Two Months

Today is Tuesday, 2/22/22 and it’s Hope’s two month post op!  I love it. 

She restarted her medicine, Trametinib last Thursday. Praying we can manage the side effects and her body will adjust quickly…more importantly praying the drug does it’s job and shrinks the tumor🙏🏼

Our first MRI post PICU stay is March 21st at 1:00pm. While we know the medicine takes about 8 months to kick in, we also know we serve a God that makes the impossible, possible and we hope and pray to see some changes in the tumor.  

Best Friends

Find yourself some friends that will laugh with you, cry with you, pray for you and lift you up when you are down.  Beyond thankful that Hope has these girls as her best friends.  They are such a gift to each other and I am so grateful that she has them by her side during this journey.

As mentioned, Hope is in and out of school and every single school day she misses, she gets texts from these girls checking on her and letting her know they are praying for her.  They don't come any better than this.

And to top it off, they all waited to have their bestie Christmas exchange until Hope was home and well.

God is so good!

 

It’s Been Rough

I am not going to lie, this part of the journey is rough. The side effects from her medicine came on fast. Her poor little body is covered in sores/rashes/blisters/pimples…a mixture of all of those and they itch and are painful. 

Her oncologist had us stop her medicine (Trametinib) last Thursday the 3rd to give her body a break. She’s now on a strong antibiotic 2x per day, Keppra (for seizures) 2x per day and lots and lots of vitamins to keep her body healthy. 

She stayed home from school for a week, did her work online and took lots of naps. She’s also on Benadryl around the clock to help with the discomfort..but it makes her very sleepy. 

Thankfully she started feeling more like herself again yesterday so she went back to school and by this morning she was feeling great.

We will restart the medicine this Tuesday and pray that the antibiotics we now have on board will help with the side effects.  

Continuing to praise Jesus through this storm. We know He’s not done writing her story. We will get through this….just a bump in the road.  

 

6 Weeks Post-op

She’s come a long way in the past six weeks🙏🏼

She’s feeling well, back to school full time and doing pilates videos every night. Her determination is inspiring. 

However the side effects of her medicine came on quickly and they’re quit uncomfortable for her. She has a severe rash (acne) all over her face, neck, check and back. It’s painful and itchy. Thankfully our dermatologist squeezed us in this Friday. Praying he can bring her some relief. Our Oncologist said if we can’t get it under control we may have to half her dose or take a few days off of it and see if that helps. It’s going to be a long two years but we know the alternative it’s 100% worse.

The Birtch’s were made to do hard things. We’ve got this!