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!

2nd round of chemo

( Hope & Annabella Baking)

(Hope getting a blood transfusion)

(In ICU getting her chemo treatment)

(such a trooper)

So far Hope's treatment has gone really well. Hope hasn't skipped a beat! I am really quite impressed with her ability to stay positive and cheerful.  The 2nd round of chemo was a higher dose, so she did get sick a couple of times while she was in the hospital. The hardest part really is how frequent she has to use the restroom. When she is under chemo treatments she goes off her pill for Diabetes Insipidus and is on a drip system instead. The drip system is not as good at balancing and regulating her hormones, causing her to go to the restroom every 10-15 minutes.  This also means she doesn't get a whole lot of sleep. Hope's blood counts have been low when she is at home, which requires staying at home and getting blood transfusions.  All that said, given the circumstances, she really has been feeling great. Thank you for keeping Hope in your prayers.