Car Show, Concert, and Craziness!

First thing's first:  Tuesday morning we went in for Ainsley's bone marrow aspiration and to be admitted for IV methotrexate (4 day admission).  You would think 3rd times a charm, right?  Wrong.  In order to start the next phase of treatment she needed to have platelets above 75 and ANC (absolute neutrophil count--aka her immune system) above 750.  3 weeks ago the platelets were 7 and her ANC was 0.  The next week her platelets were fine, but the ANC was only 100.  Last week the ANC was up to 300.  Yesterday it had climbed, but only to 638.  So, again we had everything packed and arranged for admission and got sent home. 

My mom (Grandma Sue) has been here for the past 3 weeks helping us!  LOVE HER!  Thank you Grandpa Terry for sharing her with us!  The original goal was to have her here for 3 weeks, which would get us through 2 out of 4 of the next treatment cycles.  Instead, we didn't get any of the treatments done!  Oh well, sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men... We are sure grateful she has been here, though.  We don't know how we would have made it through the past two weeks without her. 

The good news is that since Ainsley has not been able to have another round of chemo for a few weeks, she is feeling as good as she has felt in a while.  She is starting to regain the weight she lost over the past 2 months (huge relief, because once the steroids stopped, so did her appetite).  She even got to finally ride the birthday bike that she got and that Trevor put together for her while she was initially hospitalized.  She has had a ball!

We had a visit the other day from Kayla, with Emmy's Heart.  She brought tutu's for the girls!  They LOVE them!!!  Ainsley wore her tutu all weekend!  She felt like a princess.

Over the weekend, our friends the Steeds/Tubbs families got a booth at the Collinsville Hogs n Hotrods car show!  We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support we received.  The bracelets and head bands were good, but the 22 rifle and box of 22 ammunition were a HIT!  (They are being raffled off--Ainsley is drawing the winner on July 5th).  Randy, thank you for arranging that!

The most touching thing about the car show was the people that we met.  If you have been following the news lately, you will see that the people of Oklahoma are AMAZING and will do anything that they can to help you!  We had total strangers praying right there in the street for Ainsley! 

We want to give a special shout out to the Herron Crown Opry House in Collinsville, Oklahoma.  You have never seen such kindness and generosity.  Jenny and I got to attend their country music show Saturday Night.  They even raffled off a beautiful guitar on Ainsley's behalf.  All I can say is if you are anywhere near...you need to go see their show!  http://www.herronscrownoprytheater.com/ for more details.  The next show is on Saturday June 22.  If you are coming to the Barrel Race, you can go to the show right after.  It is just down the street.  Rick and the "Main Street Opry Band" put together a great evening.  While we were there, the band prayed for Ainsley.  We were so touched.  We got to see Allie Colleen perform.  Look out country music...she is AMAZING and we look forward to watching her for years to come.  There were so many people that were so kind and generous in thought, word and deed.  I know that they don't want to be singled out, so I won't.  But suffice it to say, there are amazing people in the Collinsville/Owasso area. 

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the past week:

The Barrel Race is Back On--Saturday June 22, 2013

Here is a map from down town Tulsa to the Collinsville Arena as well as an announcement.

Link to the arena information:
http://www.cvruc.org/ 

It's FREE to get in!  So come bring your whole family and share this!

The Waiting Continues

We were all ready and geared up for the next admission on Tuesday morning, but Ainsley's white blood cells had other plans.  Her system is still too low to begin the next phase of treatment.  It takes a lot to get prepared to be in the hospital for 4 days, so it is a roller-coaster of emotion and effort to get things ready and packed, arranged for the other kids, for Jenny and I, pack Ainsley's bags, Hudson's bags, coordinate which of us will be staying with her when...(I hope my highschool English teacher is reading this, because that was a run-on sentence like no other) 

As Jenny, Ainsley, and I drove away from the hospital on Tuesday we talked about that roller-coaster.  Last week, I felt a let down and Jenny felt almost relieved.  This week that changed, and I was the one that felt relieved and Jenny felt let down.  At least we weren't both down at the same time right?  As we drove away Ainsley laughed and said (with a HUGE smile) "See, I told you guys I didn't have any bone marrow today!!!"  That girl keeps us laughing!

Next Tuesday we will try again.  The good news is that she is making platelets and red blood cells.  Now if we can just get those healthy white cells to grow...

This is a picture of our dear friends the Biorns!  Oklahoma Strong T-shirts and Ainsley's Army bracelets!  Very fitting for what the State of Oklahoma is facing as a whole and for what we are facing with Ainsley.  We love and miss you guys and are so thankful!  This picture put a HUGE smile on our faces!

Ainsley got to go to church today and she loved it!  She stayed on one of our laps the whole time except for when she got to go up and "fish" to choose the next Primary Song.  She slept for about 1.5 hours of the 3 hrs.  It was so nice to have the whole family back together at church.

Tuesday will be another attempt at a bone marrow sample and then 4 days in hospital for IV methotrexate.  Words is this one will make her more ill than others have, and it has to be monitored much more closely (hence the 4 day admission).  If her numbers aren't high enough then they delay it another week, until she climbs back up.  Once it starts, she'll be inpatient in the hospital for 4 days of every 2 weeks for two months. 

Otherwise she has done well so far.  She is excited for the Barrel Race, which has been rescheduled for June 22.  Saturday ended up being beautiful by morning, but it was the right call to cancel because the horses wouldn't have had a safe arena due to mud, local rivers were in flash-flood warning stages, and we'd still be pulling cars, trucks, trailers, and probably flip-flops and lost shoes out of the mud bog that would have been created in the parking-lot (translation=field).  It would have been messy.  Hopefully this will also give us time to give a sample into what the silent auction will entail, because I will be honest, there have been some pretty amazing things donated that I think you are all going to LOVE!