LindseyAnn.net

Today marks the 1 year anniversary since Lindsey's life saving surgery!  One year ago today that awful cancerous tumor was removed from her little body.  It was an emotional day.  Just thinking back to where we were 1 year ago.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  She was taken from my arms just after 7 in the morning and I did not get to hold her again until after 4 that night.  Thanks to a wonderful surgeon Dr Tiao and all his team the surgery was a sucess.  I now sit here one year later with my beautiful baby girl on my lap helping me type.  (So excuse any typo's).  Today is a reminder of how far we have come in so little time.  It is hard to believe her surgery was a year ago.  We had no idea what the future had instore for her and as a matter of fact we still don't know.  We just know that she is cancer free and pray she remains that way.  Through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe Lindsey is here and doing wonderful!   I say extra prayers of thanks to our Dearest Mother for watching over Lindsey during surgery and continuing to watch over her.  Today will always be a very special day for us.  As we were going through all these things with Lindsey I had told myself there would be no tears for what could happen, we were going to be strong and take it day by day.  Well I guess I am catching up with all the tears now, because thinking back to the unknown, what a scary feeling.  Did we really go through all that?  I think I was in robot mode or something.  I have people tell me all the time that they don't know how I did it and that they would never be able to handle something like their baby getting cancer.  Well to tell you the truth, I would have said the same thing.  It is something that I thought I would never have made it through but you do what you have to do.  I am no stronger than the next mother.  It is something that I wish no mother ever had to go through.  We must find a cure!  

The first of the month was the Lighthouse Christmas Party in Atlanta and it was wonderful!  We had a great time and Lindsey was so excited to meet "Christmas".  (That is what she calls Santa. It is so cute!  Whenever she see's Santa she says, "Look, it's Chritmas."  I love it!)  She actually sat on Christmas's lap and he gave her a present.  What a great way to introduce her to Santa, I mean "Christmas."  She thinks Christmas is very nice and he gave her a beautiful baby doll. We had a wonderful time at the party.  Lindsey enjoyed all the crafts and goodies, and the boys all enjoyed visiting with their friends. 

The candles sales are over and went great!  Thank you so much to everyone that helped out.  We sold 151 candles and made just over $1000.  Thank you again to everyone that helped make this years candle sales a great sucess! 

Lindsey has not been feeling too well for the last few days.  I believe she had a little virus.  She kept saying her belly hurt.  It is so hard but I have to tell myself that it is just a virus.  I don't know how long I will have to remind myself that it is not the cancer coming back, it is just a virus.  She also complained of her ears hurting.  We took her to the doctor and her ears are red.  Now after a couple days of antibiotics she is feeling a little better.

Thanks be to God and Our Lady of Guadalupe for another wonderful day with Lindsey Ann and we pray for a million more!  Hope you all have a wonderful day and thank you for checking in on our little angel.            

Hello everyone, it's Lindsey's Papa Jeff.  (It melts my heart each time I hear her call me her Papa. :) )  Anyhow, I've had a few people that I work with ask about setting up the website so that they could make donations through the site.  So, we got the set up today so that people can donate via Credit Card or thier PayPal account online.  Here is a link to that page.

Thank you all for your continued support and God Bless.

Candle sales are in full swing.  There are 15 different scents, in 3 different sizes

26 oz 22.00 + tax & S&H = $25.14 (burn time 175-200 hours)
16 oz 18.50 + tax & S&H = $21.14 (burn time 120-140 hours)
 8 oz 14.50 + tax & S&H = $16.57 (burn time 50-65 hours)

I am looking for 15 people this year to help out.  If you think you can sell 10 candles, please contact me asap.  We will close this on November 20th so we can get them delivered by the first week in December.  Just in time for Christmas.  So far I have 1 helper, and 2 people that have purchased a candle.  Please help if you can.  These candles sell themselves and this is an awesome fundraiser.  Please email me to help sell, or if you would like to purchase any.  Here is a list of the scents:

APPLE SPICE
Spicy and delicious. Baked apples sprinkled with cinnamon, nutmeg and rich vanilla.

AUTUMN WALK
Take a fragrant walk through the enchanting colors and fragrances of fall – colorful leaves are embraced with cooling musk and light florals.

CHRISTMAS PRESENCE
The nostalgic Christmas aromas of apples and oranges, accented by clover, nutmeg and ginger.

CINNAMON VANILLA
Genuine cinnamon and natural vanilla creamed together to create a combination of sweet and spicy.

CLEAN SHEETS
The warm feeling of crisp, clean sheets captured through a breezy blend of fruits and florals with touches of musk.

COZY CHRISTMAS
Curl up to the spicy blend of cinnamon, clove, apple, and orange.

CRANBERRY ORANGE
A unique blend of tart cranberries, fresh citrus orange, blackberry and warm spicy cinnamon bark.

DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
Awaken to the memorable blends of pear and apple cider accented by seasonal fruits and spices.

HOLIDAY WREATH
Fragrant Siberian Pine and balsam fir mixed with raspberry and vanilla.

MULLED CIDER
Add warmth and ambiance to your home with simmering tart cider enveloped with green apple, pineapple and spices.

SUGAR COOKIE
Sweet cream, butter, sugar and vanilla baked to a golden perfection. A customer favorite that you must experience for yourself!

POMEGRANATE
Experience this best selling fragrance of fresh pomegranate – a fusion of peach, strawberry and green apple scents.

SWEET PEA
A fusion of sweet fruits – pineapple and nectarine – softly layered around a heart of organic sweet pea and lilies.

PUMPKIN PIE
The perfect aromatic combination of pumpkin, spices and cream, reminiscent of a warm pumpkin pie being pulled from the oven.
 
VANILLA
The simple and wholesome fragrance of sweet vanilla beans. Always soothing no matter the time or season.

Remember 40% of the profits go right to Lindsey.  Thank you so much for your help!  I look forward to hearing from you.

I didn't get to update before we left for Florida.  Sorry about that.  We had a pretty good flight home from Las Vegas.  We flew from Fresno to Las Vegas, then Las Vegas to Knoxville.  In Las Vegas they would not transfer my bags from our Fresno Flight to our Knoxville flight.  So in Las Vegas I had to get off the plane, gather the stroller, the car seat, Lindsey, the diaper bag and our carry on and proceed to the tram which would take us to the terminal and to baggage claim.  There I would collect our 3 very large suitcases put them on a cart and try to push the cart as I pull the stroller with Lindsey, the car seat, the diaper bag and our carry on.  From there I would need to go to the ticket counter and check in for the Knoxville flight.  I arrive at the counter about 30 minutes before the flight was to leave, (sweat dripping from my head) only to hear the words that they are no longer checking anyone in for the flight.  My mouth about hit the floor.  Well they could tell I was a little upset so the called and asked if it would be ok if I still came through.  They got an approval.  So we checked the 3 bags, ditched the cart and proceeded through security and back on the tram back to the gates.  We arrived as they were getting ready to shut the doors.  Lindsey and I were the last on the plane and out seats were not together.  A very nice gentleman gave up his seat so Lindsey and I could sit next to each other.  Lindsey did excellent on the plane and slept most of the way home.  We then arrived at home and were so happy to see Papa.  We then went to collect out baggage only to find that one of the bags had quite a few tears in it.  So then it was back to the counter to file a claim for the suitcase.  Usually they like to try to argue with you and say what happened to your bag is not covered etc.  Well the supervisor just looked at my bag and said, "Let me get a form." Anyway, we made it home safe and sound.  We then caught up on some much needed sleep on Monday, did laundry and got ready to leave for Florida.

We left for Florida Wednesday after Jeff got home from work.  We made it to Greenville Alabama.  The next morning we got up and drove the rest of the way.  We had a wonderful time in Florida.  The houses were just beautiful.  They were right on the beach.  What a view!  I will post pictures soon I promise.  The water was beautiful.  Last time we were down the water was very rough and Lindsey wanted nothing to do with it.  On Thursday the water was so calm and beautiful that she actually got in a played around for a while.  It was wonderful!  The water was so clear I saw a jellyfish swim right up to me.  That is when Lindsey and I got out of the water!  The boys had a great time playing in the sand, laughing in the sun!  They went up and down the beach looking for Sand crabs. They found buckets full.  The also helped some of the adults catch some Blue Crabs.  They saw lots of jellyfish, a baby hammerhead shark, lots of crabs, and a stingray.  Saturday evening Lindsey started to get sick.  This went on for the rest of the night.  It was going to be a long drive home.  Jeff and I did not get much sleep as she would get sick every hour or so.  She felt a little better on Sunday morning.  She slept most of the way home on Sunday and only got sick one more time.  We arrived home, safe and sound at about 8:00pm Sunday night.  To read more about the wonderful Lighthouse retreat please go to www.lighthousefamilyretreat.org  .

Then as instructed Lindsey was to be sleep deprived for the Baer (Hearing Test).  I had to put  her to bed at midnight and wake her at 4 am.  This was not fun, let me tell you.  So back to reality.  Back to the Cancer world of tests and all that fun stuff.  We arrive at the hospital at 8 am in outpatient registration.  We were told that we need to go to the Oncology Clinic to register.  I get to the Oncology Clinic and I am told Lindsey has an appointment with them at 9:45 am.  I knew nothing of this appointment.  Well that is just fine since we are there anyway.  So we check in and then head off to get her hearing test.  We arrive in Neurology and they tell us that she is going to be sedated.  I am confused.  I thought they were just going to try to get her to go to sleep for the test that is why I had to deprive her of sleep.  I didn't think it was going to work in the first place, but still followed their instructions.  Well a long story short, they don't know who sent me the paper work telling me to deprive her of sleep but it was not necessary.  Then they tell me that she has to go to radiology to get sedated but Radiology does not have her on the schedule.  (this has been scheduled for over 3 months.)  Ugh.. Poor Lindsey is about to fall asleep standing up.  They told me they could probably fit us in the schedule in about an hour.  I said that was fine as long as Lindsey could go to sleep.  So she took a little nap and then they came and sedated her and did the hearing test.  All went well.  They took the blood that the clinic needed while she was sedated so we wouldn't have to mess with her anymore.  Then it was off to the clinic for a check up.  Lindsey slept through the entire visit.  The doctor said it was no fun with her asleep.  I told the doctor that I didn't even know we had an appointment today, he said he didn't know that either.  Guess they made the appointment while he was out of town and forgot to tell us.  So anyway I guess it worked out.  I did not have to worry about the upcoming AFP test.  They took the AFP today and we should have the results in 2-3 days.  We should have the BAER results in 3-5 days.  We pray that the AFP is accurate in showing Lindsey is still in remission.  We pray that the BAER is accurate in showing that Lindsey has not suffered any hearing loss.  If we get all clear then we are free for another 3 months.  Lindsey will continue to have a hearing test every year at this time.  I didn't realize that she could still have some hearing loss from the chemo in the future.  I will get some pictures together over the next week from our busy past month and try to get them posted.  Thank you for all the continued prayers! 

September 24th, 2007

We are home!

