Sunday, January 31, 2010

More Rainbows

I walked into Natalie's room today and there are more beautiful rainbows up. Natalie was happy and talkative. She asked us to bring her some penne pasta from Pasta Pomodoro with parmesan cheese and butter, and gulped almost all the plate of it down. She said she ate a little brunch today too.

I love the rainbows in her room. I love to see Natalie so happy and eating. She is happily reading a book now.

These are the days that I treasure in my heart.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Good Day Yesterday

Yesterday was a great day for Natalie. Her gran and gramps came and helped her decorate her entire room with rainbows and hearts. They made paper dolls with her too. When I walked into her room that afternoon, she was beaming with joy and hope. She was so proud of the decorations and she was so happy that her grandparents came to spend time with her. She was smiling and happy. I haven't seen her like this since we got back to the hospital, so it was truly a gift for us yesterday to see Natalie happy.

Her counts are low, but they are suppose to go even lower in the next few days. We are scared and trying to face each day by day. We are also treasuring the good days.

Thank you all who are working so hard for the many bone marrow drives and getting people tested. We are grateful for all your kind hearts, your friendship, your support and your prayers.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

In the Hospital

As you probably all understand, we haven't posted much on the blog since we found out that Natalie has relapsed. It's been very painful that it hurts to even talk, write, and share our hearts. We've gone through many days of just sobbing and I know it needs to come out. As I am typing this now, I find myself crying. That's how heavy our hearts are with sadness. It feels like it our lives have stopped again, and we are in this strange waiting room begging to be able to rejoin the rest of the world again.

We don't understand why we are back here. What we do know is that we have a lot of love for Natalie and you all have a lot of love for Natalie. The Bible says that love conquers all and it never fails. If we could measure our love, would it be enough to cure Natalie? We are really hoping so. We are hoping it can move mountains and do miracles. It's the only thing we have a lot of these days. Our faith is a little low, our strength is low, and our joy is low.

Speaking of low, Natalie finished chemo two days ago, and her counts are low. This chemo medicine is really strong and is hitting her hard. She is getting some platelets today so the Benedryl has knocked her out. She is sleeping right now. We need prayers for her body to do amazingly well through all this-- no infection, no ICU, nothing bad.

When Natalie first heard got readmitted, she was so sad. She didn't really want to talk about her sadness. She was really enjoying being back at school, and looking forward to the class field trip coming up to the Chabot Space Center. We gave her some space because we felt the same way. Natalie and Sean were both sad. Grant and I were both sad and mad. None of us could believe this was happening again.

We've been telling her about the bone marrow drives that people are all working hard for. We've been asking anyone we see who is asian, or know somebody who is asian, to get tested and registered through the National Bone Marrow Registry. We've been sharing various stories to Natalie. We are all trying to fight through this and stay positive. Natalie is starting to accept being back here. I think we have accepted it too. She started to do some art again, she is finishing a book a day in the Boxcar Children series, she is laughing and talking to the nurses. She was willing to do Skype with Sean last night. Afterwards, she said that it was so much fun to do that. We talk about how much fun we had away from the hospital and we talk about the future. We want her to have a sweet future.

Thank you to all who are doing everything they can to get tested or getting people to get tested for Natalie. She is a unique person so we have to pray really hard that she will find a great match.

Today is Bingo day at the hospital and that always puts a smile on Natalie's face.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

We Need Prayers For Tuesday

Hi Everybody,

We really need all your prayers again for our Natalie.

Natalie had her blood draw and clinic visit to UCSF this past Thursday, and we were surprised to find out that her platelets have dropped significantly from her last visit. She has been so happy, energetic, and eating well. Looking at her, you can't even tell that there's been any change in her blood chemistry. We feel like a bus has hit us out the blue again and it's painful.

Of course, we've had sleepless nights filled with worry and concern over why her platelets have dropped. We try to not let our fears and thoughts get too out of control, but it is very scary to be in this position of the unknown again.

We've been told that the low platelets situation may be a result of her body fighting a virus. Her hemoglobin level is normal. We are really praying and hoping that is the case.

Natalie is scheduled to go back to UCSF this coming Tuesday, January 19 for a blood draw and a biopsy. They want to do a biopsy make sure that the cancer has not come back. Please please pray a special prayer for us that day that the biopsy shows no signs of cancer at all.

Natalie is a little scared too. She's trying to stay positive and we are trying to hold it together so that we can help her be strong through this. We had a fun day together as a family hanging out.

Really, we can't go through again what we went through last year. It took everything out of us physically, emotionally, and spiritually to make it through. We are starting to feel like normal people again and we would like to continue to recuperate.