It has been a desire of my heart to write an update for weeks now, but a major change of the tides prevented me from having the time and mental energy to accomplish such a desire. As of March 25th, I have been back to work in my third-grade classroom, and Jeremy is home with the girls. The time, energy, and dedication it has taken to make such a shift successful, both for my family and for the students in my class, has been a challenge, but I am grateful to say it has gone well. I have missed teaching and LOVE the students in my class. Jeremy is crushing it at home with the girls and taking on the responsibilities of the house. I am deeply blessed to have such an amazing husband to walk the highs and lows of this life with.

There has been a lot happening in the past two months, so I will try to give a thorough update as simply as possible. Gracie is doing well. In fact, I am writing this post on spring break in Idyllwild, during our very first family vacation since her diagnosis. Ironically, Idyllwild was our last family vacation before her diagnosis. At the time, we knew something was wrong, but we never could have fathomed how drastically our lives were about to shift.

Gracie has spent 99% of the last year and a half either at home or at Rady’s. Her counts this past month have finally been stable enough for us to feel confident to sneak away for the week. Gracie LOVES nature and being in the mountains. We got a cabin right along a creek in the trees, and she is in Heaven. We are so thankful for this time to unplug as a family and just rest in each other’s presence.

Backing up about two months ago, Gracie’s numbers were often low and caused her to miss treatments. Her body has proven to be very sensitive to chemotherapy. Her amazing oncology doctor and team from St. Jude agreed to make Gracie “full dose” of chemo, a half dose of what is standard. This past month we have seen the benefit of that decision. Her counts have been mostly in the ‘sweet spot,’ not too high and not too low… just right for treatment. This means she has not needed any transfusions the past two months, and we were able to scoot off on a family vacation without concern of needing to head into Rady’s last minute.

Gracie is now on a four-week rotation. Weeks one and two, she takes daily oral chemo; week three, she is given specific chemos via her port, and week four, she has a lumbar puncture. During the lumbar puncture, spinal fluid is taken from her to look for recurring leukemia cells (so far there have been none, PRAISE GOD), as well as chemo placed into her spine. Gracie has described the feeling as, “it is like my brain is washed with bleach.” She also receives chemo via her port in week four in place of the steroids that were causing avascular necrosis in her bones. The few days following week three and four treatments are still rough, and she feels pretty awful. This past lumbar puncture, she tried something incredibly brave to see if it would help with the side effects. She chose to try the lumbar puncture without anesthesia! We were told that often teenage girls who have had regular anesthesia can start to have extreme sensitivity to it. The procedure went well, and thankfully they allowed Jeremy to stay in the room with her. For the first time, Gracie was able to feel the lumbar puncture. She described the process of removing spinal fluid as a grape being sucked of its juice. Then when the chemo went in, she said it felt like a huge balloon filled with liquid was inflated on her back. The Good News Bad News: the good news is she did not throw up that evening like she has the past few times. The bad news is that she still felt horrible and her back hurt much worse for days. The verdict is still out as to which she feels is better, with or without anesthesia, and what route she will choose next time. Either way, we are incredibly proud of her for being so brave.

A wonderful praise to share is that Gracie and Aubrey have had the opportunity to ride horses about once a week. Gracie rode when she was younger, and it has been a dream of hers to get back in the saddle. We still have to be cautious, so she must ride with a mask, is not allowed to brush the horses, and she can’t ride if her ANC or platelets are too low. Thankfully that has only impacted her once in the past two months. Being on a horse is amazing therapy both emotionally and physically for her. We are grateful to family friends who are helping make this dream come true.

Gracie is currently in weekly physical therapy to help her begin to regain her muscle strength. The impact of chemotherapy has really taken a toll on her body’s energy level and muscle strength. We are grateful to report that she is improving. She is determined to be able to run a mile again. Although that dream is still a long way off for now, her unwavering determination to get one step closer is always a constant.

One last HUGE praise I must share before I end. It is an example of how God cares and provides even in such simple ways. As you all know, Gracie LOVES her hummingbirds. Her hummingbird garden brings daily joy, and having a purpose in caring for them by changing the feeders has been a blessing to her. She has dreamed of finding a hummingbird nest now that spring has arrived. She has researched endlessly on how to find one and even lays out items for them to use in their nests. About 10 days ago, Gracie offered to help me collect bougainvillea leaves that I needed for a school project. She headed out to collect some from a HUGE bush we have in the backyard. In less than a minute she came running back into the house with a smile spread on her face and unmeasurable joy in her voice, “I found one, come see!” There it was, tucked safely under the leaves of a branch, the most beautiful nest with two eggs! After spending a few days watching closely she determined that the mother hummingbird was one of her hummingbirds that visit her feeder, Jade. We have been watching closely but no babies yet. We are hopeful that when we get home from our trip we find two healthy hatched babies. Thank you Lord!

I wanted to end by sharing a verse that I have always loved but find more and more comfort and truth in the older I get and the more trials I live through. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

God is in ALL of our stories. He desires more than anything for us to trust Him, our Heavenly Father, knowing that He can work ALL things for good in our lives. Throughout the past year and a half, God has been faithful, not to answer my prayers as I see fit, but to answer them in ways that HE sees fit. In ways that are for my family’s eternal benefit. I am grateful for the HARD days (even though I don’t like them) because it is there that God works good into my soul. It is there in the surrender and obedience that true treasure is found. As you walk your life with its own trials, joys, and struggles, I pray you can find yourself in tune and grateful for the good work God is doing in the hard. He is faithful.

Since my plate is VERY full till we reach summer break, Gracie has promised to be the author of the next post. I can’t wait to see what the Lord puts on her young heart to share. Much love to you all from the whole Vincent family.