Sunday: Spainsh Rice & Mail Therapy

Thank you to Dawn & Michael Abasta for more "SRT", otherwise known as "Spanish Rice Therapy" and the papusas for all of us!!!

This morning was stressful as the needle in Hannah's port got dislodged probably while Hannah was sleeping. The only fix was to take the needle out & quickly re-insert a new one without taking time to allow Hannah's skin to become numb from numbing cream that usually sits on her skin for about 1/2 hour before the new needle gets put in. As you can imagine, Hannah was very upset at the thought of the needle being changed without numbing cream!?!?! It was the only way to get her port re-accessed without having to go back into the OR. Thank you, Lord, that Jacque was Hannah's nurse today -- she saved the day with her calm & caring way of explaining what needed to happen. Jim also came through with reminding Hannah of other things and how well she's done -- next thing you know, the needle was in & Hannah didn't even feel it!!! What a relief!!! Hannah is not running a fever, her blood cultures all came back negative (so she has no blood infection). Her WBC count went back to .3 ... so we don't really know why it was up to .4 for two days. She is looking so much better & not having nearly as much discomfort as she was having last week. The doctor took her off all of her IV anti-biotics today to see how she does ... and even mentioned maybe sending Hannah home this week!!?!?!!!!!!! I HOPE SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A huge thank you to our new friends in blog-land & friends in the real-world that have sent Hannah mail. Thank you for the pictures, the drawings, the wind-up toys(!) & all the well wishes!! Hannah enjoyed the "Mail Therapy" that Jim picked up at the PO Box today. One of the funniest things she received was a letter from a cat named Sophie -- sent all the way from Sophie's home town of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, UK. Sophie, you made Hannah's day with the following part of your letter: "My human mum said you have an illness called 'a plastic something', I have 'a plastic' bowl for my food so I think it must be something much the same. Its funny because I don't have to go to the hospital for my plastic bowl" Hannah was laughing so hard!!

Hannah's attitude is amazing & actually when we talked about going home she said she didn't want to ... not sure what that says about home life (ha, ha!!) or more about how adapted she has become to her new life at the hospital.

I am hoping we can get some sleep tonight -- maybe this is a good sign that I am posting to the blog before 1AM!

Thank you for all the prayers & love! Pray that Hannah's bone marrow will come back from the therapy she received at the NIH!

All God's best,