We just were admitted again to Community Hospital for the next round of Chemotherapy.  Kassidy is in very good spirits and looking forward to NOT staying in her bed and being able to get around and do things while she gets Chemo this time.  She is feeling so much better that she is getting bored at times now! Thank God that she feels this good! Dr. Fisher came in today and said she looks wonderful and whatever we are doing to keep doing it!  She looked at Kassidy's amputation site and was amazed!  She said most kids don't heal while they are receiving Chemotherapy.  Only one other time has she seen a kid heal while getting Chemo and Kassidy is only the second one she has seen....and then the doctor said that only God could make that happen...and we believe that God has healed the cancer as well!!

We are praying that Chance will start feeling better soon and that the fevers will go away.  Kassidy sent Brian a text this morning on our way to the hospital.  She enjoyed that, but hates that Chance is feeling bad.

Pray that Kassidy's chemo goes as well this time as last and no vomiting, sickness or fevers. And the continued healing of her body.

Tammy, Danny, Kassidy and Courtney

Kassidy had another good day yesterday.  We had several visitors and she talked with everyone.  She got around alot yesterday also.  She wanted to go outside, which we did several times during the day so she could watch what everyone else was doing.  While in the house she used her wheelchair and followed all of us around.  Finally she is tired of  sitting in her recliner and not doing anything.  Thank God!!  Today she wants to go to the movies and all of us are going!! I thank God that she feels like getting out and doing things.  It's nice to have the whole family going places together again.  All the bad things seem like distant memories right now.  Even Kassidy said the same thing last night, that it seems like such a long time ago.  But we will enjoy today and get ready to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning. We praise God that he has given us good days and Kassidy is feeling so good!!

We had an excellent day yesterday.  We got out of the hospital around 11am and from there we went to Mill Mountain Zoo.  Kassidy was feeling so much better that we thought we would enjoy the beautiful day!  We had such a good time.  It was good to see her enjoy herself and get out in the sun.  We then came home where we had gotten a new Nintendo Wii.  I thought this would be great for Kassidy when she was sitting at home.  Her and Courtney played for hours! It was great to hear her laugh and having fun!!  She got up and moved around more than she had in a long time.  I can't begin to tell you what a great day it was!! We are home today and tomorrow and then we head back to Roanoke for the next round of Chemo.  Kassidy will start that on Wed and will receive a treatment every day for 5 days again.  Pray that she does as well this time as she did the last time...no vomiting, no nausea and feeling good!

And so today we did not get to go home because of the fevers last night.  So today we thought we would be able to go home tomorrow, but then this afternoon Kassidy again spiked another fever (101.6) and they did more blood cultures.  But she is feeling better now.  Last night she threw up and her NG tube came out.  We spoke with the doctors and Kassidy wanted to try it without her tube.  As long as she can take her medicine and continues to eat that is not a problem.  So we tried today, slow start this morning getting the meds down but now she has been eating and taking her medicines regularly.  That is wonderful and she has been in charge of this decision, she knew what she had to do and she has done it.  We are so proud of her!! She got in the wheelchair and we went outside today, went down and saw her new cousin that was born here the other day (Thomas Shane Foster), and strolled around the hospital (of course to the gift shop for more stuffed animals) and came back to her room.  She has been doing so good.  Very positive, did her physical therapy by herself, laughing, joking and being her enjoyable old self.  Tomorrow we are going to watch the Festival in the Park.  The park is right across the road and from the 10th floor we look right down in the park.  We can even hear the music playing, it's not real clear but we can still hear a little of it.  Kassidy got out of bed by herself, went to the window and watched today as they sat everything up.  It's amazing that even the smallest thing  (like the color of a tractor trailer rig) is big excitement.  It's exciting that she is up and looking out the window and watching instead of lying in the bed sleeping.  That alone is wonderful and we can sit for hours looking out that window and marveling at the most insignificant details but I wouldn't trade that time for all the money in the world.  That time is priceless!!  Hopefully we can leave tomorrow but since the fever today I'm not sure if we will have to stay longer again.  So, I will let you know tomorrow.  Until then, slow down...take your time and enjoy you family!

