Home!

We are home! Madeline is feeling a little bit icky, but laying on your own couch makes everything better. Thank you for all the extra prayers. 

Wednesday

I'm sitting here enjoying my cup of hospital coffee and thinking of all the people and things I am thankful for. We really are so loved, and we are thankful for it. When this all started back in August, I worried that our friends would, in time, forget and move on. I'm so incredibly thankful they have not. We are fervently praying that this will be over in the spring and things will go back to normal. It is such a huge prayer, but today, it seems in reach. 

Madeline had the first of two chemo doses last night and is still snoozing away this morning. She will have the second dose tonight around 10, and if all goes well we will be home tomorrow. The DVD player in our room wasn't working yesterday so they wheeled in an Xbox cart to watch movies on until it was fixed. Ben brought her Disney Infinity game to the hospital last night and they played for a long time. It was some nice mid-week family fun. Today she will finish up the rest of her school work, do some physical therapy and hopefully be feeling good. She walked the loop here at the hospital yesterday putting some weight on her leg so I'm hopeful she will be up moving around more soon. 

Please pray that the side-effects are minimal, and she continues to progress with her physical therapy. 

Hopefully my next update will be that we are home! 

Update

Madeline's appointments yesterday went well. The surgeon was pleased with her healing so far, and put her in a knee brace and an ankle/foot support. Her leg weighs about 25 pounds less without that huge splint! She can start to put a little weight on her left leg in about a week, but he told her to take it easy for a few more days. He also signed off on starting chemo next week, which made her oncologists happy. 

The preliminary result from the pathology is a necrosis rate of 85-90% which is great news! She will start chemo again this Tuesday and have 12 more rounds over the next 18 weeks. In about 80% of osteosarcoma patients cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body, so they do chemo after the surgery to make sure the cancer is gone for good. It looks like she will be done with chemo in mid-April if we stay on track. 

She is in good spirits despite being couch-bound for a few more days. Her head is very fuzzy, which is a good reminder that her hair WILL grow back when this is all done. The foot drop is making her pretty upset, but I think once she can bend her knee, she will see that the foot drop isn't that bad and the doctor was pretty sure she will be able to compensate for it and resume her regular activities. There is also a tendon transfer surgery that would fix it that she could have once her treatment is over. 

Thank you for praying over our girl. Looking forward to the weekend at home, and then starting the next phase. One step closer to the finish line! Enjoy the weekend!  

Go ARMY, beat navy!!!

Couch life and crutches

No big news here. Madeline is doing well, despite being stuck on the couch. She definitely thinks couch-life and crutches are overrated. She isn't taking any more pain meds - she is truly #madelinestrong!  

Thursday we will go for a follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon. We are hoping he will let her put some weight on her left leg, and change to a lighter and less restrictive splint. The way her leg is wrapped now makes everything hard!  After that appointment she will have her weekly clinic visit for blood work at the oncologist and hopefully they will have her pathology report. Praying so hard for a high necrosis rate from the tumor they removed. I know her oncology doctors are anxious to resume chemo, and most likely it will be next week if the surgeon signs off on it. This would give us the best chance of being home for Christmas.  

For now she is watching Christmas movies and working on school work. Thank goodness for ABC family and the Hallmark channel. She did manage to scoot her way up the stairs this afternoon and was happy to spend time in her room. 

I did want to share that my FMLA days ran out and I had to resign from my teaching position a few weeks ago. Please say an extra prayer for my sweet first grade students and for my team. I miss my school family so much. I am thankful that I saved almost every penny I made in the last four years for college (well, there might have been a few cruises in there) but that income was always extra. Brad has an amazing job with fabulous health insurance that supports us, so we will be okay. I am praying that I will be able to return to teaching next year when Madeline is a cancer-free 8th grader!

Thank you for continuing to pray for Madeline. We are so thankful for you all. We feel so blessed.

Home!

We are home! Madeline was doing so well she was released last night. Her pain seems to be manageable, but her awesome skills on crutches are what really impressed them and probably earned her the golden ticket home. Her leg is splinted from thigh to toe so it's pretty difficult to get around, but she's doing well. We will visit with the surgeon again next week and then most likely restart chemo the week of the 14th. She will have another 12 rounds of chemo to ensure she remains cancer free! They sent the tumor to pathology and we are praying for a high necrosis rate, which is how they measure cell death of the tumor. We are so happy the surgery is over and Madeline is on the road to recovery! 

Tuesday

Just a quick update on our sweet girl. She made it through the night pushing her little pain pump button. It makes a little sound when she pushes it that reminds me of when PacMan gobbles up the cherry. The surgeon's PA stopped by and reiterated that everything went according to plan. They removed part of her fibula and with it that awful tumor! He had to reattach one of her ligaments to her knee which will make her recovery a little more difficult because she won't be able to put any weight on her left leg for a couple of weeks. The physical therapist already stopped by and she walked to the door and back with a walker! She fought through an excruciating amount of pain but she did it. He will come back this afternoon to try more walking with crutches. Pray for strength and courage for all of us, but especially Madeline. 

