And We're Back

Sierra and I are back at the hospital, she got her methotrexate today and now we wait for it to clear. She didnt have a very long break from chemo, but the sooner we get through it all, the sooner we can get back to some semblance of normal life. So far she has been handling this chemo well. She started to feel a bit nauseated, but Benadryl helped that out.she had a visitor from one of her best friends at school and she was so happy to see her, she was a bit loopy from meds, so she was completely uninhibited about showing how happy she was to see Seiya. She was holding her hand and hugging on her arm and being super snuggly, it was so sweet and got both me and Seiya's mom tearing up. She is eager for company this go around, so anyone who has felt like visiting, but hasn't been sure about, come on down. Call me, text me, email, or facebook and  we can figure out a good time, or just stop by, we are pretty flexible, but be warned, you may end up with your nails painted:)

Back to the grind

Sierra really didn't get much of a break the past 2 weeks. We managed to squeeze in a few days of fun, and she has been feeling pretty good for the past week, but now it is time to head back for more chemo. At this point, until we hear back about the tumor pathology, we will just continue on the regular course. So we go in today for her 8th round of chemo, 5th dose of methotrexate. She will be going in for chemo for the next 3 weeks. In the past she has handled this chemo fairly well, and hasn't ended up having to deal with much nausea, so we are praying that remains the case. We are also praying that she clears the methotrexate quickly so we can get back home to prepare for our friends coming into town. My best friend will fly in next week with her 3 kiddos to hang out with us and Sierra is so excited to spend some big girl time with her oldest, Natalie, who is also 8. Thank you so much, to everyone who has been praying for us and for Sierra. Thank you to all of those who sent cards or gifts to Sierra over the past few weeks and months, they really brighten her spirit and help distract her from the difficult things she is going through. All of the support from our friends and family really help us get through each day.

Always smiling

We just got home from an impromptu outing to see Ice Age Continental Drift. Sierra and Reece had a blast. The movie was really cute and had some funny parts too. It is fun to get to some things that feel "normal" even during all that is going on.

Picture Update, Oregon Zoo

Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo on the 4th of July. We had a lot of fun.

Just arriving.

We were able to rent a stroller for Sierra, luckily, since her wheelchair that had been borrowed from Shriners was too big to lug around in the van.

I love this shot of the seal.

Giraffes.

Evelyn was trying to call the giraffes over to her, so cute:)

Hiding in a little cave with our friend Tempe.

A little head bump from the male lion, then he sat down right in front of her, guess he wanted in on the photo-op.

Group shot with some cousins and friends.

Sierra says the elephant was her favorite animal to see at the zoo.

Little cutie.

Reece and Evy snuggling up to some cheetahs.

On the train ride, she had such a blast all day, and was feeling so great.

Home Finally

We made it home Friday evening about 6:45pm. It was so nice to be back in our own beds last night. Sierra did amazing on the drive, only complained about being uncomfortable a few times, and it wasn't her leg that was bothering, it was, as she put it "her boney bum". She has very little extra meat on her bones, so halfway through the trip we had to add a little more cushion to her seat, and she felt much better from then on. She is handling her pain better and better every day, she is so amazing. She is getting around the house with her walker when she needs to use the restroom or change rooms, but she mostly hangs out with her leg up at this point. We need lots of time for the vascular work that was done to heal, so she isn't allowed to be up for long before she has to sit back down and raise her leg. She is doing most of her moving around on her own and just has one of us support her leg for her until she gets standing or when she is working on sitting down. She has high spirits and is feeling so good right now while she is off of her chemo treatment, she wont get too long of a break, only a few weeks and we will be back for more, but we are enjoying having her feel so well. She is eating really well too, she has no feeding tube right now, so that is a good thing. She is constantly asking for things all day long, and what she wants, she gets:)

 It is going to take me a while to post pics from our time in Portland, don't want to over do it, so i will just work on posting pics each day and keep it to the best ones. Today will be some pics from our ocean trip.

These pics don't want to cooperate for me to label each of them, but I think you get the idea. They are all from our trip to the ocean. We went to Seaside, and we all had a blast. The last pic is of the kids on the Tilt-a-whirl with Dave. They love going around super fast.

POrtland day 11, Surgery Day 7

Sierra is so awesome. She is now working on getting up from bed and into a wheelchair, then standing and walking with her walker. She did so well in the hallway this morning, and the PT said that she has graduated from physical therapy here, and will just need to continue working on these things until we go home. Which should be Saturday, YAY! She is so happy to be able to move around a bit, though it does give her a good amount of pain, she is learning how to move her own body rather than rely on someone to move her, and that helps her to be able to control the pain. She is actually wanting to work harder than the physical therapists want her to, because if she does too much she could end up with swelling, so we are having to reign her in a bit. She is just so proud of herself when she gets going, that she doesn't want to stop. I can't wait until we get back home and I can post a ton of pictures of her, she is so happy, even with all that is going on. There are going to be a bunch of photo posts to catch everyone up on our time here in Portland.

Portland Day 9, Surgery Day 5

Sierra had her epidural removed today, at first they turned it down half way and gave her some oral pain meds, then they turned it off, and eventually, after she appeared to be tolerating it fine, they removed it. She wasn't thrilled about it coming out, and it was a bit of an ordeal to do it because it was so well taped, she hates having tape removed from her skin, and even though they used adhesive remover, she was still quite upset. Once it was done she settled down to watch a movie and has been fine since. Later on they will remove her catheter, which means she will be starting to get out of bed to use the bathroom. I am a little nervous about this because she doesn't really enjoy being moved right now, and it will have to happen several times a day, so we will see how that goes. Reece and Evy had a chance to come visit today for the first time, apparently we didn't do enough prep for Reece because he seemed pretty upset when Sierra showed him how she could wiggle her toes. I guess we were so focused on preparing Sierra, that we didn't realize that it would be a big change for Reece too. He was pretty anxious to leave and didn't want to see her"small leg" again. Dave and I got to meet a little boy who is 4yrs old that had rotationplasty a few years ago, and is now running and playing. Reece and Sierra will meet him tomorrow, and I think it will be a big help to Reece. I am still unsure of when Sierra will be released, but sometime over the next few days, we should be heading home. I can't even explain how excited I am to be in my own bed, with all of my own things. We are so blessed to live nearby an amazing hospital, I can't imagine having to travel long distances for treatment like some families do. Hopefully this is our only long distance trip, and the rest of Sierra's treatment and therapy will be able to happen near home.