Pictures

Here are some pictures of Makenzie before surgery and after her first treatment. She did great and she has not had any nausea so far. She is such an amazing little girl.

Starting Chemo

Makenzie has a short surgery this morning to have a portcath placed. It is sort of a permanent IV in her side where the doctors can take blood and give chemo drugs. Because of that she will not have to have a new IV every week. She also got her first chemo treatment today. So far, so good, only tiredness from lack of sleep and anasthesia. She'll get it once a week for 10 weeks and then go on a maintenance program where some weeks she receives a treatment and other weeks she doesn't. The total treatment should last about a year. Please, please continue to pray for her... that her shunt will keep working, that her tumor will be healed from the chemo drugs, and that she will have minimal side effects from the drugs. She has been blessed so much already as a result of prayers, having her name on the temple rolls, and from Priesthood blessings. We appreciate so much all the continuing prayers and support and help from everyone.

Kenzie is Doing Great!

Kenzie has been doing great the past couple of weeks. Her headaches have pretty much gone away... the odd one here or there but most days she does not get one now. They now seem to coinside with low-pressure storm systems which her neurosurgeon said is not uncommon. She has been going full days to school now. She went on a field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo on Friday and did lots of walking and having fun and did great. We had a little scare with the shunt earlier this week. She was building up fluid under her scalp around the shunt valve. We were worried this meant the shunt was blocked somewhere... but she had an MRI and everything was fine. The neurosurgeon said the hole around the catheter tube that leads through the brain down to the ventricle has not totally closed around the tube... probably because the high pressure she had in her head when first diagnosed enlarged the hole around the bubble reservoir tube she had inserted during her first surgery larger than the doctor would've liked... and he put the shunt tube in the same hole he originally made for the bubble reservoir. So some fluid did get out around the tube instead of through the tube and built up under her scalp. But the shunt was working fine and the fluid build up quickly went away. And the hole should eventually close around the tube completely. The MRI also showed that the tumor has not grown at all, despite no treatment so far. So that is great news and we are in no rush to start chemo yet since the goal of chemo is only to keep the tumor from growing to buy time so they don't have to use radiation until she is older to avoid or lessen the chance of developmental problems.

Princess on Ice

i had lots of fun last night they did my finger nails and did my hair and got lots of cool stuf and i rode in a limo and saw cindarela and bell and then saw princeess on ice and my friend came with me too.

Makenzie went to the Disney Princesses on Ice with the oncology department at Phoenix children. There were 30 girls. She had so much fun. The show was really good. Carson ended up being sick so he could not go. Kenzie has been doing really good. She is still getting headaches in the afternoon. She has been back at school this week. She has made it 1/2 days because of headaches. We are going to try to get her to stay all day next week. We still don't know what kind of treatment she will be receiving. We should be finding out shortly. This is Makenzie and Belle. They had a room set up so the girls could see Cinderella and Belle and eat cupcakes. This was such a great night for Makenzie (and me). We also saw her on channel 10 news. Someone else saw her on channel 3 I think.

ER again

Everything has been going great until yesterday (Monday) Makenzie was not feeling so good. She was complaining of a headache and she was lying on the couch and fell asleep which is not like her. When she woke up she said she was feeling good so we went to Lowes and then she threw up in the store. All of these things are signs of a shunt malfunction. I was really worried so we took her to Phoenix Children’s and got there about 7:00pm. They took us right back and she got a CT scan and some X-Rays of the shunt line. Everything looked good so we were worried they would send us home. They did not the neurosurgeon had us go to the PICU for the night. It was around 1 am when we got in there and by the time they hooked her up to all the monitors it was almost 2. She woke up feeling great and had breakfast. She kept that down and he let her come home around 1:00 pm. We still need to watch her close and make sure she is feeling ok. They said if it was the shunt it could have been a couple of different things. The doctor can press on a valve on the top of her head and feel the fluid coming in it. He said it was filling up nicely. A lot of times shunts are high maintenance and can give lots of problems. Please pray that Makenzie's shunt will work properly and that she will not have problems with it.
On a lighter note it is spring break this week and we are painting the inside of our house. If anyone has a burning desire to paint come on over ;) We are moving furniture around and I am just nervous because I had to make a choice about what color to paint. How hard could it be to pick a tan color? There are a hundred different choices. Wish me luck. It was great to see everyone at church on Sunday. I have missed being around all of you. Hopefully we will not have to miss very often.

