Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  We had a quiet, uneventful Christmas at home, which was perefct. Madeline did lots of baking, we did a lot of eating, and everyone enjoyed the time off from the hospital routine. We rewatched the Harry Potter movies over Christmas weekend, and shared the Bourne trilogy with the kids for our annual New Year's Eve movie marathon. Madeline is enjoying her time at home, she is feeling good, and getting around well on her crutches and becoming much more independent. She can put quite a bit of weight on her left leg now, but does prefer to use her crutches so she can get around fast! Her leg is healing well, and she is starting to compensate a little bit more for her foot, so I feel hopeful that it won't be too much of a problem going forward. Pray that she continues to grow stronger despite these upcoming weeks of chemo. 

She will have three more rounds of chemo on each of the next three Tuesdays, and then two weeks off before the next three rounds. If all goes as planned, the last chemo will be the week of April 12th. So I just keep telling myself - January, February, March, and a little bit of April.  We are praying the chemo does what it is supposed to do and kills any small bits of cancer that might have "escaped" from her leg. The chemo this week is the one she has to clear before going home so we pray her body clears it quickly and we are home on Friday to enjoy the weekend. I'm also praying we can get started quickly on Tuesday. The last few times we have been delayed getting started, which then delayed our discharge later in the week. I'm not sure exactly what is happening or why, but now that it's happened several times, I will definitely be bugging the nurses to stay on time. 

We are so loved, and we feel just overwhelmed by the kindness so many of you have extended to our family. Thank you so much for everything. We extended the meal signup to cover us the next few months. It is so helpful as we travel back and forth to the hospital, and it sets my mind at ease that Ben is eating well. Madeline will not eat anything on the hospital menu, so most days we pack up something from home and bring it to her for lunch and dinner. We are so tired of the fast food in that area and the hospital cafeteria is under construction so we have very limited options. If you need the sign up link, just let me know.  

Happy 2016 to you all! Thank you so much for being a blessing to our family and for all of the prayers being said for Madeline. Please stay on this journey with us a little while longer. I truly believe this is the year Madeline beats cancer!! Love you all!!