Ivee's Blood Sugar Levels

Ivee's white blood cell came back great today, so we no longer have to give her the booster shot here at home. But, her blood sugar levels came back low. They took blood Monday and the levels came back really low. A 19 (normal is between 80 and 100). We believe it was a mistake, cause she was acting all happy and was active. If they were that low, she should have been droggy and unresponsive. So, it had to be wrong. So they took blood again this morning. The number was higher than it was Monday, but it was still low. A 59. We are increasing her feeds to see if we can bring the levels up. They'll take more blood Thursday, so we'll see what the levels are then.

I'm feeling better

>"I have been on Sudafed since last Friday, and I am finally feeling better. I slept through the night Saturday night, and last night I slept until 4:30 am when my feeding machine went off. But I went right back to sleep. Above you can see me in my baby prison :). Daddy is assisting me in sitting up. I'm doing better, but mommy is ready for me to start puttin my hands down to support me on my own, instead of her doing it. Well, right now I am watching Nemo, so I must cut it short. Just wanted to reach out to all my fans. You must remember the little people you know. They are the ones who support you. Love you all! Ivee"
Ivee just wanted to speak to you all. Pray that she gets great results from her blood work today. We want her white blood cell count to be up so that we won't have to give her a shot any longer. Well, for 2 weeks anyway. She goes in for her swallowing test on Monday, March 5th. She is still wanting to drink tea from a glass. Nothing by bottle, and formula by mouth...not happening. The formula she is on smells pretty nasty, so it probably taste that way too.
Emmett and I (and Brittney) got to sing at my dad's church yesterday morning. It is the church I grew up in. It was dad's 70th birthday. The church there has supported us through pray and financially since all this happened. We are very grateful to them.
I have a new prayer request this week. My friend Jennifer Busby has been fighting cancer for many years now. She had a really hard week last week and lots of pain. They have discovered new growth in her abdoman. The docs isolated the type of cancer so that they can better treat it, but it is really hard on her and her family. Please remember Jennifer, Kevin, Meredith and Jacob in your prayers. And pray for complete healing of her cancer. I know that it has to be hard fighting it these many years. I must be more than 3 or 4. I can't say that I really know. I do know they are kind and generous to our family, especially in our time of need.
YOU ARE AWESOME.

Chemo Break

Well, Ivee is on a chemo break for the next two weeks. She doesn't go back in until March 12th. She is still progressing well. She has rolled over to her stomach and then back to her back. She is holding her head up well. Her physical therapist is pleased with her progress. Of course, Ivee will never do what the PT wants when she is here. I have to always tell her what Ivee does. Ivee likes to wait til the PT leave the house, then she rolls over or does something else that Carla (the PT) wants her to do. Just proof that Ivee is a woman.
Ivee is still struggling with her gagging and congestion. She just can't seem to knock this stuff out of her system. I really believe that she may have allergies. Her eyes water alot, and she is always rubbing them. Just seems like typical allergy symptoms.
Begin to pray now for Ivee's MRI in 6 weeks. Pray that the chemotherapy is having an impact on her tumor. Sometimes the "mind boogers" catch up with me and Emmett. Satan tries to remind us of the statistics with her condition, and that the survival numbers are low. We are trying not to let him have the victory. We know that God is the supreme physician, and that he revealed the tumor, so Ivee is completely in his hands. Most days, besides the fact that she has to be suctioned and we have to feed her through her stomach, I feel like things are kinda normal. As if she was still a 5 month old or something. Then I remind myself that she should be sitting, and crawling by now, and I get discouraged that I don't have a normal child. And then I hit myself (not literaly) and say "hey, stupid, She rolled over and held her head up today." Then I am thankful that she will one day do those things. And if she progresses like she has been, she may be crawling by her 1st birthday.
Oh, I forgot, Ivee is talking now. She is not the typical baby. She said Mama first. Making the mmm sound and not the ddd sound. Daddy doesn't mind. He's just glad she is using her voice. She has been intibated so much, we were afraid there might be vocal chord damage. But she is verbalizing. She is also waving bye-bye, even though she doesn't know that is what it is. She's so cute.
Well, I've rambled enough. Oh, but great reports on my friends. Diane's little girl came back with negative results for TB, so Katie is doing fine. And my friend Deborah had her baby this past Monday. If you would just like to see pics of her little girl Erin, click on the Deb Chastain link to the left. Thanks everyone, and God bless.

Ivee's Journey by Pictures

Here are pics of Ivee's journey for some who are newer to this site. For my soapers, there is a pic of her holding her head up and doing well on her own (well with some assistance from daddy). Enjoy.