Thank you for all the texts, calls and prayers. We are so loved. 

Today's the day

Madeline is out of surgery as of 1:45PM. Seems like everything went as planned. Will try and update everyone when we can. 

Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers!

Goodbye Cancer Day!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The house was full of people we love and we are so thankful to have had the time together. We ate great food, stayed up late, slept in, watched football, and played so many games we lost count and at times, lost track of the rules. The weather was rainy and cold but it was such a great excuse to stay home and enjoy each other. 

Madeline's surgery is scheduled for 11:30 tomorrow morning and will last about two hours. One sweet friend texted me a few days ago that tomorrow is "Goodbye Cancer Day. We are done with you!" She's right! That terrible tumor that has caused all of this mess, will be gone! I'm so afraid of the reality that may come after this surgery, but the cancer will be gone. We pray that the surgeon, Dr. Gilbert, will be able to get every last malignant cell out. We pray that Madeline will be able to reclaim her life and all the things she loves, despite this surgery. Following the surgery there will be more chemo, but certainly this is a huge thing to check off that "fight cancer" to do list. 

Thank you for wrapping our family in prayer. Madeline's bravery and peaceful heart have to come from all of the love she is feeling from all of you. We will update as soon as we can tomorrow. 

Thankful

We are thankful for Madeline. She is the bravest person we know. Thank goodness that she sees this as a season in her life, and not her life. She is not angry or upset. Instead, she is focused on completing the steps of her treatment and moving forward. She has a special strength and faith that gets us all through every day. 

We are thankful for Ben. He reminds us to be normal, and that we have to enjoy this time together even if Madeline isn't 100%. He makes us laugh and drives us crazy just like he always has. 

We are thankful for our family. We are excited to share a Thanksgiving meal with them this week and for the sacrifices they make for our little family. We are so blessed that both of our moms can help keep our house running and that they love on Ben when we are at the hospital. 

We are thankful for our friends. We are overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of our friends. Our family friends, Brad's work friends, my school friends, and our children's friends. We are prayed for, fed, entertained, encouraged, and loved by so many people. We could not do this without you, we are so thankful to each of you. You are our people and we will neve be able to fully express our gratitude. 

We are thankful for the nurses and doctors at Medical City. We trust them and are so grateful to them for taking such good care of Madeline. We are praying that her surgery on November 30 goes well and that Dr. Gilbert, our surgeon, can remove every bit of cancer from Madeline's leg. 

Enjoy this Thanksgiving holiday! Be thankful for every single thing, big and small. 

Surgery plan

We met with the surgeon and the oncologist today and the good news is that we have a plan.

The surgery will be the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Without getting into all the details, the orthopedic oncologist was very impressed by the significant reduction in the tumor size.  He said he generally doesn't see such a dramatic reduction. That's good news.  He is the surgeon that originally performed the biopsy (and he was the unlucky guy that had to break the news to us that it was malignant back in August...but we like him).  To make sure that they are removing the tumor and any potential surrounding cancer cells, they will remove the top portion of the fibula and some of the surrounding muscle and tissue. 

The not so good news is that this will likely mean that they will need to remove the peroneal nerve which controls most of the movement of the foot. This will result in "drop foot".  Not ideal, but there are supports she can wear (think of an ankle brace type contraption) that will help her manage walking and there is another surgery she could have down the road (way after chemo is wrapped up) that could allow her to regain ability to flex the foot upward. When we asked him about running and sports, he said that we definitely shouldn't rule that out even without the additional surgery. She'll have to work to compensate, but he expects that she'll be able to function quite well. Keep that in your prayers! 

As you might imagine, Madeline wasn't excited about today's news...  We all realize that it's better than several of the terrible alternatives, but no 12 year old girl wants to hear they may lose use of their foot and get a pretty big scar.  

Focus on the positive...  So far Madeline's kicking cancer's butt (major tumor shrinkage & it hasn't spread), she's feeling good these days, surgery recovery is only a few days, and it could be much worse.  Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. I swear we feel it!  

Prayers and Good Thoughts!

We ask for your prayers tomorrow at 11:30 when we meet with the surgeon. 

Only FOUR more days to order your very own "Madeline Strong" shirt! 

https://www.booster.com/madelinestrong2

Sunday Thoughts

Hi friends. Many of you have asked at times what you should "specifically" pray for. Today, I think we should pray that Shana and I, and Madeline's doctors make the right decisions about Madeline's surgery. We meet Tuesday to discuss. There may not be a ton of options that require decisions, but I'm sure there will be some: from how much bone to resect, to picking a date for the surgery. I ask that whatever we face, that God help us to make the right decision that gives Madeline the best chance at a full recovery from this awful disease.  

It's such a great feeling to know that we have so many people thinking about us and praying for Madeline. Thank you so much. 

Lungs are clear!

Most of you saw Shana's positive update yesterday, but we were still waiting on the results of the chest CT.  Our oncologist called this morning to tell us that they had a chance to review the chest scan from yesterday and Madeline's lungs look great.  No indications of spreading to her lungs which is a really big deal!  All clear!!

