Monthly Archive: June 2016

Radiation 10 of 30 went great. We were the first ones in for treatment this morning which put us on the road earlier than usual. We made it home by lunch – in time to get Cole to Dr. P! I love the way the Lord takes care of everything. I also love our pediatrician and his staff who stayed late for us. Thank you Jesus all around, for every detail!

Kayleigh is thrilled to be home. She is enjoying Bess & Grandaddy time this afternoon and our precious Nat is coming to stay with all the kids so Tim and I can slip away for dinner just the two of us. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, Kayleigh is still symptom free and feeling really good. Keep on covering our sweet girl with your prayers – they are working!

As for Cole, we don’t have a diagnosis yet. Dr. P has some ideas, none of them terribly serious (thank you Jesus some more!!) but we need to do further testing. The plan right now is to have an ultrasound of the lump next week and make a plan from there. Please pray specifically that the doctors are able to determine what the mass is with the ultra sound, that it is not anything serious, and that it will be something straightforward and simple to take care of.

So many times we her people say “God won’t give you more than you can handle”. I’ve got one word for that, it’s one my great grandmother liked to use – PIFFLE. Piffle, piffle, piffle! I’m going to tell you right now, all of this is more than Tim & I could handle on our own. If we didn’t have our faith in Jesus and our complete certainty in God’s sovereignty, we would be floundering. So I’m going to alter that statement – God won’t give you more than you can handle IF you are trusting Him to carry the load NOT trying to fix things yourself. I’m a fixer – that’s a tough lesson – but I am learning and I’m seeing God do amazing things when I let go of the reins.

Learning to trust God in every detail is one of the many blessings we have received on this journey. I know God still has so much in store for us and amazingly, we are looking forward to it. So, thank you Jesus for another good day. Thank you friends for holding us up with your prayers – they matter!

Luke 1:37
“For the word of God will never fail.”

Until tomorrow,
‘Carrow 💜

Radiation 9 of 30

Today has been a wonderful, awesome, fantabulous day! Friday’s we have nothing but radiation and usually it’s early in the morning so we can get on the road to go home. So today that gave us nearly a completely free day!

After treatment we drove to pick up Grace & Cole at the camp ground in South Haven. They had a great kid’s area so Kayleigh had fun swimming and sliding with the big kids and we enjoyed just watching them be normal.

This afternoon Kayleigh got a surprise from home. One of her sweet friends from school and her family were in Memphis for the weekend and we were able to meet for dinner! Kayleigh was ecstatic. To make it even more fun dinner was at the bowling alley inside the Pyramid Bass Pro shop. We cannot thank Brad & Samantha enough for giving up their family time to bring Brenna & Brady to play and buy us dinner! It was wonderful for Tim and I to get to enjoy grown up conversation too – even if we did have 5 kids interrupting us every two seconds – I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. It was just what we all needed to unwind!

Tomorrow morning we have treatment at 8 and hope to get on the road by mid morning. Please keep praying!

1.) Complete healing this side of heaven.
2.) Continuing treatment and steroid decrease to hold with no bad side effects.
3.) Cole’s neck.
4.) Safe travels home and back.
5.) Kayleigh’s friend “A” – no bad side effects and complete healing!

Until tomorrow,
‘Carrow 💜

Radiation 8 of 30

Today was a good day!

Kayleigh had treatment first thing this morning followed by physical therapy, occupational therapy, blood draw for lab work, audiology and her oncologist visit. We had good reports from everyone! Dr. R has lowered her steroids again and if that goes well we will lower them again on Monday! Thank you Jesus for good reports!

This afternoon we met Tim’s parents, Grace & Cole at the Memphis Zoo. It was awesome! The kids loved it and we enjoyed all being together. The weather even cooperated giving us clouds but no rain. It was a perfect afternoon.

Thank you all for your prayers. God has been so good to work out all the details from my “messed up” plans. Kayleigh is going to have her Saturday radiation as planned. It is scheduled for fairly early in the morning so we will head home right after. As for Cole, I called or pediatrician’s office this morning to talk about my concerns and guess what – it’s our doctor that is on call this weekend! As always, God’s plan is perfect and his timing works out better than my plans. Thank you Jesus.

Each of you that has called, posted, messages or texted encouragement – thank you. Thank you for allowing me to share everything, the good and the hard. Sharing with you lightens the load and knowing that you are praying brings Tim and I both a great deal of comfort as well.

Prayer Requests:
1.) Complete healing for Kayleigh this side of heaven.
2.) The steroid decrease to go well and there to be no side effects.
3.) Kayleigh’s friend “A” as she is beginning treatments – for no bad side effects!
4.) For Cole’s swelling to not be serious and easily corrected.
5.) Protection for our entire family!

Here are some of my verses for you tonight.

Isaiah 41:10
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

John 14:27
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Until tomorrow,

‘Carrow 💜

Radiation treatment 7 of 30 is in the books and it was another good day!!!

Kayleigh actually looks forward to going to radiation each day, she loves everyone in the department and they love her. So far she is still not experiencing any bad reactions to the treatment for which we are so thankful. We are noticing she gets tired a little quicker but that is something we can mange.