September 20, 2007

Rest in Peace Summer

How does time get away from us so fast?   We have had another very busy month.  It was big brother Casey's 17th Birthday on August 25th, and it was big brother Riley's 9th Birthday on September 4th.  Then on September 5th Lindsey, Grandma and I headed to Las Vegas.  I wanted to make Lindsey's week a wonderful one.  Looking back to one year ago, she was not having so much fun.  It is hard to believe that it has been 1 year since we found out Lindsey had cancer.  It comes with very mixed emotions for me.  I was not sure how the day would be.  Am I happy because they found it before it spread, am I sad because I wish she never would have had cancer at all?  Do we celebrate?  Do we feel sad?  So with the mixed emotions I just decided that we would celebrate life and that is what we are doing.  We arrived in Vegas on the 5th.  We spent it visiting with family and friends.  On the 6th we went to Build-a-bear at Plant Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip.  We heard they had an exclusive Las Vegas animal.  Well the exclusive was a white tiger and Lindsey was not impressed.  So she got a little white and pink poodle and dressed it in an exclusive Las Vegas shirt.  It wasn't until we were leaving that we realized her pink poodle had a pink shirt, and a jean skirt, as well as Lindsey.  It was adorable.  I will be sure to post pictures as soon as I can.  After build a bear we went to the outlet mall so Lindsey could ride the carousel horses.  I think she rode about 4 times.  We heard the Flamingo Casino has a penguin display so on the 7th we went to try to find it.  We did see the flamingos and some very large fish, but no penguins.  We found out that they had moved to Texas.  So we decided to go over to the Mirage Casino and see the dolphin exhibit.  Lindsey had so much fun.  (Me too, dolphins are my favorite!)  They had a baby dolphin that was only 3 months old.  It was so cute!  We got to see the trainers feed and exercise the dolphins.  They were right in front of us, and at one point the trainer had the dolphin move its tail and splash us with water.  After we left Lindsey called papa and told him all about the dolphins.  She also told him that the dolphins splashed her, it was so cute!  September 7th 2006 was the day we found out something was wrong with Lindsey's liver, we just didn't know what.  It was the longest day of my life.  

Then September 8th.  One year anniversary of Lindsey's diagnosis.  It was a fun day for Lindsey.  We took her to Chuck-e-Cheese.  She had a ball.  She really picked up quick on the games.  There was one that was a spider game, and it had lights that would light up and you would have to step on the lights, like they were spiders.  Lindsey really liked this game, she must have played it 15 times.  As soon as it was over she would run to the table and say "More money".  She ran around and had a wonderful time.  I enjoyed every single minute of it.  She had such a big smile on her face.  What a great way to spend the anniversary of her diagnosis, just seeing that beautiful smile.  One year ago I had no idea what was on the road ahead.  I had no idea how many more times I would be blessed with seeing that beautiful little girl smile, laugh, sing, dance and just overload my heart with joy.  So as I said we are just spending this month in celebration of life.  We never know where life will take us, we just have to sit back and enjoy the ride as God is our pilot.  Sometimes the road will get very bumpy and take lots of sharp turns, but with God behind the wheel and our seatbelts securely fastened we will make it through all those bumps and turns. 

We left last Vegas yesterday and headed down to Palm Desert.  We will be here for a few days and then head up to Bakersfield.  Today is my little brothers 30th Birthday.  We were able to celebrate a little with him while we were in Vegas.  I hope he has a wonderful birthday today. 

We hope everyone is having a wonderful month.  September is Childhood Cancer awareness month.  Please do all you can to support and spread awareness this month.  At Build a bear, in September, in honor of childhood cancer awareness month, all donations for the purchase of purple satin hearts will be distributed through the Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation to childhood cancer research and awareness programs!  So if you make a build a bear this month be sure to purchase the purple satin heart to go inside your bear.  Chili's will be donating their profits on September 24th to St Jude Children's Research Hospital.  If you have a Chili's near you, please plan on this for dinner on September 24th.  Just another little way that you can help.  Check out www.createapepper.com for more information.  Another way to help is sending a note to Congress, visit http://capwiz.com/curesearch/issues/alert/?alertid=10267161&PROCESS=Take+Action for more information.  It has a letter all ready filled in, all you have to do is add your name and click send.  Please do this for Lindsey and all other children fighting cancer.   

I will leave you with some Childhood Cancer Facts:

  Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.
  One in 330 children will develop cancer by age 20.
  Although the 5 year survival rate is steadily increasing, one quarter of children will die 5 years from the time of diagnosis.
  Cancer remains the number one disease killer of America's children - more than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Asthma and AIDS combined.    

Just a year ago

Well, we are going against the norm today.  Papa is updating the site instead of Kristen so please excuse me in my allocution.  Well...  I am not sure how to start this message.  It nearly beings me to tears reflecting on it to be honest.  It has been almost exactly one year since I got a panicked call at work from Kristen while she was on her way to the hospital to have tests done on our little Lindsey Ann because her liver was enlarged.  My beautiful wife did such a good job of fighting off the fear and the tears while she tried to explain what the doctors had said, all while enroute to the hospital.  I left work and headed to the hospital trying to remain positive but deep down I knew something had just turned my world upside down...

It is so strange...  It seems like yesterday and years ago...  I am writing this as an update to those who have been supporting us so much through all of this, our angels in the flesh.  I am also writing this to those that might've just found our page after being diagnosed so I apologize if I get a little too intense for some.  I want to make this a reminder to all of us and an inspiration to those just now visiting.  Think of this as a September 11th anniversary for our friends and family.  We had effectively just been destroyed and we were stumbling through the smoke, rubble, and confusion trying to make sense of what had just happened to us.  For the most part, when we were told that there was a mass in our little 15 month old girl we knew in our hearts what it was though we were loath to admit it.

So, the time came and it fell from the mouth of the man whose job I'd never want to have, we were told by a doctor that our little angel had cancer.  From there it was a whirlwind.  For those that have lived through a hurricane I've never really done it but I'd bet we could share a lot of the same feelings as this hit me and my family.

If you are just visiting and newly diagnosed I know you are here searching for answers.  I can only say that my family prays for yours and we truly hope that you overcome and that everything works out for you according to your plans and according to the will of God.  That is where the answers are found.  They are found through a relationship with the true healer in Jesus Christ not in man.  Pray and pray hard.  Reach out and ask the world to lift up your child in prayer to the healing that can be had in faith because we are all powerless to intercede on behalf of our children.  Give it over to faith that things will happen as they are meant to happen according to the will of God.  There is nothing more that you can do except to do what he has asked you to do since the day that you were born...  Give all things over to him and know that his will shall be done.

I can not begin to express my gratitude God and to the people that have helped us through all of this and I can never give enough praise to the Lord for allowing us to keep our little Lindsey Ann among us here on earth for another year.

So, we have one year down and four more for a true "cured" sign to be placed in her medical file but we continue to pray that a "Cured" has been placed next to her name in the heart of our lord Jesus Christ.

Bless you all for your support, and if you are searching for support please contact us and we will do all that we can to help you through this troubling time.

Thank you and God bless you all.

August 15th, 2007

Lindsey's Candle

I guess it has been awhile.  Sorry about the delay.  First I was to say Happy Anniversary to Lindsey.  Today marks 6 months since I received the call that my baby girl was in remission!  It is a wonderful milestone.  I can't wait until we are saying Happy 5th anniversary Lindsey!  So please join me today to say Happy Anniversary Lindsey and to say an extra prayer of thanks to our Father in Heaven for answering our prayers! 

Next we want to wish Auntie Barbara a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  We hope you have a wonderful day!  We will see you soon!

So what have we been up to?  Well we have been enjoying each and every day.  I don't even know if I remember everything we have done.  My last update was right before we headed to Atlanta.  That was on the 20th of July.  We spent the weekend in Atlanta and had a wonderful time.  The Cure Childhood Cancer Family Picnic was wonderful.  We had a great time.  They had lots of games and food.  We got to see some of our friends that we met at the Lighthouse in June.  They had pony rides, and Lindsey wanted to ride.  There was a pretty long line and Jeff didn't think she would ride it and didn't want to wait in the line if she was not going to ride.  We kept asking if she wanted to ride and she said yes.  So we waited in the line.  Well Lindsey absolutely loved the pony.  They had to take her for 2 rides because she would not get off.  She had a great time.  We spent the weekend with one of our family partners from The Lighthouse.  We thank her so much for opening her home to our very big family.  Thank you so much Ann!!  We also went got to see some of the other volunteers from the Lighthouse.  It was wonderful.  On Sunday we went to mass at Northpoint Church with our other family partner Kim and his family.  Thank you Kim!  This was absolutely amazing.  We enjoyed each and every minute.  We thought we were at the mall.  The parking lot was so big that it was almost intimidating.  There were so many people.  It was a wonderful experience.  Then we went to watch Ann play polo.  Lindsey had a great time watching the horses and she and the boys got to sit on them and pet them.  It was a great weekend. 

Then the day after we got home my sister came over from North Carolina with my niece and nephew.  We had a great visit.  We went to Dollywood on July 24th, and it rained for most of the day, but we still had a good time.  We then went out to grandmas house on the 25th and stayed the night. On the 26th it was Grandma's birthday, Happy Birthday Grandma, we got up and made grandma breakfast and spent her birthday with her. 

On the 31st we went to Dollywood again.  We watched the Veggitales show again and Lindsey loved every minute.  This time she got to meet Bob and Larry after the show.  She liked them from a distance and was not too sure about the large tomato and cucumber that were trying to take a picture with her.  I will have to post some pictures. 

On August 1st Lindsey had her 2-year check up with the pediatrician.  We had to wait until we were 6 months post chemo so she could catch up on some of her shots.  We switched to the pediatrician that found her tumor.  He said she looks great and I told him that he was a big part of that.  We are so thankful that he was at work that day back in September.  We were so glad that he did not just look in her ears and send us on our way.  We are so grateful that he saw Lindsey that day.  We are so thankful that he is such a wonderful doctor.  She had to catch up on some shots and was not a very happy girl.  She weighed in at 28 lbs and 33 inches tall.  She is in the 75% for her weight and in the 25% for her height.  We have noticed that she is a little shorter then most kids her age, but I think she will catch up.  She is doing great with her weight if you ask me.  She was right around 22 lbs throughout chemo.  She gained 3 lbs in the few months after she stopped chemo.  So she has gained an additional 3 pounds.  She is starting to eat a wide vareity of things.  Some days she barely eats enough to keep a bird alive and other days I don't think I have enough food in the house to feed her.  I guess it will all even out.  But overall the doctor said she looks wonderful.  I think so too!

Then on the 7th we had company from Las Vegas, Casey's Godmother, Yolanda and her daughter Andrea.  We had a great visit.  We went to Dollywood again on the 8th and it was very hot!  We still had fun though.  We went to the movies and saw Meet the Robinsons.  I forgot to say that we found this awesome movie theater on August 5th.  The movies were $1.50 each person.  It goes up on Fridays and Saturdays to $2.00 a person.  They show movies that have recently left the theaters but not available on DVD yet.  We saw Shrek 3, it was really cute.  This is a great theater especially with the size of our family.  We went to the movies again yesterday and saw Surf's Up.  It was another penguin movie, I don't think Lindsey liked it as much as Happy Feet but she did enjoy it.  We also played miniature golf yesterday.  Lindsey had fun picking up all of our golf balls and throwing them in the water, and if we were lucky she would put them in the hole.  We had fun and that is all that matters.  Then we had to take Yolanda and Andrea to the airport.  Lindsey spent the rest of the night saying "Andrea where are you."

So I think we are caught up now.  I just need to put up some new pictures from our great adventures.  I forgot to say that the boys all started school last week.  Casey is now a big bad senior at the High School, Brodey just started middle school and is in 6th grade and Riley is on the "big kids" side at the elementary school in 3rd grade.  That is right 3 boys, in 3 different schools, this is going to be a fun year.  We hope to spend the next couple weeks relaxing and getting ready for our next vacation.  Lindsey, Grandma and I will head to Las Vegas on the 5th of September.  We just could not pass up the $7 flight to Las Vegas.  Lindsey is doing absolutely wonderful.  She is talking so much and is so active.  I hope everyone is enjoying what is left of summer and living each day to its fullest!  We sure are!  Thank you for your continued prayers and support.  We are so happy to be celebrating 6 months in remission.  I just might have to go out and get Lindsey a cake, or make her a cake today!  She loves chocolate!  Maybe I will make a chocolate cake with M & M's all over it!!!  Happy Anniversary baby girl!  You have come a long way and have a long way to go.  We will all be here every step of the way, holding your hand.         