We expected the scan results to be "all clear" since the MRI indicated that the tumor on her fibula reduced by such a large amount and there were no indications of spots in her lungs from the beginning.  As faithful as we have been, I think we were just a little scared that they could have missed something when they initially scanned her chest at the very beginning of all of this... What a relief to hear the confirmation this morning.  Thanks for all of the extra prayers this week!  The next step is that we meet with the surgeon on Tuesday and talk about the surgery to remove the tumor and start planning/scheduling the details.

Madeline was feeling pretty good last night.  Her leg has really felt much better for several weeks.  No swelling or pain in her leg for some time now, which we hoped meant the chemo has been effective.  Getting the confirmation yesterday was a little validation that all of her hard work with chemo over the last 10 weeks is paying off!  To celebrate, Shana and Madeline went the The Sound of Music at Fair Park last night!  They were so excited to get out and they had a great time!  I'm so happy that my girls were able to have a girls night out!! 💛💛 I attached a pic.  They swear that they were NOT trying to dress alike.  There's enough difference to believe them, but I'm still skeptical... :-) They both looked great either way!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I'm pretty sure we will!

Good News!!

The MRI today showed that Madeline's tumor has been reduced in size by 50%. That is great news!! The chest CT, which I am most nervous about, isn't back yet. Our doctor will call with those results tomorrow. Keep praying her chest is clear. Thank you for all of the prayers and texts today! 

Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! All is well in the Prugh house. Ben and I had a great trip to Seattle for my brother Scott's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and we had fun spending time together just the two of us. 

Madeline got home Friday night and had a nice weekend with her Dad and grandparents. Her math teacher taught her to play Skip-Bo last week, and I heard there were some "intense" games going on around the kitchen table while I was gone. 

She will have a chest CT on Thursday morning, followed by a MRI of her left leg. We are praying her lungs are still clear (this is very important) and the tumor on her fibula responded to the chemo treatments this fall. Afterward we will meet with our doctor who should have some preliminary results, and have her normal weekly blood work. Next Tuesday, November 17th, we will meet with the surgeon. At this point, we are hoping to do the surgery after Thanksgiving. In any case, we are looking forward to knowing the answers to all of our questions and having a better idea of the timeline. 

Thank you for continuing to cover our family with prayer. While we are so glad to have the first part of treatment over, the surgery and post-surgery treatments are the "long road" and we are so thankful for our friends who continue to support us with prayers, meals, love, care, and treats. 

My friend Katrina extended the MealTrain through March. We are incredibly blessed to have these meals while we are in the hospital. Even if it's just Ben and one of the Nanas at the house when you deliver, please know that we usually bring the leftovers to the hospital that evening or the next day. The cafeteria is under construction at Medical City, so it is so nice to have something home-cooked to bring back to eat. Madeline will not even a bite of hospital-made food, so it's extremely helpful to have meals to offer her as well!

Here is the meal sign up link: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/y6e5ql

We are also opening back up the "Madeline Strong" t-shirt sales for a short time. We have a few friends who didn't get to order the first round, or need a different size because they ate too much Halloween candy :)  Please don't feel obligated to purchase more shirts to support us, we just didn't want to leave anyone out. We are using the money to buy toys for the child life program that serves the pediatric oncology floor at Medical City. Thank you so much!!

T-shirt link: https://www.booster.com/madelinestrong2

Wednesday

At the end of this week we will be able to check off the pre-surgery treatment phase. Madeline has been so strong through six rounds of chemo over the last ten weeks. Add in a surprise two-night stay for a stuffy nose, and a blood transfusion, and she's really been through a lot.  Although yesterday got off to a very delayed start, for some reason that I am yet to understand, this round of chemo has been much easier on her so far. The pharmacist here was so helpful to work with Madeline's doctors to come up a better plan of anti-nausea drugs and so far, so good. This is the same chemo as last week that she must "clear" to go home. They started much later than expected yesterday, so it will probably be Saturday before she is clear to head home because of the timing and processing of the test. Ben and I are headed to my brother's wedding this weekend in Seattle, so Brad will stay with her. Pray they get home soon and she continues to feel good. 

We appreciate the continued prayers from our friends and family. Next week she will have a MRI on her leg to see how the tumor has reacted to the chemo. She will also have a CT scan of her chest as this is where those nasty cancer cells like to hide. Pray that her lungs are completely clear and that the tumor on her fibula is teeny tiny. Then we will meet with the surgeon. Insert scared mama face...

Cancer is awful. We were just a normal family going about our business just a few months ago. We enjoyed the summer break, bought our new school clothes and shoes, and my classroom was ready to welcome my new first graders. Madeline was a healthy 12 year old ready to start 7th grade and play in her next soccer game. In an instant, all of that changed. In the last month, a precious friend of our family was diagnosed with breast cancer, and this week someone we love dearly found out she has lymphoma. Please pray for everyone affected with this awful disease. It is the worst. THE WORST!!

