Hooray !

"Maeve is going home! She was very brave today. Took out the port needle without crying. I took some medical supplies to let her play and rehearsed it so she was ready."

Fever to subside

"I spoke to the doctor. If no fever the whole of today and tonight, then tomorrow can go home. Yay! It probably is a bacteria within her own body."

In hospital

Maeve was admitted to hospital last night.

The following is Jo's sms this morning: "Fever up and down, threw up 3 times. Not sure what is wrong. I guess the good thing is that we came in and started on antibiotics via IV. So it is safer than if we'd waited."

Let's continue to pray for Maeve and the family.

Urgent Prayer Request

Maeve's temperature has been very unstable these two days. Although it has not hit higher than 38, it is not a good sign. Joanne is advised by the nurse to admit Maeve to the hospital tonight.

Pray that it is not something serious, such as infection. Pray that God will bring the temperature down and she can go home soon.

Rainbows and faith

I realise that I've become somewhat obsessed with checking Maeve's temperature and it is pretty unhealthy. My little one is so irritated by my constant feeling of her forehead and using 3 different thermomters to check her every half hour! Her temperature today is 37.4, which explains my nerves. Although she is on GCSF which should raise her counts and hopefully prevent a fever, I am still paranoid. Last night, she had a bad night with bad dreams so kept tossing and turning. I interpreted it as pain, fever, discomfort and kept asking her if she was alright, which of course disturbed her and woke her up!

My little girl keeps reminding me that God is in control and she will NOT get a fever and that He sent her a rainbow on Tuesday as a promise. The problem is, I find it so hard to just have that faith and trust God the way she does. I also don't know how to explain to her that God also can choose to use doctors and medicine to heal her and make her well, which explains the battle we're having wit regards to her daily GCSF injections.

" i don't need it! God will make me well!"
"yes honey, but God wants to protect you WITH injections"
"He won't do that. He will protect me WITHOUT injections"
And so on...every hour.
I guess I'm asking the same questions as her. Why can't God just protect her without injections? or better, why can't God just heal her without chemo, which comes with a whole lot of side effects, which she gets?

I only hope that her faith doesn't waver (or mine for that matter) when God doesn't seem to be answering her prayers. The one thing that I rejoice in is that although her counts are even much lower now than it was when she had a fever the last time, she doesn't seem sick at all, not like the last session of chemo. So i guess God is sustaining her supernaturally, even though the results on paper shows she should be neutropaenic.And this small miracle is something I remind myself of. So now for courage as she faces her next injection, which is thankfully done by someone she likes.

Counts

Maeve's counts are extremely low today. I'm amazed she has energy to bounce around and dance still! She does look very pale though, and the worst part is, she has to take daily injections now. Thankfully, a friend is doing it, so I don't have to. Hopefully, it'll be drama free, although judging by her finger pricks, i doubt it. So pray she'll be brave.

Of pricks and such

Just came back from Maeve's routine finger prick cum check up. It is always traumatic. She talks herself into being brave, but when she sees the blood test room, she goes into hysterics. I have to force her little hand out to get pricked each time. Not a pretty sight. As she has to do another one on Friday, I'm thinking of how i can best prepare her for it without her going into a meltdown again. I understand that no one likes to be pricked, but is it possible to even get her to reach a stage of acceptance and to be brave? Anyone with suggestions, let me know. I've tried distraction, sweets, a prize afterwards, but all not working. If her counts go very low this friday, the doctor will order this drug called GCSF which is injected everyday, in the thigh or tummy to protect her, and gulp, I'll have to inject her! I've done those injections before during my fertility treatments and it really is no walk in the park, and i'm a fully grown adult with a high treshhold of pain. So pray she doesn't need it and we can spare her more pokes.

The Half Way Mark

We're home after chemo 2. It is the half way point in our lives for a variety of reasons. first, we're half way there for chemo, after this Maeve has 2 more chemo rounds and we're hopefully done. no relapse or anything. It is also the halfway mark for Paige as she turns 6 months. We (or rather, Maeve) just fed her her first spoon of brown rice cereal, and unlike her big sis, Paige lapped it up and wanted the entired bowl! She was real angry with me for restricting her to 10 spoonfuls.

I'm also a bundle of nerves as the last time Maeve developed a neutropaenic fever (due to excessively low blood counts) on a wed the week after we came home. Today is tuesday and I won't be able to relax till this crucial week passes without any hitch. According to the oncologist, the chance of her developing a fever is about 50% this time round. Her chemo regime is sort of like sending out the machine guns as her type of lymphoma is extremely agressive, hence the chance of fever, unlike other children on milder doses. In fact, each time she's in hospital, she's attached to 8 lines! 2 IV poles. it is a real circus trying to carry her AND 2 IV poles!

So pray for protection especially these few days when her counts drop, that the cancer cells die, but the good cells stay alive, and that no germs and bacteria will go near her.

Grace

"Discovered some sugar in Maeve's urine. So pray it goes away. One of the chemo medicines can cause diabetes. Tomorrow one more lumbar puncture. Pray that she will recover well from that. No vomiting etc."

