Beads of Courage

I don't think I ever put these pictures of Jaylie's Beads of Courage up. They have a program where the kids get a bead for appointments, pokes, surgeries, chemo, radiation, hospital stays, transfusions, etc. Pretty much everything they do there is a certain bead for. Jaylie loves her necklace! We had added a lot since I took these pictures. This was back in June. The program is really great, she gets excited to get a new bead for things.

 I love all her different poses. Her cheeks were so chubby partly from the steroids, but they were naturally chubbier back then too:)

First Blood Transfusion

We went in today for Jaylie's weekly appointment and blood work. She ended up needing a red blood cell transfusion because her hemoglobin was too low. Her's was 6.9 and they do transfusions if it's under 8. Her platelets were 40 and they do transfusions for that if it's under 20, so she just red blood cells today. Her ANC was 620, which is low too. It is totally normal for her counts to be low and to need a transfusion. I knew her counts were low but she has been doing so good so I wasn't expecting her to need a transfusion. She has had good energy, no headaches and hasn't complained of not feeling well even once. Usually when counts are low they experience all of that. I actually went into the appointment today worrying that the chemotherapy wasn't working. I was glad she was doing so great but wanted to make sure the chemo was doing it's job to kill the cancer cells. I think being a mom of a child with cancer makes you worry about everything:) At least we know the chemotherapy is doing it's job. Jaylie was really upset that we had to stay for the transfusion, she just wanted to go home. My mom, Jaylie and I left to get lunch bc they said it takes an hour to get the blood bc they match it and check it to make sure it's compatible with her. We walked across the street and ate and the whole time she was upset saying she wanted to go home. She was scared because she never had to get a transfusion while she was conscious. She had two during surgery. She didn't know what to expect and was asking me if it would hurt. I felt bad for her but after I talked to her and reassured her she was a little better. The transfusion takes around 4 hours so there was a lot of time to hang out in the clinic. Jaylie loves doing crafts there. We did crafts, played games, and watched half a movie. Once she was hooked up she was fine. It kind of creeped me out to see the blood go into her tube for her port. Just thinking that someone elses blood was going into her was really weird. I am thankful for modern day medicine though. I used to have the weakest stomach but all this has made it quite strong. I don't really have a choice but to watch her get poked and get blood taken etc so I can make sure it's being done right and that Jaylie's ok and so Jaylie knows it's ok. Got to be strong for her. She's a trooper. It really wasn't that bad except we were there from 10am to after 5. We didn't get home tonight till 7:30ish. It was a long day. They said she could have a reaction to the transfusion but it usually happens in the first 15 minutes. She was fine though and I just have to watch for certain symptoms for the next 48 hours. Jaylie's teacher Trudy came yesterday. Jaylie loves her and looks forward to her coming for days before. Trudy is so great. She got Jaylie Hello Kitty pencils and a Hello Kitty folder. She was so excited! We are thankful for Trudy. Jaylie wanted to do school work for like an hour after she left:) My mom has had Breklyn and Crew at her house for a couple days because we knew Jaylie's counts were low and they both had colds and coughs. Breklyn is fine now and Crew is almost over it I think. They had lots of fun over there but I missed them so much!!! It was so quiet around our house. I got home so late so only had a couple hours with them-I got them to bed late:) Breklyn is so sweet and cute. She always says the cutest things. Crew is so funny! I could kiss him all day. I just can't get enough of them! I love all my kids so much!

 Jaylie watching a show before Nurse Karen came in to poke her port. I told her to smile for the camera and this is what I got :)

 Smiling playing kitty songs with her Nana (my mom). Jaylie loves my Mom going to all the appointments, one big reason is that they do kitty songs. Jaylie doesn't do them with anyone else but her Nana. Every morning that she has an appointment she wakes up and one of the first things she asks is when is Nana coming. My mom is so good to come with me, its great support and Jaylie loves it. I would probably be a lot more emotional and cry a lot more at the appointments without my Mom there. She helps me to realize that it is ok and we will make it through. Today was hard for me bc Jaylie was having a hard time. She wouldn't stop crying and that made me want to cry for her and with her. Then we started talking about how my Mom should probably take the kids back to her house since J's counts were low and I started balling. I hate being away from them, I hate seeing Jaylie upset, I hate cancer, I hate all of this. Its not fair, why does it have to be us, Jaylie. All this was going through my head. Once I start really crying, it is hard to stop and then the tears come fast for the rest of the day. Most of the time I am ok and I realize that this is in God's plan and he loves Jaylie and all of us so much and that it will be ok. Its just so hard sometimes. Anyways, I love Jaylie's smile here!