June 24th, 2007

 We are now back in Bakersfield California.  We had a great time in Salinas visiting with friends and family.  Everyone is having a wonderful time.  We had to go to Castroville and get some deep fried artichoke hearts.  They were so yummy.  Lindsey really enjoyed her first deep fried artichoke heart, she can even say artichoke, it is so cute.  We had some Jamba Juice thanks to Aunt Mary and Uncle Mark.  They were so delicious.  The boys asked if they would build a Jamba Juice in Tennessee.  We spent one day with Aunt Mary and family at the dairy.  Riley got to help cousin Seth feed the cows and he even got to milk the cows.  He also feed one of the calves a bottle.  He wanted to go back the next day.  Lindsey got to pet the one of the calves and she thought that was great.  We went to the Monterey Bay one afternoon and rented a Surrey and rode along the bike path.  Lindsey sat in the front basket and rang the bell.  It was beautiful, we rode right along side of the Ocean.  We were going to head back to Bakersfield on Thursday but then we found out it was Relay for Life on Friday.  So we stayed an extra day.  Lindsey got to walk in the survivor lap.  I will post some pictures when I get back home.  She thought she was a little princess.  Everyone was clapping as the survivors walked their lap, you could tell Lindsey thought they were all clapping just for her.  She had such a big smile on her face the entire lap and she was doing a queen's wave to the crowd.  She is such a little ham.  All the survivors received a medal and a purple shirt and wore them on the survivor lap.  I had a couple people come up to me and say that she was too young for a purple shirt.  The kids spent most of the day yesterday in the swimming pool.  The weather is great.  We will spend the week here in Bakersfield visiting with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie and Family.  We will then head back to Las Vegas the end of this week.  We are on standby for our flight home.  The seats are filling up fast.  We hope there will be enough for us to get home on Tuesday since Lindsey has her check up a few hours after we arrive home.  Her doctor is leaving for a mission trip and this will be his last day in the office for over 3 weeks.  We hope we are able to get on that flight.  Please continue to keep Lindsey in your prayers that her follow up test will show that she is still in remission.  Thank you again! 

June 18th 2007

Vacation

Home from Florida!

Getting Ready for Vacation!!

 Yesterday we went to Splash Country for the first time this summer.  Lindsey did not like the water at first.  It was very cold.  Her brother took her on one of the little waterslides and she did not like it.  Then after a bit she finally warmed up to the water and was enjoying it.  We played in the wave pool and she really enjoyed the lazy river.  She even fell asleep on the lazy river, just like she did last year.  It was a great day!

As you know we were selected to go to the Beach in Florida with the Lighthouse Ministry.  You can view more at www.lighthousefamilyretreat.org.  We are all so excited!  We are to leave everything behind, including computers and cells phones and all our worries.  So I am sorry but you won't get any updated until we return.  We also just found out that we are going to go to Vegas and California when we return.  This time the boys will come with us.  Unfortunately, Jeff doesn't even have enough vacation time for this trip to the beach, so he will not be able to join us in Vegas and California.  We must say thank you to my brother Toby who was able to get us some airplane tickets.  We also thank Grandma Carol.  We are looking forward to a family reunion at the lake in California.  Well I must pack and get everything ready for our trip.  Thank you again Marie for giving us the information about the Lighthouse!  We are so excited!

Our baby is 2!

 Happy Birthday precious little girl.  I cannot believe she is 2 years old.  We started the morning at church giving thanks for this beautiful little girl that is celebrating her 2nd birthday.  Then we had a get together will some of her little friends.  We had an ice cream cake (Thank you Ann, it was delicious) and some rice crispy ice cream cones.  It was all delicious.  The kids ate and bounced in the bounce house and sang Happy Birthday to Lindsey.  We then went and had her pictures taken.  She didn't cooperate too well, but I think we got some good ones.  She just wanted to do her own thing, imagine that.  Then she played at the Burger King play land after dinner and then it was home for more singing and opening presents.  We are so thankful for this little girl.  We thank you for all the cards and presents that you have all sent.  She enjoyed each and every one!

The first year of Lindsey's life I wrote to her each and every month just to give a little update on what she had done that previous month.  I was looking through it the other day for the first time since she was diagnosed with cancer.  It really brought tears to my eyes.  I would like to share a little about what I wrote to her on her 1st birthday, one year ago.  I started it off by saying " Well it's a good thing you can not see the tears rolling down my face as I write this.  How on earth has it been 1 year since we were blessed with you, our beautiful little angel!  How wonderful this past year has been.  You are the greatest gift I could ever ask for."  Then I talk a little about her eating and sleeping habits.  I write about how we thought she was just going to skip crawling and go straight to walking, but that she finally decided to crawl at just over 11 months of age. Then I talk about her first Birthday.  "What a great way to celebrate your first birthday.  To shower you with gifts as you have showered us with love.  Like I said I cannot believe my little baby girl is 1.  Wow.  It has been the best year of my life.  You have made it so special for me.  There were so many wonderful moments throughout the past year, but I will have to say that the one I cherish the most is the first moment I held my little dream come true in my arms.  You will always be my little girl.  I love you so much princess.  I look forward to all the wonderful years yet to come.  You bring such happiness to my life. I hope you grow up to be a wonderful, happy, and beautiful person.  I hope all your dreams come true.  I hope you look back and always remember our wonderful years together during your childhood.  I hope you always remember how special you are and how much I love you.  I hope you succeed in whatever you try to accomplish.  But most of all I hope you are always happy and always have that beautiful little smile.  I will cherish this first year of your life forever!  I look forward to all the new memories we are going to make in the upcoming years.  My pretty little princess is growing up so fast.  I am so happy that I get to watch you grow and learn.  I am so thankful that I got to quit work and stay home with you.  That made it so much more wonderful!  I love you so much my precious little angel.  Thank you for being such a wonderful little girl."

Now it is one year later and my precious little angel has just turned 2.  They say time flies when you are having fun, that means we had the greatest year yet.  I didn't even think it could get much better than that first year, but her second year was absolutely fantastic.  Even though Lindsey was diagnosed with cancer shortly after her 1st birthday, it was still a wonderful year.  Lindsey is such a precious little girl.  I thank God each and every day for blessing me with this beautiful little angel.  This last year has been so special.  I didn't think I could love her anymore than I did that first year, but my love continues to grow each and every day.  I feel like my heart is going to explode it has so much love in it.  She can always bring a smile to my face.  She is a true blessing.  Her hair is starting to come in, and she woke up one day and decided she was going to talk.  She talks all the time.  She says, "I sorry" if she steps on your toe, she says, "Scuse E (excuse me)" if she tries to get by you, she says "Bless you" if you sneeze and she says "Your Welcome" when you tell her thank you.  She will blow you a kiss when she is saying goodbye.  But most of all she will melt your heart with her beautiful smile.  Lindsey loves to sing and she loves to dance.  She has very "happy feet".  We will have her first check up next month since going into remission.  It is a little scary but we look forward to hearing wonderful news.  Lindsey fought a long hard battle and we pray that she never has to do it again.  We are looking forward to a relaxing week at the beach next week.  Thank you again for all the cards and presents for Lindsey and for helping us celebrate her 2nd Birthday.  As always we thank you for your continued prayers and support! 

Here is a poem that Jeff wrote to Lindsey for her 2nd birthday.

My little Lindsey girl, you gave me quite a fright.

I never thought I'd see so many sleepless nights.

You were a bit of a wake up call, a don't forget.

A bit of life's been good, but it ain't over yet.

The lord knows, I know that now, I won't forget!!

And he knows no matter what, my mind is set.

I know that he is much greater than I,

But I'll fight for those that I love, till the day I die.

And don't think for a second, if that day comes to call

That you'll be here without me, don't think that at all.

For I'll be always with you, you, your ma, and your bros

Because the see of me is in you, and it always grows.

Birthday Party

May 22nd, 2007

Home Sweet Home

May 12th, 2007

Happy Early 2nd Birthday

May 10, 2007

Warm California Sun

We have been busy.  We made it to California on Friday the 4th.  My sister had won tickets to a concert for Friday Night.  We arrived a couple hours before the concert.  I was not sure how Lindsey would do but we thought we would try to leave her with Grandma and Grandpa and go to the concert.  I kept checking my phone the whole time. We saw Jason Michael Carroll.  We got to meet him after the concert and had our picture taken with him.  It was absolutely wonderful!  When we arrived at G'ma and G'pa's Lindsey was asleep.  They said she had a great time.  She ate, then ate some more, played, ate again and played with the dogs.  It was so cute!  This week has been spent in Bakersfield California.  We are having a wonderful time.  This weekend we are having a little get together for Lindsey.  If you are in the neighborhood, be sure to drop by.  Lindsey loves the pool.  The other night she just put her feet in, well that is all her and Auntie were going to do, pretty soon Lindsey was just in her diaper and almost head deep in the water.  She absolutely loved it.  She didn't want to get out.  Last night Uncle Alex turned on the hot tub for Lindsey and she played in that for over an hour.  She had so much fun.  She really didn't want to get out of there. 

Lindsey's new saying is "Your welcome".  She is such a sweetie.  If you sneeze she will say "Bless You" then you will say "Thank You" and she will say "Your Welcome." It is so darn cute.  Sometimes she will just walk around and say Bless you, just so you will say thank you.  Lindsey finally adjusted to West Coast time and is sleeping so well.  It has been wonderful! 

**Reminder that Lindsey's big Birthday party- Remission Party is planned for May 26th.  If you are reading this then you are invited!  Please send me an email or call me if you plan on attending.  Thank you all so much!**

May 3rd, 2007

Viva Las Vegas!

April 30th, 2007

  Deja Vu

 Yesterday Lindsey ended up in the Emergency Room.  As I was driving to the hospital I couldn't help but think back to September 7th, 2006.  We were supposed to get on a plan that very next day, September 8th.  As I was driving to the hospital on Sunday it felt like Deja Vu.  You see, Lindsey and I have tickets to leave for Las Vegas on Tuesday May 1st.  We got to the emergency room around 6:00pm.  It was pretty much just to make sure everything was ok.  Lindsey is feeling much better now.  I called the doctor because there was a little dis-coloration in her diaper.  They wanted me to take her to the ER just to be checked and make sure everything was ok.  So we get there about 6pm. Since she was recently on chemo she was a "Status 2", (Whatever that means - I just know she got to use the express lane and was the next one they took back to a room - Guess Chemo does have some advantages.. hehe).  They took some blood and did a few tests.  They did confirm that she has the rotovirus.  They said she looks to be on the tail end of it.  They said all her numbers looked very good and she appeared to be very well hydrated.  They made sure that the discoloration was not blood, they think maybe it could be from the medicine she is on for a recent sinus infection, so that was a relief.  Her liver function and kidney function was all very good.  That is music to my ears.  The ER doctor wanted to double check with Lindsey's oncologist just to make sure they didn't have any worries.  We got the all clear and headed home to start packing for our trip.  

