May the Fourth be with you! 4M 13D to EOT

Clinic Day 5/2/25 - Star Wars week in honor of May the 4th/force :) Juju got a baby Grogu

Saturday, May 4th  - 1am

4 Months and 13 Days until the end of treatment

Hello Dear Family,

This past month has been full of fun, joy (seeing juju so happy & enjoying life), and hope (In the future & end of treatment). Julia had her monthly clinic visit on Friday the 2nd, marking the start of a new cycle in her maintenance treatment — just one more to go, yay! She also had her final lumbar puncture scheduled for August — hurray! Despite an intense treatment day (a lumbar puncture with chemo, an IV chemo, and two additional prophylactic infusions), she did wonderfully. She truly misses her nurses and was full of joy from the moment she woke up, knowing it was clinic day. There were tears with the access/deaccess of her port, but she quickly recovers.

Her ANC numbers came up quite a bit, likely due to a cold she picked up on our Texas trip. Thankfully, she fought it off without needing special antibiotics — we’re so grateful. Praying this number comes down in her next visit, else she will need an oral chemo increase. Her leg ultrasound is now pushed for late July, as the size of the cyst seems to be going down. Now we are dealing with a small skin fungus she likely picked up from a kiddie pool during swim class. She's started an antifungal cream — please keep her in your prayers that it works and prevents spreading. She can still swim, just not in that pool for now. The next five days she’s on oral steroids and that is always a roller coaster with extreme hunger, irritability, hyperactivity and bone pain, overall she does well, but as I said is a rollercoaster.

If you prayed over our Texas trip, thank you!!! It was a refreshing, joy-filled time with family. We visited Houston to spend time with my family, took a roadtrip to Waco and met my dear friend Suzy and her son Jared (and had the best BBQ and visited Magnolia Silos — definitely planning a girls’ trip there soon!), and even made it south to Galveston. While the beach there isn’t the clearest blue ocean water the history and charm made up for it. We also stopped by the Cordray Drug Store from HGTV’s Restoring Galveston — their rolled ice cream didn’t disappoint! Julia absolutely loved Texas — she cried for over an hour on the way back to the airport. She loved every moment with Aunt Yita, my cousins, and especially the sweet, unplugged family time we had. It was truly love therapy for all of us. We hope to make more time like that in the future.

A few sweet extras: last spring we had a magical time watching monarch butterflies transform. This year they’ve been struggling, but Juju still finds joy in holding the few caterpillars she sees. In Texas, she also made some furry friends, especially Canelo — my cousin Gina’s dog who smothered her with love! And now, we’re proud owners of two egg-laying hens, gifted by neighbors who had to rehome their hens. They bring Juju so much peace and daily joy, and finding eggs is a huge daily gift.

Thank you so much for thinking and praying for our little sunshine Julia! I am so grateful for you, and I pray God blesses you abundantly in every way, may you experience His presence, overwhelming peace, protection, favor, wisdom and joy of His salvation.

With love and gratitude,

“The Lord Promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.”

Psalms 12:6 NLT

Our Hope is in the Lord!

https://youtu.be/cHQOYox8V3s

Skin fungus/rash - Pray for healing & cream to work.

Juju named this hen Miss Rainbow. Picture of her with my cousins dog canelo, and handling a monarch caterpillar