Good afternoon family & friends...

Sorry for not updating sooner...there's been a lot of recovery, lab checks and re-checks going on and keeping us busy. As you know, Christine finished her final round of chemo 2/18. This last round really took it out of her...her blood counts were super low and are pretty slow in rebounding. Her potassium (super important for cardiac function) has been very low, she's anemic, and last weekend her platelets were incredibly low, her ANC was zero (measures body's ability to fight off infection), and just overall her body was (and is) a hot mess...on top of the GI stuff.

We're thankful that we had pre-arranged IV hydration appointments which helped tremendously. The appointments provided an opportunity for labs to be checked and potassium given through IV, as well as giant horse pills that Christine takes 2 of daily. I believe her labs have been checked 5 times in the past two weeks.

Jesus kept watch over her and at her lowest neutropenic point, she did not have any fevers or other concerning side effects which would have sent us to the ER. We are so thankful for each and every blessing through the cancer treatment. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by and like there aren't a whole lot of blessings when going though it, but there definitely have been and we are so thankful.

Where things are at today...
More labs will be run in a week to make sure that my mom's blood counts continue to improve.
More follow up appointments with different specialists to ensure that there aren't other issues that need addressed -- casualties of the chemo war in her body.
Her orthopedic surgeon will follow her for the next 5 years. Initially imaging and visits will be every 3 months for the first few years.
Her oncologist will also follow her on the same schedule with other imaging and appointments.
Hopefully in a week her labs will show improvement and from here Christine can just continue to heal, recover, gain strength, mobility, and enjoy life (and food if we're honest) differently than it has been.

The girls and I are packing up and heading home--definitely a bittersweet moment. We are so thankful that we've been here to walk this journey with my mom and dad. We're thankful for all the doctors, nurses, and medical professionals we've met along this road. My parents' neighbors are wonderful and I feel especially thankful that they'll be keeping an extra eye out for them while we can't be here. All the encouragement, prayers, and notes from family and friends through the past 3 months has been so appreciated.

There's still a slow recovery road ahead, with ups and downs I'm sure...but going through cancer takes a community and we're so thankful for ours! So hopefully, we'll never need to update this webpage again...in the meantime, feel free to continue contacting Christine in other ways!

I'm gonna end this post with the same scripture my mom chose at the beginning...one that is super meaningful and important to her...