Thursday, October 1, 2015

Update on Grace...

Well, in the past 4 hours my heart has gone from completely broken to hopeful and overflowing with gratitude...

At our appointment with the hematologist today, we learned that Grace's labs look better than they did 2 weeks ago (praise the Lord), but still wacky in a couple key areas.  The wacky labs and the fact that Grace has Up's (remember children and adults with Up's are more likely to get leukemia) caused the Dr to want to do a bone biopsy ASAP because she suspects ALL or AML (leukemia).  The Dr who we saw today was at Memorial Hermann, which is the children's hospital across the street from Texas Children's Hospital (TCH is where we see our cardiologist, endocrinology, etc).  The reason we went to Memorial Hermann is because we were told that we would have to wait a while to get an appointment at TCH, so we should take the first available appointment.  I left that appointment heart broken that our baby would have to endure a painful bone biopsy and likely be diagnosed with leukemia.  I tried to keep my mind from wandering through all the "what if's", but instead focus on the "even if's" ("even if" she has cancer we will get through it in God's strength).  Once I got in the car by myself (David drove home with Grace in his car) I cranked up the worship music and had a really good cry.  The two songs that stuck out to me was Amazing Grace and the one where the chorus says "Jesus at the center of it all."  These two songs served as great reminders that God's got this!  One thing that kept weighing on my heart was that if we were going to have to battle cancer, I wanted her at TCH, so I sent a message to a friend who I recently learned works at TCH in the hematology department and told her the news we had received.  I pulled up to my friends house to pick up Abigail and Andrew, when I saw that I already had a message back from that friend requesting my phone number and when she called me moments later she assured me that Grace could and would be seen by the hematologists at TCH and that she had already begun talking to others in the department about Grace and they too were committed to helping us out.  The peace that came over me after speaking with my sweet friend is indescribable, but that was just the beginning of the blessing.  That conversation took place at 6:00 pm, at 7:30 pm my phone rang and it was the chief of hematology at TCH, Dr. Mahoney!  This man has 40+ years of experience and treats countless children with Up's, therefore, he is extremely knowledgable to say the least, but it's his kindness and gentleness that make him absolutely, positively amazing.  We talked about Grace's medical history, labs, etc to which he stated that he does NOT see a reason to do a bone biopsy at this point and reassured me that he does not think that Grace has leukemia at this time; however, he would like to follow her closely to make sure things don't progress into leukemia.  The phone call in the evening, when he is likely with his family, etc blessed my socks off to say the least, but then he went on to say that he has clinic on Wednesdays, so he could see Grace on Wednesday, but if I felt like I would like to see him sooner so that I'm not worrying over the weekend, he would have the clinic call me first thing in the morning in case I wanted them to squeeze us in tomorrow.  What?!?!  Who does that?!?! Good thing we were on the phone versus in person because I might injure the poor guy with the worlds biggest hug.  I apologize for the long story, but the details are too amazing to leave out because God deserves maximum glory and y'all deserve to know how powerful your prayers are!  We can't thank you enough for flooding heaven with prayers on our behalf and for encouraging us as we ride this Divinely designed roller coaster.  Please keep the prayers and praises coming because we are not out of the woods yet.  THANK YOU, sweet, precious, and faithful Village!!!

Grace has had two blood draws in two days (could turn into three in three days).  This little rockstar walked right back, climbed up in David's lap, as they lowered the arm rest she laid her arm out ready for what she knew she was there for and didn't shed a tear when they drew her blood.  She proceeded to joyfully walked out and proudly show me her bandaid where they drew her blood (David goes back with her for blood draws because I'm a wuss).  That is an example of God's peace that surpasses comprehension because I still can't believe it!

1 comment:

Keith Askin said...

Thank you honey for sharing the latest risks for our little Grace and family. Papa is praying for us all. We love you all so much.