 My mom with Jaylie's new Hello Kitty from build a bear that she got her. Jaylie loves doing kitty songs with both kittys now. This pink one is named Pinkie. The white one is named Hello Kitty, we call her Hello. Jaylie is too cute. I love this girl so much, she is so sweet and so cute.

 Playing games at the table in the cancer clinic while getting her transfusion. I tried to get some pictures of the bag of blood and stuff. It was crazy for me, Jaylie was totally fine with it, didn't phase her at all. I have always had such a weak stomach though, but it is getting quite strong. Still it was weird. I will probably get used to it fast bc she will be having a lot of these now.

 It works like the chemo or an iv, the blood is in the bag and it goes through the tube and into her port. Most of you probably know all this, it is so new to me. I never understood what radiation or chemo or transfusions or mri's were. I knew nothing. I had heard about it but never knew what it all was. Now I do unfortunately. I will know enough by the end of all this to become a nurse!

Fun Pictures of Crew

 This was at his 5 day old appointment. He was so tiny! I don't think this ever made it onto the blog because it was on my Mom's phone.

 The kid loves the fridge and loves climbing on anything.

 My mom took this at her house. Funniest picture!

Crew is so funny

 Eating a popsicle made from carrots, beets and apples. It was a recipe for juice that kids were supposed to like and my girls hated it, Kip and I couldn't drink it either so I made it into popsicles and those were nasty too. Crew liked them though :)

 Sink bath again

 Nerd glasses, so cute!

 He gets hurt all the time. This was sometime this summer, he fell and scraped his nose and then fell and bumped his head (below).

Doing well

I have so many pictures and posts I need to get done, hopefully soon I will buckle down and do it. Jaylie is doing great still. Today is day 10 after chemo and I am surprised she is doing as well as she is. Her first round on day 9 she started getting super tired and napping every day.  Today she has had great energy and is feeling great. I took her in Thursday for her weekly labs and to get more vincristin chemo. Her hemoglobin and her platelets are low, but not low enough to need a transfusion. She will most likely need one this next week though, I am hopeful she won't because of how good she is doing now. Any day now we are expecting she will start getting super tired and not feel good, we are just waiting, but enjoying the days that she feels good. This whole experience has really made us enjoy living more and enjoy every minute we have together. There have been the worst darkest moments of our lives in all this but there have also been some of the most special and joyous moments of our lives. Kip and I are more thankful for life and for the opportunity we have to be parents to our 3 amazing children. I love them all so much and can't get enough of them! Speaking of life, my older brother Ryan and his wife Brandilyn just had a baby yesterday. I went and saw baby Briggs when he was about 9 hours old and he was so cute and so tiny! I forget how small they are, they grow so fast! I wanted to just hold him forever. I have never been around for a niece or nephew when they have been born bc none of them live close, so this was great! I love babies and am kind of sad I might not have any more. I am so excited for them though, this is their first and I know they are gonna love it! Congrats guys!

Here is a pic of little Briggs. I love his cheeks! He looks so big in this picture but he is really tiny :) 7 lbs 3 oz. I love him already!

We are Home!

It feels great to be home. We got here Sunday early afternoon. Jaylie felt sick Sunday morning and I was thinking we woulnt get out of the hospital because if she kept throwing up she could get dehydrated so they wouldn't let us go until she could keep liquids down. Luckily she didnt throw up. She started feeling better in the car and really perked up when we got home. Jaylie is feeling good as long as she has her zofran and it's nice having all 5 of us together again. We went to the clinic today for her Nulasta shot that helps keep her counts up a little more. She did pretty good and was pretty brave. I'm proud of her. Thanks for all the prayers y'all, we need them and appreciate it more than you know.

