Lauren and McKinley's
Journeys
Hello,
It was SO GREAT to see everyone at the Love McKinley Gala over the weekend! Obviously, this cause is so close to my heart and this group has once again shown such overwhelming support to raise awareness and A LOT of fundraising for local families directly impacted by pediatric cancer. It was such a beautiful event attended by beautiful people both on the inside and outside. THANK YOU for all of you who made it happen!!
Lauren is doing well. She has lots of energy and feels good. She is running everywhere and giving me mini heart attacks every day with her antics and typical 3 year old behavior. I am happy to report that we are officially DONE with scheduled inpatient hospital stays. We have some long days ahead of us in the outpatient clinic but at least we will all be sleeping in our own beds at the end of the day. Lauren starts her next round of chemo this week. We will be driving to St Pete 2-4 times a week for treatment. I have heard this phase can be pretty brutal. She will have to go back on steroids, which were so
hard on her the
first time around.
They hurt her
stomach, make her
moody and cranky and make her hungry at all hours of the night. She will also have a new chemo that she has never had before. This one should make the rest of her wispy blond hair fall out. She really doesn't have much hair left anyway but this should take care of the little hair she has left. It's always hard to see but like they say, it means the chemo is working and doing it's job. Lauren will need a few different kinds of chemo this round and have 4 lumbar punctures. Her counts will drop pretty low so it will most likely mean blood/platelet transfusions for her. I am so thankful for everyone who has ever donated blood/platelets. It truly is life saving. If everything stays on track and we don't have any delays we should be done with this round by Thanksgiving.
Thank you all again for your support!!
xo,
Shawna