Plans, or lack thereof

Here is Ava with a pair of socks featuring our beloved dog, Hunter who Ava misses terribly!  Thank you Williams family for this thoughtful gift.

Here is the latest from St. Jude; I have two reports.

1.  Ava's hair is starting to fall out.  It's just lots of strands, not clumps or chunks.  We are trying to avoid brushing it as much as possible, so that she can have a few more days of long hair even though her attitude about it is mostly positive.  She is excited to get a haircut "like Brinley" (her good friend here) first, and then she is talking about a mohawk next...before it needs to be shaved all the way off.  She is excited about all these steps and wants to experience them all!  There is a stigma about hair falling out - that it means something bad or negative - but Ava reminds me that different hair is exciting.

2.  As I've mentioned before, we were hoping that we could spend a lot of August at home and do a round of chemo in JC, but when we looked at the calendar yesterday with Ava's doctors, we realized that the timing of scans and rounds means that Ava will only be home for a short "visit" and only if her numbers are good.  This means that she probably won't be able to start at the beginning at her beloved school and will participate in the St. Jude school program here.  If all goes well for the long term, she'll be able to join her classmates intermittently throughout the fall, and hopefully full-time before Christmas.  We are super disappointed about this shift and are trying to make a plan for how we will be a family away from each other.  We have some ideas about how this might look, but none of them are very appealing. 

Ava's 2nd round of chemo begins Thursday (the 24th) and will go through Sat.  We assume she'll be discharged on the 4th day (Sunday) again, though we understand that as the rounds continue, her recovery time will be slower and slower.  This cycle has been very easy, as we've been told.

For those of you that are the praying type, here are some things you could pray for us specifically:
- a different housing situation here at St. Jude (more space, with separate bedrooms).  We think we are on a waiting list, but not sure how long or if that will happen at all
- the ability to go with the flow, and to recognize that the plan is completely tenuous
- for our ability to stay connected and strong as our family is away from each other
- for Ava's strength - mental and physical
- for Ava's healing, for wisdom for doctors
- all the other things you can think of

Thank you to everyone who has checked on us and who continues to touch base.  These threads keep us connected to reality and we need you all more than ever as we go through these long days.

Love to you from West TN.