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.