Updates & Prayers for Kenzi

 It's been over 2 months since I've written a blog post. The truth is, I'm tired; physically, emotionally and mentally tired. When Kenzi was first diagnosed almost 4 years ago, I found that blogging felt therapeutic and now it feels like a chore. I do quick Facebook updates, but that's all I have the energy for lately. Feel free to follow along on the Prayers for Kenzi group or just add me as a friend if you haven't already. We live our lives day to day, never being able to plan ahead. We found out a few weeks ago that Kenzi was being sent to Toronto for treatment and since then it's been googling flights (affordable ones preferably for 6 people), emails, phone calls and zooms with all of our 3 new specialists, trying to find a social worker and patient navigator (who knew that was even a thing?!), looking for accommodations, confirming dates (or even tentative dates) to book stuff, trying to find funding to help us out financially (Toronto isn't cheap) and ...

Today, December 30th, marks a few milestones. Kenzi started her 3rd round of chemotherapy, Wes is celebrating his 39th birthday and it is the 3 year anniversary of when Kenzi had her last chemotherapy the first time she had cancer.  It's hard to celebrate that one though...  We spent three wonderful weeks at home, celebrating Christmas. While we were home Kenzi was feeling well for the most part and was even able to go skiing. Wes and Kenzi headed back to Vancouver yesterday,  this time with uncle Arnie and her cousin Leah alongside her. Because of Christmas, Kenzi got an extra week off before starting chemotherapy again, but they can't put it off too long, so she will be celebrating her dad's birthday today and  New Year's eve in Ronald Mcdonald house. This is the first time in 21 years that Wes and I have been apart for his birthday and new years. We had planned to go to Vancouver with the whole family for this round, but we decided it might be easier to split up f...

 I hate it so much that this is a post I'm writing. Kenzi was supposed to have spine surgery on October 10th for her scoliosis, which felt so horrible and overwhelming. Now I can't imagine anything better than that. It would have been 4 weeks since the surgery, which would mean she would be healing and we would be going home soon, but instead we are starting all over with cancer treatment.  When we went for Kenzi's spine surgery, we booked her CT (cancer) scan the same week, just to make sure. It was supposed to be something that we ticked off the list, but instead our world came crashing down again. Our oncologist and former oncology nurse met us in the hallway outside the orthopedic clinic and ushered us to an empty room where we could talk. As we walked down the hallway I knew.... They told us that Kenzi's scan showed 2 spots; one on her rib and one near her kidney. It was not what we were expecting and the next few weeks were a blur of scans, a biopsy and tears, whi...

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 lifte...

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...

 So haven't posted in awhile been a bit of a chaotic emotional few weeks. I(wes) am writing this blog so it wont be as smooth and grammatically correct as your used to hahahah (sry monica) So as many of you already know kenzi had her surgery. The surgery was very long 17hrs start to finish but it was a success and they were able to remove the tumour which we are thankful for(we will not know for certain if it was a clean remove for a month or so until the pathologist are done inspecting all the edges.)  This is what we have been praying for and waiting for since we started on this crazy stupid road. The surgery ended up being very invasive to say the least which we were hoping it would not be and was kind of a punch to the gut after hearing the tumour was out.  Took a few days to process and wrap our heads around this but we kept coming back to the fact the tumour is gone and this always made us happy. There was a complication with kenzi's arm after the surgery and she ha...

We've been in Toronto for 12 days now and we are slowly making progress. While the first week was chaotic and emotional, we are thankful that Kenzi is feeling well and her care is going smoothly.  We arrived last Monday and were given a gift of goodies and a beautiful card from our flight crew at Air Canada. It went downhill after that. Nothing seemed to go smoothly. From frustrating COVID restrictions, to sketchy hotels (which we immediately left), to lost rental car keys. We were all at our breaking point in an already emotional situation. It felt a lot like the first week of Kenzi's diagnosis and there were plenty of tears to go with it. Through the chaos though, we were able to sneak away to Niagara Falls for a night and Wes and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary there. It was our only day "off" since we've arrived and we are very thankful for that.  We had to be back at the hospital last Thursday for Kenzi's first surgery. She was feeling anxious a...

It's been a while since I've posted a blog, but every time I sit down to do it, my mind is a blur. These last few weeks have been mentally and emotionally draining. After we found out we were going to Toronto, it took another 2 weeks to actually get a date for surgery. The waiting around was frustrating, knowing that there was so much to plan and book and not being able to do it. We zoomed with the surgeons last Wednesday to discuss the plan for surgeries and got a call Friday letting us know the first surgery would be next Thursday, October 7. It wasn't until this Monday that we got all the details and were able to book flights and accommodations. We fly out Monday morning and found an air bnb right across from the hospital to stay. We need to be at the hospital on Tuesday for some appointments, but afterwards we plan to go to Niagara Falls for a night while Kenzi is still feeling well.  Kenzi's first surgery is to drain the tumour, which looks somewhat like a cyst. Th...