As everyone knows we have been very busy.  Lindsey got her broviac out at the end of last month and that was the last thing we were waiting for before taking our trip.  Well April was a very busy month with Easter, Casey's Confirmation, and Riley's First Communion.  Now with that all out of the way we only have May for our trip to the West Coast.  Lindsey will be 2 at the end of the Month, and if we don't go before then, we would have to buy her a plane ticket.  (under 2 fly for free.)  So that doesn't leave much time.  May is also a busy month.  Lindsey birthday is the end of the Month, it is our 10 year wedding anniversary on the 17th, so that leaves now or never.  So we are off to Vegas!  I can't wait!  We fly into Vegas on May 1st and will be there until the 4th.  Then we go to Bakersfield, California until the 13th, then we go to Salinas, California until the 16th and fly out of San Jose, CA back home.  It is going to be a wonderful vacation! 

April 27th, 2007

Lindsey has a bad virus

April 21st, 2007

Garage Sale and first real bath in about 7 months!!!

We had another garage sale today.  It was a last minute thing.  Thank you to Paula for thinking of us.  Thank you to Summer, Deborah and Nikki for letting me call upon you at the last minute for your wonderful items!  You are all so wonderful.  I really mean this thing was a last minute thing.  It all started about 7 o'clock last night.  Thanks to all of Aileens sleepless nights we had everything all priced and ready to go.  We took 3 truckloads of stuff over to Paula's house.  I think it was a pretty good day!  We had a donation jar out for Lindsey and we received $31.61 in straight donations.  Then for items that we sold we got $329.45, plus Aileen has sold some stuff from the last sale and it was $15.  So our total for today was $376.06.  Between both of the yard sales the grand total is $1123.01.  This is just wonderful.  Thank you to each and every one of you that helped make this a success.  Those that helped with the actual sale, those that donated items, those that bought stuff, and those that helped price stuff.  We appreciate it so much.  Thank you again! 

Lindsey is doing great!  We were supposed to go to a playgroup yesterday.  We packed our lunch and then we were on our way.  I thought I knew where I was going, well 45 minutes later I called it quits.  I guess I didn't know where I was going.  So we just decided to go to mass at noon and then we played at the little park they have at church, and ate our lunch.  Turned out to be a fun day anyway.  Lindsey also got her first real bath tonight in about 7 months.  It was so much fun!  Be sure to check out the pictures on the "More Pictures" page!  There is also a video on myspace.com that you can get to via the link on the "Links" page.  There are also some new Easter pictures...  Thanks again!

April 18th, 2007

 Fundraiser

Just a reminder about the Creative Memories and Stampin Up fundraiser that is going on for Lindsey.  We are going to take orders until this Friday.  A big thank you to all that have placed an order.  I even had Demonstrators and Consultants contact me and place and order.  You are all so wonderful.  Thank you again!

Lindsey is doing great.  We have been enjoying the sunshine.  We went to the park the other day and Lindsey got to run around with her little buddy Evan.  They had a great time.  It was so much fun just to watch her run around and laugh and play.  I am still working on posting some new pictures.  I hope you have a great day!  Thank you again!

April 14th, 2007

Garage Sale

The forecast for today was thunderstorms and rain.  Someone was watching out for Lindsey again today, we just had a little drizzle.  The rain held off for most of the day for our Garage Sale to Benefit Lindsey.  I don't know how I will ever begin to thank everyone that contributed to getting this sale together.  So many people made donations, and we appreciate it so much.  Aileen and Karen did such an awesome job getting everything organized, priced and set up.  I know they spent many hours and even sleepless nights getting ready for this garage sale.  Aileen put up some posters and some adorable pictures of Lindsey, to let everyone know the garage sale would be to benefit Lindsey.  We had a great turn out, considering the weather.  I don't know how I will ever be able to thank everyone.  You are all so wonderful.  Aileen even put a jar out with a sign that said "This is the we don't want to buy your junk but we want to help Lindsey Jar".  I thought it was so cute!  Aileen thought of everything and put a lot of hard work into getting this thing organized.  We got rid of a lot of stuff and still have quite a bit left over.  I don't even know how I will thank everyone.  I am not even sure that I know everyone that contributed to the sale.  I know Paula helped price stuff and brought over quite a bit of stuff, Jessica and Summer did as well.  I know Ginny donated some stuff, Julianna, my neighbor Andrea, Kristen and many many more. Please know that I thank each and every one of you even though I did not mention your name.  You are all so generous and giving and helped us out in so many ways.  This was a great success and the grand total for the garage sale was (drum roll please)..... $746.95!  That is great.  We also want to thank everyone that came buy and purchased items!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Like I said I don't know how I will ever thank everyone.  Now it is time to take a shower, put my feet up for a minute then we head off to church for Casey's confirmation.  The fun never ends in the Long Household!

Well I guess I should say something about Lindsey since this is her website!  She is doing great!  She is on the go!  She is definitely making up for lost time.  Her broviac site is all healed up, but we just haven't had time for a bath yet.  That sounds sill doesn't it?  Well it is going to be a big deal and it has to be when the whole family is home.  So she might be 3 before she gets that bath.  Just kidding.  It is going to be soon, very soon!  I will be sure to post pictures.  Thank you again!  Please remember that we have the Stampin Up fundraiser going on and the Creative Memories fundraiser going on.  These will go until Friday the 20th. Thanks again!

We have added a Creative Memories Book party to the list of fundraisers for Lindsey.  So please look at www.creativememories.com and please ask all your friends and neighbors to look at it.  All the commission from the party will go to Lindsey.  Just take a look and send me an email with what you would like to order.  We will close the Stampin Up party and the Creative Memories party around the same time.  So please do this as soon as you can.  Just because you are a consultant or demonstrator or your best friend is one, it doesn't mean you can't order a little something to help Lindsey out.  I had a Stampin Up demonstrator contact me to place and order!  Thank you all so much! 

I also got the pictures to finally work.  I put them under a new page called "More Photos"  Check them out!  Also please sign Lindsey's prayer warriors page if you have not done so already!  Thanks again.

 Well it has been a few days since I last updated.  Things have been very busy, and I think it is only getting worse.  I am looking forward to a vacation!  I guess I have been putting this update off because there is so much to write about.  I don't even know where to begin.  Lindsey is doing great!  She is enjoying every minute of every day.  Her chest is healing from where her broviac was removed.  It is not 100% yet, so we have not attempted the bath yet.  We did take off the bandage and she just has a band-aid on it now.  It is looking really good.  So the bath will be soon, very soon. 

I guess the first thing I want to talk about is Little Miss Lindsey.  She is so wonderful.  Thank you each and every one of you that are praying for her and checking in on her.  I want you all to take a minute right now and give yourself a big pat on the back.  You are all so wonderful and if it wasn't for you, I don't think Lindsey would have done as well as she did.  I don't know if everyone knows just how well Lindsey did.  I haven't really said much about this before because I didn't want to jinx her, but now that the broviac is out and she is in Remission, I can say it.  When Lindsey's broviac was put in, a nurse came in to show us how to care for Lindsey's broviac.  She told us to be prepared for a line infection, it pretty much always happens.  She said she only knows of one or two other children that went the whole time without an infection.  Well I need to go back and find her and tell her she can add Lindsey to that list!  Lindsey had her broviac in for over 6 months and she never once had an infection in her line.  Everything we read told you to be prepared for late night trips to the ER, or a hospital stay for anti-biotic's if she got a fever of any type.  It told you to have a bag packed ready to go to the hospital at anytime.  Well can you believe we never had to make one of those trips?  Lindsey was never admitted to the hospital for anything other than her scheduled surgeries and chemotherapy treatments.  How wonderful is that.  This is thanks to all the prayers that you are saying for our precious little girl and we don't know how we will ever thank you!  As you pat yourself on the back, please take a moment to say Thank You to our Wonderful Father in Heaven for answering our continued prayers!

Next thing is fundraisers.  I wanted to remind everyone about the yard sale on Saturday April 14th. (Please see the post on March 22nd for more details.)  I still hope this is going to be a huge success, I mean who doesn't have at least one box of stuff to get rid of!  I have only heard from 2 people as of right now.  If you are willing to help us out with this please send me an email.  I went through the house last weekend and figured I could come up with a box of stuff.. Boy was I wrong, I have about 10 boxes of stuff.  Another fundraiser that we are doing right now is through Stampin Up.  I am doing a book party and the demonstrator is donating her commission to Lindsey.  So please take a moment to go to www.stampinup.com and look through the catalog.  Some of you may already have a demonstrator that you buy from, but if you could please still just take a look an maybe just order an item or two.  You get a great product plus you will be helping Lindsey out.  Please just take a look at the catalog and email me with the item you would like to order.  Thank you very very much!  If anyone has any other ideas for fundraising, please let me know.  Thank you! 

Now lets talk about celebrating Lindsey's Remission.  We wanted to wait for the party until her broviac was out.  So now that it is out, it is time for a party.  Well April is pretty much all used up.  We have Easter, Casey's Confirmation and Riley's First Communion this month.  Remember I said something about being a little busy!  So this puts us into May.  Well, May is Lindsey's birthday as well.  So we thought we would just do one big party.  So we have set a date for Memorial Day Weekend, Saturday May 26th, 2007.  We are trying to get an idea of how many people are going to be here.  Can you please send me an email if you are going to come?  I need to know if this is something we can have at the house, or if I need to rent a place.  Everyone is invited!  We are looking forward to meeting so many of Lindsey's Prayer Warriors!  I hope each and every one of you can come to this wonderful Celebration of Life for Little Miss Lindsey.  Please mark your calendars now and be sure to send me an email.   

Next is our family vacation!  A big thank you to one of Lindsey's Prayer Warriors, Marie, we are going on a family vacation!  This will be our first family vacation in quite a long time!  Marie told me about this website called www.lighthousefamilyretreat.org.  So I visited the website and thought it would be a wonderful place to go.  So I decided to apply and see what happened.  Well I did not expect to hear back so soon, but we did and we were accepted to go.  We will head to Atlanta June 3rd and then take a bus from Atlanta to the Beach in Florida.  We will be there until the 9th.  We are all very excited!  This will be Lindsey's first trip ever to the Beach!  A big Thank you to Marie. 

Well I think that is enough info for one night.  I am going to post some new pictures, be sure to take a look.  Thank you again and we hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I can't wait to see Lindsey running around the yard picking up Easter Eggs....  Happy Easter!

Well they updated the webpage and I can't get the pictures to load.  I will have to work on it later.  I forgot to tell you that Lindsey's hair is coming in.  She has a little fuzzy head right now and it is so cute.  I was just looking at it today and said to myself that I am almost going to miss her bald little head.  She has a birthmark on the back of her head. I remember when she was born I said that no one would ever see it because her hair would cover it up.  Well I will tell you I have looked at that beautiful birthmark for the last 2 years, and I am going to miss looking at it.  Every thing about her is absolutely beautiful!  She still has the one on her the top of her nose, between her eyes.  I believe this is the kiss of an angel!  It could very well be the kiss of her great grandfather.  He passed away before she was even born, but I know he was there holding her hand on many occasions during her surgeries and treatments.  I have a picture of him in our dining room and the other day she was just looking at the picture, it was so intense.  I said do you know who that is.  She said "yeah".  I said that is great grandpa.  I asked if he came to visit her and give her kisses and hold her hand and she said "yeah".  We love you Grandpa, thank you for watching out for our beautiful little girl!

