Author Archive: 'Carrow McClendon

Day 1 Radiation Update:

Today was a good day! Kayleigh started the day a little timid and a lot nervous. The unknown of what radiation was and what it would require weighed heavily on her. Tim and I tried to reassure her, we prayed for her, we loved on her. And while she did her very best to not let us see she was worried we could still tell. She had labs today at 12:30, she generally doesn’t like being stuck for blood (I mean really, who does?) but she usually does well. Today it made her nauseous and very pale. Just more signs of her nervousness.

Fortunately, St. Jude has fantastic Child Life specialists who are wonderful about helping kids work through hard things. I told Kayleigh we would ask for Ms. A just as soon as we got to radiation and that made her feel better. But when we got to radiation Ms. A wasn’t there. Kayleigh’s little face just fell. Talk about feeling helpless… All I could think to do was pray. So I prayed over her out loud asking for peace and I sent a quick text to my mom to please pray for peace. She texted back immediately that she had alerted her prayer warriors. About that moment another sweet Child Life specialist came to talk with Kayleigh – and while she was really good, Kayleigh didn’t know her and it just wasn’t putting her at ease. And then – God showed up…

My phone buzzes with a text from my friend, B, that says “praying now”. At the same moment a nurse shows up that I don’t know but knows us. She is a nurse here at St. Jude but is originally from our town, Hartselle. She is a dear friend of Kayleigh’s Kindergarten teacher and the sister of Kayleigh’s pediatric nurse from when she was a baby. She steps right in – just talking about familiar people does what none of us could do – put Kayleigh at ease. The nurse, MB, tells us that she has been trying to catch up with us since we arrived the first time but just never caught us. So now we know why. God knew we would need MB today! She has no idea what an answer to prayers she was today. And since she is a nurse here she was able to go back with Kayleigh, get her settled, and then come back to us and let us know she was doing well. Thank you Lord for quickly answered prayers!

This road we are on is not an easy one but we know that God doesn’t make mistakes. We also know He has a plan for us and for our precious girl. We are praying bold prayers for big healing, but we are also praying prayers for the smaller things like peace in the day-to-day. And days like today, when God oh so clearly answers our prayers directly, we are reminded that He is always listening. So tonight I leave you with two verses I love very much. I pray they will encourage you as they are encouraging us!

Jeremiah 29:11-12
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen.

Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Thank you for praying with us. Prayer list
1.) radiation continues without any unpleasant side effects
2.) for complete healing and a long, full life for Kayleigh
3.) specifically that radiation will not effect her hair noticeably (this is the big one that is bothering her)

Never doubt the Lord is listening! We love you all and thank you for your prayers.
‘Carrow 💜💜💜

This picture is right after treatment. She looks so big playing on her iPad drinking her Starbucks! Thank you to our friends for the Starbucks gift cards too!

Happy Monday!

We had a wonderful weekend at home. We enjoyed having our family whole for a few days. We spent Saturday at the ball park watching big sis play ball. Kayleigh was loved on by teams from everywhere. Even teams that don’t know us personally but have just seen her story were sporting “Praying for Kayleigh” signs! I have to say, the travel softball scene can be a pretty competitive place, but these past two weekends it’s been a family to us as well. Team colors haven’t mattered and it has been amazing.

Sunday we enjoyed church and family and this morning we loaded up and headed back to Memphis. We are now waiting for some lab work to be done and then the first radiation treatment is scheduled for 1:30.

Please pray that the radiation works far better than the doctors think is possible. They tell us radiation cannot fix this but we know God is bigger so we are praying that it does! We are also praying that Kayleigh feels well and does not have any adverse side effects. We want every day to be a great day!

I will update again tonight. Love to you all!
‘Carrow 💜

Radiation plans are complete!

We have finalized all the plans to have radiation start on Monday! Kayleigh will have 6 weeks of radiation Monday-Friday. If she is feeling well each week we can come home on the weekends! We are also starting to wean her off of the high dose of steroids. We are thankful that the steroids have helped her so much but she really doesn’t need to stay at such a high dose if we can help it.

Now how about a cool thing? Tuesday, when our radiology consult was moved out, Tim and I were a little concerned about it delaying treatment. That being said, we both agreed that God’s timing is always perfect so we knew there was a reason even if we couldn’t see it. As you all know from yesterday’s post, we had our radiology consult yesterday and that doctor fast tracked everything through to keep us on schedule. Come to find out today the doctor we saw yesterday is the chair of the radiation oncology department. I guess that explains why everyone was so happy to do what he asked! Thank you Lord for allowing us a little glimps of how you are working for us behind the scenes!

We are very much looking forward to being home this weekend. We’ve all missed the big kids and we know they have missed us. We are planning to have another memory filled weekend!

Prayer requests for this weekend – that we will be able to lower the steroid dose and Kayleigh still feel good. That her symptoms will all stay at bay and she will get to have a great weekend. And of course – for healing!

Thank you all for your prayers. They are felt and very much appreciated. We also want to say thank you to our wonderful town of Hartselle, AL. We have had so much love and support from the entire community. We came home and all the mailboxes in our neighborhood had purple ribbons. The local schools have had fundraisers and Relay for Life walks in Kayleigh’s honor. Multiple teams have worn her number and initials. Local businesses have set up fundraisers. Friends have committed to running the St Jude 1/2 marathon in her honor. And the list goes on and on. Tonight the entire high school football team, cheerleaders, mascots and fans were wearing purple for the spring jamboree game. We cannot thank everyone enough.

We love you all,
‘Carrow 💜

Thank you Lord for another day!

As you can tell from my earlier posts Kayleigh was able to have her radiation consult today! We are so thankful that her doctors took action to get treatment moving quickly. Today’s visit was to have her face molded for her radiation mask which will hold her head perfectly still during treatment and to have the CT scan which allows the doctor to precisely pinpoint the correct dosage and location for the radiation. This was the first visit that Kayleigh had to do without either of us in the room with her. She handled it like a pro, charming the staff all the while. Tomorrow we meet with her neuro oncologist to finalize plans and her first radiation treatment should be Monday.

Our prayer requests for Kayleigh are many
1.) for complete healing
2.) for radiation to help the symptoms
3.) for the radiation to not cause bad side effects
4.) for a long, full, happy life

This path is not an easy one. We love our precious girl so very much. We long for healing and the restoring of her health. We thank all of you for praying with us – that we will see a miracle! We also pray Kayleigh’s story will reach many with the love of Jesus and fill people with hope. We rejoice in the Lord always, even when we cannot see what is around the next bend. We know God is in control!

Love,
‘Carrow 💜

Kayleigh is in radiology now. We met with the radiologist and he wants to get started as soon as possible. She is having her mask made now and will be having a CT scan shortly to decide the radiation dosage. Please continue to cover her in prayers. Prayers for peace for all of us. Prayers for a scan that is better than expected. Prayers for God to show up and do amazing things. Prayers for any way God directs you to pray.

Thank you for standing with us. Our faith in Jesus is our anchor and all of your prayers are keeping us steady. God is good, all the time.

Love,
‘Carrow 💜