Bds fundraiser

Come out and help raise awarness for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society; also 10% of your dinning bill will be donated to the Brown and Lothrop Families. Please print out the flyer and bring it with you to Bds.

Thanks for your continued support and we will have a great time. Hope to see you there ~ Blessings ~ Christine

First day of High School! The beginning and the end ;-)

6:30 a.m start time 12:30 p.m. end on the couch
She had a great day!

The good and the bad of it.

Great weekend!
Today: clinic day, long day, sick day, pain day, scary day, too exhausted to think, going to bed.
Please pray:
for side effects to subside,
for a peaceful and restful night,
Elizabeth spirit to return,
for the newly diagnosed on A5 South,
God's will to always be present in our hearts.
God bless ~ Christine

Biden comforts ill boy, family | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Thought you might like to read this. This was a special time for Alex.

Biden comforts ill boy, family | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

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Update on Alex

We are tremendously saddened at the Lothrop house upon learning that Alex has passed away. Alex died at his home with family and friends by his side last Thursday, Aug. 13 and his funeral was yesterday, Tuesday Aug. 18th.
Alex was a bright and vibrant 13 year old that will be missed by everyone he came in contact with and achingly missed by his family.
Please lift up Dale, Sally, and their two daughters in prayer and pray that somewhere in the depths of their anguish they will find peace and comfort from our Lord. They are strong believers but even the strongest of faith can be shaken with the death of a child.
In Christ's name I pray ~ Christine

and on and on and on!

Please continue to pray for Liz and her side effects from the chemo. She is still experiencing headaches, body pain, and joint pain. Her spirits have fallen and she has spent a few hours in tears this evening. I am really at a loss when this happens because she is always a happy go lucky person. When you want to go to Yost just to get out you know things are bad.
Please keep her in your prayers, she has a lot of things coming up that she would like to do, Heritage Festival, her birthday, freshman orientation, and the first day of school.
Thank you for your faithfulness.
Blessings ~ Christine

Weekend update

Well, as you know Liz started her Interim Phase II on Aug. 13. The blessing in her delay is that we had a family reunion the weekend of the 8th at our house and she was well enough to partake in all the great and crazy things my family finds to do. She also was well enough to meet extended family, Lisa Rowell and her son Aaron, from VT and went to KI and had a great time before she entered into this "easier phase."

I hope this phase gets better because it has not been easy so far. We did have an unexpected trip to Children's last night where she received fluids for hydration, compazine for nausea, vomiting and migraine, and ketorolac for pain. She started to feel good about 1/2 hour into the treatment and fell asleep. We were home between 12 and 1 a.m this morning and she slept the rest of the morning until about 11:00 a.m. I am praying that she is on the upward trend.

Thank you for you continued prayers in this journey.

Blessings ~ Christine

Best Put by Rob Stoneberger

Rob is a teacher at Sycamore J.H. He is battling his own demon of cancer. You can follow his journey and gain strength from his wisdom. I do. http://www.carepages.com/carepages/StoneysNews/updates/2298701?client_code=default&ipc=mur

Below is something he wrote and he said it so eloquently and it is 100% right on that I felt I had to share it with you because it goes for anything in life that you are dealing with, not just cancer. Insert your own demon into the place of cancer.

"Some days dealing with cancer is 90% mental. It works on your hopes and dreams, your fears and anxieties. Today was not that day. Today felt 100% physical. I feel like I was in a fight with an invisible enemy. I guess from the exterior that is exactly what is going on. I am fighting an enemy within myself that none can see and only I can feel its presence. Luckily, I also have an ally that is equally invisible but 100x’s as strong that never leaves my side. Unlike cancer, everyone around me can feel my ally’s presence. Needless to say it is God."

I know Liz feels like this so much of the time and as a parent, I relate to this feeling of isolation, fears, and anxieties. It goes on within and seldom is let out to rear its ugly head. But I know my ally is bigger than anything life can throw at me.

Keep lifting us up in prayer; God hears you!

Blessings,
Christine

Not feeling so well

Liz has been having a rough time since starting this phase on Thursday. She is experiencing emesis (I use this word for the sake of my husband, otherwise it is known to the common lay person as vomiting), bone and joint pain, abdominal pain, jaw ache, debilitating headaches, and leg cramping etc, etc, etc. They checked the cramping in her leg to make sure it was not a blood clot; they feel confident that it is not and went on with the treatment.

Please double up on your prayers for her; pray that the side effects subside and she remains out of the hospital. This phase is easier on her internal organs but makes her more sick with visible and physical side effects.

Thank you for being faithful to Liz and our family.

