Updates & Prayers for Kenzi

It has been a long time since I  (Monica) opened this blog, which I am beyond thankful for. It has been over 2 and a half years since Kenzi finished her cancer treatment for ewing sarcoma. The first year following treatment is honestly a blur, but since then life has mostly settled back into a normal routine. That being said, cancer has changed us forever and I miss those innocent days when I thought nothing so horrible would happen to our family. We have continued to go to Vancouver for regular CT scans, blood work and specialist appointments. They were originally every 3 months, but now they are every 6 months and Kenzi has "graduated" into long term follow up care.  Ever since the surgery to remove Kenzi's tumor, she has been seeing the orthopedic specialist, to watch for scoliosis, which can be a side effect of chest and back surgeries. When we saw him this past spring, he told us that Kenzi's scoliosis was so bad it required surgery. That was hard news to take in

Today marks one year that our lives changed forever. On April 14, 2021 Kenzi was flown to BC Children's Hospital when they found a giant tumor in her chest. 2 days later they confirmed it was cancer and a week later, after many more tests, she was starting chemotherapy. We are so grateful to be on the other side of treatment now, but it's not without its many scars. Looking back somedays, it feels surreal and we can't even believe it happened. Other times, the emotions are still so raw that the tears won't stop flowing.  We survived treatment by living one day at a time. From April to January, Kenzi spent 276 days away from home; 123 of those, were actually in the hospital and 50 of them were spent in Toronto. Kenzi was home in Vernon for only 13 days during treatment. Our family was separated a lot while we tried to figure out how to live in 2 completely different worlds. Childhood cancer is every parent's nightmare and it was made that much more difficult by being

 We have officially been home in Vernon for two weeks now and it feels amazing! We were originally going to stay in the Fraser Valley until we knew whether or not Kenzi needed radiation, but our nurse told us that even if she did, it wouldn't start right away, so she recommended we go home. We are so thankful we did, because it has lifted everyone's spirits so much. There really is no place like home. God gave us a beautiful, sunny day to travel and we waved to our friends, who we swapped houses with, as we passed them on the highway.  After being home for a week, we got the phone call we were anxiously waiting for; Kenzi does not need radiation!!! I was picking the kids up from school when the doctor called and the tears were flowing as I stood in the parking lot. I went home and told Wes, Kenzi and his parents, who were at our house and we all celebrated together. Kenzi is now done her treatment and we could not be more thankful! We all feel like a huge weight has been lifted

Kenzi is officially done all her chemo! It was the perfect way to end the year, but to be honest it felt like a premature celebration. While she is done chemo, we are waiting to see if she needs radiation and the chemo is still wearing her down. Once we leave the hospital with her central line gone, then we will have a big party. We had a fairly quiet Christmas. It was nice to do gifts with our little family, but it felt pretty lonely having Christmas dinner by ourselves. Arnie and Cathy (Wes's brother and sister in law) came for 2 nights before Christmas with their girls and it was wonderful to visit with people again. We have kept to ourselves so much this year, just trying to keep everyone healthy and we are really missing in person visits. It seems that any time we plan to see people, someone has a cough or sniffle and we decide it's best to not risk it. My parents also came down after Christmas to celebrate Kenzi's last chemo with us, which was wonderful.  We are still

 Kenzi has finished 13 rounds of chemo and only has 1 left! I can't believe we have made it this far. Our lives have been put on hold and focused solely on cancer treatment for the last 8 months and it feels like it will go on this way forever. To be honest, we don't really know what normal life looks like anymore.  Since the last time I posted, we spent a few days at Ronald McDonald House. Wes and the other kids were thankfully able to drive down to Vancouver and meet us there. We were even able to go to a Canucks game with the whole family, thanks to some generous donors. As wonderful as RMH is, we had the chance to swap houses with our friends, Roger and Cheryl, so we moved into their house in Pitt Meadows and they are staying in our house in Vernon, spending time with family and enjoying the snow. We are so grateful for their generosity. Last Monday, Kenzi was admitted for another 5 days of chemo and the kids were actually able to visit and see what goes on in the hospital.

~ Making Gingerbread Houses ~  After 50 days in Toronto, 46 of those in the hospital, 8 trips to the OR, countless hours in the waiting room, over 100 stitches, 1 giant tumour removed and only 3 short days at home, Kenzi and I (Monica) are back in Vancouver. There is no rest for cancer treatment and it's exhausting. After all the delays with surgery, there are only 3 rounds of chemotherapy left. This will take about 6 weeks and then Kenzi will possibly need radiation which could be another 4-6 weeks. We know there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel, but instead of relief, we just feel weary. The trip to Toronto and all the complications with Kenzi's arm, have broken her spirit. We still see glimpses of her usual self, but they are far fewer than they used to be. We hope and pray that she will adjust to being back in Vancouver soon, since it's familiar, but going home makes leaving so much harder.  We are so grateful to my parents, who put everything on hold and moved