Molly Margaret's Miracle

Hey friends – thank you so much for praying us through yesterday. Truly, it’s the only reason we could put one foot in front of the other. Yesterday was tough. I’m not even sure if I can pinpoint why, it was just sucky. We had a really rough night heading into a super long day and felt fried on all fronts. It was so sweet to be able to look at our prayer room and see specific names who were praying for us from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed. We always know people are praying but to be able to see names written on times and know we were covered in prayer in an exact moment was so incredible. So, thank you. Each time we were walking through a tough moment at the hospital yesterday I would pull up the prayer room and immediately feel peace knowing those specific people were praying us through those moments. You prayed us through moments you didn’t even know we needed prayed through and we’re so grateful.

As these long treatment days tend to go, everything took longer than expected and there was lots of waiting. Molly Margaret was a champ and just kept rolling with the punches. We finally headed home around 8:30pm. If you’ve been praying for rest – THANK YOU. Last night was a much better night and we all woke up feeling a tad more refreshed today. And today was good. Molly Margaret seems happy and playful. No apparent nausea or major side effects as of yet. We’re thankful to have made it through the first 24 hours post chemo – please keep praying us through the next few days as there is often a delayed effect. That was our experience with Round 1 – days 4-6 post chemo seemed to be our hardest.

Tomorrow afternoon we have an appointment with Immunology. This doctor has not yet seen Molly Margaret. There is a particular medicine that is often given for OMS but because of one of MM’s levels we’re really trying to evaluate and weigh out the benefits of this medicine vs. the risks. Please pray for clarity and wisdom. That it would be apparent what the next move is and how to best care for Molly Margaret’s individual situation. That the doctor would see Molly Margaret and her individual needs, not just another patient, and be able to help give input to our OMS teams at Duke and Boston. That everyone would be in agreement with the next right step. While we’re there she’ll also get the shot to boost her white blood cell production. She is becoming increasingly suspicious of everyone in the building (can’t blame her) so even the smallest thing can be really hard. We aren’t able to explain to her what’s happening and why which is hard in these situations. Pray that this would be quick, easy and not traumatic.

Specific requests:

• Protection over Molly Margaret’s body that this medicine would do its job and nothing more. That she wouldn’t experience any side effects. That she would be able to rest well.
• Immunology Appointment tomorrow (12/8) – for wisdom and discernment and a clear path forward whether to give or not give a particular medicine as part of MM’s OMS treatment.
• For a quick, easy and non traumatic experience getting the white blood cell shot tomorrow.
• That Molly Margaret’s counts would stay up and no transfusions or other intervention would be necessary this go round.
• For the countless children and families we see every day we’re at the hospital. It breaks our hearts seeing other families walking through the unimaginable. Yesterday, we got to hear the victory bell ring twice. Meaning two families are on the other side of cancer – PRAISE GOD. I cried both times. We pray that bell rings off the hook and every family we see gets to experience the joy of hearing the words “cancer free”. Let it be, God.

Thank you for praying. Thank you for standing in the gap for us. It’s hard to explain what these days look like and all of the emotions we’re experiencing. It’s one of those “you don’t know unless you know” kind of things and if you don’t know we pray you never do. This middle part is hard. The in between feels long and challenging. But we keep going. Praise God we don’t have to do it on our own strength. If that were the case we never would’ve made it out of the ER that very first day. And yet here we are. Still standing. Still pressing forward. Still worshipping a good God who is in total and complete control. Thank you, Lord.

• Neal, Mackenzie & Molly Margaret 🙂