We woke up dark and early on August 12th last year to drive Seiden to Fort Worth to have an MRI to check on her progress with being on chemo for about 4 months. She started her new chemo treatment on March 28th of 2016. From the outside, everything seemed to be working just fine. Up to this point, she had had zero side effects and her cheek was looking better. The best part, there were no more apparent cysts on her tongue, which was such a blessing. Those cysts on her tongue were excruciating for her. Her tongue would swell and she wouldn't eat or drink anything. In fact, she wouldn't even swallow. Drool would just fall from her sweet, little, mouth. She never even drooled like that when she was teething. It was miserable. I can't even count the days I would stay home with her when this would happen. Not to mention, she would spike a fever and feel awful on top of it all. I would give her Tylenol and ibuprofen, it would help some. But, it would be days before the swelling and pain would go away from those cysts on her tongue. So up to this point with her being on the chemo, it was working wonders for her! She hadn't missed any school for being sick or in pain, which meant I hadn't either. Things seemed to be improving for our little princess! And, with having the MRI on August 12th, we would soon know if things on the inside looked as good as they did from the outside.
The MRI was scheduled for 7:30, which meant we had to be there an hour before for check in and pre-op. She wasn't having surgery this time, thank goodness, but she still has to be put under for anesthesia. So, they have to do the normal prep work they would do for surgery. Which, breaks my heart to have to see her go through all of that and be put under. But, she is strong and so, so brave. And, thankfully, it went super quick and she got back to the MRI right on time. While she was having that done, we went downstairs to have breakfast while we waited to be paged to let us know that she was done. Cook Children's has 5 therapy dogs that they call their, " Sit, Play, and Play" team. These dogs, ya'll, they're AMAZING! The one in the photos that follow this post is Chanel. Kat walked by with Chanel while we were waiting during Seiden's MRI. She immediately jumped in the booth with me and started comforting me. I didn't have to say anything to her, she just walked by us, stopped, and when I reached down to pet her, she jumped up in my lap. She stayed there until Kat told her it was time to go visit some other patients. Otherwise, she would have stayed there all day! It was just what I needed. For those of you that know me really well, you know that I am a pretty strong person. I pull myself up by my bootstraps, or in my case, my high heels, and press on. Which, is what I was attempting to do on this day. But Chanel, she saw right through me and knew that I needed a whole lot of comfort. Such sweet puppies, they do SO much for this hospital. We also ran into my OB/GYN that was my specialist when I was pregnant with Seiden. He was in the food court getting breakfast before he got his day started. Dr. Tabor did so much for us while I was pregnant. He guided us through the "what-ifs" and the fears and consulted us when we had sonograms that looked anything but positive. He was also our biggest cheerleader when things would be looking brighter for Seiden. He even came to check on her several times while we were in the NICU. We have been SO blessed by all the doctors that Seiden and I have both had from the day I found out I was pregnant and up to this point. I know God has provided each and everyone of them and He just continues to bless us as we walk through life with Seiden.
After Seiden was done with her MRI, we had about an hour before we were going to meet with Dr. Heym to go over the results. Thankfully, we were able to schedule the MRI and the appointment on the same day. Dr. Heym comes to abile every three months, but it wouldn't have been until November when we would have gotten to see him. And, he wanted to go over her progress with us that very day, which is so wonderful. While we waited for that appointment, we went and played on the playground for a bit and then we went inside, because it was getting HOT, even at 10:00am. Inside, they have a play area with a big castle and the rest of the room looks like a forest...so cool! We played in that for a bit and then S said she was hungry, so we went back to the food court so she could pick out something to eat. She hadn't eaten since about 7:00pm the night before and that little girl was hungry! On our way out of the food court, we ran back into Chanel and Kat! And, Seiden got to love on and play with Chanel. It was funny. Chanel came over to check on me, licked my hand, and then was on Seiden like white on rice! She knew I was better and she wanted to play with our spunky little girl! They played for a good bit and then we had to head up to oncology to meet with Dr. Heym. On a note about the therapy dogs, we have had interactions with Ralph and Kitty as well. Kitty was the first dog we met. It was after Seiden's first schlerotharpy procedure. These dogs are seriously so healing. If you don't think that a dog can provide therapy, you need to watch this video on Cook Children's website and read about them. It's AMAZING!
https://www.cookchildrens.org/medical-center/family-support/Pages/sit-stay-play.aspx
The appointment with Dr. Heym couldn't have gone better! The words that came out of his mouth about how Seiden was responding to the chemo treatment was exactly what we wanted to hear. He said that the microcysts were starting to dissolve and that the fluid in her cheek was going down tremendously. There was still a lot of work that needed to be done, but it was a vast improvement. Dr. Heym even told us who the interventional radiologist was who read her MRI results. And, it just so happened to be Dr. Mac, who is the doctor who performed all of Seiden's schlerotherapy procedures. A coincidence...I think not! That was all God! He always shows up and it's always in the way and in the time when we need it the most. Sometimes it's in big ways and sometimes it's in small ways, but as you read this post, I think you'll read how God was moving the whole time. All the way from the sweet dogs to the doctors, He was very present. We left the Cook Children's feeling like we had had the best day. Seiden had been so good and was having fun and had responded so well to the chemo, the MRI went smooth and showed vast improvement, Dr. Heym was pleased with everything, and even Dr. Mac said he cheek looked better than it ever had. All Seiden's blood levels looked good (they drew those while she was under anesthesia and we had those results by the appointment with Dr. Heym) and Dr. Heym told us to keep her on the same dosage of chemo and he would see us in Abilene in November. It was lunch time when we left, so we stopped at 'Ole South Pancake House (our favorite) and had the best lunch before heading back home. It was a good day to have a good day and God more than answered our prayers!
The last pic in this post is a comparison pic. The pic on the left is from March 28, 2016, the day Seiden started chemo. The pic on the right is from August 12, 2016, the day of the MRI. You can already see the changes!
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