Celebrate the Season.....

Hi all.   As I stated on Friday, Hannah is out of the hospital, and both she and Sharon are home!!!  I made it home from San Antonio on Saturday, so the entire Cobley clan is gearing up for Christmas.

Hannah had to go back to the clinic today for a spinal tap and bone marrow aspiration.  Along the way they injected chemo into her spine again, and then she had the first of 3 chemo infusions this week.  She has oral meds for the next two weeks, and then we are done.  If at that time her blood work comes back the same as it is now, she will be declared in remission and begin a 2 year maintenance program that will consist of monthly checkups and oral medication. 

While we are not at the finish line yet, we are close.

The last 5 plus months has been a myriad of of tubes, tests, tears, laughter, hugs, prayers and blessings.  As a family we have been touched by so many that we do not even know how to begin to say thank you.  In fact I do not think it is possible.  There are people that we do not even know that prayed, prepared meals, and helped in some way or another.

While we may not be able to thank everyone with words, I do know that as a family we will be dedicated to thanking you and helping others by paying it forward to help others that get this dreaded disease.  Our lives have been forever changed, for the better, for having gone through this, with your help.

As you gather with friends and family this Christmas season, please stop and take the time to appreciate all that you have, and realize that the material things are not what is important.  It is those that are in our lives daily for which we should be truly grateful.

Also, please take the time to thank God for this gift of His Son.  The most precious gift of all.

Merry Christmas



Eucaristia

Homecoming!!!!

Short and sweet and to the point.  Hannah is coming home today!!

God is good.

Eucaristia

Rebound..

Hi all, it was a rough weekend, as Hannah hit rock bottom on Friday, and stayed there through Sunday.  Saturday afternoon she had a bad reaction to a blood transfusion. She had received 2 bags of blood and did fine with the first one but at the very end of the second bag she reacted - this is quite common - we were very lucky the last time around and only had a slight reaction to some platelets. She started to get really wheezy and as she was getting a breathing treatment she started to develop an itchy rash all over her body. It cleared up on it's own and was completely gone by morning.

Sunday was a day of rest after the battle Saturday night.  She slept virtually all day.

Monday, the start of a new week, her immune system move off zero and began to climb.  Today brought about higher numbers, so she is getting stronger!! She has been fever free or low fever for 2 days so hopefully they will back off the antibiotics over the next couple of days. She is still pretty congested from a cold and has developed some sores down her throat making it hard to swallow and causing extra mucus (gross). Morphine is wonderful and they have started to administer some to help the throat pain.

As I sit here typing she is pulling out her hair - literally pulling it out. It has started to fall out and once you start pulling it, just like picking s scab you can't stop. Yesterday we had fun with tape and put it on her head and pulled it off, you do weird things when you're bored.

We had good news this morning, her counts (hemoglobin and platelets) are all doing what they're supposed to be doing, rising on their own. This means we MAY be home on Monday the 19th. She has a lumbar puncture on Monday morning and then home after that.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

 Eucaristia

Well it happened.....

A fever finally happened, we thought maybe we were going to avoid it this time but no such luck. Her counts are way down so this is very good however I guess it was just a matter of time before she started to run a fever. Her nose started to run last evening and this morning a headache all day and then the dreaded fever. Now after blood cultures have been drawn she has a lovely assortment of antibiotics hanging from her I.V. pole. So for the time being we will limit visitors, feel free to text and send notes to her on Facebook.

We continue to be forever grateful for the continued prayers and many words of encouragement.

Eucaristia

The Bunko Ladies

Hi all,  time for an update.

Lets start with Hannah's health.  She is doing well.  The chemo is done, and now we are just waiting for her immune system to zero out.  Over the last few days, her system has dropped over 3000 points, and is now in the hundreds.  She will hit rock bottom in the next day or two, so please text Sharon if you would like to visit.

Overall she is doing very well, as of now she is not having the really bad side effects that she had last time.  We believe that this is a result of prayer, and the fact that she went into the hospital healthy and we were able to "pre treat" before we went in.

If things keep going the way they are, there is a very good chance that she will be home for Christmas.

So last night the Bunko ladies visited.  A very supportive group that has delivered a tree for her room, a basket of Advent presents and meals.  Last night however took the cake.  The ladies showed up Santa hats, red noses and all. I think the pictures say it better than any words I have.

We are so blessed

Eucaristia

Tis the season

As Craig said in the update on Monday a lot of Christmas happened in a very short amount of time last weekend. I thought it would be fun to share some pictures with you all.

First a quick update from PCH, Hannah is doing great! Sleeping ALOT but that is a good thing, the medicine they give her for nausea makes her very very sleepy. Her last dose of "smurf blue" chemo will be tonight then we just wait for her counts to drop and build back up. If everything goes according to plan we will be home for Christmas.

As you can see from the pictures there was a tree to buy and decorate, lights to put up, cookies to bake, gingerbread houses to decorate and friends to laugh with.