Round 2 Continues
Good day to all of Catie’s prayer warriors,
The miracle continues! Every day that Catie is still with us is a gift and a testament to God’s providence in our lives. He has a plan to keep her here with us so that we can keep learning from her and through her. Round 2 has progressed better than Round 1, and we are again grateful for all of your prayers because we KNOW that they are the difference. Prayer is always the difference between horrible and acceptable, between acceptable and good, and between good and outstanding. Prayer is the difference even between 2 things that appear similar because prayer can change how we accept those things, and that makes a huge difference.
Catie has received all of her Chemotherapy for Round 2 and is currently resting in preparation for her stem-cell infusion tomorrow, (Wednesday). She is a bit tired and has to this point eaten only mashed potatoes since Friday, however some of her lethargy and desire to sleep is a result of some lingering anxiety that she has about receiving the stem-cells. In round 1, she received bone marrow and it made her pretty sick, this time she will be receiving stem-cell infusion of the donation she made 2 weeks ago during her pheresis. Since it is an “unknown”, there is some anxiety to it. It is our prayer that by tomorrow night when we return to Target House she will be calm, happy, and ready to eat her 1400 calories.
Thursday, we will be taping Catie saying, “On your mark, Get set, Go!” for all of the runners/walkers in the “Catie Run” this coming Saturday at the Mechanicsburg High School. Please keep her in your prayers that the “real Catie” comes across on the screen and the joy that she has in her heart bursts through on her face and that the Catie 1000 kilowatt smile is operating at full power. After that, we will enjoy the two days together before I return to Mechanicsburg for the race. Between the 15th and the 24th, Catie and Christine will buckle down and try to keep Catie infection and fever free and gaining weight. On the 25th, the O’Briens and many of the Closkeys will all be together in Memphis for Thanksgiving, and will celebrate all that we have to be thankful for, Catie’s continued recovery, Christine’s terrific job in keeping her safe and healthy, the health and well-being of the other kids, Megan’s choice to step up and take on her numerous responsibilities, and all of you who have made so much of what we are facing tolerable. We also should be getting the results of the next MRI and lumbar puncture on the 25th and are confident that we will have good results to be thankful for as well.
We will continue to keep you all posted as we journey with Catie. Thank you for joining us and for keeping us in your prayers. We in turn will keep all of you in our prayers and look forward to hearing from you. Please continue to sign Catie’s guestbook and light those candles.
Love and God bless,
Christine, Kevin, Maggie, Max, Catie, Mia, Molly, and M.E.