 Everything went very well yesterday!  We arrived at around 7:15 am.  We did out paperwork and then went to radiology.  We sat there for a little bit.  The doctor came in and said if all goes well it should only take about 10 minutes.  (I guess that would have been a good time to let him know that Lindsey isn't a bye the book kinda girl - but I didn't.)  Everyone in radiology was so glad to see Lindsey was getting her line removed.  We were happy that it was the anesthesiologist that knows Lindsey that was putting her to sleep for the broviac removal.  She fought it as usual.  They started at 8:32 am.  Since there were no other patients we got to wait in the room right next to Lindsey.  About 10 minutes into it we hear her in the other room.  It is hard to describe, it was not a cry, it was not a scream of pain, it was more like a loud growl to say "Leave me alone I am sleeping."  The doctor came out at 8:54 and handed me her broviac.  (I asked them if I could have it - He asked if I was going to hang it on the Christmas tree. Hehe).  He said that she made him work pretty hard - I told him that I was sorry I forgot to tell him that about her.  All in all everything went well.  They ended up having to put in an IV so they could give her more sleepy juice.  When we went in the room she was out like a light.  Then after a few minutes she opened her eyes, rolled over and tried to stand up.  The doctor just laughed and said there was no imbetween with her, she was either out like a light or up and trying to run around.  Her head was still pretty wobbly but she wanted up and she wanted up NOW!  We were back home by about 10 am.  When we got home I changed Lindsey for the first time without her broviac and it was very weird.  I didn't have to check her broviac and make sure it was clamped off, I didn't have to move the lines out of the way before putting on her diaper.  She has a big bandage on right now so I don't think it seems any different for her.  We told her last night that we were going to "wash" (that is what we would call it every night when we would flush her broviac lines) and she just lifted up her shirt like she normally would, she didn't look for the broviac or anything.  Maybe she won't even notice.  We will remove the bandage tomorrow and let it get some air and heal.  We are in a countdown to that bath I have been waiting for.  Just a couple more days!  Thank you all for your continued prayers!  Lindsey is doing great. Oh and I forgot the best part.. We don't have to go back to the doctors for 3 whole months.  What on earth we will ever do?   

Surgery tomorrow

Lindsey had an appointment with the surgeon to discuss what all is involved in getting her Broviac removed and to schedule a time to get it done.  Well, I guess it is meant to be done immediately because they scheduled her surgery.  The are doing the surgery to remove the Broviac tomorrow morning, Wednesday March 28th, 2007, at 8 am.

The procedure is not supposed to be a very complicated one but as is always the case with sedation there are risks and Lindsey will have to be put under sedation to have the procedure performed.  Plus, there's the fact that our little angel doesn't ever seem to follow the rules and do what is "normal".  She should know by now that she is special.  Hopefully she is done being complicated...  But, I doubt it.  :-)

March 22nd 2007 -

AFP Results

As you know Lindsey had another AFP test on Tuesday.  The doctor said we should have the results by Friday.  We had a busy morning scheduled so I just knew the doctor would call today while we were out.  I left strict instructions with Casey to give the Doctor my Cell Phone number if he called.  We dropped Riley off at a friends first thing this morning, then I took Lindsey to her Mother Gooses Class.  She was having a great time.  About half way through class my phone rang, I missed the call.  I saw that it was the doctor and called right back.  Her AFP is in!  The doctor said that we can keep the appointment with the surgeon to get her broviac out!  Everything looked great!  Oh this is music to my ears!  Thanks be to God!  Her AFP is down from 3 to 2.  This is absolutely wonderful.  Thank you all for your continued prayers!  Lindsey is doing wonderful!  Lindsey had a great day, it was full of all sorts or good stuff.  We got the good news about her AFP and she also won a door prize at her mother gooses class today!  She won a book and some little bunny ears.. They are so cute! 

I had asked for some ideas about some fundraisers.  I received a call today from a fellow member of Mom and Tots at our church, her name is Aileen.  Her neighborhood is having a garage sale and she thought it would be a great way to get rid of some stuff around the house, and then donate the proceeds to Lindsey.  Thank you for thinking of us Aileen.  This sounds great to me!  I have quite a bit of stuff to get rid of as well.  The sale is tentative for April 14th.  That is only a couple weeks away.  Do you have some stuff that you want to get rid of?  Do you want to help Lindsey at the same time?  I think we already have some volunteers to help sort and price and do the stuff like that.  Now we just need your junk.  (One man's junk is another man's treasure.)  Just kidding about calling it junk, but you know what I mean.  I know quite a few people read this website, so those of you that are in the Knoxville Area and want to donate some stuff please let me know.  One thing that we ask is that you donate items that you do not want back if they do not sale.  It will be too hard to divide it all back up.  At the end of the sale we will donate all the left over items to a local charity!  So you will not only be helping Lindsey out!  Please call me or send me a note if you would like to donate some items.  I thank you all in advance for your help in this matter!  A big thank you to Aileen for thinking of this wonderful idea!  

March 20th 2007 -

Dr Appointment

 Lindsey loves to sleep in when we have somewhere to be.  This morning I had to drag her out of bed at 9:40 am.  She likes to get up at 7:30 am when we have nowhere to be!  I think she is still getting use to the time change, she doesn't usually sleep this late.  So off to the doctors we go, Lindsey still in her Pajama's and half asleep.  It was nice to see everyone.  Lindsey took in a new baby stroller and some bubbles to donate to the clinic.  They were happy to receive her gifts.  She walked right in like it was yesterday, and like she owned the place!  She is too funny.  We did some lab work and talked with everyone for a few minutes.  Lab results came back fine except for her liver enzymes.  The normal is around 50 and hers were a little bit elevated at 88.  The doctor said she could be just fighting a little bug right now and that might be why she has had a decreased appetite the last couple days.  They sent off the AFP test and we should have the results on Thursday or Friday.  We made a tentative appointment with the surgeon for March 27th.  We pray that the results of the AFP are still very low and are not rising at all!  Here goes another sleepless couple of nights!  Thank you again for your continued prayers!

 Lindsey is doing great!  She is hard to keep up with now a days!  She is very active and I love every minute of it.  She is having a great time playing and enjoying life!  We got her a new slide for the backyard and she loves it.  She looks out the window and says "Wheeeee" when she see's it.  It is so cute!  She is getting more and more hair.  It is really short and it looks to be really blonde like it was before.  She is getting into the Veggie Tales Movies, she absolutely loves them.  We found some old ones we had on VHS.  I had to buy a couple DVD's so she could watch them in the car.  She loves the sing-a-longs.  She actually has the entire house singing the Veggie Tales songs.  They really get stuck in your head!  Other than that, not much is new around here.  Everyone is doing great!  Thanks for checking in on us.  Lindsey has a doctors appointment on Tuesday March 20th.  She will have some lab work done, and an AFP test.  We pray that her AFP is still very very low.  Then the next step will be to get her Broviac out, just in time for summer!  I don't think I ever put a note about Lindsey being on the news, but she was.  I finally got a copy of the clip.  When we were at the doctors last month they were talking about the UT Dance-a-thon and interviewing a little girl.  They asked if they could film Lindsey getting her blood work done.  It was on the air on Saturday February 24th at 8:15 am.  We missed it.  Luckily we were able to get a copy from the hospital!  We hope everyone has a great weekend!  Thank you again for your continued prayers and support!  If anyone has any ideas for any fundraiser please send me a note.  I am out of ideas, but those bills just keep coming in.  Thank you again!

Many have asked how they can help.  We are now asking each and every one of you for your help.  Please read the "How you can help page".  It involves cuts to funding for Childhood Cancer Research.  Please take a few minutes out of your day and help us fight this.  It really only takes a couple minutes to send a note, please do it for Lindsey, and for all the other children that have cancer, or will be diagnosed with cancer in the future.  My favorite quote is the one I saw in a magazine, Sick children just need a band-aid to feel better, Children with Cancer need a cure!  Please help fight for funding, so we can find that cure!

Also please be sure to visit the "My Prayer Warriors" page and sign it!  Thank you again! 

 Today was another fun filled day for Little Miss.  We started the day at church.  Lindsey loves to sing at church!  She also loves to say "Amen"  She says it after everything.  She just sits in church and says, "Amen, Amen, Amen."  It is so cute!  Then we were off to Trinity United Methodist Church to visit with some of Lindsey's prayer warriors.  It was so nice to get to meet some of her supporters in person and say Thank you!  Lindsey was tired, but she did manage to give a couple smiles, a few waves, and blew a couple kisses.  She fell asleep on the way home.  Then she had a nice nap.  When the boys got home from school we went outside to play.  She really had a good time.  We played with Lady Bugs, she was not sure of them at first, but then she let them crawl on her leg and her head.  She also rode the scooter and blew some bubbles.  It was so cute.  Then she took off across the street and walked right up to our neighbors door.  I guess she wanted to visit Darby.  (The neighbors dog) Lindsey just loves Darby.  I posted some new pictures take a look.  Lindsey is doing fantastic.  It is so great to see her so full of energy.  It is getting a little difficult to keep up with her, but I enjoy every minute of it.  She is actually gaining some weight and starting to try new foods.  She had some ham the other night and could not get enough of it.  I made some chicken strips and she really liked those as well.  She is doing really good!  She is also getting some peach fuzz on the top of her head.  Thank you again for all your prayers!  I hope you have a great week!

Lindsey and I had a relaxing day at home.  I figured she has had such a busy schedule last week, that we needed a day to relax.  The doctor called today and confirmed that Lindsey's AFP is 3.  He said that the hearing test came back completely normal, as well as the GFR (Kidney Test).  He said that the CT scan showed nothing to be concerned with.  This is wonderful news.  Thanks be to God.  Lindsey is such a little trooper!  Way to go baby girl!  So now we just wait for about a month.  She will then have another AFP test, and if her AFP is still normal, then we will get her Broviac out!  Yippee.. I can't wait for that day.  Then the doctor said he does not plan to do any other testing except for the AFP test.  He said we will have an AFP done about every 3 months for the first year.  Lindsey has some immunization shots to catch up on, but we have to wait about 6 months after chemo before she gets those.  I guess the next thing would be to start planning our trip out to California, and a BIG Party for Lindsey.  Thank you again for all your prayers!  We never would have made it this far without all of you!  Be sure to sign Lindsey's prayer warrior page! 

Yesterday was a very busy day.  Lindsey and I started the day at 9:00 mass.  What a great way to start our day.  Then we went to the play area at the mall to meet up with some of Lindsey's friends that she has not seen in quite some time.  We played for about 45 minutes, then had another play date to get to.  We then met up with some more of Lindsey's friends and played for a couple hours.  We then had cheese pizza with her friends, then headed home for a nap.  There was a message on the machine from the Doctor.  I had a feeling he was going to call while we were out for the day.  The message said he had all of the results, including the AFP.  I called the office and they said he was gone for the day.  In his message he did say that everything looked good.  I didn't want to have to wait until Monday to find out the AFP, the rest I could wait on.  So I called back to the office and had someone "peek" at the AFP results.  Woo hoo!  Lindsey's AFP is down to 3!  This is absolutely normal.  That is so wonderful to hear!  Thank you God for continuing to answer our prayers.  Lindsey is definitely in Remission! 

