To help navigate through the entries made to this site, we have created links to each of the entry days.

Entries 1- 8 have moved to the DeLisi Email Archives
Entries 9-18 have moved to the DeLisi Email Archives Page 2
Entries 19-27 have moved to the DeLisi Email Archives Page 3
Entries 28-39 have moved to the DeLisi Email Archives Page 4

Entry 40  October 27, 2001 Treatment Day 162
Entry 41  November 13, 2001 Treatment Day 178
Entry 42  November 18, 2001 Treatment Day 182
Entry 43  November 27, 2001 Treatment Day 191
Entry 44  December 1, 2001 Treatment Day 195
Entry 45  December 5, 2001 Treatment Day 198
Entry 46  December 18, 2001 Treatment Day 210
Entry 47  January 15, 2002 Family Update

---

Hey ya’ll.

We are back. Thank you for your many prayers. The stay was wonderful (if that word can be used to describe hospital stays). I stayed with Ariana at night, and Tonya came home with Charis. I was a little nervous about this (whether or not I would be able to really comfort her if things got bad), but Tonya gently pushed me to do it. Ariana did very well, and we had a good time. Incidentally, it was very hard for Tonya.

Ariana and I watched "Annie" for the first time together. She seemed to enjoy it. One advantage of being in the hospital on Saturdays is that we get ESPN in the hospital (no cable at home). We all love college football, and we got to see many more games than we would have at home.

Please pray that I don’t get Ariana sick. I am pretty sure I have strep throat. Seen lots of patients with it lately. Again, a fever for her = admission.

We are going to start back the 6-MP (oral chemo med) right now at a very low dose. The other times we have given that have resulted in delays in admissions. Please pray that her bone marrow responds well to this dose.

We want the last admission to be on time.

We love you all,
Craig

Just a quick note to ask for prayer for our upcoming admission on Thursday. If all goes well with Ariana’s white blood cell counts, we will be admitted for this FINAL ADMISSION. Our friend Dawn Cooper from OK City (and Birmingham) will be coming up to stay with Charis.

we appreciate your prayers as always. We’ll let you know when we get back.

We may not write until Sunday, since Saturday is a big college football day

We are back from the hospital from what was our last scheduled admission!!! It was a good stay with little to no "problems". Everything went smoothly, and we got to say goodbye to many of the hospital staff who have made our times there so much more bearable.

It has been almost six months to the day since Ariana was diagnosed with leukemia. In many ways, it seems like yesterday. in others, it seems like years ago. Finishing another stage in her treatment certainly makes us look back with gratefulness at all that the Lord has walked with us through and the ways He has demonstrated His power. He has been so good to us.

Ariana has done SO well, especially compared to other kids we see at the clinic who "look" much more sick than she does or who are admitted frequently for fevers. We have only had one admission for fever, and that was during the first month and likely due to the tumor itself (they told us in the beginning to expect to be admitted monthly for fevers). She has not had any infections, amazingly, despite the fact that Charis, Tonya and I all have been sick at different times.

The next two years consist of outpatient therapy and procedures. It is the "maintenance" phase of treatment (phase III). She will have daily oral 6-MP and weekly oral Methotrexate. She will mix in some other drugs occasionally, as well. She will have spinal taps done every 3 or 4 months (as opposed to every 3 weeks), and a bone marrow biopsy now and then. We do not know at this point what our life will look like as far as keeping her isolated from other kids, not traveling, etc. unfortunately, it seems like they still manage any fever with antibiotics and admission if she looks sick. If the clinic is open, they may give her some IV abx and send her home after getting blood cultures. If it is not, she will be admitted for the same. We are hopeful that we will not have to be as neurotic about the mask and others kids as we have been.

Thank you all again so much for your faithfulness in prayer for Ariana. As you know, she is so precious to us. We are thankful that the Lord has answered so many of your prayers for her and us in this time. Please join us in the plea to our Father that this admission will have been the last time she was in the hospital as a patient until she is admitted to have her first baby!!!:-)

Her next procedure is a bone marrow biopsy and spinal tap the week after thanksgiving. We’ll let you know the details when it gets closer.

Our little lady is having a bone marrow biopsy tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. We are just emailing you to ask you to please pray. Please pray for an uncomplicated procedure with little to no pain. We also ask that you pray for no leukemia cells to be found by the pathologist. This would be considered a relapse and would result in very aggressive treatment changes (that could include bone marrow transplant – something we never want to do).

Sorry about the delayed response. Ariana’s bone marrow aspirate was great - no leukemia cells found! Certainly, this was what we expected, but it was nice to find this out. We got a little concerned at first because the pathologist report said there were no residual leukemia cells found, but that there were blasts on the smear. From what I know, blasts are a form of leukemia cells. We had to wait overnight until the oncologist read the slide and interpreted them for us. These were just immature cells.

Thanks again for your prayers. We start the maintenance phase of chemo this week. She will have daily 6-MP, weekly oral Methotrexate, and intermittent doses of other meds. She will have a spinal tap with chemo in her spinal fluid every 3 months (as opposed to every 3 weeks). Her first one is Tuesday of this week. We appreciate your prayers for this time, as well.

We love you and appreciate each of you. We’re going to decorate the house for Christmas today and watch a little football game from down in Gainesville…..

Love,

Ariana didn’t have her procedure today (or begin the final phase of chemo) because her white blood cell counts were too low. In fact, they were one of the lowest I ever remember them being (ANC = 150). This was especially strange since she didn’t have any chemo this past week because her counts were too low last week.

Please pray especially for her protection from infection at this time. We have been very blessed in this regard throughout her treatment. Tonya is sick, unfortunately, which makes us concerned that she may catch it from her. This has happened in the past and, amazingly, Ariana has not gotten sick. This time of year is especially hard since so many are indoors and are sick. We are having to effectively quarantine her till the weekend.

This weekend we are going to travel as a family for the first time since her diagnosis in May. We are very excited. We like Oklahoma, but it is time to get back home. If Ariana should happen to get a fever while we are gone, it will be a real challenge for us. We will have to go to the nearest children’s hospital that has a heme-onc department for her admission and workup. Please pray that the Lord continues to be merciful to our family and spares us from anything like this.

We are back from our trip to FL to visit the grandparents. We had a great time. Ariana and Charis loved the beach. Can you believe we actually got in the water in December? It was in the 80s most of the week we were there. Unfortunately, while we were there, Ariana did get a fever. I got sick (probably from a patient before we left) and passed it to Charis who passed it to her. We were able to avoid going to the hospital in Jacksonville because she improved so rapidly, however. Thank God for that. 

Other than that, we had a great time. She got to see many of her cousins that she hasn’t seen in a while (and a few she hasn’t met yet). Tonya and I ran into Bill Murray (the actor) at the airport on the way out of Jax. He thought it was funny watching us lug around both kids and the stroller and car seat. He got a particular kick out of the fact that another one is coming in 6 weeks. Did you know that he has a 6 month old?????

Ariana has another spinal tap tomorrow (Tuesday) assuming her counts are doing well. Please pray for no complications.