Hair Confetti and Other Joys of Baldness

Whew. We made it through two weeks of intense combined radiation/chemotherapy and Michaela was amazing.  She ended up having minimal side effects, and her spirit remained strong through it all.  In fact, most of the time it was harder on her parents to watch what she was going through than it seemed to be for her to go through it.  She has been handling it all with joy, and she has taught us much about letting laughter bring healing.  The best example I can give is her recent "Hair Confetti party".


Over the past few weeks Michaela has slowly been losing her hair, but because she had so much of it to start with, it was really hard to tell.  All of a sudden yesterday it started coming out in clumps -- every time one of us ran our hand through her beautiful locks, we would end up with a huge chunk in our hands.  Well, last night Jon and I got out for our first date in a long time.  We came home to two giddy girls waiting to surprise us with Michaela's beautiful bald head.  Apparently, while we were gone, the girls had a hair confetti party where Michaela pulled out the rest of her hair (pulled is too strong a word for how easily it came out), and giggled hysterically.  They collected all the hair in Michaela's radiation mask that we brought home from the hospital as a keepsake.  


As we anticipated this side effect for many weeks, we have had lots of conversation around it.  Michaela decided a while ago that when she lost her hair, she also wanted daddy to lose his.  Her reasoning was that if daddy also went bald, everyone would be looking at him instead of her.  And so the time came today for Jon to make good on his promise.  We all trekked to the barber shop this morning for Jon to lose it all.  It was another chance for us to laugh hysterically while the barber shaved his head in long stripes and then eventually bald.


Now that three out of five Werners are bald (if you include Emily who only has baby fuzz right now), we have been learning about the benefits of going without hair:  (1) Bathing is much easier; (2) You stay cooler on hot days; and (3) You get to wear beautiful hats and other accessories!  Thanks to all of you who have contributed to Michaela's hat collection.  She has had so much fun trying on her different hats today and planning which ones to wear with certain outfits.  I can see now that this will provide endless accessory possibilities for her in the weeks and months to come.


We are continuing with chemotherapy through this phase of Consolidation.  The medicine is still pretty intense, and so Michaela's blood counts are down again, requiring her to be in isolation right now.  It seems to be harder for her this time around as she is feeling better and doesn't understand why she can't go to the park or spend time with friends.  Hopefully when this phase is through (in May), she will be able to be out and about more and return to her normal and very busy social life.  We are grateful for the continued prayers and love for our family.  Pictures of our recent adventures follow below:

 Mommy, Michaela and Emily on our last day of radiation at UW

Hair confetti party!

Before

After

And Baby Makes Three Little Women

Much like the March family of Little Women, our lives have been consumed with loving each other through some pretty tough times.  That's why when the newest member of our family arrived on March 3rd, we decided to give her a classic and beautiful first name (beginning with an "em" sound without being another "M" name) and honor this family in literature with her middle name: Emily March Werner.  Emily joined our family on March 3, 2010, three weeks early.  She is small (6 pounds and 2 ounces) but perfect in every way.  Her two big sisters are ecstatic that she is here, and she has particularly brought much joy to Michaela, who relishes her new role.  We could not have handpicked a better time for Emily to come.  Last week when she arrived Michaela had a scheduled week off chemo while we waited for her blood counts to come up high enough to start more intense chemo and radiation this coming week.  We saw glimpses of the old Michaela this week, and her pain level was quite low.  We heard giggling, saw skipping, and celebrated her 5th birthday with a rainbow theme.  Her hair has started falling out, which she has accepted with humor ... leaving sprinkles of "hair confetti" everywhere and "teaching her hair how to swim" in the bathtub.


The coming two weeks will be filled with difficult cancer treatments -- each day Michaela will go to two different hospitals, one for radiation and one for her chemotherapy.  These combined treatments will make her very nauseous, lacking in appetite, and continue to make her lose her hair.  We are grateful for Emily's presence through it all, as she serves as a happy distraction for Michaela who loves to hold and care for her more than we ever imagined.  Madeline has also been a wonderful help to Michaela, as they have enjoyed snuggling up and watching movies on Michaela's new portable DVD player and playing games on Madeline's new i-touch.  Jon and I continue to be comforted by the blessing of family and friends who have cared for us in so many ways.  Thank you for being a tangible reminder of God's presence through this time.  Pictures of our new baby girl follow below:

One of Michaela's steroid meds gave her a swollen tummy and cheeks.  So she and mama had matching "bumps" in the days before Emily was born.

We fell in love with her as soon as we saw her.  

Emily March Werner, born 3/3/10 at 5:00 am, weighing in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces.

Perfect in every way

Big sister Madeline having a chat with Emily

Big sister Michaela snuggling with Emily