Hello

We are still here. :-)

We had a wonderful four week break from chemo. Brian was scheduled to have the week of Christmas as his next chemo week. We said "no thank you", and his doctor agreed. We pushed chemo to the week of New Years.

This year we decided to stay home and rest the week of Christmas instead of traveling to see family. It was so providential because we ended up with the flu. I (Carrie) got it first on Christmas Eve. I assumed I had the illness my sister had earlier in the week, so I kept thinking I would be OK in a day or two. By Thursday I was saying my goodbyes to everyone because I was sure I was dying. So, when William and Fred started to feel poorly on Thursday evening, we took William in to the doctor Friday. We discovered it was the flu and the entire family got on Tamiflu, except me. Apparently you have to start Tamiflu within so many hours of your first symptoms. Out of the six of us everyone but Brian ended up getting sick. (remember he got the flu shot.)  PRAISE THE LORD THAT BRIAN DIDN'T GET IT!!!! Fred, Ansley, William and Olivia didn't get too sick because of the Tamiflu, but Miss Ansley had the horrible Tamiflu side effect of throwing up. Praise the Lord we are over it and we are healthy. Fred was a great husband and took care of EVERYTHING while I was in the bed or on the couch. (He even made Christmas dinner all by himself.) I was kinda useless for a full week.
    Brian's chemo week was at the tail end of our flu week so we had a sweet friend (Thank you Cheryl B.) come watch the three kiddos while Fred and I took Brian in for his Monday doctors appointment. (Dec. 31). We needed to both be there to present some concerns and discuss options with the doctor. We prayed about this visit and God totally answered our prayers. Dr. Brown handled the entire situation wonderfully and we are being referred to Dr. Kenneth McClain of Texas Children's in Houston. We are super excited and cannot wait to see him as he is the expert on LCH. We do not have a date set yet, but when we do, we will let you know.

     Chemo went ok. Brian had chemo Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday b/c of the New Years holiday on Tuesday. So his doses were increased to get the normal five days of drugs administered in four days. He did alright. He felt a little sick and yucky on Monday, but did fine the rest of the week.
   This week are we getting back in the swing of things. Music and dance lessons start back today and our Classical Conversations group starts back Monday. Thank you for your prayers. I still have not fixed my photo problem. This past month has been on fast forward with a full week taken out b/c of the flu. Hopefully as we get back into our normal routine I will be able to get that up and running this week. I have some super cute pictures to share.