Week 10

Whew.  This has been a good week and a mile marker on the road to recovery.


This is MOMMA from the Cleveland Clinic on the night shift.  Daddy-O spent the day here and Em had a good day of rest as her system cleared the therapy drug pretty well.  She is officially done with the chemo treatment in her "map" for the pre-operation time period.  It was all smiles as that IV bag was disconnected last night.


Sorry there has been lapses in updates as those that know us well, there is not a lot of down time in our lives.  Even the litte c cannot slow us down too much.  Yesterday we celebrated sister Mackenzie's 17th birthday and the fabulous Lily and Daisy turned 3.   Mackenzie had a wonderful retreat experience and led a great team on the 1st ever Walsh Jesuit Relay for Life.  It was nice to make her feel loved.  Thanks to everyone for making all of the team feel loved.


One of the highlights to yesterday, besides starting week 10 of chemo therapy, was our birthday breakfast at our house.  Emily surprised all of us and created a 12 minute slide show set to music with graphics to feature the last year for Mackenzie.. turning 16 and the ROYAL birthday with the ROYAL wedding and on... I stood there and cried at seeing ALL we did in past 12 months.  So much crammed in, so many smiles and accomplishments as a family... graduation, cheer, baseball, football, basketball, BIG MIKES wedding, the holidays, Em to college, Em to return and her first day at the Clinic... we have all had the good fortune of having these experiences as a family, with many true friends.   Even the friends we have had for years, or the new people in our lives, that live places beyond Cleveland, were a big part of our last year.  Mackenzie has grown so much in the past year of her life too.  Thanks again to many, many people who have stepped up and helped her move forward in such a lovely way.


Yesterday as I ran errands after work and prepared to come into the Cleveland Clinic for the evening, it dawned on me how fortunate we are that Emily has handled this with as much GRACE as she has.  I am running in and out of the car, to the bank, to the store, picking up laundry in the house and all the while I am thinking, "Emily cannot do these things right now, and essentially has not been able to since the end of January.... surgery will be in May and she will be laid up even more for a short time... "  Even the recent episodes of GLEE have a character who is wheelchair bound as she is finishing up her senior year in high school and there is the realization of all she cannot do all things her classmates can. The GLEE girl does make singing and wheelchair dancing look glamorous though.  It is a great deal for Emily to process and folks say she is "amazing" and well, yes, she is.


Emily and I had the opportunity to visit with her surgeon this evening.  He stopped in and explained some general options for what will occur in her leg.  It will be up to her as to what type of "replacement" parts she will have and an MRI in the coming days will help us define that.    Em will need to spend some time researching options and he will provide more details, pictures and more information as it becomes more specific to her case.  This reconstruction date is not set yet, but now, May 14 is being mentioned.  We will keep the blog updated and call on all our friends to send good energy to her whatever day that ends up happening.


Prior to that, we are really pleased Emily will have the chance to return to SLU for a visit.  Since we don't have confirmation of surgery date yet, we are not sure of our exact plans for her, but she certainly CAN NOT WAIT to see all her friends and have some "regular" experiences and closure to this semester.  Stay tuned for more on that too.


Thanks for helping us get to Week 10.  The collective prayers, gifts, thoughts, messages, kindness has been so much greater than the challenge.  It is through your support that we will pull Emily through this.  She needs it, so does the team.