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.

Checking into PCH

Hi all, we have checked back into PCH.   Our room is 7113, just three doors down from the previous suite.  And guess what??? We have already gotten in trouble, no plug in Christmas lights, I guess they just don't understand how we Cobley's do Christmas.  

The days leading up to Hannah checking back in have been filled with laughter and joy.  Once arsenic was done, we were straight onto the holiday season. 

I am Scrooge, and WILL NOT decorate the house before the first weekend in December.  Well... Once we found out that Hannah was going back to PCH right after Thanksgiving, I was informed that all Christmas decor would be up before the end of Thanksgiving weekend.  I put my foot down for all of 30 seconds, and then got after decorating.  Lights hanging, tree up, traditional items in their proper place, Christmas is here.  The entire family welcomed in the holiday season with our traditional movies, White Christmas, and Christmas Vacation.

It all was put on hold this morning as we woke up at 6am for our PCH check in.  

The day started with blood work, a bone marrow aspiration, and a spinal tap.  And oh did i mention that they injected Chemo into her spine during the spinal tap procedure.  No rest for the weary, Chemo starts tonight.

The good part is that we know what is coming, the bad part is that we know what is coming.  

Hannah will receive Chemo through Friday then fight to get her strength back.  Right now, she is good and should be til the end of the week, as her immune system becomes compromised.  

I continue to be amazed at how Hannah handles this with strength and grace.  We are sooooo lucky.

Eucaristia.

Gearing Up....

We are getting ready to gear up for December - it's gonna be a rough one. Craig and Hannah saw Dr. B today and she decided that Hannah would be admitted on Monday, November 28th instead of the original planned date of Wednesday, November 30th. Here is how it will play out...appointment for blood work at the clinic in the morning, head over to the hospital for bone marrow aspiration and spinal tap, a bite of sack lunch, head to admitting where Hannah will stand in the corner with a mask on (lots of germs in admitting) to sign herself in. Then we start 4 days of intense chemo. Most likely she will start Tuesday morning with 3 days of one drug (I don't know the name) so day 1,2,3 one drug then day 3, and 4 "smurf blue" chemo. There will be an overlap on day 3 with both - ugh. I have to say Hannah is glad that we are just getting after it. A few weeks ago she wondered why we couldn't just start on 11/28 why did she have to go to get her Bone Marrow and Spinal Tap done then go home and go back a day later, it just seemed to prolong the inevitable. Let's just get it done. Dr. B says it will take 30 days to knock her down and bring her back up but if all goes well she will be home for Christmas. Although, Dr. B did say if you have to be in the hospital for Christmas PCH is not a bad place to be.

Leading up to November 28th - especially the week of Thanksgiving we/she will have to be very careful about people contact. So we will be laying low for the most part, no movies or shopping etc... We have been very lucky that she has been pretty healthy during this time, one small cold that was very short lived. 

The other crummy news is that we are not allowed to have a live Christmas tree, I guess there is a lot of bacteria and icky stuff growing in the water - who knew?  We will be decorating for Christmas over Thanksgiving weekend, which, according to Craig is just wrong (he got over that idea real fast). We had a plan to get the biggest tree we could find, think National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation tree. But really for Hannah it isn't about the day it is about the season, the shopping for the special gift, the wrapping, the music (she already has her Christmas playlist), the ugly Christmas Sweater party, the baking, the cards, adopting a family - this year we have a family from PCH. You get the idea, the good news (i guess) is that she will not remember some of it and we will have a celebration when she is home. Some wonderful friends have already put a tree in her bedroom so she can enjoy it now and some more friends have taken on the decorating of her hospital room - we have the most wonderful friends and family. Sometimes I look at the families in the clinic when I go with her and wonder if they are surrounded by the love and caring that we are.

We are so blessed this season that Sarah is home from Seattle and has just landed a fabulous job as the store manager of Splendid in Kierland commons you should check it out, that Jessie is having a great year teaching 3rd grade in the Roosevelt school district, and that while Hannah has had a hiccup in her life she is doing well and is as funny as ever. We are truly blessed. Stay tuned for more updates.

Thankful

Hi all.  It has been quite awhile since I have updated, so I thought that it was time to bring you all up to speed.

Hannah is doing well, and life is moving along.  She has a few more weeks of daily clinic visits to receive her arsenic, and then will be admitted to the hospital the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.  Obviously we are not looking  forward to that, but I can see Hannah preparing herself for what she will be going through.

Tomorrow night there will be a gathering at Casa de Cobley that will be an early Thanksgiving.  We will use this time as an opportunity to step off the merry-go-round and give thanks to God and so many of our friends that have been with us every step of the way. 

God has used all of you to bless us and to experience His love through your help and caring.  There are no words that can express the gratitude that we have.  Since there are no words, we will give thanks the only way we Cobley's know how to, with good food, laughter and fellowship.

Thank you all for allowing God to use you to help us through this time.

Eucaristia.