T-shirt Tuesday

 

Tomorrow Madeline and Ben's middle school will be showing their support by wearing their "Madeline Strong" t-shirts. We are so thankful for our Cockrill Middle School family and all our our friends and family that bought t-shirts. 452 shirts were purchased  - what a huge blessing! Thank you so much! 

November 1st

We were all so happy to get home Friday night. No amount of rain or flooding could keep us from our own beds and house that night. As soon as the nurse came in to say she was at 0.06 we were out of there. She LOVED her decorated room and all the books, gift cards, and photos. What a fun way to be welcomed home!  

Madeline had a fantastic Halloween yesterday with friends, lots of treats, and enjoyed a little bit of normal 12-year old life. We are so thankful. 

Friday

We are still at Medical City, waiting to clear the Methotrexate. They will retest Madeline at 4pm.  She was at .27 at 6:30pm last night (48 hours) and we need to get to .10. So YES, yes, you DO need to understand decimals in real life! We won't know until later tonight if we get to leave because the test takes a long time to come back. If she doesn't reach that .10 mark they will retest her tomorrow and  I'm already preparing my speech of how they MUST test her before noon to get her home for Halloween.  More important than Halloween, she must get home to see this:

 

 I was only home for a few hours and couldn't look at everything, but if you donated to this - thank you!! What a huge show of support - in her love language- books! Thank you so, so much! 

Wednesday

We are back in the hospital this week for another round of chemo. We checked in yesterday around noon, hydrated all afternoon, and started chemo last night about 6:30pm. Chemo was finished at 10:30 and Madeline got a good night's sleep. This chemo drug is the one you have to clear to go home. They do a blood test every 12-24 hours until you get to 0.10. Madeline is hoping to be home for Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. She is dressing up as Little Red Riding Hood this year!

She is feeling okay and enjoying some extra rest today. She has lots of homework and a whole bag of things to do so I'm sure the next few days will pass quickly. 

Next week, we will do the same thing. The good news it will be the last round of chemo before surgery later in the month. Still waiting to figure out those details and will share when we know more. 

Last night the Evans Middle School Pantherettes dedicated their halftime dance at the 8th grade Cockrill - Evans football game to Madeline. What a wonderful showing of love for our sweet girl! 

Finally, on Tuesday, November 3rd, the students and staff at Ben and Madeline's middle school will be wearing their "MadelineStrong" t-shirts as a show of support. If they don't have t-shirts, they can wear yellow or pink. Please feel free to wear your shirt, or pink/yellow on Tuesday too! 

Thursday

Madeline got her wish to stay home the past two weeks with just a slight hiccup on Tuesday. Her red blood cell count was even lower than last week, and her doctor felt she she needed a blood transfusion to keep her feeling good. The process was pretty quick once it got started and we were home before bedtime. They gave her a hard sell about how great she would feel afterward, and in true Madeline-style she said she felt fine before and the same afterward...but hopefully it did the trick. She has stayed busy this week keeping up with her school work, decorating the house for Halloween and trying to beat her high score on 1010. She is feeling good, but dreading next week's chemo and the 4-5 day hospital stay. Hopefully the goal to be home to celebrate Halloween will keep her positive. 

I got her school pictures this week. We were blessed to take them right before she started losing her hair. She looks so grown up to me. This is my reminder of what we are working for: to be cancer-free and to go back to school and to her favorite activities. 

Other than that, family life is pretty normal. Brad is busy with work, Ben is busy at school, and I am starting to slowly remember what I did when I was a stay-at-home mom. So funny, how quickly I have forgotten how to do something that I did for so long! Slowly it is all coming back to me and I'm starting to enjoy the extra time at home and the freedom to "putter" around the house. I started reading a great book by Lysa TerKeurst, "The Best Yes." Gosh, I needed this book like two years ago! Better late than never. I'm also obsessed with "The Jim Gaffigan" show - it makes me laugh out loud every time! 

Seeing people wearing their MadelineStrong shirts and bracelets on social media and around town really brightens the day. Thank you so much to our ever-supportive friends and family. We love you all and are so thankful for the support you are giving to Madeline and to our family. 

Raking Leaves and Killing Cancer

Even though it is still HOT in Texas, our trees think it is Fall. Today I spent A LOT of time sweeping leaves up in the back yard. I was careful to make sure I swept up every one but the leaves continued to fall, even as I swept them up. I would sweep, they would fall down. Two hours later, I kid you not, it looked like I never swept at all. 

It's a lot like chemotherapy. Madeline goes through it each week hoping all of those mean, ugly cancer cells will be killed but there could be more cells somewhere else. It's so frustrating. Even after they remove the tumor in a few weeks there has to be more chemo to kill the cancer cells that might be there. It feels like I can't possibly ever sweep up all those leaves, but I pray that the chemo kills every single cell. The process is frustrating. 

