Friday, February 6, 2009

"V is for Vomet!"

There is a wall on the way to the Kay Kafe that has each letter of the alphabet on a 3'x5' board. They have taken kids own writing and put what each letter stands for in the hospital. We have now understood the "V" word and spelled it for you just as the child wrote it. This cancer stuff is not for the squeemish. Devree had her first radiation which is at the highest level of radiation that is allowed and now has 32 sessions left. She did the "V" word about 12 times last night, but was finally able to sleep. I think we are going to have a celebration for when she is 1/4 done, 1/3 done, 1/2 done...you get the idea. First thing this morning I called to see if we could get some medication to help her. So I talked to Todd this morning and we are going to ask all of you to pray that we might find the right combination of medication to help with the vomitting.

She has another session this afternoon and we are going to try not eating a few hours before and definitely not eating a dessert after the session like we did yesterday. The book suggests not eating for a couple of hours after too. At this rate Devree will be a skeleton before we are through.

Did I tell you that the Catholic church donated the land for the Target Houses for $1? That is why it is about 5 miles from the hospital but that is really cool.

Yesterday I got to meet the famous Dr. Gajarr! He is back from India and I shook his hand and told him how grateful I was for him getting the ball rolling and having Tabitha get things done so we could be at St. Jude's. He was very humble and such a nice individual. He asked Devree how she was too.

I have to tell you something funny that Devree did when she was going to be put under for her lumbar puncture. Being the mom I try to get her to talk to see if she is concerned or worried about any of the things happening to her. We had already talked and she said she wasn't nervous or concerned but then while we are waiting she gets this really concerned look on her face. I asked "Devree are you okay?" She replied, "I just realized that I didn't clean out my P.E. locker and I left my tennis shoes in there!" She then explains that she is sharing with another girl. I told her that we can get Noble to ask the girl to give him the shoes.

5 comments:

walkinourshoes said...

Aunt Danawn will call Grandma and Grandpa Rice. We will all pray that the Dr. will find the proper meds.
Love, Koe

Ky and Tammie plus 7 said...

Oh Miss Devree....I am sure your PE clothes are not bothering your locker partner!!
Gosh how we all love you. I hate to hear about the throwing up all the time! That is miserable.

So each time you have the radiation I am visualizing that the radiation is the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force all entering your body and attacking the enemy! One by one killing each cancer cell until they are all gone. The mission is a big one but they are trained and can handle it. Especially with so many people praying and fasting the cancer cells don't stand a chance.

Hang in there Devers....

Love,
Aunt Tammie

Shana Hamblin said...

That is a good visualization for killing the cancer Aunt Tammie. We will try each time to think of that.
Love, Devree and Shana

tammyella said...

oh my dera, that's horrible!!!!!! ugh, throwing up really sucks. boy, you ARE gonna be a skeleton!!! haha was it scary going throught the radiation for the first time? did it hurt at all??? well, i hope for your first celebration maybe i can come see you!!!! i miss you so much, and i really wnt to see you my dear!!!! love you!!!!!!

~Teri

Powla said...

yuck

The "V" word really sucks, doesn't it.

Even though I may not post every day, I check this site every day, pray every day, and will specifically pray for as little "vomet" as possible. I loved the analogy of the armed forces coming in to take care of BIZness. What needs to be done is being done, just hang in there and let it do its work.

I think about you every day, and so do my kids. Skyla had a dream recently about Devree, but didn't tell me the specifics. Only that it had a happy ending with us all going to church and getting together, but Devs wasn't there and Skyla was really worried and upset because Devree was missing, but all of a sudden the door opened and Devree walked in and said really loudly, "I'm here! And I'm okay!"