Our condolences to Lynchburg Academy on the death of their gymnastics coach.  God be with you during these tough times. Our prayers are with your gym and his family.

Well, we were having a good day yesterday morning.  Kassidy slept good through the night on Monday night and had visitors Monday morning.  She was in a good mood, laughing and being her old self! Then after lunch she finally went to sleep and when she woke up she told me she thought she needed to go to the hospital...she then said her eyes were burning...I knew that meant she had a fever.  So, back we came to the intensive care unit to be monitored.  She is receiving 2 different antibiotics and last night she received one unit of blood and one unit of platelets because her counts were so low.  This morning her platelets were still low so she got a second unit of those.  All was going well, they sent us to the 10th floor around 3pm.  Then about an hour ago she started running a fever again of 101.  So, we are back to getting blood cultures and waiting to see the results from that.  Earlier, the Dr. had said they thought we would get out of the hospital tomorrow, but with the fever spiking again, I'm not sure now.  I guess we will wait and see.  I know that when we do leave she will have to have antibiotics again by IV at home.  We are getting pretty used to that and Kassidy actually flushes her lines to her port and hooks up the Antibiotics and when it's done she flushes her lines again.  She is even putting her own medicine down her NG tube also.  She likes to be in control of what she is getting and that is good.  She keeps everyone straight.  We have seen her still in a better mood today and she is determined now that she is going to beat this cancer more than ever before!!  It's still very up and down with how she is feeling.  One hour she can be sitting up joking and laughing and the next hour she feels really bad.  Alot of that is from her counts going up and down and so we just hold on and work through the times she is feeling bad because we know we will see that million dollar smile again shortly.  Pray that the fevers go away and that her counts go back up. 

I hope that Chance gets to come home tomorrow.  I know they were planning on it and I hope that works out for them.  My prayers go out to their family as well as they get to spend some family time together and hopefully will be at home soon!

Kassidy told us if we got on the computer tonight and emailed any body to tell them that she said hi, so "HI EVERYONE" from Kassidy.

Tammy,Danny, Kassidy and Courtney

Sorry we didn't update yesterday....we had such a good day that we were just enjoying our time together!!  Kassidy felt so good yesterday.  We went out for several hours, Kassidy talked with some friends, took lots of pics and just had a good time!  She ate very well and just overall felt so much better!  She got up yesterday and used the walker to get all the way through the house to the shower, took a shower and used the walker to get all the way back to the living room!!  She just smiled and was so proud of  herself for being able to get around!  It brought tears to our eyes! She was pretty well wiped out last night but we all felt a sense of accomplishment with how well things went!! Today she woke up in a good mood, little nauseated but that seems to be going away.  She said today, "You know Mom, I used to think Cancer was just for old people.  But that's OK...I'm still smiling".  She has so much courage and strength! She is an inspiration to me, Danny and anyone else who meets her!  Today we go to Roanoke for blood counts, that hopefully are still good.  She gets her Neupogen shots to increase her blood counts once a day.  But sometimes she still has low counts and has to have a blood transfusion.  But we are going to get ready to go now and pray that her counts are good and we get to come back home. You never know when you go if she is going to have to be admitted or if we have favor and get to come home.  So pray for favor that we get to come home and enjoy this beautiful day!