We are all enjoying being at home this week.  Ben is especially happy to have us around and Madeline is so happy not to be living in a tiny room with her parents! Madeline's counts were very low on Tuesday, but she feels fine and is working hard to finish all of her schoolwork before quarter end. My mom went home on Wednesday and Brad's mom is "on call" so we can enjoy some family time just us. 

Hopefully we will get to be home next week too! We go back on the 27th for two more rounds of chemo. Both rounds are the ones that you have to clear before you go home and Madeline is really hoping to get home to celebrate Halloween. Then they will do more scans to plan the surgery and (hopefully) see how teeny-tiny the tumor is after all that chemo. I am guessing the surgery will happen before Thanksgiving. 

Thank you for all of the MadelineStrong t-shirt photos!! It means so much to us. We truly have the best friends and family. 

For our prayer warriors: Pray that the cancer is only on her fibula and that the chemo is destroying every single cancer cell. Pray that all of the cancer cells are being methodically swept up and thrown away. Pray that we worry less, feel confident that He is in charge, and know that He is with us as we journey through this dark place.   God sees us. Finds us. Intercedes and provides for us. 

Home Sweet Home

We are home! All the Prughs got to sleep in their own beds last night. Madeline felt terrible all day yesterday and slept most of the day.  Her doctor gave her a few more meds on the way out the door but I think there are so many things in her little body, she just feels miserable. I am hoping she wakes up feeling a little bit better this morning. She did eat a little yesterday including a bowl of Blue Bell ice cream, so that is good! 

We again came home to so many thoughtful gifts from our friends and family, a delicious dinner, and a stack of encouraging mail. We are so loved and we are so thankful to each of you for supporting us in your own way. We know it's so hard to know what to do or what to say, please know that we understand and are just thankful for the extra love and prayers. This is far from over, unfortunately, so we are thankful to everyone for staying on this journey with us. 

Brad has a co-worker that sends Madeline a funny cartoon joke every week, I have friends that take time to text me just to check in, and every time I look at Facebook someone is wearing a madelinestrong bracelet or a shirt. These little things matter so much. Thank you!

Check your mail!

I heard lots of "Madelinestrong" t-shirts were delivered today.

 

Check your mailbox and if they didn't come today, I'm sure they will arrive soon. So exciting! Thank you so much for such a tremendous outpouring of love for our sweet girl. We are starting chemo now, and hopefully will be home tomorrow or Friday. 

Wednesday

All went according to plan yesterday - short clinic visit and then upstairs to be admitted for her 4th round of chemo.  She was feeling good when she went to bed, and I'm hoping she wakes up feeling the same. Ben stopped by after his football game last night to deliver her requested dinner - tacos from Taco Bueno. Today is more hydration and then a second round of chemo tonight. She is such a trooper, quieter than her regular self, but calm about all this hospital business. 

I think our MadelineStrong t-shirts are being delivered today!! I can't wait to see them. 

Monday

We enjoyed every second of our weekend at home. The weather was perfect, and I felt like a normal mom catching up on chores and errands. 

Madeline is feeling okay but just wasn't up to visitors this weekend.  I think spending 24/7 in a room with us made her just want to be alone and enjoy her own room. We will go back to Medical City tomorrow but, without getting our hopes up too much, this should be a shorter stay. Hoping to be home Thursday or early Friday. Then she will have two weeks to recover. 

Thank you to all of our friends who helped me get in touch with Madi Davis, who is on The Voice right now. I guess I am the only person in McKinney who doesn't know her. I am in now contact with her family and we are cheering her on...so thank you!

A few of Madeline's soccer teammates got to meet Lauren Holiday from the Women's World Cup team on Saturday. Emily gave her a bracelet and even got a team picture signed for Madeline. We have the most thoughtful friends!!

 

Madeline's spirits were also lifted by a very special delivery of Blue Bell ice cream from the Connolly family on Sunday. What a fun and totally unexpected surprise!! 

For those of you that ordered "Madeline Strong" t-shirts, they should show up next week. We sold so many they had to push the date back by a few days. 

I love sharing all the pictures our friends and family are posting wearing the Madelinestrong bracelets. Some of you are so creative!  

If you would like one or two or ten, just fill out this form: https://goo.gl/5a26j7

Thank you for every prayer and good thought. We are tired, and missing our old life, and worried about Madeline. Please pray that we can feel strong and optimistic, that this week of chemo is uneventful, and that Madeline feels lifted up by all the people praying for and thinking of her. 

Friday

Heading home in just a few minutes! Hooray!!!

Thursday

Good Morning! Just a quick update on our sweet girl. We are in the same boat as last week, waiting for her body to clear the medicine so that we can head home! The great news is that her number after 24-hours is already 3.2. Last week at this time it was 9.7 - so she is doing great. She experienced some nausea last night but distracted herself with a Netflix movie, and is getting some extra sleep this morning. They will recheck her level around 8 tonight and if it's close, again at 8 tomorrow morning. We are preparing for a Saturday discharge just to avoid any disappointment. 

