Day 57 -  Over the past several days Faye's counts dropped to the point where she received a much needed blood transfusion yesterday.  The transfusion was the typical 3 hour ordeal after which she went across the street for her daily dose of radiation.  Alarmingly, the radiation session was aborted when Dr. Liu, while reviewing the pre-radiation scan (they scan to align Faye to the lasers), noticed spots on Faye's lungs.  Steve and Faye were promptly sent over to Childrens for more scans.  Faye went 'NPO' (no food or drink) once again and is scheduled for more procedures this morning and surgery this afternoon; a 'bronchoscopy', that we hope will indicate that this is 'just' an infection of a 'treatable' variety.  Either way we will be residing once again in the Hospital BMT unit for an indeterminate period of time depending on path of treatment and response to treatment.  I need not mention that this is devastating to Faye.  In some ways I'm relieved as lately she's been increasingly uncomfortable and I believe that she will get some much needed treatment that will bring her some relief and comfort.  ~Lolly

2012 Hotto Human Pyramid

Day 52 - and we are more than half way there!  Wow what a busy week it's been.  Last Sunday, for the fabulous 5K for Faye, we had much to be thankful for including some of the best Colorado weather ever.  What an amazing turnout, and Faye came out and stayed for the whole event.  It was so fun!  Thank you one and all for your outpouring of love and support.

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Faye's 18th at my brother's house, another beautiful - if colder - Colorado day in which we continued our admittedly insane 'human pyramid' family tradition.  For the first time in 10 years Lydia (at a solid 5' 9" and taller now than Zoe!) did not top the pyramid.  That honor went to Faye as the littlest, lightest member of the family present at the time.  What a great looking pyramid!  And yes we have done this every year in sun, rain and snow; the early and generous consumption of Champagne helping fuel the momentum and insanity.

On Thanksgiving morning when Faye flushed her Broviac port and changed her dressing we noticed that the entry sutures had signs of infection.  We went to the hospital Friday morning for IV antibiotics and scheduled the removal of the port for early Saturday.  The removal went smoothly and by 1pm we were back at home on the couch exhausted, whereupon we continued our somewhat ironic Walking Dead (ew, ew, ew) marathon. We are so relieved to have the port out as it was a major hassle and contributed to Faye's discomfort. The cumulative effects of radiation are hitting hard now causing nausea, vomiting, headache, sore throat and extreme fatigue, especially at night. The final radiation is scheduled for December 4th and the effects are expected to start to decrease roughly two weeks after that. I expect that once Faye hits recovery mode from radiation they'll schedule the first of her four rounds of chemo. At times I want to proclaim (scream) how unfair and unjust this all is but then just as quickly I have the absurdly conflicting feeling that we are so, so, very lucky.  ~Lolly

Day 44 today(!) - next week, the day after Thanksgiving (and Faye's birthday), will be day 50 - half way to the big 'day 100' milestone!  Faye just finished her first full week of radiation and this time around seems more difficult. She is so very tired and has quite a bad time of it evenings and mornings.  Steve and I have a meeting at Cherry Creek HS on Monday to investigate Faye's options for the remainder of her senior year. Everyone knows when a kid is sick and behind on schoolwork it can be so overwhelming but add to that daily trips for radiation and two to three clinic visits per week... it's overwhelming, exhausting and depressing. 

On the bright side it is a gorgeous Colorado Saturday morning and Faye is feeling pretty good right now smiling and laughing with her sisters.  She thinks she might come to the 5K tomorrow to maybe just hang out and see everyone briefly.  Call me crazy but I'll allow it provided she wears her mask the entire time, touches no one and nothing, visits the parking lot only - and she allows her friends and sisters to run 'interference' for her, because people (understandably) tend to forget and they really want to hug on her! The forecast could not be better for a fun run.  There is no registration and no fee - just show up enjoy some coffee and bagels and grab this great excuse to get out, get some exercise and connect with friends and community around a time when we're all very (very) thankful.  Hope to see everyone there!  ~L

Day 35!  Faye gets a little better every week, some days are good and some are bad but the overall motion is forward.  She is scheduled to begin radiation on Monday and she's really, really not looking forward to it.  She's over it all, tired of it all, wishes it were all done and that she could move on.  I make myself look back now and then to help me appreciate how far we've come.

Speaking of how far we've come the Play Strong group is helping organize another Faye run, a fun run -  a non-donation, non-fundraising 5K on Sunday morning November 18. There will be free coffee and bagels starting at 8:30 and the 'run' (walk, roll, drag your dog, push your stroller...) begins 10am.

The 'Play Strong Cherry Creek' group at  Creek HS are using this event as a trial run for the 'Dam Cancer Run' in May, which will be a fund-raiser for cancer research.  They've designed and are selling tshirts and they'll be coordinating the event in general.  Tshirts should be pre-ordered on the playstrongcolorado.org website to guarantee availability.

Please join us if you can and either way please send the information to all of your friends and family in the community who might like to join us.

I hope to see everyone there!   ~Lolly