Update from Kristen & Brent

From Mommy:

ViviAnne is in her next phase of chemo. She is enjoying not being on steroids, as we all are, but now we have the task of administering a chemo pill everyday and receiving spinal taps each with with chemo pushed in through the spine. She is back to her happy, bossy self for the most part and is just taking the side effects of the chemo pill in stride. She has become so brave. She does not cry when they put the needle into her port, or even when they stick her finger each week for labs. This is amazing to everyone including the nurses because even older kids don't do as well as she does. We dote on her being brave and strong and smart each week.

She is also doing physical therapy and calls it "her exercises". We are already begining to see the strength and confidence build back in her legs. She went a full 3 weeks without walking stairs or being able to pick herself up off of the floor or even sit down without assistance and now is doing all of these with little to no help from Mommy. YAY!

Brent and I are still struggling with the emotional side of all of this. We as parents are bearing the brunt of the emotions seeing as how ViviAnne really can't with her young age.

 

From Daddy:

We as a family may not know what normal is for a year or so.  However, we delight in the return of small pieces of it as it comes one little moment at a time.  Maybe somewhat selfishly, we take these small moments and exploit them as a family because we are uncertain of how long they will last and when the next small piece might return.

 

This past week was a new challenge with Gramma & PawPaw in Gulf Shores, Nana on the injured reserve from her surgery, and Stacey under the weather.  We got through it okay.  Kristen and I had two small wonderful moments to catch our breath and reflect this weekend.  We feel humbled by the relentless outpouring of generosity and at the same time guilty that we can not reciprocate our gratitude.

 

To our friends in general: Hang in there with us!  We feel that we should apologize for not being able to get away or make commitments to get together.  Know that every thing that you all are doing is making tons of difference in our lives.  The fact of the matter is that we are literally surviving day to day.  It goes without saying that our priorities are staying healthy and getting cured, regardless of how it impacts our social life.  But that does not change the fact that we are missing you all immensely. This was not mentioned in any pamphlet or medical publication but has turned out to be one of the most difficult parts of our struggle.  So even though we are not sitting next to you watching the Cats beat the hell out of the Cards, we wish we were. We love you all and know that you will be there eagerly waiting for us the day that normalcy returns.