Wildfire...

I know that I promised that this blog would be an interview with Brianna but there have been some updates that needed to be shared first. I will be doing an interview with Brianna for the next blog though so please post your questions in the comments!

As I mentioned in the last post, Brianna's balance has been off for the last several weeks. Two weeks ago she was walking to the bedroom when she lost her balance and fell. Unfortunately she fell really hard on her foot. She has done this a few times and we decided that we would give it a day or two see if it was just a sprain or something worse. After a few days her foot was still pretty bruised and causing her a lot of pain so I decided to make a couple of calls. I called the Ortho office manager and got Brianna a time to go and get an X-ray in the Ortho office. When we got to the office, the elevator wasn't working. The office was on the second floor and with Brianna's poor balance and hurt foot, going up the stairs really wasn't an option. I made a quick decision and lifted Brianna up like a fireman and carried her up the stairs so we could get her to the office. (I felt awesome!) Anyway, we got her in there and got the X-ray. The doctor was out of the office because he wasn't feeling well but he was very generous and checked them while out of the office and informed us that Brianna had a 5th metatarsal fracture on her foot. AKA Broken! She was put in a boot and has been wearing it ever since. She seems to be doing better and it seems to be healing well. She will follow up in two weeks to make sure it healed properly. Luckily she didn't need to have surgery because that would have been really hard! She has been a real trooper. She hates the boot but has been handling it well. I will keep you updated as always!

Over the last several months, Brianna's balance is not the only issue she has been having. Her vision has been causing her some issues. She got new glasses in September that really seemed to help her but as of late, she already feels that they aren't as good. It seems that her vision has been getting drastically worse. Over the last few weeks she has also started feeling some weakness in her left hand (the good hand) and feels that her fine motor skills are getting worse every day. Brianna had an MRI yesterday and we met with Dr. Goble today. We found out today that Brianna's cancer has spread to several different areas of her brain. There are several new tumor sites as well as "flairs" (different areas that light up but aren't mass forming). Dr. Goble explained that surgery is still not an option due to how deep the tumors remain. We also found out that the cancer has spread even further in her brainstem. This was pretty shocking news for us today. Dr. Goble also explained that radiation is not an option because it has not even been a year since she finished the last round of radiation plus any additional radiation would probably fry her brain. Dr. Goble stated that there are really only two options: 1. Chemotherapy in hopes that it would work on the cancer and slow or stop the growth and 2. Move into Hospice when the time is right. After discussing our options, we feel it is time to stop Protocel and begin Chemotherapy. We are not ready to give up this fight and we want to try all of our options. After we left Dr. Gobles office, we set up an appointment with Dr. Jenkins (Medical Oncologist) for Monday. Although this isn't the happiest of news, this is all the updates we have right now. What does all of this mean? Will chemo work? Will she regain any of her strength back? Unfortunately only time will tell and we can only continue to hope and pray.

We wanted to tell each of you how much we appreciate you. We feel your prayers, we see your faith and we appreciate all you do for us. We know that this has been difficult for all of us. We continue to pray for peace and understanding and we hope that you will continue to do that as well. This last week I have been thinking about the story in the Bible where Jesus is sleeping on the boat at sea and His disciples get scared when the storm comes. The line that keeps coming back to me is "Master, carest thou not that we perish?". They ask Him this because He is sleeping through the storm while His disciples are scared of what is going on. I think we often feel like this. When the storm comes, in form of trials whatever that is for each of us, we wonder where God is. We may even question if God was a loving God, why would He allow such things to happen to His children. I don't have all the answers, but as I have been thinking this last week I have come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Love Heavenly Father has for His children. We are not alone in the storms. In fact, He is even closer when we go through the storms. Without the storms, we cannot be made stronger and we cannot see the beauty that comes following the storms. We are often given a chance to see what we are capable of and given opportunities to be strengthened in the storms. When we need Him, He is there. As long as we continue to put our trust and faith in Him, we find strength and make it through the storm. We know that our life has been through a curveball but we trust in the Lord with all of our Hearts. We know that God lives and that He loves us. He knows each one of His children and He knows our needs. We are not alone in this storm and we have been blessed abundantly over the last year. We know that God has a plan of Happiness for us to return to live with Him. We may not always feel it is a plan of Happiness but the true happiness comes from the fact that we are forever and we can be together as an eternal family forever. We know that with God, we can do all things.

Thank you for your continued support and for your love. We will never be able to explain what it means to us and to our family. May we each find peace and joy this time of year.

~The Geddie's