Fasten Your Seat Belts ...

Saskia had her 6th chemo session as from Tuesday 10 March till Thursday 13 March and all went reasonably well. The last day she felt very nauseous, but she was still allowed home on the Thursday.

Saskia stayed home over that weekend to rest and relax and felt good enough to go to school on Monday. Tuesday 17 March she had to be in hospital again for a blood test and although her platelet count was very low (14) she was allowed to go home without a blood transfusion. However the day after we took her earlier out of school as she did not feel too good and had developed a little fever. Back to hospital it was where she stayed until last Saturday. During this last stay in hospital, she was also educated a little about what lays ahead and she is a little anxious so to speak.

The next couple of weeks/months will be the heaviest and most difficult part of her treatment.
On 15 April she will be admitted in hospital for an operation. This operation is aimed to remove the bits of (dead) tumour which are still left in her neck as well as all of the gland/lymph nodes in that area. There are basically 5 areas of gland/lymph nodes on either side of the neck and all of those areas (bar one) on the left side will be removed. This is done to ensure that the cancer cannot come back through these channels in this area. One of the downsides of this operation is that it is likely that her left neck muscle has to be removed as some of those glands apparently hide in there or very close by.
After Saskia will have been recovered from that operation, she will receive between 5 and 8 days of high-dose chemotherapy which is aimed at destroying any left-over active cancer cells and most of her bone marrow.
Straight after that she will receive her stem cell transplant for which she has to remain in hospital for due to various daily checks and observations to ensure that the transplant has actually worked.
After recovery, she will receive another three weeks of radiation. This can most likely be done as an outpatient, but it requires daily visits to the hospital.

As you can imagine she is really not looking forward to all this. Although she has had a few "dirt roads", a couple of "detours" and several flat tires along this journey, the path that lays ahead is more like "fasten your seat belts ... rough terrain and bad weather ahead ....".
There are a couple of other practical challenges as well. After having been absent from work for 7 months it is time for me to return to work (bills need to be paid). We will reduce the opening hours of our little restaurant so that Melanie can spend more time with all the kids. And we are still waiting on the return of Shaun and the visa approvals for my in-laws, which places quite a bit of additional anxiety to all of us.

I am not skilled to understand

What God has willed, what God has planned;

I only know that at His right hand

Is one Who is my Saviour!

"There is no reason to be sad..."

I told Saskia the other day that we as parents were very proud of her in the way she keeps herself, that even in the midst of things, she never is too upset for too long. She said that there is nothing to be sad about and that it is of no use to cry about something you cannot change.

These words just blew my mind away as you expect this type of response from an adult. She is an amazingly strong little person. If more people (adults) would have more of the attitude Saskia portrays, I reckon the world would be a much better place.

The results of the tests of the previous weeks came back yesterday and we are reservetly happy with the outcome. The tumour in her neck has shrunk substantially and the left-over bits don't show any sign of active Neuroblastoma. The C2 vertebrae however still has active cancer in it. Although the cancerous area in her vertebrae has reduced, it is not gone yet. The overall good news is that there is still no sign of any cancer elsewhere in her body.
The treating team is happy with the progress and says that this outcome is as good as it can get and that the rest of the treatment will take care of her vertebrae. So I guess we have to be happy with the progress as well, even though we would have liked that there was no longer any active cancer.

On Tuesday Saskia will receive her sixth cycle of chemotherapy for which she has to stay 3 days in hospital for. After she has recovered from this, she will be operated to remove all of the left-over bits and all of the gland nodes on the left side of her neck. Thereafter she will receive another chemo treatment which targets the bone marrow, followed by a stem cell transplant and radiation.

We are still not there yet, but "there is no reason to be sad....".
Please continue to pray for Saskia and all who care for her.