Amazing!

We are home from our absolutely fabulous trip to the beach.
It can be described in many ways:
relaxing, restoring, carefree, restful, hot, fun filled....
truly a blessing.

It was all we hoped for and more!!
More fun - more relaxing - more than the four of us....

This is how the more than the four of us happened - when we were almost to the condo, we started saying, wouldn't it be great if our friends, the Vickers, could be here....then without really thinking we asked them if they wanted to come down and stay with us. They were already off on Friday - why not? Really? It's 9 o'clock at night! Seriously!?  Well, the Vickers didn't think, didn't plan, and didn't wonder. They packed their suitcases and were on their way to us less than 10 hours later!  Early the next morning, this is the text we received from Stacee:

"I had a crazy dream that y'all invited us to the beach and we packed the car and left!! We are in the car. I still can't believe it!!"

We couldn't either!  Talk about seize the day!  We are so not spontaneous, get up and go people!  We are so grateful that the Vickers didn't stop to think and question! 
They did what we try hard to do each day.  Enjoy THIS moment - enjoy THIS day - enjoy right now.  Too often, we miss it because we are thinking ahead to what might be.  Too often, we get pulled away by the fear, the what ifs, and the trouble and we lose sight of the hope, the joy, and the truth.

We are thankful that Robbie and Stacee continue to remind us to focus on what we know and what is real. We have said it before, the Vickers are a part of us. Over many years, our lives, our joys, and our sorrows have been woven together.

We are so very grateful to the friends who graciously loaned us their condo so that we could truly escape, to the Vickers for making this weekend extra special, and to God for giving us the peace and rest we so needed.

Now, home from the beach and back to reality.  Here are some updates.

Answered prayers:
Elena's mouth and throat sores went away quickly.
Elena stayed free from fevers and infections while we were out of town.
God has granted us peace, patience, and hope throughout most of our days.

What's coming up:
Elena's bone marrow test has been moved from tomorrow to Friday.

All of Elena's previously scheduled appointments at Egleston have been pushed back a week.  She is tentatively scheduled for a full day of evaluations on Tuesday, June 12.
This, of course, will depend on the results of Friday's bone marrow test.

Liv will have her annual brain MRI on Wednesday, June 13.

Please continue to pray:
-for Elena's bone marrow to show NO evidence of leukemia cells
-for Liv's MRI to show NO signs of recurrent tumor
-for God to give us the strength, peace, and hope we need
-for us to be accepting of God's plan and timing
-for us not to lose sight of the joy we can have right now
-for us not to be consumed by the questioning and wondering

Tonight we end this post with a prayer from a devotion by Samantha Reed:

"Dear Lord,
You are faithful. Please direct (our) thoughts and (our) steps. Take what doesn't belong—fear, doubt, unbelief—and replace them with hope, trust and joy as (we) focus on You instead of (our) circumstances. Thank You for working on (our) behalf.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen"

Hanging On

You would think that by now we would be able to handle mountain high hallelujah moments quickly followed by low valley moments.  We found out earlier today that it isn't as easy as we may have thought.

This afternoon, another wave came and knocked us down.
Dr. Lew called with the results of Elena's bone marrow test.
Her bone marrow still shows residual disease.  There are still detectable leukemia cells present. This test showed .4% MRD - an increase from the April 18th bone marrow test that showed .1% MRD.  There is a margin of error with the test and Elena has received more chemo since then, so she will have another bone marrow test next Thursday.

Even Dr. Lew said that this was disappointing, but we still have options.  He is working to identify those options so that we have a clear picture of what lies ahead.

 

While we are tired and weary from yet another crashing wave, we are so very fortunate to be able to go out of town this weekend.  Family friends are loaning us their condo in Gulf Shores. We will be leaving tomorrow and returning on Monday. The beach has always been a safe sanctuary for us. We are grateful to have this blessing at this moment.

