so that I can work him like a small pack mule!!

Rachael = sleeping soundly in the knowledge that she has been and always will be a princess.

Peyton = sleeping soundly because I drugged her out of her gourd! Yes, I gave her pain meds before bed tonight because last night she woke out of a dead sleep screaming like her pajamas were on fire. This went on for quite a while until she calmed down and the pain medication I gave her kicked in. It was miserable and freaky because it flashed me back to the nights just prior to her diagnosis when she woke up screaming from pain. That time her body was so packed with leukemia cells that she was in miserable agony….I’m praying that this time it’s simply a reaction to her medications. We are heading back to the clinic on Monday and we’ll see what the doctor has to say about all of this, it may just be a part of her neuropathy. Whatever it is, it’s painful for her and it’s painful for us to watch and not be able to do anything for her except drug her.

Please pray for good weather, a great turn out and for an improvement in Peyton’s pain situation. We are anticipating a great time and looking forward to a night to remember.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—-Anissa