Liz is doing great!

So far ... So good! We finally were able to go past day 29 on July 8th and it felt wonderful. Once in the second half of the phase the first obstacle she faced was the dreaded Ara-stikin-C chemo which this time around we can proudly take out the stinkin in AraC. She has done exceptionally well on this drug this time. If I understood the docs correctly, Liz was the first patient to go to camp while on AraC. Camp, that would be the next obstacle which she hurdled with ease.

Every year Children's hosts a Hematology/Oncology Camp out at Camp Joy for one week. The teens on the floor were pretty excited about going out there and just being together. Liz was the only one in question at the time and it looked pretty unlikely that she would be able to go. However, as it turned out Liz did get to go. We took her out on Sun., picked her up on Tues., for her lumbar puncture with IT Methotrexate (chemo in the spine) and her second round of AraC. We were going to take her back to camp if she felt good but needless to say she was down for the count and finally got out of bed around 7 pm. Liz did go back to camp Wed. morning and finished out the week when we then picked her up at 10:00 am Friday. It was fun for her and Joel to get away and feel (in her words) normal. She was sad that Leah, Alex, Critter, and Bobby were not able to make it to the camp because they were too sick and/or in the hospital. Next year will be a fun year at camp and she can not wait to share it with all her friends.

Next obstacle was the kick-off for Light the Night that evening, July 17. Your prayers are amazing because she beat this one too. Actually we took advantage of the fact her counts were still so high and went straight down to the Zoo, ran to Melissa G's house to freshen up before going to Willie's on the river for the start of the kick-off. Liz and Joel both spoke as the Honored Hero's of Mason for Light the Night, September 17 at 7:00 p.m. If you would like to donate in honor of these two to the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society, go to my website at http://pages.lightthenight.org/soh/ButlerCo09/clothrop look for their faces to be on a billboard on 71/75. There will be a little girl named Rachel in the photo too, she is the hero for Sawyer Point. The night ended with a victory and Friday night fireworks at the Red's game. It was so much fun for all the volunteers of the LLS and for the Brown's and Lothrop family.

The third obstacle remains to be be seen, we will find out after her blood draw on Monday. There is a fundraiser at Shooters in Loveland for Liz and Leah. We know that Leah will not be able to attend but are praying Lizzy's counts are good and she will be able to come. If you need a flyer, it is in a post about three back. Print if off and come out to eat and have a good time. Hope to see you there.

On to the rest of this phase. We are down to two more weeks of chemo and one week of recovery time ....hahaha ...... last recovery time was a month delay. Her platelets started dropping at the end of camp so I am pretty sure she will be needing platelets next week at some point. If all goes as planned she will go into Interim Maintenance #2 Aug. 4th. I am getting a little emotional typing this. I am beginning to see the home stretch. Liz has "fought the good fight" and we are seeing the end of the year and the end of this toughest part of the treatment coming to an end. Don't get me wrong, we still have a good five months of ups and downs but we are seeing the end of the toughest part. 8.5 months ago we could not see past the next five minutes and now we are looking into a bright and wonderful future. I will stop now before I ramble on even more. But I really can not even begin to put into words the love and support we have received for all of you. The only way to know what we are feeling is to experience it and as awful as it has been, we have been blessed a hundred times more.

Thank you and we love and feel blessed for each and everyone of you.
Blessings,
Christine