Blessings ~ Christine

Here we sit at Children's

Our day started at 5:30 a.m so Lizzy's first part of the morning in done, she has had her LP/IT Methotrexate (chemo in the spine) and it did not go so red hot. She is a tough one to get the fluids out of her spine sometimes on the first "stick" so consequently the doc had to stick hera few times in the lower part of the spine before it was good. I knew as soon as I heard this news that it was not going to be pretty for her. They are now giving her pain meds and anti-nausea meds before she receives her other two chemo's Vincristine and IV Methotrexate. Even though this is suppose to be an easier phase where school could be a possibility, I have been looking at her "road map" for the next 57 days and it has the potential to not be so good either. We started out this phase with a low ANC count, I hope that won't contribute or worsen any of the potential side effects. Please pray that her counts go up and remain at a level where she can start school and get reconnected before she is pulled out in Oct. for the rest of the year. It is now 1:50 p.m and we are going home. She has received all three of the chemos for today and we will be back tomorrow at 10:00 a.m for the rest of her chemo, the peg shots.

The ride home did not go well. She was blaming me for not feeling well, saying that it was my driving. HA, I am a darn good driver. Unfortunately she did get sick on the way home while in the fast lane. Of all times to forget the barf bucket! I felt really bad for her and she felt bad about the mess. I just pulled over and took take of what I could and now my wonderful husband is cleaning out the rest of the car. God did give me an amazing husband and terrific family. I do love my life, LIG!

Liz is such a brave and tough girl. Now I see why she excels in spots and academics. Nothing is going to stop her; may slow her down and cause some pain but it will not stop her. I am so proud of how she is dealing with her life being turned upside down and then for good measures, jumbled and scrambled after that. Seeing all of these kids on this floor is a life changing event/ordeal. I am so amazed by their spirit. This little boy in the recovery room with Liz was so concerned with her and why she was not waking up and what was wrong with her. He knows Liz but did not recognize her without hair, he is only about four.

Please continue to pray for minimal side effects of these nasty chemo's, her counts to stay high, and she is able to attend Spirit Day and start school, also you can go to our team website for Light the Night and sign up to walk with Joel, Liz. and our families at http://pages.lightthenight.org/soh/ButlerCo09/clothrop

Blessings,
Christine

Life is always good!

Westhoven Family Reunion Aug. 7-10, 2009


Just wanted to give everyone a quick up-date on Elizabeth. She is doing great and has ended her Delayed Intensification I Phase. We are now waiting for her counts to come up so we can continue and go on to Interim Phase II. She was suppose to start this phase on Aug. 4, but her platelet count was only at 68k and they need to be at 75K. Her ANC was high, for a cancer patient, at 1300 but by Thur. it had dropped to 780. By all accounts, both counts were high enough to start on Fri., Aug. 7 but because her ANC had dropped so rapidly, they dropped due to her being sick last weekend, they canceled the already rescheduled start date and have now given us the date of Aug. 13. Liz will have blood work done tomorrow to make sure her counts are high enough and we will then be a go for Thursday.

Liz will have an LP with chemo and Vincristine on Thurs. and we will go back on Fri. for the Peg shots. She is pretty miserable after these chemos. The only problem with the chemos are the onset of the side effects have not been consistent. Sometimes they hit her 8 to 12 hours after and sometimes 7 to 10 days after.
Liz does not mind the delays any more because we have found out that it does not take away from the end date. That is right, we have an end date, a no more chemo day ........DRUM ROLL PLEASE .......... Feb. 17, 2011, GOD WILLING, is the last day she will ever take another chemotherapy treatment. I know it is 1.6 years away but it is the light at the end of our tunnel. This is the day my little girl can start to truly dream again and feel normal.

Leah has ended her treatment for Leukemia and is now on the road to waiting for the CURE word. I believe she is 10 years out for a cure too. Please continue to pray for the cure for Leah and that she stays healthy. Also, pray for Ellen and Tony that they may feel comfort at not giving her chemo anymore. This is a quite a scary step for the parents. All of the sudden you are not giving her anything and for the past seven months you have had to monitor Leah so closely. She is still receiving blood products because her cell counts are not completely recovered from her last stay in the hospital but before long, this will be a distant memory for Leah.

Please keep my brother-in-law in your prayers. He was on a mission trip in Haiti, he goes every year, but this year we have just found out he contracted Malaria. He is pretty sick with chills, fever, he is lethargic, pale and has a host of other side effects. I know he will be OK, God is good and will surround John with healing but please pray for minimal side effects, comfort for John, Linda, Ryan, and Nicole, and a true feeling of peace during his complete healing time.

If you would like to walk with Liz/Joel and our families at the Light the Night Walk in Mason on Sept. 17, please go to our website and register to walk with our team at: http://pages.lightthenight.org/soh/ButlerCo09/clothrop


Please pray for:
minimal side effects from the chemo
no abdominal pain
no bone/joint pain
Liz to stay hydrated
the families on A5 South
comfort for Alex and his family

May God bless you and may you know his love he has for each one of you.
Blessings,
Christine

Light the Night billboards!

 

How many will you see? There are 32 billboards scattered around the tri-state!