April 24, 2006

Samantha & Christopher enjoyed a belated Easter Sunday together at last. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed being together and having some much needed fun. Samantha is still weaker than she was due to this last hospital stay but is making some progress daily. Her eye is still not opening much but her balance is getting better. She is enjoying her time in the pool everyday and we feel that will help her to regain her strength more than anything. Kurt and I will be flying back to Memphis with Samantha next tuesday evening for a few days of check ups and testing. Please continue to pray for Samantha and for good MRI results next week. We will keep you updated as we have any news.
Love to all.
Audra, Kurt, Christopher, & Samantha

Belated Easter Morning

April 21, 2006

We are home once again after a five day stay at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. Samantha was doing well for the first two days at home when she started having seizures. We brought her in to our local ER and after stabilizing her she was transferred to Orlando. A process all to familiar to us and one we had hoped to avoid. She had a rough time with medications in the hospital but we are hoping we have the right med and dosage now to keep her safe from seizures and acting herself. We have been home since Wednesday and are trying to settle in before returning to Memphis on May 3rd. We are trying to determine if her unsteadiness is due to being in the hospital or the fact that she is off her steroids for the 3rd try. We are hoping to see improvement so she can remain steroid free but do want her to have some quality time while she is at home. We thank you all once again for all the support you have shown us. Please continue to pray for her and her test results soon to come.
With love,
Audra, Kurt, Christopher, & Samantha

April 13, 2006

We are finally home!!!! We arrived back in Vero Beach on Tuesday afternoon and are very happy to be back. We had no sleep Monday night before we left Memphis so we were very tired traveling. Samantha is doing well. She slept in her own bed for the first time last night and did not get up once. She also slept most of the day away yesterday and looks like a new kid today. Yesterday was her last dose of steroids (again) and we are hoping this time it will be for good.
We came home to the house all decorated with streamers, balloons, flowers, and various Easter goodies. The refrigerator and freezer were stocked and dinner was waiting for us when we were ready. Thank you Debra, Jolie, Darlene, & friends. We can't tell you how much we appreciate all you've done. We suprised Christopher at school and of course I broke into tears (happy ones for a change) when his teacher brought him out to me. He and Samantha are so happy to be back together again. The Visiting Nurses will be here today to do labs for Samantha. They will be coming once a week or more as needed. Hopefully those counts are looking good and she can get out a little more.
Although we are happy to be home we left some terrific people back in Memphis. Our friends Catherine & Jason (have 4 yr old Colby, with a brain stem tumor) are just such wonderful people and we miss them. The good news is they live right in Boca Raton so we can stay in touch and visit with each other. Colby has about two more weeks of radiation and they will return back home. Another couple we became real friendly with was Matoka & Bill (6 yr old Kerianne, had a tumor that was removed) are from North Carolina. Kerianne has just a week or two of radiation to go also. She has to return in a month and stay 4-6 months in Memphis for Chemotherapy. We hope to see them again too! Samantha and Kerianne really loved to play together. Please keep Colby & Kerianne in your prayers as well.
We will be returning to Memphis on May 3. Samantha will have her MRI on May 4th and we will return (hopefully with really good news) on the 5th. Please continue to pray that Radiation has helped or a miracle has happened for her. We will keep you posted on our progress here in VERO BEACH!!!
Love to all.
Audra, Kurt, Christopher, & Samantha

Samantha & Christopher April 1, 06

  

April 3, 2006

Here we are still in Memphis hoping to go home this week. Kurt & Christopher will be leaving tomorrow. Samantha and I will have to stay behind, hopefully only a few more days. Her blood work today showed that her bone marrow is starting to produce cells again. Her counts are still low (but did not go down any)and she will have to continue to wear her mask but it is a step in the right direction. We will retest again on Wednesday and hope to see some significant rise in hers counts. According to the doctor it is possible to see a big turn around in 24-48 hours so that is of course what we are hoping for. We changed our travel plans (once again) in hopes to go home on friday. As for Samantha ---- Still smiling and not letting anything get her down. She is an amazing child, a true inspiration to her mom & dad. Please continue to pray that her body keeps recovering. We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.
With love,
Audra, Kurt, Christopher, & Samantha