Kinslee's "break" from chemo

Since I last left you guys we were about to head to Ft Worth for another spinal (Dec 5th).  Things went great that day.  Her counts were good and she did awesome during her spinal procedure.  This was the day the ice storm was moving in so we asked the sweet nurses if we could get in and out so that we could make it home in time before it hit!  They were wonderful and made it happen for us!  We were in and out of there and home just in time!  We were looking forward to the next week because we knew we had a week off from treatments!  It was a wonderful week for Kinslee other than being home bound all weekend because of the crazy weather!  The weather didn't bother us too much because Kinslee felt so good and played like a typical two year old :)  I was so thankful for a weekend of rest and relaxation!!!  And having my baby back to feeling like herself again :)

Cason got to ice sled behind the ranger which he loved!!! 

Kinslee thought she wanted to but when we got dressed for it she didn't want any part of it. 

We were probably outside long enough to take a few pics!  It was too cold for us girls!!! 

 

Last Thursday (Dec 12th) Kinslee had a check up here at the Abilene Cook Clinic with a doctor from the Cook Clinic in Ft Worth.  She started having a runny nose and cough that week but the doctor said she looked great and sounded fine.  He suggested zyrtec but I had already started that earlier in the week.  My kiddos usually have really bad allergies this time of year so I usually give it to them the minute they get a runny nose.  They didn't have to check her numbers that day but she had been feeling so well that we weren't concerned.  She was very happy about this clinic visit because they told her no pokes :)

 

happy girl after a great check-up :)

Kinslee running around and playing dress up in her

 "Super Kins" Minnie Mouse costume!

A special Thank you to Hailie Hubbard for the awesome Minnie Mouse super girl cape!!! 

She loves it!  She runs around saying "Super Kins" and "Fighter Kins"

matching Christmas jammies :)

Always being silly!!

 

They can be sweet to each other sometimes :)

 

We celebrated Wednesday night (Dec 18th) Kinslee's last dose of her oral chemo she was on for the past 28 days (which she handled very well after I figured out she needed a little nausea medicine with it at bed time every night)!  Then on Thursday we were supposed to start the next phase called Interim Maintenance I but Kinslee's blood counts were way too low to start this next round of chemo!  We were very sad about this but this is something that is going to happen here and there!  Leukemia is a number's game.  That's why they check her counts each week.  We were just blindsided by her numbers because she has been feeling so good and hasn't been sick.  Her ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) was 200 and has never been below 1100!  Anything below 500 is considered very high risk for infection! :( So we were shocked!  Since she has never had low counts we had no idea how she would feel with low numbers so we just assumed her numbers would be good enough to get her chemo and start the next phase of treatment!  We will check her counts again next Thursday after Christmas and if they are 750 or higher she will get her chemo treatments and begin Day 1 of 56 days of this next phase!  She will be getting chemo every 10 days during this phase as long as her counts are high enough so please pray that her counts come up this week so we can begin treatments and that they continue to stay high so that her body is at a lower risk for fighting infections!  On day 31 of this phase she will need to go to the clinic in Ft Worth for another spinal and chemo but she can have all other treatments here in Abilene during this phase!     

 

We are happy to have a happy little princess to celebrate Christmas with this week!  Unfortunately, we will only be celebrating Christmas as a family of four!  Sadly we can't be with our families since her numbers are so low!  We have to limit her exposure to others right now because her body doesn't have the ability to fight off infections.  Hopefully her numbers will be high enough soon so we can get together with our families to celebrate!  We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!  Thank you for all the love and support!  We love you all!

 

  

Thanksgiving week

Just wanted to give everyone a little update on how things have been going on in our world lately!  So here I go...After the ER visit during the bad weather unfortunately things didn't get much better after that little visit!  She continued to run fever over the weekend and on Monday the week of Thanksgiving she had a fever of 101 so the doctors wanted Kinslee to have more antibiotics.  It was a crazy stressful day but with the help of our wonderful pediatrician and our new "Hendrick" pediatrician (who was also wonderful) we were able to skip the ER and go straight over to the hospital.  We were greeted by our family friend and child life specialist Megan Clifton.  Her sweet face was so comforting to us all :) Thank goodness we were home that night in time to eat dinner and sing Happy Birthday to my Big 5 year old Cason Kole! 

We celebrated W's birthday over the weekend too!

(excuse Kinslee in her night gown please...she stayed in her gown all weekend due to not feeling well)

 

Happy 5th birthday Cason!

 (yes he has the same clothes on two days in a row...

he lived in camo all weekend since we didn't get out due to the cold yucky weather)

 

 

We traveled to Ft Worth last week on Tuesday to stay the night for Kinslee' s early Wednesday morning spinal procedure!  Kinslee had her treatment a day early last week because of Thanksgiving!  They did not have to access her port this clinic visit because she only received her spinal chemo so that was a plus!  They decided a quick blood draw would be much better than accessing her port just for blood counts.  She was so brave wearing her gas mask again last week during her spinal :) I guess she's getting used to it by now!  

 

Thanksgiving was a nice and quiet day for us!  Clay's mom and dad drove out for the day and Linda cooked some delicious turkey and dressing!  Thank you Linda for the wonderful Thanksgiving meal!  We hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving day as well! 

 

This past weekend was a little rough for us :( Kinslee had a low grade fever all day Friday and Saturday with diarrhea.  Late Saturday afternoon she woke up from her nap with a fever of 101.5 :/  and that put this momma into panic mode!  I was not looking forward to another hospital visit but the HO on-call doc at Cook said there was no need to take her in and that it was ok to just give her Tylenol because it was probably something viral and there was nothing that could be done.  I was nervous but thankful!  On Sunday she only ran a low grade fever and by yesterday she was feeling so much better and fever free :) Today she has been playing with her bubba!  It's been a while since they've played so good together!  I have been getting things ready to make the trip to Ft Worth tomorrow to stay the night for Kinslee's last spinal procedure on Thursday morning for a while!!!  Yay!!!  Next week we should have the week off from traveling and chemo treatments :) and let me just say our baby girl needs a little break!  Anytime we go to get in the car to go grab something to eat or get dressed for the day Kinslee is constantly worried and asking if we are going to the doctor or hospital :(  or asking if she has to take her medicine (she hates taking medicine).  Please pray for Kinslee to continue to have good blood counts and to be healthy so we can stay away from the hospital!  Once again we are so thankful for each of you and every prayer!!!  Thank you!!!