Surgery

Good afternoon! I hope everyone has had a great day and found time to enjoy this beautiful Friday. Today I had my surgery and I am still a little groggy so I will try my best to make sure this post makes sense. :) Yesterday all of my tests and consults went extremely well. My first appointment was with one of the study nurses. Since St. Jude is a research hospital, my charts are used to learn more about my cancer so that they can try to make it better for the next kid who has the same diagnosis. There are a lot of studies that you can sign up for and each one is different. Some require extra blood work while others are easy and just require you to fill out surveys. I signed up for two of the new studies yesterday and I am blown away by the advancement of technology and the role it is playing in finding the cure to cancer. These studies extract your DNA from extra blood work and by looking at a certain part of your DNA, they can predict which drugs will not work in your body. When you are a cancer patient you take lots of different medications and they are mostly medications that you have never taken before so you have no idea how your body is going to react to it. This study tells you which medications you will have problems with without you having to figure out the hard way.  It can also predict future health risk possibilities like high blood pressure. How cool is that! I am very excited to be a part of this study and I am excited to see how this can make my journey a little bit easier because it is never fun to find out the hard way which medications your body cannot tolerate. This morning I had to wake up pretty early and head to St. Jude for my surgery. I was filled with so many emotions but listening to worship music and praying during car ride provided me so much comfort. The LORD calmed my troubled heart and granted me enough courage and strength to face another scary obstacle. This morning at 6:30 my pre-op room was filled my support group, aka the most wonderful people in the world. I am so incredibly blessed to call them my family and friends. After I changed into the hospital gown, my nurses came in and started my IV. I was a little dehydrated because of the "no food or drink after midnight" rule so it was a little difficult to start my IV, but eventually they got it in and I was soon on my way to the operating room. At St. Jude, they let one of your family members go back into the operating room with you while they are putting you under, so my mom came with me. It was so wonderful to have her by my side, because in moments like this, it is nice to look up and see a familiar face. Surgery went great and now I am able to focus solely on the recovery process. I am in a lot of pain right now and the doctors are giving me morphine to help. Last year when I had my surgery, the morphine made me a little sick to my stomach but I took it anyways to get rid of my pain. Once again I am taking morphine but this time it is bothering me more than last time. I have been throwing up and very nauseous so tomorrow my mom will talk to St. Jude and try to get me a different kind of pain medicine. The doctor told us that I will continue my keloid treatment after the surgery to make sure that they will not come back. This means that I will continue the injections into the scar. We are one step closer and what a blessing this whole journey has been! It is such a privilege to suffer knowing that through this trial, the LORD is being glorified. Please pray for my comfort, that I will be able to get a good night's sleep tonight, and for my nausea, that I will stop throwing up. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support! I love each and every one of you and y'all are so special to me!

Momma and sister lovin

The most wonderful group of people in the world

I love my sister. Her strength through this whole journey is an inspiration to everyone she meets!

The best best friend in the whole entire world, you are my blessing Emma!

St. Jude family! (Evan and Luis) They are both patients of osteosarcoma and I am so proud of both of them. Luis is cancer free since April and Evan is still in treatment. He had his limb sparing surgery in August and this week he started to walk with crutches! I am so proud Evan, God's got this!

My sweet friend Christal, who is also a current patient. She was admitted today because there is fluid around her heart. Please keep her in your prayers tonight as she spends the night at the hospital. Pray for all of the children at St. Jude.