Chemo Day 2 & 3

(Written Saturday Sept. 17th) Not too good of a day today. Its Saturday night, Jaylie just fell asleep. My last post I wrote Friday morning while Jaylie was still asleep. Friday (yesterday) was a good day. Jaylie felt well and ate well. My mom dropped the kids of at my friend Heathers house and came up to the hospital. (Thank you Heather!) My mom walked over and got us some Greek food for lunch at Tinos that just opened up that same day :) I love Greek food! It was really good and Jaylie loves the meat surprisingly, so she ate some of that and then some of her lunch. She loves hummus too. She has not eaten meat since radiation started. Sometimes chicken nuggets but that is it. She wont touch anything else, but does like the Greek meat. She ate a great breakfast and lunch which was surprising because the chemo makes you lose your appetite and makes everything taste metallic. We went to the library and picked out a book and some dvd's. We watched High School Musical together. Jaylie and I had not seen it before, it was funny and cute. We have been wanting to watch it together for a while now. Kip got off work early and picked the kids up and came up to the hospital. Jaylie was so excited that they were coming, she asked for them all day. They got her early afternoon and we were excited to see them! We went to the playroom for a little bit and Crew loved the little pretend MRI machine. Kip moved him in there and he thought it was so fun. Then we went outside and played in the maze and by the pond. Jaylie got tired pretty fast so she and Kip went back up to the room and my mom and I played with the kids on the grass. They had fun running around and playing. I miss them. Its weird being away from them all day. We went back up to the room and my Mom took the kids home with her. When I talked to her that night she said they were good and had fun. They love going to my parents house, its fun and they love my parents and my brother and sister. I never have to worry when they are there, its so nice. I'm so glad I have them. Jaylie, Kip and I hung out for a little bit, did a little school work, and then she played Disney Scene It with Kip that we got from the play room.  She got a chemo called cyclophosphomide today and when the nurse was unhooking it from the iv pole when it was done it splattered in her eye! Chemo is nasty stuff, the nurses wear special gowns and gloves when dealing with chemo and you have to flush your skin or eyes with water for over 30 minutes if it gets on you. Luckily she wears contacts so she took it out right away and then went down to the ER to flush it. I was worried for her, but at the same time it made Kip and I sick to think that this is the same stuff we are putting into Jaylie's body. But we realize that this is the way to kill all the cancer cells and we for sure want to do that. I would rather make her sick killing the cells than have the cells and make her sick and kill her. Anyways, Jaylie did well last night. Kip stayed with her and said there was a baby next door that was crying for like an hour in the middle of the night and both him and Jaylie could not sleep because of it. Luckily the baby fell asleep and so did they. The baby started crying again this morning for a couple minutes and Jaylie said "Oh no, not again." I thought that was funny.

Today (Saturday) was a harder day for Jaylie. She has been really tired all day and has not eaten much at all, which is normal. She wanted to stay in bed or on the couch a lot today and watch movies.  She started feeling bad but didn't tell us, I could tell something was wrong so I kept asking her and she kept saying she was fine. She started throwing up everywhere, it got all over her, her bed and her Hello Kitty blanket and pillow. Next time I will know to bring 2 blankets and pillows just in case she throws up on them. It was so sad and she was really upset and crying. She calmed down after we got everything cleaned up and got her back in bed. We had a talk about telling us when she is feeling sick, for some reason she doesn't ever tell us till after she throws up. The nurse gave her ativan (the same drug she gets for anxiety when her port is accessed, it also helps with nausea). She started feeling better after that. She got cyclophosphomide again today. Then we made a trip to the library for a new dvd and went to the playroom on the 3rd floor to get a henna tattoo. The hospital always has fun little activities and things going on for the kids. The artists were really good and Jaylie loved hers. Kip and I were able to be with her all day today because my mom had the kids. Anyways, Kip left later to see the kids and meet them at home. Jaylie and I watched High School Musical 2 for a little bit but she was feeling really tired so we stopped it. She got in bed and I could tell she wasn't feeling good again but she said she was fine. I tried to get her to eat and drink but she didn't want to. She took one bite and then threw up all over the place again, it was so sad. She was upset and crying and hurting. I asked her why she didn't tell me she was feeling sick, because I asked her a lot if she was sick and she kept saying no. She said she was scared to tell me. That broke my heart that she is so scared. It took all I had to keep from balling right then, some tears fell but I held it together somehow. We had a long talk about telling me how she feels and that it is important that I know when she is sick or hurting.  Poor little girl, its so hard to see her like this, it kills me. The nurse gave her some more ativan but she didn't eat or drink anything. She fell asleep fast though.

(Written on Sunday Sept. 18th)  I never posted what I wrote last night so figured I would just add to it this morning. 