"I am feeling tired. Pray for grace and strength."

"We will be home tomorrow evening. Her blood counts will start dropping today onwards and will be all time low in the next few days. Pray she will have no fever this time round. Thanks."

We baked a chocolate cake!

Port blockage

"Today port has a blockage, so they put some blood thinner to clear clot and hopefully can draw out the clot later. Pray that it works. Thanks."

Day 2

"Pray for protection for Maeve as there is a bacteria outbreak here. Pray also for comfort. Just in one day, she had to do 2 finger pricks, 1 port insertion, lumbar puncture :( God sent angels to comfort her though, that is what she said!"

"Pray also for me. I keep having such pessimistic and scary thoughts which is unusual for me as I am usually very optimistic."

Round 2 of chemo had started

"Maeve just had her chemo to brain. As a result, seeing things like angels flying towards her :) Pray
that this round of chemo will be as successful as last round. That all bad cancer cells die!"

Let's pray and cheer the Low family on for round 2 of chemo.

dinner next week is covered

thanks for all the offers for dinner. Dinner for all 5 days next week has been covered by various people. Maeve's a lucky girl to have family and friends who love her so much! If you'd still like to cook for her, you can do round 3 or round 4 chemo. will update accordingly. For next week, please pray that she'll be able to withstand the chemo. She didn't handle it too well, with diarhoea, painful throat, high fever and coutns that dropped too low leading to a transfusion and an extra hospital stay. Pray also for protection for the rest of the family. Bernard is recovering, Paige still coughing and sneezing and very congested, despite taking medicine for more than 2 weeks. Maeve having runny nose and cough as well. I'm amazingly well, i believe due to supernatural protection! pray i continue to remain well as i can't afford to fall sick. my helper is also super strong ( i make her drink chicken essence too!!) and thank God for that as she is Paige's surrogate mum everytime we go to hospital.Pray for my neck and back, its all gone stiff and hurts all the time, I guess due to long sessions of pumping milk and sleeping in awkward positions (maeve needs to stroke my hand to sleep and needs to hold my hand whenever she's scared, which is a lot of the time), so one arm is immobilised most of the time.
I've been reading up as much as possible on Burkitts lymphoma (stage 2) and now know that it is highly treatable, up to 85% survival rate. On one hand, that is good news, but on the other, i wish i didn't need to think of it in terms of survival rate, because the hard reality is, what if we fall into the 15%? that sense of urgency, sense of time is running out, is always there, and i get constant nightmares about it. So I live everyday with my little girl like its the last day. Who cares whether her chinese is good? who cares whether she can count beyond 20? suddenly everything doesn't seem quite as important anymore. We have "school" at home, only because she likes it and loves learning. I guess before her head got shaved, it was easy to forget that she has cancer, but now with a shorn head, the reality slaps me in the face. I only pray that we'll be numbered amongst the cancer survivors with no incidence of relapse, and that she'll lead a normal life soon.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

The fishball family!


Fairy Maeve, Fairy Paige

Our journey..with you

We start round 2 chemo next monday. Was hoping to be home for at least a week to rest, but I guess the sooner we complete chemo, the better. As Maeve says, she's drinking lots of liquids so that the bad soldiers in her will slip and slide and fall on their bums and out of her butt!! Many of you have been soldiering on with us, providing not only prayer support, but very practical help. For this we are immensely grateful. Because family and friends have been cooking lunch and dinner for her, Maeve never had to eat hospital food at all throughout each hospital stay. She hates hospital food and if home-cooked food offers her some comfort, then we'll do our upmost to ensure she has home-cooked food (doesn't matter which home!)So for those of you who can cook (or cannot cook, but can transport food), let me know. Lunch is settled by mum and dad, so offers for dinner are welcome.
Thanks also to those who have bought her loads of toys, art and craft stuff,books and various dress up stuff. Its like christmas came early! lots of the toys etc have come in very handy for our long hospital stays. the DVD player is a God-send coz hospital only has cartoon network and hence ben 10, tom and jerry. yuck! The portable sing-a-long CD player cum microphone not only entertains her, it also entertains the other chemo kids. They can sing and dance despite having chemo! We bring along her fairy wand and just about everything but the kitchen sink to entertain her and transform her hospital room each time so it doesn't look like a hospital room!
Thanks also to those who have volunteered to do milk runs, grocery, run errands such as buy milk bags, diapers, and appear at the drop of a hat to entertain maeve when she's feeling down after some procedure or other. We are very blessed to have friends and family such as you. Thanks also for looking after the rest of the Low family, providing dinner for us, cleaning our house, sending us cards and letters to encourage us. They mean a lot to us.

Lap 2 starts on Monday!

"Results are good today which means we start round 2 chemo on Monday. Her bone marrow is producing its own cells already."

Praise the Lord!