This is the first time we have went to the hospital, scheduled to be admitted, received the chemo and actually got out of the hospital as scheduled!!  Gosh, that sure did feel good.  Kassidy never did throw up from the chemo this time which has been wonderful!  She was ready to come home today and she has eaten so well!!  This morning she had fruit ( of course) and then at lunch she has eaten spaghetti and fruit. Hallelujah for prayers answered.  She has been in better spirits today, sitting up laughing and smiling.  Of course then she sleeps for several hours and hopefully will wake up in a good mood again.  If she continues to eat she will not have to have the feeds by the NG tube.  She hates the feeds!! She likes getting her medicines through her tube though...that way she doesn't have to swallow them.  But she is trying to swallow them when she can because eventually she wants to be able to have the NG tube out.  She is still doing well getting around and holding her balance on one leg. Courtney and I went to Check Elem. yesterday for the "Kuttings for Kassidy" to watch the kids get their heads shaved.  I taped some of it for Kassidy to see.  The cheerleaders did cheers, different people sang, they did a slide show,etc.  It was very emotional for us but so inspirational to see what these kids are doing for Kassidy.  Thanks to everyone at CES and all the kids there.  YOU ARE GREAT!!  And again, someone from the community stepped up to help us and mow the grass.  Thanks to Ray and Judy Vest for doing such a wonderful job....it might even look better than when Danny mows!!! Thanks to everyone for all their prayers and cards.  Pray that Kassidy has a good week, that her blood counts are good on Monday and Thurs, no fevers, and she continues to eat.  Pray that the chemo continues to work.

Tammy, Danny, Kassidy and Courtney

Kassidy had a good night last night (wed).  Danny stayed with her at the hospital and both of them actually got some good sleep.  Kassidy's blood pressure was up during the day yesterday but they think that was from all the fluids she was getting.  So they gave her some Lasix and then she just went to the bathroom alot to get rid of alot of the excess fluid.  Today she has had a good day.  Physical Therapy worked with her again and she stood today and walked a few steps with the help of a walker.  She did good with her exercises and is doing very well.  She just gets tired easily and usually sleeps afterwards but she does such a good job with her PT.  She has ate fruit again today and continues to drink even though she has that bad taste in her mounth from the Chemo.  That usually makes her not want to eat but so far she has not stopped wanting to try to eat.  She has been nauseated but has not thrown up at all this time.  Praise God!  She has her last treatment starting at 10a in the morning.  It will be close to midnight before it is totally finished.  So if things go OK then we will be going home Saturday morning!  YEAH!  And I don't think that she has to come back (except for blood work) for two weeks.  It will be great to be home and hopefully she will feel like trying to get up and around some more around the house.  She has to build her muscle's back up from being in the bed so long but she is doing so well now that I don't think it will take her long.  Contiue to pray for strength, and that the chemo continues to attack the cancer cells.

Yesterday we had such a good day.  So far the Chemo has not made Kassidy nauseated.  That is great...although the doctors said sometimes it takes until day 3 or 4 which today is day 3, so we will wait and see.  We just pray that she will not be sck this time around.  Yesterday she was feeling so good.  She woke up wanting something to eat.  She ate a pop-tart.  First real solid food in a long time.  Then Danny brought her a big fruit tray with grapes, pineapple, watermelon, strawberries and honeydew.  She ate almost the entire tray, alittle at a time, but at the end of the day we didn't have much left.  She played games and did a craft.  Then in the evening she asked to be ableto get in her wheelchair and get out of the room a little bit.  So we took a stroll around the floor.  And then the most amazing thing happened....she asked us to go get her a bacon cheeseburger and fries!!! And she ate over half the hamburger and some of the fries.  She ate more yesterday than she had in several months!! We had a great progressive day.  Rusty, from Va Prosthetics is suppose to come by today to get her leg ready for the prosthetic.  He stopped by Monday evening but had to reorder the stocking for Kassidy's leg.  Then when he gets the go ahead from the doctors saying her incision is healed he can go ahead and fit her for the prosthetic.  That is giving Kassidy something to look forward to.  She even did her Physical Therapy yesterday evening on her own...without PT telling her to!! But yesterday, she got up from the bed and balanced herself and stood on one leg all by herself.  I told Danny to look and Kassidy just smiled.  She knew she had made some progress then.  Overall the day was wonderful.  Kassidy did things she hadn't done before, was feeling good, smiling and joking.....words can't explain how great that felt.  Then last night everything caught up to her and she started having alot of pain.  She has been in alot of pain through the night...first time we have seen this since her surgery.  She is having phantom pain, where she still thinks her rt leg is there and hurts.  Eventually her nerve endings will know her leg is gone but for now they still tell her mind that there is pain.  Hard to get through that kind of pain but we are using some new nerve drugs and hopefully that will eventually help.  Right now she is sleeping comfortably, so I'm hoping that today will be another good day. Just want you to keep Clay Vest's family in your prayers during this hard time for them....but remember that Clay is walking with God on streets of gold...no pain, no fear, just happiness.  We miss them when they're gone but we know they are receiving their rewards in heaven!  God Bless the Vest family!