I chose this quote today because that's pretty much where we are. This week will mark the end of the first "block" of treatment but next week starts the next one. One day at a time, one foot in front of the other. Thank you to the friends who have taken time to remind me about all the things to be grateful for. Today, I'm grateful for the cinnamon rolls I brought for the nurses that Madeline wanted to eat this morning. Sorry nurses, maybe you will get some next time! 

Ben turns 14 today. I was so worried about how all of this would impact his life and I just can't believe how in stride he has taken all of it. He has quickly become the glue that holds us all together and a lot of the time is the one that reminds us all to be normal. I am so proud of him and so happy to see he and Madeline so close. He is truly #madelinestrong. 

Tuesday

We are all settled in at the hospital. Madeline is working on homework, and anxiously awaiting "The Voice" to come on at 7pm. Chemo should start soon.  

We were excited to see a girl from McKinney on The Voice last night. If anyone knows her, let me know because we would love to see her wearing a #madelinestrong bracelet next time!! 

Just a reminder for our friends that come to our house. Flu season is almost here. Madeline cannot be around anyone who receives the "Flumist" vaccine because it is a live vaccine and could be dangerous to her weakened immune system. Please choose the the flu shot instead of the mist if you are planing a visit, bringing a meal, or visiting the hospital.  Thank you!!

Monday

We have enjoyed being home the last two and a half days. Sleeping in our own beds and not all living in one room is dreamy. 

Madeline has the same treatment this week as last week. At least this time we know what to expect, and our bags are packed for the full week. We go to clinic tomorrow at 11am for routine blood work, and then will check into the hospital after that. They hydrate her for six hours before chemo even starts so it's kind of a long day. Then we wait for her to clear the medicine - 0.10 is the magical number. 

Please pray Madeline will not feel so sick this week, that her nurses and doctors can manage the nausea better, and that we are back home as soon as possible. Ben turns 14 on Thursday. Please pray that he knows how much we love him and how proud we are of him for dealing with this new normal.

Thank you for all the love, prayers, and messages this week. We are so grateful. 

Saturday

Unfortunately her level came back at 0.12 last night so we will not be heading home quite yet. They will retest her this morning and hopefully we will get to that magical number of 0.10. The lab takes 3-6 hours to process so it's a long wait. Everyone is pretty disappointed, we were really hoping to have the weekend at home. My friend Lisa texted me this morning to remind me it's just that the medicine is still working to kill the cancer and it needs more time. In any case, please pray her level goes down and we go home as soon as possible. 

Our flight has been delayed...

So we are the Grand Prize winners of an extra night here at the lovely Medical City hotel. Her number was 0.13 at 9:15am and it had to be 0.10 to collect our departure tickets. So, so close!! They will recheck her at 9:15pm and hopefully we will be on our way tomorrow morning. 

Thank you for the texts and prayers!! 

Love,

Shana

Happy Friday

Good Morning! Madeline slept well last night after watching "Cinderella" and eating some Raisinets. We are just waiting for her level to go down to 0.10 to be released. After 24 hours she was at 9.34, and after 48 hours at 0.35. So she is close. The doctor agreed to run an extra lab this morning instead of making us wait until 9:15 tonight to test again. Whichever way it goes, I am thankful we are moving in the right direction and her body is metabolizing quickly. 

In the meantime, she is enjoyed her Cheerios and played "Smashy Roads" (a suggestion from Ben to pass the time) this morning and is now working on Science homework. 

Today is the LAST day to buy the t-shirt Madeline designed. Just thinking about 416 (at last count) people wearing that shirt is overwhelming to us. Thank you doesn't seem to be enough, but thank you. 

To order a shirt:  http://www.booster.com/madeline_strong

Also, our amazing friends, the Clark family, ordered another batch of #madelinestrong bracelets. If you would like more to share with friends please just fill out the form and we will get them to you. It's amazing to think of all the people thinking of and supporting our family. I ran into Albertsons the other day and saw two different people, who I don't know, wearing their bracelets. We feel the love you all have for our girl! 

To order free #madelinestrong bracelets: https://goo.gl/5a26j7

Finally, a special birthday SHOUT OUT to Mikayla Price. Her mom was Ben's 4th grade teacher, her sister was a classmate of Ben's at McGowen, and she is playing in Madeline's honor at the Circle of Hope volleyball game at McKinney HS tonight. What a thoughtful, kind gesture and we wish Mikayla a very Happy Birthday and a big win tonight!!! Go Lions! 

Thursday

Good morning! Thank you so much for all the texts, gifts, meals,calls, FB messages and prayers this week. We arrived on Tuesday morning and Madeline's blood counts were much improved from the week prior.  Great news because it allowed us to stay on schedule.  Her room wasn't quite ready, so we ended up with a late start to the second round of chemo.  Honestly, I think Madeline was pretty happy that we got to leave the hospital to grab some lunch! Big smiles when she found out there would be a delay.  Tuesday overall was pretty good during the day. The nurses were impressed with how diligent Madeline was while she did her homework.  We finally convinced her to take a break that night to watch TV pretty late!  Chemo started around 9:30pm Tuesday. 