Check up

"We are going for check up later. Pray that everything is ok. She has to have her usual finger prick. Sigh. She would not be too happy about that. Pray no repeat fevers any more."

these are pics of Maeve in her bob.
AND....pcitures of Paige! I haven't uploaded pictures of Paige at all, so here she is, at 5 mths.

images of her

Since we're back, thought I'd just upload pictures of maeve taken at the hospital, so that those of you praying for her will be reassured. she looks just fine!These were taken after abdomen surgery, prior to chemotherapy. will upload pics of her bob hair-do soon.it won't remain long as her hair is dropping rapidly now which irritates her a lot. She has since asked to to shave it all off, which we'll be doing in the next couple of days. Thankfully, she is still really young, so thinks that losing her hair is part of growing up, like her cousin losing baby teeth at 6 yrs old!

Warrior princess going home!

"Maeve is good today. Going home later. Runny nose started today so did mucous swab. Hope just common cold."

Better

"Last night Maeve did not have fever at all and blood counts coming up slowly. It has not reached the normal range but is out of danger. If all well, tomorrow we can go home!"

A tough week

"After the blood transfusion, Maeve started to have rashes and high fever."

It has been tough for the Low family.

This week is even tougher for them. Chemo side effects started to surface, a painful sore throat, a fluctuate temperature, a worrying infection and a blood transfusion. It had been a roller roaster ride for the Low family. One can only imagine how they coped with all that had happened this week.

Tomorrow is Sunday, a sabbath for Christians. A day to be still before God.

Let's pray that the Low family will have a chance to be still before the Lord. To know and trust that despite what is happening, our God is still in control.

In control simply because He is God.

Blood transfusion needed

"Maeve would be doing blood transfusion later. Pray that there will not be side effects and that the blood she gets is clean."

Temperature still high

"Maeve's temperature has been very high. Almost 40. Today will decide whether to do blood transfusion. Pray her counts climb up to help her to fight this infection."

Unstable

"Please pray. Maeve's blood counts are dangerously low. If still low tomorrow, she would have to do a blood transfusion."

Upper reps tract infection

"Doctor said Maeve probably caught upper reps tract infection from Paige. Today no fever. Thank God ! Throat also less painful."

Please pray for Maeve's full recovery from the infection. Pray that Jo and Bernard to have strength for today.

Medicine to work

"Please pray that the antibiotics and white blood cell medicine will work and Maeve will recover."

Hospitalized

"Infection. Counts extremely low so must stay in hospital for at least 5 days. Pray she responds to the antibiotics. It does not just rain. It pours."

Maeve believes that thousands are praying for her. Will you be one of the thousands to pray for her ?

update

"Temperature is 38.3. Waiting to do blood test now. Pray that it is not anything serious and we can go home."

Fever

I just received a sms from Joanne. She is bringing Maeve to the hospital as she has fever. Please pray for Maeve's fever to subside and there will not be any complication.

Also pray for Joanne. She is really exhausted. Physically and emotionally.

Sore throat

"Thanks for praying last night. Maeve had fever off on the entire night and finally broke this morning. Now she is fine except throat hurts so refuse to eat and drink. Pray throat will heal supernaturally like the fever and she will drink."

Pray for a protection shield over Maeve

"Please pray for Maeve. Her throat hurts a lot so she does not want to eat or drink. She seems warm too, 37.7. Not fever yet. Monitoring her closely. Very afraid she caught an infection from Bernard or Paige".

homeschool!

Today was event-free, except for a few episodes of diarhoea. Thank God for that! So today we embarked on our first lesson with me as teacher. I'm a super flexible teacher, so I go by whatever Maeve wants to learn. She wanted to learn about the planets, so that's what we did. So we learnt about the sun, moon, planets, made the various planets and hung them on a hanger. Now, she's making planet cookies! tonight is a show and tell for her daddy where she'll educate him about the solar system. Tomorrow we continue the lesson, focusing on astronauts and zero gravity. that should be a lot of fun!

Relief

"Just came home. Got some medicine. Thank God !"

Back to hospital

"I am bringing Maeve back to the hospital because of diarrhea and tummy ache. Pray that it is a normal side effect and not a symptom of virus. Pray also for Bernard and Paige. Both are getting worst. Paige did not sleep for the whole night because of blocked nose"

My Warrior Princess

She's not even 4 yet, but she has endured 2 painful air enemas (no sedation or pain relief because of the danger of intestine perforation), one major abdominal surgery, IV lines coming out from left hand, right hand, left chest through her implanted port, lots of repeated blood tests, finger pricks, lumbar punctures...chemotherapy. after each tear has been shed, she smiles a ray of sunshine and dances to praise and worship songs. She reminds me that God has already healed her. She tells me she's not scared as God is with her. I am scared. I am scared witless. I am scared I might lose my little girl. She is my miracle baby, the one that almost didn't happen. What if God loaned her to me for a fleeting moment? Research shows that 85% of lymphoma patients recover. What about the 15%? So far, we keep falling into the minority percentage. We are the 3% chance that got cancer. I'm falling fast but grasping. reaching for a miracle. She tells me thousands are praying for her. I hope God hears the prayers of the faithful thousands.