A surprise visit from Hope's cousin Brooke

A harder week

Last week was a little bit harder for Hope. The radiation caused some burning on her skin, which made for some discomfort. It also made her feel a little sick and not able to eat much for 4 days. I talked to her on the phone and she was eating a bite of pasta and was pretty excited about eating for the first time in a few days. Even though she was feeling a bit crumby it still didn't get her spirits down. I am still amazed at how inspiring she has been through all this. As long as things don't change, it looks like her last radiation treatment will be on the 3rd of February. Please pray for their last week down there and that this will be the last of her treatment.

Getting some vitamin D

Rockets vs. Blazers

Thanks to a friend in Vancouver (Mark Little) Hope was able to go see a Houston Rockets vs. Portland Trail Blazers game with her friend Anthony. Looks like they had some fun.

A visit to the Dean Day Gallery

Letter from mom 1/9/2012

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year!  I wanted to keep you updated on Hope. 

 

Special Thank you to:  Tom O'Donovan, Linda Ngov, Gabby, Chris Nielsen, Megan Kunze for sending the gifts and cards and for always thinking of Hope and praying for her.  We really appreciate it. How sweet of you all to think of everything for Hope.  Each item is coming in very handy, especially the duffle bag with all the goodies in the pockets, we have so much to carry to each appt (thank you Linda) and the adorable pink purse (thank you Gabby) $20 (thank you Chris N.), and the special homemade "Hope" ornament (thank you Megan) the columbia lavender jacket, socks, and puzzle (thank you Tom) We just got the pkg Saturday, we have been having issues with our mail and pkgs being returned to sender.  Hopefully we fixed the problem.

Here are some pics of last weekend in Galveston, TX.  I took Hope to the Baywatch Dolphin Tour.  We saw lots of dolphins and it was a beautiful day.  We have met more new friends.  You will see Anthony who is 7 years old also being treated for a brain tumor with Proton Radiation here at MD Anderson.  They are a wonderful family from Michigan.
We continue to love it here and meet wonderful Christian people everywhere we go.  God is really watching over us. I'm grateful for all your prayers, love, and positive thoughts.  Hope's treatment is going well.  She gets sick a little bit from it once a day, but it doesn't stop her.  Actually nothing stops that girl! :) They are taking good care of Hope here. We are like family. Her last day of treatment is scheduled for February 6th.  So we are hoping to be back home that week. 

We miss everyone back home, but it will be sad to leave Houston and our new family and friends here.  We are making the best of this experience.  Next weekend we will go to the Space Center NASA and Khema Boardwalk.  

 

Hope's Proton Radiologist Dr. Mary McAleer has arranged for Hope and her new friend Anthony to have a weekend getaway in San Antonio, TX where her friend owns a ranch with Giraffes and other wild animals.  We also got to experience the exciting crazy town of Houston when the Texans won on Saturday.  First time the team has been in the NFL play-offs.  We live right down the road from the Reliant Stadium where the game was.  Pretty exciting! 

Love n hugs,

Sheri & Hope

FUN VISIT

Hope's cousin Alexis was able to come out and visit her in Texas over Christmas. It meant a lot to Hope to be able to spend time with her cousin and someone her age. Looks like they had a blast.

Hope's Proton Therapy

(The table where Hope's face and head are bolted down every day for an hour long treatment)

(The gold plated blocks specially made for Hope for the Proton beam radiation)

(Hope getting into position for her daily proton therapy)

So far Hope's therapy has gone well, with little to no side effects. The first day she got a headache, but after taking some Tylenol it went away. Besides the one headache, she says it has been no big deal. I talked to her on the phone on Christmas Eve and asked her if it was scary. She said it wasn't scary at all. Hope will get her treatment every day (no weekends) for 30 days, 1 hour a day. Thanks again for your continued prayers and support.

What is Proton Therapy?

If you are curious as to what Proton Therapy is, and how it works, here is a link to the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center with an explanation:

http://www.mdanderson.org/patient-and-cancer-information/proton-therapy-center/what-is-proton-therapy/index.html

A letter from mom 12/12/2011

(at MD Anderson)

(in the lobby of their apartments)

(baking cookies in their apartment)

(mold to wear during radiation)

(mini Christmas)

(proton therapy)

Hi Y'all,

We love it here in Houston.  It's sunny every day.  Hope has not started her Proton radiation yet, hopefully this week.  We have met some really nice people and have a rental car to get around town.  Everything is pretty close.  The hospital is 5 minutes away.  So far we have experienced 3 really unforgettable outings:  1) The Butterfly Arberetum 2) The Zoo 3) Lakewood Christian Church (Joel Olstein). 

I miss everyone lots, but I also am loving it here.  I feel wierd not working, but it's nice to be able to focus totally on Hope and enjoy the experience in Houston as well :)

Hope is in great spirits and happy we are here.  She is eager to get the rest of this radiation treatment started and over! So far the doctors at MD Anderson are really great and on top of things.  The Texas Medical Center and Texas Childrens Cancer Center is an entire city in itself, pretty overwhelming!  Our apartment is very nice and cozy and has everything we need.