Then the students from University of Tennessee were having a dance a thon to raise money for Children's Hospital Oncology Clinic and wanted to families to come show support between 8 and 10pm.  So we took Lindsey and the family down to show our support.  The had music, a big slide, a bounce house and some other activities.  Lindsey got to throw a pie in one of the nurses faces.  (She really just dropped it on the nurses lap).  The boys had a good time as well, they got to play basketball with the quarterback of the UT Vols.  They had a lot of fun.  Then the highlight of the night was of course little Miss Lindsey.  We all know that Lindsey loves to dance, and this was a dance marathon.  Well Lindsey found her partner, it was a little boy just about her size.  She went over to him and took him by the hand and lead him to the dance floor.  Then she started dancing with him.  He danced for a minute or two, then quit dancing, so she pushed him off the dance floor and then took center stage.  A big circle started to form around her as she showed her moves off.  I saw lots of cameras flashing pictures of her.  She was so darn cute.  She looked like she had been practicing her show for quite some time.  She would clap her hands, then throw her hands in the air, then turn in a circle.  She was having a great time.  I could not stop smiling.  I will have to post some pictures of this.  It was a great evening for all!    

Lindsey had her GFR (Kidney test) on Tuesday and it went very well.  We have a pretty good routine down now.  We went to the clinic first to have her IV and Foley Cath put in.  They got the IV on the first try!  Yippee... So that all went pretty well.  Then over to the other hospital for the actual test.  We take our own supplies for her broviac and help them with that, and we all take a portable dvd player.  This helps her lay still for the required 30 minutes.  She did very well.  We do not have the results yet, we will post them as soon as we hear.  The chemo that Lindsey received can affect the kidneys, so this test will show if her kidneys have been affected.

Yesterday was the dreaded CT scan.  We were suppose to get Lindsey to drink 10 oz of contrast.  That just was not happening.  We had to wake her up at 5 am and start getting her to drink it over a period of 2 hours.  Well she did very well with the first 2 oz.  We mixed it with milk and she drank it right down, but that was it, no more.  Jeff took her down to the hospital at 7:30 am to see if there was anything else we could do because she refused to drink any more and he did not want to fight with her like last time.  The doctor said the 2 oz that she did have should be good enough.  So she had her CT and her BAER test done.  They both went very well.  The CT scan is of her abdomen, chest and pelvic area.  We do not have any results from these tests yet either.  We pray that Lindsey did not suffer any hearing loss from the chemotherapy.

Then after the scans we went to the doctors office for a visit.  We did another AFP test and should have those results in a couple days.  The doctor said Lindsey looks great and is doing great. They will leave her broviac in for about another month.  It will be an outpatient surgery and most likely we can go home the same day!  That is great news.  I can't wait to get that line out!  The doctor will give us a call with all the results and will see us in a month.  Did I hear him correctly?  We don't have to come back for a whole month!  Wow.  What ever will we do?  It's almost sad to walk out of the office knowing we would not return to see all our new friends that we have grown so close to over the last couple months.  Each one of them will always hold a special place in our heart for having a big part in helping Lindsey on her road to recovery.  Thats all for now.  Today we enjoyed the 65 degree weather and went out for a walk around the neighborhood.  It is such a beautiful day.  Then again I think if it was pouring down rain, I would still say it was such a beautiful day, my baby girl is in Remission!  Thank you God!    

 We had a great weekend and hope you all did too.  We got to go to Church on Sunday as a family for the first time in quite a long time.  Lindsey did pretty good.  She made it about 3/4 of the way, then she wanted to walk around. 

Lindsey is going to have a very busy week.  We will need some big prayers going for her.  Tomorrow she will have a kidney test.  This is usually just more time consuming than anything.  She does pretty well with it.  They do have to put in an IV and a foley cath.  (Not much for for any of us.)  We pray that the chemo has not affected Lindsey's kidneys, and that they are working just fine.

Then on Wednesday she will have a CT scan and a BAER (hearing test).  I don't know if you all remember how much fun we had with trying to get Lindsey to drink the contrast last time.  We ended up having to take a medicine dropper and basically shooting it down her throat.  So pray for us and for her, this is not a very easy thing to do.  She pretty much cries for the entire 2 hours that we have to get the contrast in her.  This will be from 5-7 am.  Then she will have the CT scan and BAER test at 9:00am.  We pray for true results from the CT scan and we pray for them to have no signs of Cancer left in her body.  We also pray that she has not suffered any hearing loss from the chemotherapy.  Thank you all so much for all your prayers and support.  

Lindsey is enjoying being out of the house. We decided to go out to dinner on Valentines Day.  We went a little early to beat the rush.  This was the first time we had been out to dinner as a family in quite a long time.  (Minus Casey as he was at Soccer Practice.)  We had a great dinner and Lindsey really enjoyed running around the restraunt. 

On Thursday Lindsey and I had a wonderful day.  We started the day in Church.  Giving thanks to our Father for healing Lindsey.  Father Augustine said mass, and he announced during Mass that we had just received the great news that Lindsey was in remission.  You could hear everyone's sigh of relief and then everyone started clapping!  It was a true blessing!  What a great way to start the day.  Then Lindsey and I headed over to her Mother Goose Class.  She has not been able to attend for quite awhile, and has not really been around many other kids.  I was not sure how she was going to do.  She did great.  She sat on my lap almost the whole time (but then again that is what she always did.)  Towards the end of the class she got up and started to play.  She was crawling through the tunnel.  she had a lot of fun.  Then I decided to take her to the play area in the Mall.  When we first arrived she had the whole place to herself.  I did not know how she would do.  She really has never played somewhere like this before.  She was just learning to walk when she was diagnosed.  So it was nice that we had the place to ourselves for the first 20 minutes or so.  Lindsey had a ball!  I bet if someone was looking at me they thought I was crazy.  I just about had tears in my eyes, and a smile from ear to ear, as I watched Lindsey run around like a little girl.  She was climbing in the toys, she was going down the slide, she was just running around having a wonderful time.  She must have gone down the slide a hundred times.  It was such a joy watching her.  Then some other children came to play.  Again, I was not sure how this would go over, Lindsey is not really use to being around other children, or having to share.  This went pretty well.  I can tell you she is one tough cookie.  (But we all know that don't we!)  Some older children were trying to block the slide from her, she looked at them and said, "GO".  Then another child came right up in her face and was saying something to her, so Lindsey hit them in the face.  I know it was not very nice, but the child was invading personal space.  Other than that Lindsey played very well and had a wonderful time.  She played for about an hour and 15 minutes. Then she came over to me, layed on the floor and looked up at me and signed for "Milk".  I knew then that she was tired.  She fell asleep before we even got back home!  Take a look at the pictures.  You can see her big smile!

Today we again started the day at morning Mass.  It again was a wonderful way to start our day.  Then we headed over to the mall again to let Lindsey play some more.  Today the boys are out of school so Brodey and Riley got to come with us.  It was pretty full today.  Lindsey still had a lot of fun, plus she had her 2 big brothers watching out for her.  I wish everyone could have seen her.  She was just having the time of her life.  Another parent said to me that she was the cutest little thing and she was having such a ball running all over.  They said she looked like she had no fear.  They did think she was a little younger than she was because she is a little smaller than the others her age, but that she looked like she could hold her own.  So I told them that this is all new to her and she had pretty much been locked up for the last 5 months.  I also explained what she had been through.  They were indeed amazed.  They also commented on her 2 big brothers keeping a close watch on her!  It was another wonderful day.  Thank you again for all your prayers.  We have quite a few tests coming up next week so please continue to pray for Lindsey.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, I know we will! 

Happy Valentines Day to you all.  We hope this is an extra special day for you.  Today is the day of love.  The day to celebrate this special gift that we all have, the heart that is beating in our chest.  The day we let everyone know just how special they are to us, and how much we love one another.  I want to send a big thanks to each and every one of you.  I want to tell you all that we love you and we thank you for all your prayers and all your support.

As you all know we are awaiting test results for Lindsey.  I have been praying that her AFP will come back very very low.  Last night I just prayed that God would heal her.  I prayed that He will do whatever is best for her.  If she needs more chemo, then so be it, if that is going to be the best end result then lets do it.  I also prayed that if she does not need anymore chemo, then please let her AFP be down.  I also said a little prayer and asked if He could please watch over that tube of blood and bless everyone that comes in contact with it as it makes its journey to the lab.  I also prayed and asked God to please put a little bug in the persons ear that is running her test, let them know this is an important test, and if possible, we would like the results back a little early.

Well... the phone rang this morning.  I got up to answer it.  I looked at the clock, it was 10:43 am, I looked at the phone, I looked at the clock, I looked at the phone.  I thought for a minute, if they did get the test results back early it would probably be late this afternoon.  So I finally decided it must be Jeff calling to wish us a Happy Valentines Day.  I slowly pick up the phone.  I turn it on and try to listen to the background noise, I say, H - e - l - l - o  real slow.  I hear, "Hi this is Doctor....." on the other end of the phone.  His voice sounds very positive. He said "We got the AFP results in." I said, "Okay".  He said "You do NOT need to come in for Chemo tomorrow."  I said "Thank You!".  That is wonderful news.  Then I asked about her AFP, it is a 9!  I asked if she was considered in Remission and he said yes.  He said YES!  Lindsey is in Remission.  We will start her off therapy tests next week.  We will do a CT scan, a hearing test, and a Kidney Function test.  We will also do another AFP.  He said they would call back later and set up the times.  Good thing because I don't think I can hold back the tears much longer.  I hang up the phone.  Lindsey sees me crying and comes over and gives me a great big hug.  My baby is in remission.  Thank you God for answering our Prayers.  We had no doubt that You would heal her.  You are so Wonderful and we give thanks to You for this special Day!  You are definitely spreading your Good News, and we will continue to do the same! 

I wish I would have thought about it a little more before I called Jeff.  I think I should have just got in car and drove down to his work and told him in person.  I was just too excited, I don't really think I could have waited that long.  So I called his work phone, no answer.  Then I called his cell phone and he said "Hello".  I said "Happy Valentines Day".  He could hear that I was in tears.  He said "What's wrong?".  I said that the doctor just called, and he said "AND?".  I said "Our Baby is in Remission!"  Oh that sounds so good to say.  Lindsey is in Remission.  Lindsey is in Remission.  Lindsey is in Remission! 

Be sure to look at the pictures page.  There is a picture from today.  Lindsey is wishing you all a very Happy Valentines Day!  Thank you all so much for your prayers!  As you can see they have been answered.  We continue to pray that Lindsey's cancer never returns.  She will not be considered "cured" until she is in remission for 5 years.  Also for those who have not signed Lindsey's buddy map, please do so.  Look for the new page that I added called "My prayer warriors."  Add your name to it.  Thank you again! 

We are having a great day!  We had an appointment at the clinic this morning as most of you know.  They did an AFP test and we hope to have the results by Thursday.  My stomach is in knots.  The doctor will call as soon as he gets the results on Thursday.  He will say 1 of 2 things, either "her AFP is down and we do not need to do anymore chemo", or "Come to the hospital and we will do another round of chemo today."  So we will pack our bags Wednesday night, and hope that we will not need to use them.  Since there is a possibility of Lindsey having chemo on Thursday we cannot go out to dinner tonight for my birthday.  I am fine with that, because I plan on going out to dinner on Thursday (as a family for the first time in 5 months) to celebrate Lindsey!  She is over 10 kg so if she has to have chemo it will be the higher dose.  Just keep praying! 

I put up a couple new pictures today.  One is the writing that Brodey did on the clinic walls last week.  It is so cute.  The others are some pictures of Lindsey and Sophie at the clinic.  Sophie is an adorable dog that comes to the clinic every week and visits all the children.  Up until now, Lindsey would only look at Sophie from a distance.  Today Lindsey crawled up in the chair right next to Sophie and tried to scoot as close as she could to Sophie, then she actually was petting Sophie.  It was so cute!

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  I will be sure to let you know what the results are on Thursday.  Just keep your ears open because I will be shouting from the rooftops if we get the news that we are praying for!