We arrived home late yesterday evening.  It took us almost as long in Roanoke getting Kassidy's prescriptions filled as it did to drive back from Richmond! This time she had 9 prescriptions to be filled.  We definately feel like a pharmacy now!  Kassidy did well through the night. Still having pain but we have been able to control it so far.  Last night of course Grandma and PaPa had to come see us as soon as we got home and Aunt Cathy, Sarah and Nichole.  Sarah and Nichole had their hair painted PINK!  Today we are expecting more visitors from Blacksburg and a special visitor this evening.  We saw the pretty in pink pictures  on the website.  That was cool!  Kassidy received a Vermont Teddy Bear from our friends at CNRVMC xray and it had on a pink sweatsuit, pink tennis shoes and had a pink duffle bag (that's where Kassidy is stashing her Jolly Ranchers candy!).  It's good to be home.  Hopefully we can continue to control the pain until Monday when we return to Roanoke for the next round of Chemo.  Thanks to Check Elem. staff for the food and groceries here waiting on us when we got home and thanks to Shake Smith from Auburn Baptist Church for mowing the grass for us. Thank you Lord for such good people in the world! Please pray for the tumors to respond to the new Chemo.

Tammy, Danny, Kassidy and Courtney

Well, I guess we are holding our own today.  Kassidy slept good last night, but again at 3am she was in severe pain.  That seems to be the magical hour, maybe that's when most medication has worn off...I don't know.  Then she will sleep good for awhile.  Today she has been having lots of muscle spasms and they are finally going to give her a muscle relaxer to help with that.  Also, again, her epidural had worked its way out and was not working.  So they took it out and we are hoping that the IV pain meds are all she is going to need.  We just keep adjusting and playing with the different meds to see what will help.   When she is awake, she has been in a pretty good mood.  Tomorrow we are suppose to go for the MRI of her left leg.  Please pray for good results...Dr. Foster will determine from that scan what he should do for that leg...unsure if chemo, bone replacement or another amputation will be necessary.  This cancer seems to be very aggresive and the more we can remove now the better.  Kassidy has even made the comment that she didn't care what happened to her other leg as long as she was still here.  She cried the other night and said she didn't want to die.  I think that is the first time she has even mentioned that possiblility, but I'm glad she's willing to do whatever is needed.  She has been so strong.  Today she said she was glad that her leg was gone because she thought she was going to be able to do more with one leg then what she was ever going to do with two!!  That's positive thinking and lots of faith!  God is definitely working through this amazing little girl.

Tammy

Yesterday we had such a good day with Kassidy laughing, smiling and making jokes.  Then around 2am this morning she was in severe pain.  The doctors had given her so much pain med that they were worried about her breathing stopping.  This afternoon they moved her to a pediatric care unit where they have her on a monitor.  She is doing better with the pain, but we are finding out that some of the medicines when mixed together are causing her vision to blur and her speech to be slurred.  We are trying to figure out what combinations work and doesn't make her too loopy!  We will stay in the unit for now and hopefully can go back to a regular room tomorrow if we can get things under control.  I will try to update again tomorrow.  Hope for a good night!

