Hopefully all of my readers have had a Merry Christmas! The Clan has enjoyed a great Holiday Season and have been amazed at the hospitality of all our Arizona friends and family! We are truly blessed!
I thought I'd share something that I wrote a while back. It has given me a good deal of inspiration in the past months and I hope it can encourage those who are traveling similar paths. :)
I am Chemo Strong...
I treasure the good times to make it through the bad.
I am Chemo Strong...
I can pack enough to feed an army and fit it all in a backpack.
I am Chemo Strong...
I know the value of true friendship and cherish it above all things.
I am Chemo Strong...
I have the ability to watch hours of mindless TV without losing my sanity.
I am Chemo Strong...
I can interpret, memorize, and recall large amounts of medical information with minimal amounts of sleep.
I am Chemo Strong...
I truly understand the concept of the "99 year lease".
I am Chemo Strong...
I have learned how to translate reams of unintelligible hospital bills.
I am Chemo Strong and I am proud.
I was thinking the other day that we are long overdue for a change to the blog. I have been consistently amazed at how many people from all over the US and the World are praying for Benjamin . Sooo, I've decided to add a list of congregations that are praying for our little dude. I'm gong to start with the ones I know of. If you don't see your church on the list, please send me an email and I'll be sure to add you. :)
As you can guess from this post's title, we did indeed need to give Benjamin a transfusion today. I'm not sure about any of his other counts, but his hemoglobin had dipped down to 8.4. So, we snagged a quick lunch at McDonalds before we headed back to the clinic. The transfusion took about 2 hours and the boy did spectacularly (even if he did have a small little melt down when I reclined his chair! ;). It never ceases to amaze me how well our little Bubber Dude behaves even though the most boooooring procedures. Oh sure, he had his constant companion BobBob (Spongebob) to watch the entire time, but even with that, our little guy is just so fantastically patient!
I also wanted to bring up another point... If you are a blood donor, then I would like to personally thank you from the bottom of my heart! You have no idea how much of a difference your Gift of Life can make! If you are an AZ donor...who knows...it might have been your gift that gave my little guy the pep that he really needed. And if you're eligible to give blood and haven't yet...what are you waiting for?? ;)
Wow...so many amazing memories! It's almost impossible to write down all the fun things that happened this past week!
Due to an RSV delay, we weren't able to visit with "Grandma in the Country" on Thanksgiving like we had originally planned. So, we rescheduled for this past week. To my readers, I will pass on this little bit of advice free of charge...if you have never visited the Sonoran Southwest, then you really ought to! Perhaps it's because I spent my formative years in the sleepy "town" of Redington, but to me, there is nothing more beautiful or majestic than rural Arizona! From the enchanting smell of the dry earth soaking up the monsoon rains to the majestic saguaros to the amazing display of wild poppies in the spring, the desert Southwest is an amazing place to experience, no matter what time of year!
While Grandma busily spoiled the girls with vast amounts of Cricket and scrapbooking time, Grandpa took the boy out for some "landscaping" (ie. moving rocks from one part of the yard to another). That freed me up to relive my glory days. As is to be expected, returning "home" after being gone for so long can some times be a little sad. It was really, really strange to drive into town and not see the smokestacks from the copper mine that had been a landmark all of my life. It's also saddening to see your hometown fade away after the major industry closes down. As with all things, it is sometimes difficult to be reminded that time goes on. It was also a potent reminder of how I have changed over the years. As is usually true of times of reflection, it is very helpful to remember who you were then and where you came from, as well as look forward to who you are now and how God has gently shaped your life along the way.
Since we won't be able to spend any Christmas time with my family (due to clinic and travel restrictions), my amazing family lavished us with an early Christmas party. I am so blessed to have an amazing family that literally lavished present after present upon my little ones! The whole Clan had such a great time hanging out with Aunties and cousins and playing with the Wii that the kiddos were thoroughly worn out by the end of the day!
Unfortunately, Benjamin wasn't feeling well on Sunday and ran a fever at about 1:30am this morning, which meant that we had to leave Grandma's house earlier than we wanted to. :( We headed straight over to the clinic after dropping the girls off with "Grandma in the City" and found out that Benjamin has an ear infection. The bad news was that his hemoglobin is running very low. We're going to have another clinic visit on Wednesday and if his counts haven't gone up enough he'll need a transfusion to make sure that he's ready to travel back home to GA. I know it might be strange, but I'm really relieved that the source of his fever is so "minor" and that we don't have to go inpatient again! Once again I would like to thank everyone for the prayers that you have extended to our family! They mean so much more to us than you could possibly imagine!
Authors note: I will amend this post sometime in the next few days to include pictures from our vacation.
Once more, I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while. It's just that we've been having such a great time on our vacation in AZ!! We've had so many amazing adventures that it's almost impossible to catalog them all!
Our latest escapade was to take the girls up to Flagstaff to enjoy the recently fallen snow. There was a little bit of a glitch at the beginning when the girls got cold, but after warming up, they had a really great time! Genevieve had so much fun sliding down the hill and burying herself in the snow! Autumn, on the other hand, seemed to revel in the idea of pelting Mommy with snowballs while I tried to build a snowman. I am so thankful that Aunt Kelly was able to take us, because it was certainly a trip to remember!
The fun continued when Genevieve was able to (finally!) met her penpal Gracie this evening. The two hit it off immediately and must have had a good time because we didn't see them for hours! Autumn and Benjamin had a blast as well! In the meantime, I was able to visit with my college friends that I haven't seen in years! It was a really great to be able to laugh and share in "real life" for a change!
Throughout our journey with Benjamin, one of the things that I have been amazed by is the love and support shown to our Clan by our friends! It's hard to explain how much even small tokens of "normalcy" like a night out with friends mean right now. Over and over our friends in many different states have reached out and wrapped our family in love time and time again. It is an amazing gift, and one that has helped us immensely during these past months. We are extremely grateful for all of our friends, and continue to thank God for them!!
It's really hard for me to believe that it was only six years ago that I brought home the biggest little baby I'd ever seen (she was after all over 9 pounds!). Bundled up warm in her pink blankets, I knew even back then that this child would change my life. There was just something about that sparkle in her eyes.
Strong willed but tender hearted, beautiful but humble, feisty but quick to forgive, Autumn Knotts has been such an amazing blessing to our family! Truly one of a kind, our little BooBoo has steadily grown into an amazing little woman over the past few years. I am so proud of the godly little girl that God has given me and I look forward to the years ahead with a young lady that I have no doubt will make a definite impression on the world.
So here's to you my little Boo and all the love and joy that you have poured into my life!!
Authors note: I had originally written a post about Autumn's birthday on the night of the 3rd, but somehow Blogger lost it (even though I clicked on Save). Thoroughly demoralized and frustrated, it has taken my three days before I could work up the energy to rewrite my post...but don't worry, the family has been have tons of fun in the meantime! ;)
Throughout our journey with Benjamin, by and large almost all of the people we have come in contact with have been very loving and supporting. However, there have been a few folks (as there always are in life) who just don't get it. This prayer is for them.
I hope you never know
What it's like to sit up all night wondering if your little one will wake up in the morning.
I hope you never know
What it's like to agonize over every fever, cough, cold and rash, wondering if it means something more.
I hope you never know
What it's like to pack up your life at a moment's notice and leave the rest of your family behind.
I hope you never know
What it's like to see the pain and frustration in your children's eyes when you have to stop playing with them and go back to the hospital to be with their brother.
I hope you never know
What it's like to plan your life around treatments and counts.
I hope you never know
What it's like for your child to have cancer.
