Change of plans

I was not able to update the blog, but the day after my last post, Anne delivered Leah Patience Clark! The doctor did not want to wait as Anne was showing signs of labor.

Anne and Leah are doing great. Below are some pictures.

Blessings,  Jay

Another little sister for Sarah

Hello All,

I know it has been over five months since we have written on the blog. Sorry for such a long break. We still need your prayers for Sarah and thanks for everyone who keeps asking how she is doing. Below are some "highlights":

1. Anne has a scheduled C-Section on Monday, 16th at 7:30 AM. Sarah will have her fourth little sister!!

2. Over the summer, Sarah went through three months of counseling with a Psychiatrist at Children's Medical.  We've seen great results from this time. Sarah is learning to handle her emotions much better and although she still has along way to go, we are seeing progress!!

3. Sarah and Hannah started school at McKinney Christian Academy. Sarah has shown her progress from the counseling sessions and has made new friends, was picked for the honor choir, and doing great with her school work.

4. Last week, Sarah had her appointment. (She goes every other month to the clinic). It was a great report as all of her blood counts were great, but it was also a sad day. Dr. Appel from Children's Medical is moving to Colorado. Dr. Appel has been incredible during these three and a half years. She has not only been a rock for Sarah, but for me and Anne also. We are going to miss her, but I believe she is a big reason why Sarah wants to be a children's oncologist when she grows up. :)

5. With the current changes at Children's we are not for certain if anything will change with Sarah's schedule. At this point, we are supposed to continue 6 check-ups per year at the clinic until 2015.  So that means every other month Sarah has her blood tested.

Thanks again for walking with us,

Blessings,

Jay

Good News

Sorry this has taken so long. I was traveling last week.

Sarah does NOT need surgery. This is great news, but she will have to live with a bump on her shoulder. If it starts to bother her too much then they would discuss removing it.

Thanks for all of your prayers.  Please keep Sarah and Anne in your prayers this weekend as they go on a mommy/daughter weekend at Pine Cove. Weekends like this go a long way in Sarah's recovery.

Blessings,

Jay

MRI today

It's been awhile since we posted something health wise, but Sarah has an MRI today. A month or so ago, she developed a tumor on her shoulder, but the doctors say it is a benign tumor like the one she had on her finger. (See posts of June, 2010) Of course, this is a huge relief, but the MRI today is to see if they need to remove it. If so, she would have another surgery. Our prayers are that she doesn't need a surgery!

This has caught us a little by surprise as we sort of fell into the new normal of monthly checkups and then bam, this happens, and wakes us back up. The good news is that Sarah just finished her first year off of chemo so we go to every other month for appointments at the clinic.  Another answer to prayer is her horse lessons seem to be helping with her anxiety and coping issues.  She still has problems but we can see she handles new circumstances a little better so please keep praying for her to continue progress with her emotional health.

We should know something by the end of next week and will keep you posted about the surgery. (Also, the doctors have no idea why these tumors are popping up so that causes us a little worry.)

On a much better note, Sarah will have her fourth sibling born around mid-September. We are waiting to see if she can finally have a brother. :)

Thanks for your prayers.

Anniversary

Today, 13th, marks the third anniversary of Sarah's diagnosis. I can't believe it has been three years. Parts of our journey seem like yesterday and other parts seem like it happened to another family.

I thought this would be a good time to update everyone on Sarah's progress. As you can see of her picture, she is beautiful! Her health is great. She continues to go to the clinic once a month for checkups in which they test her blood.  Her blood counts are normal. For the first time in three years she does not have any exclamation points or warnings beside her blood counts.

After visiting camps this summer and meeting families who were years ahead of us in treatment, we were encouraged to send Sarah to a Psych-Evaluation.
The primary reason was to make sure her motor skills such as writing were not affected
by the two and a half years on chemo. The praise was she was average to above average in all of her motor skills test.

The challenge is that she was diagnosed with clinical anxiety. She has problems with her emotions in coping with situations that do not go the way she prepared in her head. We are on the waiting list for therapy, but in the meantime she started equestrian lessons. She is doing a great job and we can see how learning about horses is helping her because the horse doesn't do everything as planned. She already rides much faster than I would ever want to and continues to learn so much about horses. This has been a huge blessing for her.

In the end, she/we still need your prayers.  On the outside she looks great, but now we have so much to deal with emotionally as she grows up and starts to realize what was taken away from her over the last three years. All we can do is pray the same prayer as we did three years ago. "Help Jesus, please Help". He has been faithful every step of the way and we trust He will continue to give Sarah peace as she takes on more challenges of growing up with Leukemia.