Please join us in praying for:
-God to direct Elena's doctors as they try to determine what our next steps are
-God to give us and the doctors His perfect wisdom about what is right for Elena
-God to give us the strength, courage, and hope we need
-us to have peace and patience in the waiting
-Elena to be protected from any infections and fevers while we are out of town
-Elena's mouth and throat sores to quickly and completely go away
-God to continue to be in the details of our lives and in His plan for Elena
-us to enjoy the right now and not miss it because we are thinking ahead to what might be

In Him,
The Tates

“Surely I am with you always.” Matthew 28:20

We are home!!

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!  Amen!

We are so happy that we are home and we are thankful for your prayers!

We ask that you continue to pray for Elena.
She has started to develop some mouth sores.  They are bothersome and painful. They also cause her to not be able to or want to eat.  Tonight we came up with a list of liquid or soft things she could try to eat tomorrow.
Her spirits are great even though all of this has taken a toll on her body.  Her hands, feet, and head are peeling and she says her entire body hurts.

Please pray that all of these side effects will stop.
Please pray for Elena to remain fever free.
Please pray that the bone marrow results will be free of any cancer cells.
Please pray that we will be able to go on a little getaway this weekend.
Please pray for much needed rest for all.

In Him,
The Tates

"We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, o Lord, even as we put our hope in you."  Psalm 33:20-22

A Good Night

Last night, we had a girls' night at the hospital. Liv stayed the night. Even though Elena felt bad most of the evening because of a borderline fever, it was great to be together!

We woke up this morning thankful for answered prayers!
Elena has remained fever free since last night.
She is eating and drinking.
She only got up twice last night.
Her counts are good.
The nurses only came in 6 times overnight - not 10.
The blood cultures are currently negative.

Best of all, if Elena remains fever free for the rest of the afternoon, she will be able to leave late this afternoon or early this evening!! She has a dose of IV antibiotics she needs to finish before that can happen.

We are so happy and excited at the possibility of beginning our summer together at home!
We have a whole lot we want to do between now and June 18th!

We are still waiting on bone marrow results.  We are not expecting to hear anything until tomorrow or Wednesday. Please continue to pray for clear results.

We thought we'd share an entry from a blog called Chatting at the Sky. Each week there is a post titled "For Your Weekend".  They are always meaningful and speak to our hearts.
This is from yesterday:

"May your weekend be filled with water to dip your feet in and music to fill up the morning. May you resist the urge to compare yourself to those who seem to have it easy, and may you learn the peace that comes from thankful hands in the midst of things that are hard. If the rocks insist on finding their way into your shoes, may you allow yourself a moment to snap a picture. And I hope you find enough raspberries to fit on the tips of all ten of your fingers."

So - we will start this week trying to say "It's not fair" less, giving thanks more often, and finding peace in all things.

In Him,
The Tates

A Rough Night

Here we are after 4:00 in the afternoon and we still have not turned on the lights in the room or for that matter left the room.  It was a rough night.  Unfortunately Elena was up about every hour for one reason or another.  Despite Tylenol, her fever continued to rise hitting over 103 at about 2:30 am.  The doctor then gave her Motrin. That took care of the chills and fever. The nausea also continue to get worse and Elena got sick. Combine all of that with fluids running nonstop for now 35 hours and you can see why last night was a rough one!
Elena has tried to rest all day.  This is hard to do with fluids running, pumps beeping, medical staff coming in and out, aches and pains, and meds to take. So since sleep wasn't happening - Elena started watching episodes of Little House on the Prairie.  As our friend said, that's good medicine : )

Elena had been fever free since 2:30 am, but close to noon, she started to run a fever again.  More labs were drawn.  Antibiotics have continued around the clock as well.  Still no news on the cultures, so we wait.

Wait for news about the blood cultures.
Wait for Elena to want to eat and drink.
Wait for Elena to be fever free for 24 hours straight.
Wait for much needed rest.