Jaylie had a good night. They were only making her pee every 3 hours so it wasn't a bad night at all. We both slept as well as you can in a hospital :) We are so excited to go home! Hopefully we will be able to go soon. They said she can go home as long as she is keeping some fluids down. I am scared she won't be able to because she is still sick. She woke up this morning not feeling well so we gave her some ativan. She still gets zofran around the clock too, but the Cisplatin she had the first day is known to cause nausea like this. The ativan doesn't seem to be helping too much. She says her tummy feels a little better but she won't eat or drink still. I got her to take 2 sips of water about ten minutes apart so I will keep having her take a sip every few minutes. The last 2 times she ate or drank anything she ended up throwing up so I worry she will just keep doing that. They said for the next 2 days she will probably be nautious and not eat but as long as she is getting fluids she will be ok and start eating again after a couple days. They said if she is throwing up and not getting fluids then we have to bring her back in and get her on iv fluids.  We go in to the clinic tomorrow to get her Nulasta shot, which helps her counts and the on call doctor said if she needs fluids tomorrow they could hook her up and give her some there. Hopefully she will start feeling better and will be fine. I know I put a lot of details in here, sorry if they bore you. I want it all for my record.

 

Slick Willy, one of the pet therapy dogs. Jaylie loves when these dogs come!!

 Dad and the 3 kids. Its always crazy when all the kids come up to the hospital, but its so much fun seeing them!

 

Jaylie and her Hello Kitty's 

Chemo Round 2

Jaylie is doing great! We have been here in the hospital since yesterday. We went to the clinic first to access her port and do labs. Her counts are pretty good, her hemoglobin was low and she is considered anemic, but its not low enough to need a transfusion yet. When we got settled into our room yesterday they started her on fluids for a couple hours and had to test her pee until it got where it needed to be to start the chemo. They gave her dexamethasone (a steroid) and zofran (anti nausea) and then started the chemo. She had the chemo cisplatin from 5-11 last night and did great. It is the worst of the chemo's she is getting and she did awesome. She complained of her tummy hurting once but said it was just a tiny bit. I wanted her to take some medicine for it (they have a bunch of anti nausea meds to try if zofran doesn't work) but she did not want medicine! I could tell it was bothering her for about an hour is all but she didn't complain, I had to keep asking her about it and she kept telling she was fine. She has always been like that, she doesn't complain about pain or sickness until I ask about it or until after she has already thrown up:) She is a tough little girl and so strong. Since the chemo started she has to pee every 2 hours because it is harmful to her bladder and kidneys if she doesn't, the chemo comes out through the pee so the more she pees the better. There is a protectant that is in the IV that runs with the chemo called mannitol. It helps protect the bladder and kidneys but she still has to go a certain amount every 2 hours and if she doesn't they have to give her medication to make her pee more. Around 4 the nurse woke her up and she couldn't pee. This happened last round too so I wasn't too surprised. They just hook up another bag of fluid to her tube that goes into her port. It ran for 30 minutes and then she peed about 20 minutes after that, and peed a lot. Thank goodness. It took a while to get her the medicine and the whole time I was worried and wanting them to hurry up so her bladder doesn't get messed up. These chemo's are scary! Jaylie did really well with having to wake up and go every 2 hours. I think she remembers it from last time so she didn't get mad or anything this time that we were waking her up. The nurse last night was wonderful! She was super quiet (although I wake up whenever anyone comes in or whispers to Jaylie, mothers instinct I guess) and would wake Jaylie up and take her to the bathroom and get her back in bed so I didn't have to get up. It was awesome! I still got up a couple of times but I sure rested much better last night than I did the last round of chemo. This round is the same, same chemo drugs, same amount and everything. I have heard that every round can be different for the kids and that the effects are accumulative, so it will supposedly get worse toward the 4th, 5th and 6th rounds. I was kind of nervous as to how this round would go but it has gone so smoothly so far. Jaylie just blows me away with how good she is doing. She is an amazing little girl that is for sure and we all have been blessed so much. Everyone keeps talking about our support system (they did when we were in intensive care after surgery too) and how amazing and unusual it is. They said most of the patients have a parent with them but that is about it. They don't see the support of whole families, grandparents, friends, etc. They said some people don't even have rides up to the hospital. So sad. My mom ran into Jaylie's radiation oncologist yesterday getting us some lunch for her and I and he remembered her and they talked for a little bit. He was commenting on our support and how rare it is. It would be sooo hard to do this alone with support. I really can not be more thankful for all the support we have. It is amazing. I was talking with our nurse yesterday and she told me she was blown away by Jaylie and said its hard for her to believe she had brain surgery with complete resection and radiation. She was talking with me and telling me how most kids she can totally tell they have gone through that. She said they have some sort of physical deficit like cant walk very good, cant use their arms very good etc and that they are just slower to respond. She said Jaylie was great and you would never know she had any of that done. She said her responding speed is great and her body moves just fine and that is so rare. She told me to count my blessings because she is in a really good place compared to other brain tumor kids. I totally agreed with her because most of the kids I have seen do have some sort of deficit from surgery. It breaks my heart for all the families that have to go through this. I do count my blessings, all of the time. I know Jaylie is in a good place. It is amazing and a miracle that she came out of surgery unharmed, that her limbs work perfectly and her mind is totally normal and sharp. That has actually been one of the hardest things going forward with radiation and chemo is that she is the same as she was before surgery, totally her normal self.  I wish we could have stopped there, after surgery. I hate that she had to have radiation and now chemo, but I know she will keep being strong and fight a good fight.

