The 1,000 hats of Michaela Leslie Werner

Here is a showcase of only a small portion of Michaela's beautiful hat (and wig) collection.  She is so thrilled to have so many options from which to choose every day.  Thank you to everyone who helped to contribute!  As you can tell, she is NOT a fan of having her picture taken, but she has tolerated me well.

The Countdown Begins...

I just wanted to send out a quick update to let you know that things have been improving with Michaela. Last week she finally "made counts", which means that her white blood cell count is high enough to be out of isolation. She has also started an 8-week phase of treatment called "Interim Maintenance", which means that her counts should be stable and she should be feeling relatively well despite weekly chemo treatments. They do their best during this phase to cater the chemo treatments to her body so that she can stay strong through this phase. We began this phase on May 27, which marked the 2-year countdown to her end-of-treatment date. This means that Michaela will be completely done with her treatment on May 27, 2012! Somehow having a date makes the marathon easier to bear.

We are feeling encouraged that she is fighting this fight very well. There are still bumpy days where she does not feel good, but overall we are hoping the next two months will be better for her than what she has been through to date. Through the rest of the year we will be going through 8-week cycles: interim maintenance where she will be feeling relatively good, then delayed intensification where she will be hit hard with chemo drugs and not be feeling well, then interim maintenance again, and then delayed intensification again. After February, she should be in long-term maintenance until the end of her treatment.

This is a daily battle for us, but I am amazed at how many of you continue to pray for us, bring encouragement to us, and hold us close. It has been a long haul, and I have to say that we have the most wonderful friends and family anyone could hope for. You make the journey feel less lonely. For that, we are so grateful.