Friday, February 22, 2013

Exciting news!

Bryson, Briley, and I traveled down to Cooks yesterday for Briley's appointment.  Her counts were great!  In fact, they were too good.  Her ANC was 3010.  It was really high, which is good for normal immune systems, but not suppressed systems.  We want to keep her ANC around 1000.  So, her doctor increased her nightly chemo dose.  Due to Briley's genetics, she's really sensitive to the chemo.  So even a small dose increase could bottom her counts out.  Because of that, she will have a count check in a couple of weeks and we'll go from there.  
Now for the good news!  Because of the good counts and because the flu is starting to fade away, Briley was released to go back to school!  She was so excited about it and she talked about going back to school nonstop on the way home!  I've never known any kid so excited to be going to school!  We've been very blessed that both kids have stayed healthy through-out the winter months and we are also blessed to have had the opportunity to use the robot!  We appreciate the school for making it available for her to use!
We'll keep an eye on her counts.  In the mean time, we'll enjoy each day as it happens and be thankful for what the Lord has provided.  We also thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

100,000 Blog views!

Briley's blog has topped 100,000 views!  Kinda scary knowing that many people has read my awful writing, but at the same time, it's awesome knowing so many care about her.  I'm thinking to myself that if this blog has been viewed that many times, how many prayers have we received?  Many many more than that! And that's what counts!
Yes, it's been a while since I've last blog.  I guess in the world of "blogging", no news is good news!  Briley is still homebound school and she is trying to use the robot for her class instructions.  There are some issues we are working on.  We can hear just fine and for the most part, that works.  However, the video is very choppy and freezes a lot.  I think it's just a problem with living in rural Texas and not being able to get a faster internet.  Regardless, we'll make do with it and we are very grateful that Briley has the opportunity to be able to use it!
I think all of the sickness is starting to trend downward.  Less and less kids are being sent home, but it is still going around.  We'll see what this week and next week brings at school and hopefully she'll get to go back soon!
We have also been working on her wish trip.  Since she will be done with treatment on March 30th, we are looking at taking the trip on the second week in April.  As more details become available, I'll will let y'all know.  
She has a regular appointment/checkup at Cooks next Thursday, the 21st.  She's doing really good right now!  The only concern we have is that Briley has some sort of rash on both arms and both legs that continues to get worse.  We are putting the cortisone cream on constantly and it seems to help a little.  We haven't called her doctor yet, but we will if it seems to worsen anymore.  We've tried using frag. free laundry detergent, lotion, and so on without luck.  So I'm wondering if she's becoming sensitive to the meds.  Other than that, she's getting around great and has been feeling great.  Both kids have stayed well!  That has been such a blessing!
You may remember in a previous post that I mentioned that melanoma was found on a young Seymour girl.  Addision started treatment at Cooks last week.  She had to change schools and they are basically living at the RMH in Fort Worth.  Please keep her and her family in your prayers.  Their world has been turned upside down and they could use all the prayers they can get.  Thank you!