It has been forever since I have updated. There is only one word to describe the last few months and that is : Busy... Never ending day to day stuff. It has been a great few months. In our family no news is good news. Since May is National Brain Tumor Awareness month I thought I would break down and post. Just a little recap over the last 4 years... Makenzie was diagnosed with a astrocytoma brain tumor on her brain stem February 15th 2006. This February we celebrated 4 years since her diagnosis. We say celebrate because Brain Tumors are ugly and Makezie has made it 4 years... There will be many more years to come. Much to celebrate. Upon Diagnosis she went thru two brain surgeries. Nasty Chemo for 13 weeks that left her on steroids and miserable. There was a bit of growth so they changed meds and went on a different chemo for a little over 2 years (she did great on that drug). November of 2008 she was able to "graduate" and get off chemo. She did that and was doing well until headaches began. April of 2009 we were punched in the gut again when they said, what they thought was a cyst growing, was actually new tumor growth. We witnessed a miracle in that all the new tumor growth was into her ventricle and that is open space in the brain. Her Neurosurgeon Dr. Moss asked if we wanted the OR the next day...or in 5 days. In that moment I was like TOMORROW!!! Luckily Makenzie is very wise and spiritual. She knew we needed to wait 5 days. I was so grateful for that. We were able to prepare and make sure everything was taken care of. Kenzie was nervous but went in knowing she was going to be taken care of. Her neurosurgeon is the same religion (LDS) and was willing to give Makenzie a blessing with Chris. What a great comfort to know that he knew his gift was from God and that he would be guided in taking care of her. Her surgery lasted almost 7 hours with 35 staples across her head. HUGE incision. He was able to get all the new tumor growth out and dug an inch and a half into her brain stem. He didn't know how she was going to be when she woke up. Kenzie couldn't walk, use her left hand very well and was in sad shape. I found a new respect for families who have to take care of a disabled child full time. It was EXHAUSTING. Every 30 seconds they need something. It was only 18 days in there and I was done... I do not know how others do it full time. In that time Makenzie was doing therapy and learned how to walk again and use her left hand. She still has some left sided weakness but you wouldn't really be able to tell. She is a ROCK, old soul, and wise beyond her years. After her big surgery, a few months later, she had to get a second shunt placed to pick up a bunch of junk left from her surgery. Kenzie started a new chemo that she has now been on for almost a year. She does pretty well on it. It seems to upset her tummy a little more than than her other chemo but it is doing it's job. She will be done this summer because the drug she is on has a high occurance of secondary cancers when given past a year. April 29th was a year since her big surgery. She is doing well and happy to be done with school. Above is a cutie little friend of Makenzie. We have known her since she was about 18 months old and is Makenzie's age. I babysat her for a few years. We love her and she is part of our family. We pray that Brain Tumor Research will come far quickly. There needs to be something better. They are getting so close. Money is needed...I remember hearing something like for every $100 spent on a person with breast cancer on .10 or a 1.00 is spent on a child with cancer. Awareness needs to be raised in order for funding to increase...off my soapbox ;) have a happy Sunday. :)