As I walk into the doctor's office today I can't help but think back to 5 months ago to this day.  I remember pushing that door open to the doctor's office for the very first time.  It felt as if I was leaving the world as I knew it and entering a whole new world.  This new world was the "Cancer World".  I had no idea what was on the other side of that door, I thought for sure that it was a dark and sad and scary world.  As I opened the door the first thing you notice is all the bright colors.  Especially all the notes handwritten on the wall in a rainbow of beautiful colors.  They say "In Honor Of", or so and so "was here" or "Don't be scared".  Then you notice a room full of toys, every little kids dream.  Next I can't help but see the little bald headed children playing and laughing and smiling.  The parents talking with other parents, and talking with the nurses, also have a smile on their face.  Did I enter the wrong door?  This was not at all what I had imagined.  How can these people have smiles on their face?  I thought for sure I would never smile again.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I was just told my 1-year-old daughter has cancer.  I remember pulling into our neighborhood and wondering how does the world continued to spin.  How was everyone keeping to their day-to-day routines?  I thought, How can you be washing your car?, How can you be walking your dog?, How can you be playing basketball?,  How can you be acting like there is nothing wrong?  I just wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, "My baby has cancer!" Had I failed her?  I know I did everything I could do to protect her.  I would say "Don't put that in your mouth, you'll choke."  "Don't eat that, it fell on the dirty floor", "Don't touch that, it's hot".  Every toy that touched the floor had to be washed before Lindsey could have it back.  I tried to keep her in this "safe zone."  But that just wasn't enough.  Something still got inside and there is nothing I could have done to stop it.  It was Cancer.

Today as I push the door open to that now very familiar place, I am one of those smiling parents.  I sit and chat with another little boy's grandparents.  They tell me he is "Cancer Free" and doing well.  That is wonderful news.  We pray that we are almost to that point as well.  The nurse comes out with a file that is very thin, we know that is not Lindsey's file.  Hers is a big file at this point.  So I think to myself, a pretty new patient.  We just say a little prayer.  May God carry them as he has carried me through these last few months.  We are so happy to hear that Lindsey's story has touched so many lives.  We pray that you each learn from Lindsey how precious life is.  It took Lindsey getting sick for me to be reminded of what it important.  Like I said before I use to take for granted the little things, now those little things are my life.  Never take one single breath for granted and if you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance!

Now we need your help, Lindsey has a very important test coming up, and we need you all to help her study for it.  She really needs to pass this one.  You can help her study by saying your prayers!  Lindsey's AFP today was 18.  The doctor said that is nothing to worry about.  The last 2 tests were only a couple days apart.  So we are going to do another AFP on Monday the 12th. I know this is going to be great, because it is my birthday.  I told Lindsey she has to pass this test as my birthday present.  She said "Yah".  I know she says that to everything, but I think she really meant it this time.  We pray that her AFP continues to go down.  If her AFP is up we will be admitted on Thursday for more chemo.  If her AFP is still the same, we are going to have to discuss doing more chemo.  If her AFP is down, we pray it is at normal (under 6) and then we will celebrate.  So please help Lindsey pass her test. 

As we were leaving the office, the doctor said "I am sure going to miss seeing you all the time when you are all healthy and don't need to come back to see me as often."  I reminded him that we would still see him in church every Sunday.  He said "Oh yeah.  That's great!".

Lindsey and I were supposed to be on an airplane flight to California 5 months ago today.  We are still waiting to take that trip.  Thank you all for your prayers!  Also for those who have not signed Lindsey's buddy map, please do so.  Look for the new page that I added called "My prayer warriors."  Add your name to it.  Thank you again! 

 Lindsey's fever finally broke.  She is feeling much better today.  She is eating and drinking and slept much better last night.  I just got off the phone with the doctors office and they said there was no growth in either line!  Yippee!!  So I just hope her cold goes away soon and she is all better.  Now we just wait until Wednesday or Thursday to see what her AFP is... Thank you everyone for your continued prayers!  Big hugs from Lindsey!

 The morning did not start off to well.  It all started at 5 am when Lindsey woke up with a fever of 101.4.  We called the doctor.  The doctor said that by the time we got to the ER and were seen by a doctor it would almost be time for the clinic to open.  So we just went to clinic first thing this morning.  Lindsey also has a runny nose.  She did not sleep very well last night and was very tired today.  She did not eat very well either.  When we arrived at the clinic her temp was 99.9.  They did a CBC and also did blood cultures on both lines of her broviac.  The CBC showed that her counts are pretty good so she does not need to be admitted for antibiotics.  If her counts are under a certain number, that means automatic admission for a fever.  Thank goodness her counts looked pretty good.  We won't have any results on the blood cultures until tomorrow.  This will determine if she has an infection in her broviac.  We pray she does not have an infection.  That could be very serious.  She has done so great.  She has had the broviac in for almost 5 months now and this is the first time we have had this kind of scare.  Thank God for that.  They did give her a IV of antibiotics for an hour today.  When the nurse was in doing the blood culture and the CBC she said the doctor also wanted an AFP.  My heart sank.  I knew the AFP was not normal as he wanted it to be, otherwise he would not have ordered another one.  The doctor came in and said, "So now she is going to start running fevers?"  Then he said the AFP was not as low as he hoped but it was still good. Her AFP was down to 17, so it was almost in half again.  He said it was still good.  He said he was just overly anxious to give us some good news so he did the AFP last week.  He said he could have waited until this week to do the AFP.  It is great news that it is still coming down.  We just don't want to see it go up!  So they did another AFP today and we should know the results by Wednesday or Thursday.  We have not talked about more chemo yet, we are just going to wait and see what the AFP results are.  Right now we just need to pray that Lindsey does not have an infection and that her AFP continues to drop until it is normal!  Thank you everyone.  I will update as soon as I know more. 

 The kids all got the day off from school today due to "inclement weather and dangerous driving conditions".  We had a little snow but it was all melted by early afternoon.  Brodey got to go to the doctors with us today.  He enjoyed the snack basket and he also enjoyed writing on the wall.  He was happy to be the first one to write about Lindsey.  I can't remember what he wrote, but it was something about "To Lindsey, U Can Win, Love YFB Brodey".  (By the way, the YFB means Your Favorite Brother)  He also drew a butterfly and "I love you".  It was very cute.  Then we had a normal visit.  Her labs looked pretty good today.  They sent off the AFP and we hope to know the results by Monday!  So if the results are below 6 then no more Chemo.  Then we will do a CT scan and a hearing test.  The doctor is not sure if we will do another kidney test or not.  Then we will check AFP again in 1 month, if all looks well then she could possibly have her Broviac removed!  If the AFP does not come back lower then 6 then we will discuss the next route.  If it is lower than the last of 32 but not lower then 6 then we might just wait a week and retest.  If the AFP is higher than 32, meaning it is going up, then we will do more rounds of chemo and possibly some scans.  So now it is another one of those hurry up and wait games.  I just love these.  That means I have a good 3 more days of full prayers!  Oh Monday could be such a wonderful day.  I can't wait. I hope you all have a good weekend and keep Lindsey in your constant Prayers!  Thank you again!  Also be sure to check out the new page that says "My Prayer Warriors" and sign your name to her map.  I think she is up to about 135 people right now.  Keep those names coming! 

My aunt is doing an auction on Ebay and all proceeds will go to St Jude in honor of Lindsey.  Please take a look at this auction.  It is a beautiful necklace with a charm that says "Make a Wish".  Remember all proceeds go to St Jude.  Thank you.  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280076464317 

 We were discharged last night at around 10:30 pm.  We are glad to be home!  Lindsey is doing great!  I am so happy she got the smaller dose of chemo.  She has been feeling great.  She slept very well last night.  Knock on wood, we have had no vomiting!  Her appetite is ok, we will return to the usual post chemo several tiny meals a day routine.  She is up playing and running around.  I posted some new pictures.  I hope you all have a great weekend. 

Just to let everyone know that East Tennessee Children's Hospital is holding their Annual Children's Miracle Network Telethon tomorrow.  (This is the hospital where Lindsey is receiving most of her care)  If anyone would like to make a donation in honor of Lindsey and to help other children here is the link. http://www.etch.com/telethonucanhelp.cfm  Thank you again! 

We got to the hospital around 9:45 am.  The admissions office was pretty busy.  We got to our room about 10:15 am.  I don't remember if I said anything about Lindsey's weight but she keeps going between 9.80 kg and 10.2 kg.  If she is above 10 kg she has to get a higher dose of chemo.  At her doctor visit last week she was 10.1.  The doctor told us that he was not going to write the orders until we got to the hospital today and we could weigh her again.  Was it wrong to want to starve her?  Well of course this past week Lindsey has been eating everything in sight!  She has been snacking all day long and eating more at each meal, so I just knew her weight was going to be up.  So they came in to weigh her, I took off all her clothes (usually we just take off her shoes), I put on a brand new diaper and set her on the scale.  Yippee!  9.82 Kg.. She can have the smaller dose of Chemo!  Round 4 was the higher dose and she was really sick from it. It could have been the higher dose that made her sick, or it could have been the fact that she has had so many rounds.  We do not know if this round will make her sick, we pray that it does not.  I was very excited that she was under 10 kg and could receive the smaller dose!  The nurse called the doctor and he said that mom is going to be happy and the nurse told him I was very happy!  He then came in and said he was going to check and see if I starved her this last week.  Hehe...

Right now this is the last scheduled round of Chemo.  At this point she will not receive her last 2 doses of vincristine.  She will have another AFP test next week and we pray for single digits!  If they are single digits then we will do some scans just to be sure everything is all right, we will probably do another hearing test, and maybe another kidney test.  Then watch her for about 1 month.  If all looks good then maybe she can get her Broviac out!  I can't wait for her to splash around in the tub!  She is going to have a blast.  Then we will just have to follow up for another AFP every couple months for the first year or two.  Not exactly sure the time frame but then I think we go for tests every six months.  After 5 years she is considered out of danger.  If the AFP is not single digits then we will probably do a couple more rounds of chemo. 

I thought we were going to get started on time today so we could get out of the hospital at a decent time.  You think I would have learned by now.  It is always on Little Miss Lindsey's time and she has her own clock.  The fluids were a little delayed because the doctor did not want to write the orders until we had her weight.  So we did not start the IV until 2:00pm.  We usually do IV for 4 hours then check her urine to see if she is well enough hydrated to start chemo.  Well the first check showed that she was not ready to start the chemo.  The way we collect the urine is to put cotton balls in her diaper.  Well the next set of cotton balls shall we say they were a little dirty, so we had to start over again.  Finally we get a good urine sample at around 8:00pm.  Then when the results came back she was on the borderline to be well enough hydrated to start chemo.  They paged the doctor and said it was ok to start.  So at 9:00 she starts getting her anti-nausea medicine, benedryl and steroids.  Then at 10:00 pm she gets a dose of Vincristine and then we start the 12-hour drip for the Cisplatin.  Then after the Cisplatin she has to get 12 more hours of fluid.  So it looks like late tomorrow night is when we will be released.  So far so good, Lindsey is sleeping right now.  Thank you everyone for your prayers.  Be sure to check out the new page that says "My Prayer Warriors".  So far there are 90 people on the Map.  Thank you all for your support. 

 Check out the new page I added. It is called "My Prayer Warriors".  I just found this neat map on another little girls website.  I think it is the greatest!  Now everyone can fill in their information on the map and Lindsey can look at the map and see how many people are praying for her!  Be sure to add your name!  Thank you everyone for your prayers.  Lindsey slept really good last night, and took a two-hour nap today!  She is eating everything in sight!  She is really feeling great!  Thank you!