Praying in the waiting!
In Him,
The Tates

"Wait for the Lord,  be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14

Hospital Stay Update

Elena's third day in the hospital is coming to a close. She has finished her 36 hours of high dose Methotrexate and has received 16 out of 36 hours of post-hydration fluids. She has endured 3 nose bleeds, one of which was attended to by 3 of the local clowns in the area. Don't you love children's hospitals!

She has also had her ph levels checked twice.  After having such a high dose of chemo, the ph level of her blood has to be checked - too high or too low can be a problem. At the 42 hour check, her level was .54.  At the 48 hr check, it was .24.  It needs to be below .1 to go home.  So far the levels are dropping as expected - praise God! Please pray that Elena's levels  continue to drop to where they need to be in order to prevent any side effects from the Methotrexate. 

Other than the three nose bleeds and a loss of appetite, Elena has handled everything well so far. 

However, in the four hours we have been trying to write this post, Elena spiked a fever.
They have already drawn blood for cultures and started her on an antibiotic.  Not only will Elena's ph levels have to continue to drop, but she will have to be fever free for 24 hours before she can go home.  Please join us in praying for these things!

This afternoon, we were happy to have a visit all the way from La. from Uncle Patrick (Mark's brother), Aunt Angie, and cousin Stephen.  Stephen is in town playing in a baseball tournament.  We enjoyed walking around the hospital with tour guide Elena, being outside, and pizza and movie night together.



We will update again tomorrow.
Thank you for your prayers.

In Him,
The Tates

"Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."  Psalm 27:14

This Is Hard

Remember these posts when Elena was first diagnosed with a relapse:                       

What we are thinking and saying...
and
How are we feeling...

Well, we have been thinking and feeling those same things again.

We feel like we have this huge looming deadline hanging over our heads.
We feel like we can not do everything we want and need to do.
We feel like we are living under so much pressure in so many ways.
We are tired.
We are dreading the long separation during transplant.
We are trying to balance school, work, and catching up on things that need to be done around the house with enjoying family time. Needless to say, it is challenging.

What lies ahead is CONSTANTLY on our minds.

We asked a friend whose son is six months post transplant (Praise God!) how she handled it all - her response (after laughing) was that she didn't handle it. She wisely said that "This isn't something you can handle. It is something you survive and you do whatever it is that helps you and Elena survive."

We are trying to survive.

Thursday, May 24th - Elena will have a bone marrow aspirate and a lumbar puncture at the clinic. She will then be admitted into the hospital (Scottish Rite) for high dose chemo Methotrexate that will be given via IV for a continuous 36 hours! 
They estimate she will be in the hospital for 4 days.

If her bone marrow test on May 24th comes back showing no leukemia cells, then we will proceed with the following schedule:

At this point, Elena will be transferred to Egleston. They do not perform bone marrow transplants at Scottish Rite.

Tuesday, June 5th - a consent meeting and evaluations
Wednesday, June 6th - more evaluations (heart, kidney, liver, lung function tests)
Tuesday, June 12th - sign consent forms and meet with radiation oncologist
Wednesday, June 13th - Liv's annual MRI
Monday, June 18th - admit into Egleston for bone marrow transplant
Tuesday, June 26th -  bone marrow transplant day!

We ask for your prayers.

THIS WEEK:
- for Thursday's bone marrow test to show 0% leukemia cells
- for Elena's body to be able to handle this week's upcoming chemo treatment
- for this week's hospital stay to really only be four days
- for Elena to experience NO nausea, mouth sores, or any other side effects from the chemo
- to enjoy the right now and not miss it because we are thinking ahead to what might be

LOOKING AHEAD:
- for God to prepare each of us to endure the stress of Elena's upcoming appointments, transplant and long hospital stay
- for us to be able to fill the days ahead with joy and focus on what we can do, not on what we can't

Thank you for helping carry us through with your prayers.
This battle is much bigger than last time, in different ways it is also much harder.
We are so thankful that many of you are standing firm and that you continue to be there for us.  Thank you for your steadfast love, prayers, and support!

In Him,
The Tates

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
Psalm 27:14