She also had occupational therapy this morning. Her therapist is so good with her – kind, patient, but keeps her on task. Today’s therapy was yoga. Can you picture trying to keep a giggly, 7 year old, flighty bird, that is amped up on steroids, focused? It was kind of like trying to watch someone heard kittens through a yarn factory!! Amazingly they were still able to accomplish cat/cow poses, table pose, and downward dog. I’d say that was a successful day!

Tim’s parents brought Grace & Cole up to South Haven, MS to camp and be close to us. We were able to spend the afternoon with them which was wonderful. We have plans to play again tomorrow afternoon if all goes well – Kayleigh is enjoying having them close and so are we!

We found out this evening that Kayleigh’s make-up radiation session (from being off Memorial Day) has been rescheduled to this Saturday. While part of me is glad they are getting it in quickly, the other part of me has been struggling with my own messed up plans. About a week ago I noticed some swelling on Cole’s neck. It isn’t hot, it doesn’t itch, and it doesn’t bother him in anyway. It’s literally just some squishy fluid but it’s just one of those things you want to get checked out. I had planned to take him Friday afternoon when we got home. Needless to say an additional radiation treatment on Saturday nixes that.

For some reason those messed up plans really did a number on me tonight. I realized we are covering Kayleigh from head to toe in prayer and God is faithfully answering those prayers. We are claiming the name of Jesus over her regularly and rebuking Satan so he has no power over her. So rather than attack us through her, Satan is a crafty fellow and he chose a less protected route. He chose Cole.

What kind of city builds only one wall for protection? That would be an exercise in futility. Walls are only good if you put them up to protect all sides. Prayer works the same way. We can’t focus all of our energy in only one place at the expense of others. In my determination to bar the front door I left the back door wide open.

Now, no more pity party for me. Just because I left the door open doesn’t mean that God was surprised. He has a plan and this is part of it. I know somehow all of this fits into God’s timeline perfectly and I can tell you I have learned a valuable lesson about guarding my back door. So yeah, Satan, you threw me a curveball, I swung, and I missed. But that was only strike one. God is still on His throne, he is my strength, my provider, my deliver, my hope and my future. It is on Him that I stake my trust and through His power that I will continue to fight. So throw me another one if you dare – God’s got this, not me.

Oh, and I have a few thousand friends who are praying with me… Isn’t God good?

Tonight’s prayer requests:
1.) Complete healing for Kayleigh this side of heaven.
2.) Kayleigh’s right eye is drooping more often and bothering her. Please pray for the eye to strengthen!
3.) Treatment to continue with no bad side effects.
4.) That I will be able to have Cole’s neck checked out here in Memphis and that it will not be anything serious.
5.) Protection over our entire family.

Thank you for standing with us and thank you for your prayers. Tonight I leave you with these precious picture of friends supporting Kayleigh.

Until tomorrow,
‘Carrow💜

We love Miss Sarah!

Hanging with the big girls – Madison

Higs & prayers from Mr. Dan

Prayer groups

Purple Bows on mailboxes

Everyone wearing Kayleigh shirts!

Kayleigh’s friend Jenna donating her hair in Kayleigh’s honor

Isnt she beautiful?

Even baby dolls are wearing her name.  Such precious children praying for Kayleigh.

Our softball AllStars Playing and Praying for our Kayleigh Blair – KB #14

Happy Tuesday!

Thank you Jesus for another good day. Can I just tell you how thankful I am that I have been able to write that same sentence for so many days in a row? Thank you Jesus for another good day… before Kayleigh’s diagnosis I didn’t thank God for every day, at least not like I do now. Now I am thanking him with a depth of gratitude I didn’t know existed before. That is another of the many blessing God has granted us on this journey. I’m thankful for every trip to Walmart, for every time Kayleigh tries to convince us ice cream is absolutely necessary (even if she did just eat a 12 oz steak, salad, cinnamon apples, peanuts & 2 rolls all by herself), for each night she asks if I will sleep with her (and Tim doesn’t complain), for every time she interrupts me just to say she loves me. I’m learning to live in this place where I am thankful for each minute, each breath, each everything.

So yes, today was a good day. Kayleigh’s treatment went well. Her nurses love her and it is so fun to watch her interact with them. We had our weekly visit with her radiation oncologist. He was pleased with how well she is doing and said the steroids could come down some more! We will be talking with her neuro-oncologist on Thursday about how much to lower the dose. Praise the Lord!

We have made some friends here. Their daughter is battling a different brain tumor. Her treatment is about 6 days behind Kayleigh’s. Today I got to watch Kayleigh try to ease her new friends fear of what radiation would be like. While it was a brief exchange I was so proud of her. You can add our sweet friend to your prayer lists as well. For now you can just call her Kayleigh’s friend “A” (I won’t publish her name without permission).

After treatment today Kayleigh was up for some walking! We visited the Danny & Rose Marie Thomas Memorial Gardens here on campus. That wore her out a bit, especially since she had physical therapy this morning (which she did great with, balance is getting better!!!) so we took a nap this afternoon so Daddy could take us out to dinner and shopping.

It was a good day 💜

Prayer requests:
1.) Complete healing – this side of heaven!
2.) Kayleigh to continue tolerating radiation well with no bad side effects.
3.) Kayleigh’s friend “A” who is starting treatment possibly tomorrow.

Until tomorrow,
‘Carrow 💜