I had hoped this one would go a bit smoother but it's been a rough one for sweet Madeline with lots of nausea. Everything we read and heard indicated that this drug would be relatively easier than the last round of drugs, so all of us were a little thrown off to see her having such a rough time.  Brad and I planned to rotate nights because we thought this would be an uneventful week.  Madeline and Brad had a long night Tuesday, and Madeline ended up sleeping until 3:00pm Wednesday!  Rotating on bad nights doesn't really work... I couldn't sleep after Brad updated me late that night, so no one got much rest. Because of that, we both stayed with her last night.  The good news is that Madeline slept through the night Wednesday. Today she seems a tiny bit better, but still tired and not feeling quite like herself. 

Brad got her hooked on the TV series "Once Upon A Time" on Netflix the first night, and now she is halfway through season 1. The chemo completed Tuesday night, so we are just waiting for her body to clear the chemo drug and trying to find the right combination of food and medicine to help with the nausea.  We can go home once the chemo has cleared and we are hoping that may happen by Friday night, but we've also read this could take awhile... We have to be back next Tuesday to repeat this drug, so we are really hoping she'll get a couple nights in her own bed in between.

In other Prugh news, Ben has had a busy week with baseball and 8th grade football so we have been doing lots of driving back and forth to McKinney to cheer him on!  Baseball Monday and Wednesday and football Tuesday.  Tonight is free, so planning to bring him to visit Madeline this evening.  I will say that technology is pretty awesome.  It's nice to FaceTime with Ben when I'm here with Madeline.

Again, thank you all so much for the thoughts and prayers! And the t-shirts!!?  We can't believe how many t-shirts have sold!  Almost 400 as of this morning!  We are excited to wear them.  Madeline asked yesterday when we would have them to wear and we think around October 9th.

Tomorrow is the last day to order shirts:  http://www.booster.com/madeline_strong

Please pray that the nausea passes, that the medicine moves through her quickly, that we are home soon, and that the chemo is working to shrink the tumor in her leg and killing any other cancer cells in her body. Love you all so much. Thank you for thinking and praying for our family. 

Weekend Update

It's Sunday and we are enjoying a quiet weekend at home, resting, and trying to stay germ free. Madeline was able to meet with most of her teachers last week so she can continue with her home bound studies. I'm proud of her since I am sure it's hard being the only one in the class. You have no choice but to answer every question and find every answer yourself! Hard work for my sweet introvert but she's doing great. 

I am completely overwhelmed by the response to the t-shirts. As of this morning, we have sold almost 300 t-shirts. The last day to order is this Friday so please order one this week if you can. 

Link for shirts: https://goo.gl/NgkfwA

A huge THANK YOU to everyone for taking such good care of our family. We appreciate every kind gesture and prayer. We do ask that you call, text, or Email before stopping by. We are happy to see everyone but sometimes we just need some family time or Madeline may not feel up for visitors. When you come in our house, please wash your hands so we can avoid germs and extra nights in the hospital. And finally, if you are not feeling well, please postpone your visit until you are healthy. If you get the flu vaccine, choose the shot rather than the mist if you will be around our family. The FlumIst is a live vaccine and very dangerous to those with weakened immune systems. Thank you so much!! 

The plan is to head back to the hospital on Tuesday morning. She will start the second round of chemo that evening. This one must be cleared from the body before you can go home, which usually takes 60-72 hours. Pray she can drink fluids to clear quickly and get home as she has to do the same thing again the following Tuesday. 

Please pray the cancer is still isolated on her fibula and has not spread. Pray that she will continue to be brave and patient as her body and the medicines fight this cancer. Please pray that she can be at peace with losing her hair and realize how beautiful she is inside and out, hair or no hair. 

MadelineStrong T-shirts!

Get your official #MadelineStrong t-shirts!  

http://www.booster.com/madeline_strong

The Kaylors approached us a few weeks ago about creating a t-shirt for of a fund raising campaign to help with any costs we might have. While Madeline's diagnosis has been extremely stressful on our family, the one thing that we don't have to worry about right now is medical expenses. Our health insurance has been awesome, and our anticipated out of pocket is very reasonable and thank goodness for keeping a rainy day fund socked away. 

That being said, there are many families out there that are not as fortunate. Shana and I thought this might be a good way to raise awareness and money to help others. Sadly, we were pretty oblivious to the prevalence of childhood cancer and osteosarcoma before Madeline was diagnosed, and we want to do our part to help raise awareness. We are currently researching various foundations and opportunities to help. We haven't made any decisions yet, but we were excited to get the t-shirts out there!

We had a great time working with Madeline to design the t-shirt and we are excited to see them being worn around McKinney and beyond!  Thanks to Chuck, Wendy, and Zoe Kaylor for organizing for us!  We are surrounded by such great people. It's truly amazing. 

Girls Night In...

Madeline woke up with a sore throat, stuffy ears and a slight fever. When her fever went up this afternoon, we headed to the hospital and they admitted her. One of the nurses we met last time hooked her up with a big, nice room with a ton of windows. They are pretty sure it is just a cold, but we will stay for a couple of days to make sure. 

