Wednesday, July 20, 2022

10:05 AM

Hi!  Each day I check in to a prayer line for news about this little sweetheart. Gracie helped me so much during my lowest point in chemo/radiation therapy last year. Many of you inquire about her, and pray for her faithfully.    Yes, our suffering is very real and its ours, but in light of what this little warrior has gone and will go through, we offer our suffering as graciously as we can as a prayer for Grace and her family. I wanted to post this, as we begin our day. Please include Gracie in your prayers.

 

Update on Grace (4 year old with cancer)

From her mother posted on July 9:

 

This week we have officially passed a major goal post: after 9 months of intense frontline chemotherapy, we started long term maintenance chemo. This will last for 18 months. Grace has daily oral chemo, weekly oral chemo, and every 3 months she gets a major hit of IV chemos and intrathecal chemo, along with a steroid pulse. So… we are currently in the midst of her quarterly steroid pulse. (Dexamethasone)

I think I have written about how loathsome “Dex” is in the past. We call it “devil juice.” It hijacks her brain and hurts her body. She has no control over the fits and emotional outbursts that come over her when she is on a steroid pulse. Grace is normally a really sweet, thoughtful kid. But the devil juice brings on “fits” out of the blue. But this kid…. She breaks my heart and fills it up all at the same time. In the middle of a hysterical fit, she recognizes that she is not in control, and with tears running down her face, she sobs, “I’m sorry mommy! I’m so sorry!” She repeats this over and over as I hold her and rock her. 

We finish this steroid pulse tomorrow, and by the end of next week, she should be feeling much better.

Yesterday she made a new friend - a sweet 5 year old boy. They were having a great time being silly together, then I overheard her start telling her new friend all about her “brain accident” (the stroke she had last October). I just started crying. I cried because she is able to put words to a traumatic event. I also cried because kids this young are not supposed to know about these things… there is a sense of grief at the lost innocence.

Anyways… It has been a hard week for this mama’s heart. But in spite of the challenges, I am daily amazed at my little girl. Even though her system is loaded with toxic pharmaceuticals, she is helpful, affectionate, polite, has an amazing sense of humour, thinks deeply about life, and asks remarkably profound questions. I am blessed beyond words to be this girl’s mother. This is a humbling road to travel.