Ivee's Accomplishments

Ivee has done well today. She rolled over from her back to her belly. She couldn't get back over since she can't lift her head. She's doing really well at progressing on her own with no assistance. Also, most of you know that we are having trouble getting Ivee to take any kind of bottle. My dad was over here tonight, and he got her to drink from a glass. She actually would respond with her mouth when he put the glass up to her. It wasn't formula (it was tea, and not much of it) but she did drink it and swallow. She's just full of surprises. For all of you who are praying for her, your prayers are doing good. She just amazes me every day!!! She's one tough little baby.
We are trying our best to progress in helping to get our home better suited for Ivee. Emmett is trying to complete the wood shop outside, so we can begin renovating the attic of our house. We only have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath. Britt and Ethan are in those rooms, and Ivee is now in ours (and the living room). Our home is more like a hospital now. Anyway, we are trying to move our daughter upstairs to a new room to get Ivee her own room, which she needs. So, a new prayer you can add to your list is to pray that finances, time and other things will fall into place to easily make this happen.
Thanks for all the love and caring you give us each day. You are all awesome.

Day 2

Day 2 and all is well. Ivee is not feeling too bad! The steroid they give her during this treatment time makes her a little hyper. She kicks her feet and arms alot, and turns her head back and forth. Like a nutty kid. It is funny to watch. I wish they could send some home with her, so that when she is in a bad mood I can give it to her. It puts her in a pretty good mood.
I am pretty excited. My friend Deborah (she's been my friend since kindergarten) will be having her first baby any day now. A baby girl. They have been trying for a few years, so I am thrilled that they finally are going to get to experience what I've had the blessing of for the last 10 years.
Also, for the prayer warriors out there. Lift up a prayer for my friend Diane's daughter Katie. They found a mass in her lungs. The doctors believe it is a benign tumor and it is in the lining of her lung. The last step for them to take is for Katie to have a skin test to see if she has ever been exposed to tuberculosis. If that test is positive, they will treat her for that; if it is negative, then they are finished. There is no need to remove it. So let's pray that it is just that...
Oh and Diane, Happy belated birthday. Sorry, it just hit me that I missed it.
Thanks for everyone's prayers. Hopefully she will continue to progress as well as she already is.

Month 2

This Monday we enter week 5 of chemotherapy, so Ivee and I will be in the hospital for 3 to 4 days. She is still doing well. The last few days she has become more irretable at times. I believe she has gotten her "appetite" back. When it is approaching feeding time, I believe she is actually getting hungry. Nothing seems to satisfy her until her belly is full. A bit of the old Ivee is back as well. She has learned to cry when she wants her way. She'll be fine, and then if she sees me or Emmett she'll cry until we come over and talk to her or pick her up. That is the old Ivee.
Yesterday, she was laying on my shoulder, and she lifted her head up a good bit to look at the kids. She did this a few times. It was good. Thanks for the recent comments. And Samy/Shelley...I was happy to recieve your comment. Samy, I am very grateful that you were there when all of this began. I knew that I could trust what you read on the CT and MRI scans.
Everyone take care. And I'll try to stay in touch this week.

Home

We got home last night. Ivee is doing well. She gets choked and gagged on the mucus often. If we could just get it cleared up, she could probably do some really good swallowing on her own.
She is doing really great at Physical Therapy. She is starting to hold her head up on her own. She is making terrific progress. We check in to the hospital next Monday for the 2nd round of multiple chemo doses. We'll be in there for about 3 or 4 days. She'll get her G Button, which will be alot easier for us to feed her and give meds. She likes to pull on her tube.
Hey, I'm missing some of you. Paula, where did you go? : ) Thanks for the talks. That goes for all of you.

We're here again

We are in the hospital again as of this past Friday. Ivee spiked a temp Friday morning. So, anytime she gets a temp, we have to take her in. She no longer had a temp after that one time, but they did labs on her and took xrays. She has viral broncilitis. And we are waiting for the 72 hour blood and urine cultures to come back to see if there is anything bacterial. She is doing fine though...playing and laughing. She does get gagged a whole lot, trying to cough up all the mucus and stuff. Suctioning doesn't seem to help her any, cause it is just so thick.

By Popular Demand

Well, by popular demand, and a few emails, here are some pictures of Ivee.
Here is a picture of her today. As you can see the swelling in her face has really gone down. Her right eye is still "sticking" to the corner. Hopefully this is fix in time. The swelling in the back of her head is s..l..o..w..l..y going down. I feel like it is going to take forever.