So we are having a Girls Night In!  First coloring (see our talent??) and now Dancing with the Stars. We know how to party... at medical city!! 

Special fans

Tigers win!  Off to the championship later this evening!  

I'm thinking it's because of some special fans the Tigers had in attendance!  Madeline & Maddison have been Tigers fans for a LONG time!!  When did all four of these kiddos grow up?? 

Glad Madeline was feeling well enough to get out in the fresh air. Beautiful day outside!!! Go Tigers!

Beautiful day at ball park!

Ben's team in the final four today.  Look at the awesome patches that the Clark's had made up for the boy's uniforms!  

So cool. Madeline's soccer number and blue for her Manchester team and yellow for bone cancer awareness.  Thanks Sue Clark!!!  Madeline thought it was pretty darn cool when Ben came home with that on his jersey! The Tigers are #MadelineStrong !! Go Tigers!

Saturday

Madeline is feeling great! We are enjoying the weekend and our family time. A friend brought us these darling cookies to share, aren't they just adorable?

If you ordered bracelets they are either in the mail, or you have an email from my friend Lisa saying where to pick them up. Please post photos if you can. I am saving all of the photos to make something special for her and she loves seeing them. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Thank you for all of the emails, cards, messages, meals, treats, thoughtful gifts, and prayers. We are just in awe of the number of people praying for our family and for Madeline. We are so very thankful. 

Patience

I have never thought of myself as a patient person, truth be told. I like to talk fast and move quickly, I read fast, I prefer to shop fast, I think fast...see what I mean? The act of slowing down does not come naturally to me. Last week, going through chemo for the first time with Madeline and being at the hospital for four days, I felt I had purpose. It almost felt good to sit and absorb all of this information, to care for Madeline, to figure out how to fight this awful cancer that is inside my baby. Honestly, it is hard to look at and think about the the treatment plan because it is so long. It is overwhelming. Why does fighting cancer takes so long? I need to have patience.

We are home this week and Madeline is feeling better. The nausea seems to be over, she is sleeping well, she is bored. The next two weeks are her recovery weeks before three weeks and more three rounds of chemo. I feel pressure to make the days count but it feels strange to be home and not in my classroom, to have meals delivered, to sleep in, and putter around the house all day. What is my purpose? Everything is moving so slowly. I want to hurry this part up, so it can be over sooner! 

Speaking of patience, the #madelinestrong bracelets will not be delivered until next week. If you want one, please use the google form linked at the bottom of my post, as it is the easiest way for everyone to keep up. If you already signed up, we will send them out as soon as we get them. Madeline is working on a t-shirt design too. I can't wait to share it with all of her prayer warriors.

Thank you for blessing our family in so many ways. We are so appreciative of your kindness. Please pray Madeline continues to feel strong, that we all have patient hearts while we wait, and that when her hair starts to fall out in the next few days/weeks, she will still feel beautiful. 

To order #madelinestrong bracelets: https://goo.gl/5a26j7

First Clinic appointment today

Madeline had her first clinic appointment today. All good. Actually it was pretty short and sweet. 

A quick checkup from doc and they drew some labs. Results were really good. Counts are where they expected them to be. Low enough to know the chemo is working, but not enough to cause alarm. We still need to keep her away from crowds or anyone with the sniffles, but no need to live in a bubble just yet!  Counts will probably drop more over the next week, but it seems as though we are past some of the nauseous stage. 

So relieved!  #MadelineStrong

Labor Day Weekend

Meant to post this last night...

Not the Labor Day weekend that we had planned, but it turned out pretty good.  We had both Nana's and Grandpa Mike over for the first day.  Uncle Thad even stopped by for awhile!  But the majority of the weekend was trying to get everything back to "normal".

Madeline didn't feel that well until Sunday, but was almost back to "normal" by Sunday afternoon and most of the day Monday.  Was good to see her smiling and laughing like her old self again!  She even ate pretty well Monday.  Hopefully it will get better, but now we have some idea of how long it will take to "recover" after each week 1 treatment.  Five more "week 1's" in our future.

One thing I wanted to mention - if your child hasn't received a text back from her, please let them know that they shouldn't let it hurt their feelings if she hasn't responded.  I think she has been a little overwhelmed by the number of texts she received from friends, and just hasn't felt like responding.  In fact, I'm not sure her phone has moved much in the last week other than when Shana or I have plugged it in for charging.  So she may not have even read some of them yet.  I did see there were a LOT which is so nice.  Great to see how many friends she has out there!  Tell them they don't have to stop!  It just may take her awhile to sort through them.

Off to the clinic on Tuesday afternoon for labs to check her counts, etc.  Should be a quick visit and then back home.

Manchester SC is #madelinestrong

We are supposed to be in Austin this weekend with our soccer family for a Labor Day tournament. Madeline was so disappointed not to be able to go. The team just posted these awesome pictures for her. So thankful for our soccer family!!