Berry Cool Team Jaylie Fundraiser

Berry Cool in Cedar Park TX will be hosting a Fundraiser to help Jaylie! 20% of the proceeds during the week of the September 19th through September 24th will go towards this noble effort. Please come in and support the cause!

For more info on store hours and location click this link below!
http://www.facebook.com/BerryCoolWhitestone

THANK YOU BERRY COOL

National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

 Yesterday was National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day and September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Gold is the color of childhood cancer and grey is brain cancer. I feel like I am responsible to help get the word out. There are many ways you can help and donate to the cause. I hope someday in the near future there will be a cure and children won't have to go through what they do now. One easy way to help out is by going to Chili's. This month you can color a chili pepper drawing and donate a dollar or more and the proceeds go to St. Jude's Childrens Research Hospital. At St. Jude's they are dedicated to finding cures and saving children. Also at Chili's they have slap bands and t shirts you can buy and the proceeds also go to St. Jude's. On Monday September 26th, 100% of  Chili's profits will be donated to St. Jude's. So go eat there that day and help show your support for childhood cancer.  There are so many children whose lives are affected by cancer.  36 children will be diagnosed with cancer today, another 7 will lose their fight and numerous others will relapse and some of them will be told there is nothing left to do. This happens every single day. I hate it because I know how hard it is.

Anyways, things have been going well around here. Jaylie has been feeling good and pretty normal. She went in on Thursday for her weekly blood check and her counts were good. Her ANC was the highest I have seen it yet, even during radiation.

**Here is a little info in case you want to understand the blood counts better. The bone marrow is the spongy part of the bones and it is where blood cells are made. When chemo is given the factory slows down making blood cells.

There are 3 types of cells found in the marrow and blood: white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. Chemo and radiation cause low counts of these blood cells. The blood counts usually drop 7-10 days after treatment and come back up about a week or two after that. 

White blood cells fight infection. There are different types of white blood cells but the ones we focus on are neutrophils. Neutrophils help to fight infections. ANC  stands for Absolute Neutrophil Count- its the number of neutrophils in the white blood cell count. The lower the count, the higher the risk of infection. When it gets lower than 500, the risk of infection is high.  This is why we have to be so careful with Jaylie, chemo knocks these counts down to zero. This past week it was at 5700! They said shes not extra protected because it is high though, bummer! Her ANC is usually around 1300. Dr. Harrod and Christina, the NP, said they don't normally see chemo patients with normal counts and hers was :)


Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. Oxygen attaches to hemoglobin in the red blood cells and the hemoglobin carries oxygen to all organs and tissues in the body.  Hemoglobin shows how much oxygen they cells are able to carry. Normal hemoglobin is between 12 and 16. If it gets less than 8, Jaylie has to have a blood transfusion.


Platelets stop bleeding in the body by forming clots. When the platelet count is low, there is risk for bleeding. Nose bleeds and bruising are common. Jaylie had bruises all over her legs and arms this last round of chemo. **

Jaylie goes in today for an audiogram. She has to get one done before every round of chemo because chemo can cause hearing loss and they want to monitor so it doesn't get bad. She had no loss before this last round of chemo which was great because radiation can cause hearing loss too. We are hoping her hearing hasn't changed since last time.

She starts her 2nd of 6 chemo rounds tomorrow. We head to the hospital in the morning and will be there until Sunday. She's not nervous or scared. Her experience last time was good so she is totally fine going. We got some school work to take and work on so that will be good. I am a little nervous about it but I'm sure it will be fine.

Here is a video that shows how well Jaylie is feeling. It also shows how crazy my kids are :) I love it!

