Cycle Three

Maddy's counts are finally where they need to be so she will be heading to the hospital tomorrow to start the third cycle of chemo in this current phase of treatment. This cycle starts with Ara-C. This is the chemo that Maddy's body just does not like. We are hoping and praying all goes well and Maddy can come home in a few days. Maddy had such a good week last week. She was feeling good and she not only was able to go to Ladies Night Out on Monday, but she was also able to attend Ag Day with her class on Friday and the bake sale for Relay for Life. (The bake sale was a huge success raising over $1000.) This makes going into this week a little easier for her!

Ladies Night Out

Maddy is gearing up to start the third cycle of chemo in her current phase of treatment.  She was supposed to begin today, but as usual, her counts have caused her to be delayed atleast a week.  The one positive thing about being delayed this time is that Maddy had a lot she wanted to get done this week, so she was happy.  The ABC 4 Maddy Relay for Life team is in full swing and Maddy really wanted to attend a couple of events that were scheduled this week starting with "Ladies Night Out" on Monday.  This event was organized by the 5 wonderful ladies pictured with Maddy and it was a huge success raising over $3600 for Relay for Life.  There is also the bake sale sponsored by ABC 4 Maddy scheduled for Friday at the Archbold Relays track meet.  Maddy is excited about this event as well.  She is going to bake cookies with grandma!

Maddy is looking and feeling well and that makes us VERY happy!  Seeing her get excited about these events and enjoying life is so much fun.  It is times like these that give us the strength to make it through the hard times!

Easter Blessings

Maddy has been spending time recovering since our last update.  Her counts were not where they needed to be, so we were able to spend Spring Break and Easter together without any hospital/clinic visits.  This was very nice!  On Monday, she had bloodwork and was good to go for her next treatment so she went to the hospital today with Dad for her chemo treatment.  This of course, takes all day and night by the time she gets hydrated, gets her chemo, and then gets more hydration.  Russ and Maddy are hoping to be home before midnight.  Then, next week Maddy is scheduled for a spinal.  If this goes as planned, she will have finally completed the second cycle of this four cycle phase.  These cycles were supposed to be six weeks long but have turned into 10-12 weeks long each.  : (  Only two more to go before we will get to maintenance.   Because Maddy relapsed in the spinal fluid, she is going to have to get radiation when she starts the maintenance phase.  This will be new and we aren't quite sure what to expect.  A little scary... actually a lot scary!