I can't believe it is already Saturday and it is raining. We have not had rain in over 100 days. I think this is the coldest it has been all winter long. Makenzie is really doing great. She can't believe sh has to stay at home for another 2 weeks. It is hard to keep a kid home that feels so good. We have been tring to get the house clean all day. We have it somewhat presentable. If anyone wants to come over better do it in the next few hours because I don't know how long it will stay that way ;) Kenzie's Grandma Betty came over today with Aunt Irene (my aunt from out of town) and had a great time visiting. Kenzie's friend Jenna came over to play yesterday. They had a great time. She is upset she can not go to church tomorrow but says hi to everyone. Here is a messeage from her:

hi i am doing good my aunt irene came over today and she brot some graps and my grandma came to we had grat time to on the 29th of march were going to eat cake with cinderella were going to ride on a limo to America West Arena were going to watch pricesses on ice in front row seats with 30 other girls i love you, bye bye

Treatment

We went and visited the oncologist yesterday to find out what kind of treatment Makenzie will be receiving. We thought they would use radiation but they said that they will probably start with chemo. The reason for not starting with radiation is that there have been cases where radiation was used and the tumor changed from slow to fast. We do not want that. We are not sure what kind of chemo they will use. Her doctor is going to a conference on the 20th and he is going to find out from other doctors if there has been anything new that has worked well for this type of tumor. After he goes, he will come back and explain everything that is going to be done. They are still saying slow growth astrocytoma. With this being a slow growth tumor they have time to try different treatments. We pray that it will work fast and that the tumor will respond to the treatments. She is such a brave little girl and I wish I had an ounce of her great attitude and bravery. We love her so much and know that our Father in Heaven has blessed our family day after day. Again, THANK YOU to everyone who has helped our family. We have such an awesome family, ward family, and friends. We love all of you.

Makenzie is home again!

She got to come home this afternoon. She is excited to be back home with her brothers and be able to play in her own room. She's a little disappointed because the Dr. said no school or church or dance or anything for 2 weeks... but she is glad to be home. Healthy visitors are welcome to stop by and see Makenzie. Just call us to make sure we're home. She'd love the company. Our initial meeting with the oncologist has been postponed until tomorrow.

Makenzie's 2nd Surgery

We got surprised this morning... her neurosurgeon decided to insert her shunt today at 3:00 instead of Monday as originally planned. She did great through this surgery as well. There is a possibility that she will get to come home tomorrow afternoon if there are no complications. As you keep Makenzie is your prayers... pray that her shunt does not become infected and operates as it should. Tomorrow we also meet with the oncologist and get information on her next treatments for the tumor. Thank you to all who fasted and prayed for Makenzie and to everyone for everything!

Happy Birthday

It was Makenzie's Birthday on Thursday. She is now 7. We had a great party for her with presents doughnuts and cupcakes. The girls wore our PJ's and had a great time. Thanks to everyone who wished her a Happy Birthday. It made her day. She got lots of fun things: books, toys, dolls, clothes, candy gram, flowers, balloons, princess crown, barbie nightgown, slippers, visits, etc... We appreciate all of you. She also got to ride a buggy pulled by a horse around the hospital parking lot. She had a blast. They have healing dogs at the hospital and she got to play with one at her party. She also played with one today. Many of you know that Makenzie has had a great fear of dogs for a long time. She is doing much better with that and loved tossing the ball for the dog to chase.
Makenzie looks in the morror every now and again and always gets a weird look on her face. She is not quite sure what to think of her missing hair. Since the fluid is building up it has left what looks like a giant goose egg. It looks a little painful but she says it does not hurt. The only time it seems to hurt is when they have to drain it.
She has taught us so much in the short amount of time all of this has taken place. She continually amazes us.
Today we had a fun day because there is lots to do. We went to the toy room and made a craft and played junior Monopoly. Later we had lunch, watched a movie and then went to school. They have a room called 1 darn cool school. She says she likes the hospital because she can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed. :) Her teacher Mrs. Cavender and secretary Mrs. Jani came to bring cards from her class and presents. She was so excited to have them come. We had a preacher and his wife from another faith come to visit us today. There are people praying for Makenzie that don't even know us and from other faiths. We really appreciate all of those prayers that are being made in our behalf from everyone.