Movies

The girls at the movies. Kip likes to take them to the theatre when a kid movie they like comes out. They love it!

Jaylie started "Kindergarten"

Jaylie's teacher came today! I guess it was kind of like the first day of Kindergarten for her. Jaylie has been really excited for a teacher to come to her house and teach only her. We tried to get her excited about it because it was hard for her when she found out she couldn't go to Kindergarten. She had been looking forward to Kindergarten for a couple years now, so it was sad for all of us. Luckily the school district has a home bound teacher who travels to the houses of students who are not able to attend school. Most of them have a compromised immune system. Jaylie can't go and be around a bunch of kids because her immune system is not strong enough and won't be until chemo is over. We have to really careful who we let in the house and where we take her. So don't be offended if you come over and we ask you health questions and make you sanitize and wear booties over your shoes:)  Anyways, she was excited all day long for her teacher to come. She is going to come to our house twice a week for an hour each time. Her actual Kindergarten teacher will give assignments and crafts etc to the home bound teacher to bring to Jaylie. I met with both teachers and the school counselor earlier this week and received a bunch of fun cutting, coloring and gluing type things and Jaylie loved it. She was so excited and did it all in one day! Both teachers are so nice and so willing to help, which is another huge blessing we have been given. Hopefully she will be able to join her class for the last couple months of the year and then go on to First grade. I just learned that in Texas you don't need Kindergarten to move on to First grade. You can just start with First grade. That made me feel better, I really don't want her to have to be behind. If she has to repeat first or second grade that is fine, but not Kindergarten.

Her home bound teacher, Trudy is really nice. Jaylie met her today and is so excited for her to come back. She did some things with Jaylie to see what she knows. I didn't stay with them, so I didn't know how she was doing. Afterwards she informed me that Jaylie already knew what she needed to know for Kindergarten. She said all the things she brought with her were too easy and she would have to meet with the Kindergarten teacher and come up with a different plan because she knows it already. She said if Jaylie was in Kindergarten she would probably be bored. I've heard that before from different people, but it made me happy hearing it from an actual teacher.  Jaylie really is smart. I am glad that I don't have to worry about her academically right now. I do worry about the future and the side effects of the full brain radiation (there can be many side effects that effect your learning), but at least right now she is fine. For that I am thankful. Hopefully she won't have the long term side effects that most kids have from the radiation and we won't have to worry about that. I am so glad Jaylie has a teacher coming to teach her, it will give her something to look forward to.

She has had a rougher week this week but is starting to feel much better. Tuesday was the worst day. It was really hard. Its so hard seeing her suffer and hurt. Tuesday night she couldn't sleep because she was hurting- her throat, her nose, her fingers, her toes, and behind her knee were hurting. It was hard not being able to do anything. She was tired and just not feeling well, never sick and nauseous though. She eventually fell asleep and was a little bit better the next day. Thursday was pretty good and today has been the best. She still is napping everyday and lays around a lot. I thought it was going to be much worse so I am thankful it turned as well as it did. We went to the clinic yesterday and had her blood checked and she was past the lowest point. Her counts are starting to go back up so she is starting to feel better. She made it through the worst part! And so did we! It's a relief that she didn't get sick or get an infection this time around. We are very blessed. Her oncologist was explaining that they always do the best on the first round of chemo because they go into it pretty strong and their numbers (they test a lot of things but mainly the ANC, platelets and hemoglobin)are high. After a round of chemo, the counts get knocked down and then recover but they don't quite get to the same high point, they are usually lower. So after each chemo round, they will start lower and lower so she will feel worse each round. They (oncologist and nurse practitioner) said she will have a 50 50 chance of needing a blood transfusion next time but for sure after that she will need them, and maybe more than once each round. She will have a higher chance ending up in the hospital from infections and sickness too. She has done so well so far so I know she will be ok, she is strong and she has been so blessed. People are praying for her all over the country and even in other countries. We are so thankful for all the support we have and for all your prayers. We really can't thank you enough for the outpouring of love and support!

Jaylie with her teacher, Trudy. She gets to call her by her first name.
She loves this Hello Kitty, you probably see her a lot in pictures, and Some of Jaylie's art work is on the fridge in the background :)

 

Jaylie at her appointment on Thursday watching a show. They have these tv's and x box's in all the rooms.

 Breklyn and Jaylie taking a bubble bath. Jaylie gave Breklyn a makeover in the bath and then did her hair and got her dressed and ready. They were so cute about it. This is how they looked, she did well! I love these two little girls!