I will send more updates with pics as we can.  I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  Hope to see ya soon!

Love n hugs, from Sheri & Hope in Houston

On their way to Texas!

Thanksgiving

Since we knew we were not going to spend most of the holiday season together, we decided to have a ton of fun on Thanksgiving! We spent all day in the kitchen in our aprons, with no schedule. It was so nice hanging out and cooking together (something we all love). Hope made the table look beautiful and even helped me with the turkey.

UPDATE

(last chemo: visit from NFL player Kendall Simmons and former NBA player Chris Dudley)

Hope has finished her chemo treatment and has started radiation. Her last round of chemo did not shrink the tumor at all, so it was important to get started on radiation treatments right away.
Because of the location of the tumor, there are many risks involved in doing the radiation treatment. Risks being: loss of vision, loss of memory, loss of hearing, stop of growth to the spinal chord, etc. Because the location of the radiation treatment is so delicate, the team of Doctor's in Oregon decided to send Hope to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. MD Anderson is a well know cancer center which people travel to from all over the world in order to receive treatment. They have better equipment there to treat Hope which will help cut risk. The original plan was for them to be there for seven weeks, but it has turned into a longer trip. Expectations now are that they will be home in mid February. They arrived in Texas the second week of December.

4th round of chemo

This round has not gone so well. This time Hope got sick the first night she was at the hospital. In a way it could have been prevented, but the nurses forgot to give her the medicine that helps prevent nausea.  So instead of passing time playing hospital bingo and doing arts and crafts, she spent it feeling extremely tired, emotional, crying easy, throwing up, and the back of her legs flared up with eczema. She had a terrible chest cough, her eyes were puffy and she wouldn't take her pills. It was a rough first night! I went to see her the next day expecting to see her in complete misery, but to my surprise she was doing well. This time the nurses remembered to give her all the appropriate medication...whew! When I arrived she was sitting in a chair that had wheels, tubes all attached to her, painting a haunted house that the art therapist had brought her. She was really hyper, she literally was bouncing in her seat, we kept thinking she was going to spin right off her chair. Not sure why she was so rambunctious, maybe all the sugar pumping through body. I was there for maybe an hour and she had to use the restroom probably a dozen times. At one point she turned to the nurse and asked "Are you sure you are giving me the medicine that helps me from not going to the bathroom every 10 minutes?" The nurse replied "yes, I am. I have been trying to get it regulated all day." Poor thing, every time she has to go to the restroom, it is such a big ordeal. They have to make sure there is a what they call a hat in the toilet, so they can monitor the protien levels in her urine. She has to be unpluged from a handful of outlets, untangle the millions of cords that are attached to her, wheel the tubes and liquids that can not be unattached, and have a couple people assist her. Talk about no personal space! Despite all this though she was still able to have fun and make us all laugh. She is still the sweet little sister she has always been. Way to hang in there Hope!

Robots

(Hope in her awesome robot costume)

(Jackie trying to be as cool as Hope)

(Hope and her cousins)

(the creator of the robot cake and present)

(robot cake)

(robot present)

Jackie turned 22 this year and to celebrate we decided to have a robot party. To help make this the ultimate robot party, Hope spent all day with her grandpa creating the world's best robot costume. This is just the kind of goofy things our family likes to do to celebrate another year of life!

Journey Bead Necklace

The children's hospital provides the kids a way to remember their journey as a patient in a fun and creative way, they create a "Journey Bead Necklace". Each bead on the necklace represents something different, and there is a bead for everything, every night you stay at the hospital, every time you pee in a cup, every time you get blood work done, a birthday bead, holiday beads, beads with letters, etc. One really neat thing is that every day you are at the hospital you get to pick either a "having a good day" bead or a "having a bad day" bead, through Hope's entire journey she has refused to pick a "bad day bead". She is so inspiring through this and continues to show us how to handle tough situations with a cheerful spirit. I have a feeling she will probably have several Journey Bead Necklaces once this is all done.

3rd Round of Chemo

The 3rd session of chemo was only 3 days this time. At this point it is beginning to feel more routine for Hope, she gets the same room and sees the same people every time. Hope is still doing remarkable, I still have yet to hear her complain. She is so accepting of what is going on and faces it with a positive attitude. Above is a picture of Hope with her chemo pal Ally, and a staff member Lynn, making a tie dye t-shirt.

Selena Gomez

(Hope, Selena Gomez, and my mom). 

Hope's favorite singer is Selena Gomez. Some friends were nice enough to get Hope tickets to her concert when she played here last week.  Hope had a great time, security moved them closer for the show and let them meet Selena after it was over. Selena was nice enough to let Hope take a picture with her and also signed her hat!