Another Good Day

Everyone in our household is well!!! Praise God! We got to spend Christmas with my family, as well as Tad's family for Christmas. It was just what we needed. We thank God for blessing us with health on both sides of the family so that we were able to be with them, even though Ashley's counts were low. (Megan had a cold last Thursday through Saturday and Ashley never came down with it. We are so thankful for God's protection over her.)

Ashley got chemo today!!! Her counts weren't very high (only 779), but her doctor decided to give her chemo anyway. She said that she thought Ashley would do fine with it. Please pray that, once again, the side effects from this chemo (DOX-O/VCR) would be minimal. Also pray that Ashley's counts will not drop too low. We also got the results back from her ultrasound and everthing looks normal. We praise God for this.

We look forward to finishing chemo. Now she is down to only 2 more treatments! Hopefully Feb. 7 will be her last treatment day. She keeps telling us that she can't wait to have playdays, go to the park, play in the mud, go to school and church, and eat out. Not too much longer, Ashley!

Happy New Year!!! Thanks for keeping up on Ashley and for praying for our family! God Bless You!

Christmas With Low ANC

Ashley has continued to feel well this week. Her ANC counts were very low today (476). This is the lowest her ANC has been during the last 5 months of treatment, so we are going to have to continue watching her for any signs of infection or fever. Please pray that Ashley's ANC (neutrophil) counts go up. We are going to be around a lot of family this weekend, so pray that we have the wisdom to avoid anything that would expose Ashley to more germs. Pray also that Ashley continues to stay well and that God shields her from any infections or illnesses.

The doctor said that he is going to change her treatment slightly, so that if her counts aren't high enough for treatment on the third week, he will simply try her counts each week after until she can finally get chemo. (No more tacking a chemo on to the end of treatment, or giving her chemo 2 weeks apart.) This makes more sense to me. So, even though she was scheduled to receive chemo this week, next week is technically the third week from the last chemo she received. (everything is just bumped 1 week later.)

She had an abdominal/pelvic ultrasound today, so we should get the results in the next week. It is amazing how well Ashley does laying still for these tests. The nurse always asks me if I want her to give Ashley sedation and I say no, because she always does fine.

We hope that you enjoy your Christmas and that you find peace in knowing the Creator of the Universe would care to have a relationship with you. That he would care about the hurts that you feel and the trials that you go through. How He hears every cry and sees every tear that falls. And most of all, that He would care about your salvation. God Bless You!

Merry Christmas from the Kroeker family!

Happy Girl!

It's hard to believe that it is almost Christmas! Ashley has been loving all of the decorations, lights, nativity scenes, trees, presents, and fun that go along with this special time of the year. It definitely helps the treatment time to go by faster when you have a patient who is grinning from ear to ear!

Last week's chemo (AMD/VCR) hit Ashley pretty hard this time. She was pretty nauseated in the mornings from Thursday through Saturday. On Sunday, she switched and suddenly felt fantastic! In fact, ever since Sunday she has been more excited and energized than I've seen her in a while. The picture above was taken on Sunday when she went to "school". Her teacher has been so sweet to allow Ashley to "attend" school on Sundays. It has been so good for Ashley to feel like that classroom is her kindergarten class too. School on the weekdays at home have also been going pretty well. Ashley has been learning her sight words, addition, writing numbers to 20, counting by 5's, journal writing, letter writing, crafts, and some reading. Cade is also learning to write his name and count to 20, knows his colors, and is learning the zoophonics song. Ashley's teacher has been providing plenty of work for Ashley to do during the week. Home schooling lasts about 1- 1 1/2 hours a day, (it just depends on how involved Cade wants to be that day.)

Here is a picture of my "little elves" at "school".

Please continue to pray for Ashley's health. Her counts were low today, 620 ANC. Ashley had an ECHO and a chest x-ray today and they both came back normal. We thank God for that. Ashley is scheduled to get an abdominal ultrasound next Wednesday and also chemo (DOX-O), if her counts are high enough. We pray that the results from the ultrasound will be normal and that Ashley's counts go up.

You can also pray for Tad and I. We have been feeling cooped up these last few weeks. Maybe it's because Ashley is reaching the end of treatment, and we can't quite see the finish line. I think it's also because we are so used to being busy this time of the year with parties, friends, family, and go, go, going. We are praying that God will help us to feel content at this time in our lives. In Psalm 46:1 it says "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." We know that He is the source of the peace we have experienced for the past 5 months and we know that He will give us the strength and the help that we need to have contentment every day, even on the days where we feel alone.

High Counts and Chemo

We are so happy to say that Ashley got her chemo today!!!Her ANC was 525 last week and has jumped to 1344 this week. We praise God for answering prayer! We thank Him for giving us peace last week when she couldn't get chemo because He reminded us that He is in control and we can trust Him, and now, we are literally thrilled that she was able to get her chemo today. We are down to only 3 more chemos!!! Please pray that the side effects from this chemo today will, again, be minimal. Also, Ashley is supposed to get another ultrasound, CAT-SCAN, and ECHO next week. Please pray that the results will come back good and that God will continue to rid her body of any cancer cells (if there are any).

As you can see from the photo, Ashley is still smiling and enjoying every day. Tad built Lilly (our dog), a dog house and the kids helped him paint it. We are so thankful to God for protecting Ashley from whatever her body was fighting. She didn't end up with a cold last week, even though her counts were extremely low.

We hope you are enjoying this Christmas season and remembering that God is there for you. We are amazed at what God has done for us and we know that nothing is impossible for Him.