I will start off by saying we have had a rough couple nights.  I am not sure what Lindsey is going through, but I don't think I like it.  Saturday night she woke up at 4:00 am and thought it was time to play.  She was awake until about 6:00 am.  Then Sunday night she was up from 1:30 am until about 3:30 am.  Somehow her internal clock got a little messed up.  She is also only taking about a 30-minute nap.  I hope this doesn't last long.  Other than that Lindsey is feeling very well!  

Now for the AFP results.  The doctor left a message this morning and said the results were in and nothing to be concerned about.  I called the office back and he was on the other line so I had to hold.  (Are you reading any of this or did you just skip to the results?) As you can imagine my belly was doing flip flops.  Then in what seems like forever he gets on the phone and said the results are in.  Lindsey's AFP is down again!  Yippeee!  Not to the single digits like we hoped, but still moving in the right direction!  Her AFP is down from 275 to 32!  The doctor said this is good.  He is pretty sure that there is no residual tumor left in Lindsey's body.  We will do our 5th round of Chemo this Thursday and then do another AFP test next Thursday.  Incase you haven't figured it out, this is the way Lindsey likes to do things. Things are never easy right from the beginning, she always has to take her time.  She didn't want her AFP to bottom out this week, she wanted to give us another week to think about it.  At least it is moving in the right direction.  We are looking forward to a single digit AFP.  We pray that this round of Chemo is the last time she will ever have to have such harsh chemicals enter her body.  We pray that God continues to hold her in the palm of His hand and heal her with His loving touch!  We also ask God to bless each and every one of you.  Thank you.

 Lindsey had her hearing test bright and early this morning.  We were glad to get an early appointment because her appetite is back in full force, and she doesn't like to skip any meals.  The test went great.  Everyone of coarse remembers little Lindsey.  When the doctor gave her the "sleepy juice" she was out.  The nurse said "Wow that was easier than normal." I don't think she quite got that sentence completed before Lindsey threw her head back and started her little growling.  The nurse then said that was more like Lindsey.  I just laid her on the table, the doctor gave her a little more sleepy juice and we just heard a sigh as we walked out of the room.  It was very cute!  She did great through the test.  She woke up just fine and was ready to eat!

The best part is.  We were on our way home from the test and the Oncologist called.  He had the results of the hearing test already.  Wow.  That is wonderful.  Everything is perfect!  Thank you God.  Lindsey's hearing is just fine.  So now we know that she can hear us say "No" she just chooses not to listen!  For that we are very thankful!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I hope we are able to post some Excellent news on Monday or Tuesday.  We are patiently (is that what you call it when you have no fingernails left?) waiting the results of the AFP test. 

 Lindsey had a check up this morning.  She is doing pretty good.  Her White Blood Count is still a little low, but not too bad.  Everything else looks fine.  She had a dose of Vincristine today.  They took blood for an AFP test as well.  I can't wait to get the results of this AFP.  It really determines the next coarse of action for Lindsey.  The doctor really wants the results to be normal.  If they are then we will have chemo next Thursday, and that very possibly could be the last round she ever has to get.  If the results are not down to normal, then he will consider more rounds of chemo and more testing to determine if the cancer is anywhere else in her body.  This is going to be another one of those long weekends.  Also Lindsey will have her hearing test in the morning.  The doctor said we can come up right after and he can get the results rushed.  I am not really concerned with this.  I can wait for these results.  If she has hearing loss, so be it.  As long as she has her life.  I do hope that she has no hearing loss, but that definitely is the least of my worries.  I pray for good results from this AFP.  I pray that her AFP comes in as close to 0 as it can be.  I pray that we do not get any false results and that the results that we receive are indeed valid.  A recap of her AFP it was 208,000 at Diagnosis then down to 103,000, then down to 33,000 then down to 10,000 then 1st draw post of was 275.  Normal is 0-10.  Thank you all so much for checking in on Lindsey and most of all thank you for your prayers!  Thank you again!

 I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Lindsey was a little sick on Friday.  She has been a little sore the last couple days from the Vincristine, but she wont let that slow her down.  She is doing good!  They also changed her Hearing test from Tuesday to Friday.  There was a little mix up so now we have it all straight.  This is another big week for us.  She will have an AFP test on Thursday, it should be normal!  Then she will have her hearing test on Friday. 

 Lindsey had a check up today.  The doctor said everything looked fine.  Lindsey got another dose of Vincristine.  Other than that, nothing much new today.  She will have her hearing test on Tuesday the 16th.  She will have a check up again on the 18th, and will get another does of Vincristine.  They will also do an AFP test.  The AFP really should be down to normal range by next week.  I am not going to jinx myself so we will just leave it at that.  Thank you all for the continued prayers. 

Brodey's birthday is this Saturday and he will be 11 years old.  He wanted to have a party, but really hard to plan one with everything that was going on in December.  Plus we don't want Lindsey around anyone right now due to just finishing up her 4th round of chemo.  I could tell he was a little upset, but he understands.  He just wants his little sister to get better.  I think he wants to play laser tag.  So Lindsey and I will have to stay at home and Jeff and the boys will go and play.  Jeff said he might come home and stay with Lindsey after Laser tag,and then I can go to dinner with the boys.  We will just have to wait and see.  Hopefully Brodey will enjoy his birthday even though we cannot all be together. 

January 8th, 2007 -- Dr Appointment (4 months since Lindsey was diagnosed)

Not much happened today.  Lindsey had a little blood work, and all came back fine.  She will have another appointment on Thursday and will get her dose of Vincristine, and more labs.  The Dr expects her to be neutropenic at that point.  She has done so well that he does not expect her counts to stay down too long.  She is doing very well.  She will have another AFP test next week and also a hearing test!    

Four months ago today my world changed forever.  I was told that my precious 15-month-old daughter had the awful "C" word.  I would never want to re-live that day.  Many of you have been on this four-month journey right along with me and I thank every one of you.  I did say that my world changed forever, but not necessarily in a bad way.  It's hard to believe but my world is so much brighter now.  I give thanks to God every day for this precious gift he has given me.  He has trusted me to care for one of his beautiful angels and has given me the strength to see her through this.  I cherish each and every moment I have with my family.  There are many things that I use to take for granted, and pay much more attention to now.  I use to think life was too busy for the little things, now those little things are my life.  I stop and smell the roses every chance I get.  If I am running late and Lindsey wants to stop and look at a leaf lying on the sidewalk, then I am just going to have to be late.  If I am getting her dressed and she wants to play peek-a-boo with her shirt instead of getting dressed, then so be it.  I cherish each and every smile, I stop what I am doing just so I can hear her laughing.  I take more video, I take more pictures (and if you only knew how many I use to take you would know that I really don't need to take more), I steal more kisses and I give more hugs.  I can't wait until Lindsey can return to being a toddler, playing with her friends, splashing around in the bath tub, not having to hold up her broviac line and say "wash", not having to go to the doctor up to 4 times a week, and not having to have Chemotherapy.  I know Lindsey was put on this earth for a reason and I think she is doing a great job!  She has had so many people join hands in prayer for her.  I think this is just wonderful.  Thank you all for being there for us, even if it is just a quick email or phone call to say "I'm thinking of you!" It means the world to me.  Each and every one of you are so special to us and we thank you for everything! 

 After her nap yesterday, she started feeling much better.  There has not been any more vomiting since yesterday.  She is still a little tired and a little sore, other than that she is doing much better.  I put up some new pictures, be sure to check them out!  We have a check up in the morning.  I hope you all had a great weekend!

 Lindsey was discharged last night at about 9:00 pm.  She did receive a larger dose of chemo this round due to a little weight gain.  I don't know if it is because of that, or just because she is on her 4th round, but she is not feeling too well.  She has no appetite, and is very tired.  She was up quite a few times through the night getting sick, and then slept until 11:00 am this morning.  She got sick a couple more times this morning and is now down for a nap.  I hope she starts to feel better soon.  She is not letting it keep her down though.  She was singing and dancing this morning to her favorite video from Happy Feet, "Song of the Heart".  This is the first time she has had these effects from the chemo.  I pray she starts to feel better soon.  Other than a little upset tummy she is doing pretty good! 

 Lindsey has begun her first post-operative round of chemotherapy in an attempt to clean up any residual disease left behind after the surgery.  Hopefully she handles the planned 2 rounds well and then as long as all of her tests look promising we may begin maintenance.  We pray this is the case.  Please keep your prayers going for her as well.

Lindsey's oncologist, Dr. Hamilton, paid us a visit with some promising news this morning with Lindsey's AFP test results.  They weren't quite as low as he was hoping but he said there are a number of things that could be attributed to.  The simplest of which is that her body just hasn't cleaned out the residual AFP in her system yet.  He did say though that the current number rules out the existence of any significant metastases elsewhere in her at this time.  We will check it again next Wednesday, January 10th, 2007.

So, here is the track record of her AFP counts:

September  8th, 2006 - AFP of 208,000
October     11th, 2006 - AFP of 103,000
November   2nd, 2006 - AFP of   33,000
November  22nd, 2006 - AFP of  10,000
Today,  Jan 4th, 2007 - AFP of      275

 Thanks to Nanny's Daycare, the boys got to go to the Scholastic Book Warehouse today and shop!  They each had $300.  They had to each spend $50 on Lindsey, and $250 on themselves.  They had a fun time.  Brodey found stuff he wanted right away.  He had a few things in his mind that he had seen at the school book fair, so he got up to his $250 limit in about 10 minutes.  It took the other 2 about 3 hours.  Lindsey got so many new books, it was great!  Casey said he really didn't think he was going to find much, but he actually found quite a bit.  Riley was up to about $150 and really couldn't find much more that he wanted.  He was excited with what he had found and wanted to leave and get home and enjoy his stuff.  (He found some great books, along with 2 x-box games).  So he decided to spend the rest of his money on Lindsey, and also to buy some books for Lindsey's doctor's office.  So we have about $70 worth of books that we are going to take to the oncologist's office.  I took quite a few pictures and will post them later. Thank you so much to Nanny's the kids had a wonderful time and got so many great things!  Thank you again!

 I hope you all had a wonderful New Year.  Ours just keeps getting better.  I already told you about the Durango, well yesterday the washing machine almost caught on fire.  Brodey comes running down stairs and said something smells like smoke upstairs.  Jeff opened the laundry room door and it was the washing machine.  So I had to look for a new machine today.  It never breaks on the last load, always the first, so I have quite a bit of laundry to do.  I found one that will get us by for now. 

Lindsey had an appointment at the oncologist today.  We are going to do two more rounds of chemo and then if all looks good she will get her broviac out!  Yeah.  They did an AFP test today and we hope to hear the results by Friday.  We pray for accurate results and pray that they are good!  Lindsey will start her 4th round of chemo on Thursday.  The doctor said the results of the biopsy were good news and bad news.  Good news that they got clear margins (meaning they did not see any tumor in the cut) but bad news because it was not pure fetal like we thought.  He did say that they said there was a large portion in the tumor that was still viable cells, but he expected that since we only did 3 (really more like 2 1/4) rounds before surgery.  He said everything was as he expected.  He expects Lindsey will do just as well with these last 2 rounds of chemo.  We hope so.  There is still the chance it will affect her hearing, we pray this does not happen.  We hope she does very well with these last 2 rounds and can get her broviac out shortly after the last round. 

Thank you everyone for all the cards and gifts and everything you sent Lindsey and the boys!  We really appreciate it.  We have been a bit overwhelmed here lately but I wanted to make sure you all know how much we appreciate each and every one of you!  Thank you again!