Tammy, Danny, Kassidy and Courtney

We had a great night last night.  Kassidy was in a good mood, drinking alot still in pain but the nurses did a great job keeping in control.  Our nurse (Rachael) last night was wonderful.  She got Kassidy's ports accessed again so that the other nurses could draw labs through it instead of sticking her agian.  Kassidy is doing so good, it's nice to see her smile and laugh again.  She even joked around with Dr. Foster this morning when he came in.  He asked about her pain and she had a big smile and said "well, at least my knee don't hurt".  She is handling this very well!  I've told her so many times how proud I am of her because she is being so brave and strong.  It's not as bad as we thought it would be to see her without a leg and she even said that herself, that it wasn't as bad as she thought either.  We are going to go to xray today for more tests and I think Kassidy is looking forward to getting out of the room a little bit.  I will try to update again later.

Tammy

Well, we survived another day.  Kassidy had her surgery and amputation about half way up her upper leg.  Kassidy came back to her room, awake and actually smiling....she was in good spirits and even joked around a little.  She is sleeping now but in and out from all the medicines she has had today.  She is having pain from the surgery but it doesn't seem to be as bad but we are still struggling to control it.  The pain management team here is wonderful and does everything they can to get the patients comfortable.  Dr. Foster came and talked to us after surgery.  Basically we have to wait for the pathology reports to know if he went high enough to get all the cancer.  If not she will have surgery again and remove the rest of her rt side from her hip.  He is concerned that her left knee has gotten worse.  Apparently the chemo is not working as well as the doctors thought.  He has ordered lots more tests,, like CT,MRI,Bone scans,etc. to determine how much is in the left leg now and if it is anywhere else in her body.  After those tests are done he will talk with the doctors in Roanoke and they will form a plan to continue her care. They may do different types of chemo drugs, may have to do more surgery or try to do other things.  Again we are standing at that crossroad, waiting for answers to what path we take.  Waiting....the hardest thing to do.....but while we wait we will pray for favor for Kassidy , strength and endurance to continue our fight.

Well, we had the orthopedic doctor tell Kassidy this afternoon about losing her leg.  Of course she was stunned and cried very hard. She asked alot of questions and tried to understand what was happening.  She is scared, she cried that she didn't want to have one leg, she wouldn't be able to do anything anymore, etc.   The doctors and us tried to reinforce that she could live a normal, productive life and even do some sports.  She even smiled when Daddy told her that she could go play golf with him!!!  Danny, Kassidy, Courtney and I all joined hands and prayed. Danny said a wonderful prayer and then he had Kassidy receit a prayer after him.  She kissed all of us, told us she  loved us and we told her we loved her.  She closed her eyes, looked so peaceful and went to sleep.  She is resting peacefully and handled the news much better than any of us did.  We always said she had more faith than the rest of us and she is proving that!  She is a strong willed girl and of strong faith.  Praise God for her having that strong of faith!!  This helps us all be a little stronger.  Pray for favor that the MRI scans do not show that the cancer has spread anymore than before on her left leg. Pray for strength and understanding for the entire family. 

Well again our life has changed in an instant.   Today, Kassidy went to surgery to see why her knee was so swollen.  Dr. Foster made an incision and the tumor started spilling out of her skin.  All live cells, so he closed that spot and came to talk to us.  The tumor has completely taken over her knee.  At this point our only option is to amputate her leg.  They are going to do some x-rays and scans to determine how far up they have to go, but we hope they can leave a good amount for later when she needs prosthesis.  Needless to say we are stunned, devastated, numb...words can't describe how we feel.  Now is the time we ask WHY? I know God has a plan but it’s so hard to see that right now.  Some friends are bringing Courtney to us so that we can be the ones to tell her.  I know she will go to pieces! And I can't even begin to think about how we are going to tell Kassidy!  I hope that she sees that the pain will be gone and that she can still live a very productive life...but she may not see that right now!  Pray that the other areas she had cancer in have improved.  Pray that the tumors on the left knee have not got larger.  Pray for strength for Kassidy, Danny, Courtney and myself!  And that we have the ability to talk with Kassidy and Courtney about this to show them that this will hopefully save her life by getting rid of the main cancer site. Don't even know what else can be said...just pray!