mr.d

Updated!!
We finally got some answers as to why Faith is so sick....she has a bad urinary tract infection. Any of you who have had a uti know how sick it can make you. 
Normally baby girls do get urinary tract infections simply because they poo in their diaper and some of the poo does get into the vagina. And the poo can get into there quickly and cause issues quickly. Normally though they can fight them off without a problem. But since Faith is on chemo she wasn’t able to fight it off and the infection was able to spread quickly. 
They are changing her antibiotics to better wage war on the UTI (urinary tract infection) .
She will be here for several days,
She needs to be back to her self in order to come home.
She needs to be able to eat and drink and keep it down.
She needs to be clear of the infection and fever free.
Not a viral infection 
It is a bacterial infection
The dactinomycin is the chemo drug she gets every third week and that’s what weakened her immune system

See Faith's picture in Tri-County Weekend 4th Annual Cutest Baby Photo Contest.  You can vote as many times as you want. Each vote is .25 cents. Faith is number 4 on list.  This was in Tri-County Weekend - Saturday edition - October 3, 2020.  See ballot in the newspaper. Ballots in paper from Oct.3 - Oct.24.  All together there are 24 baby pictures, My votes are in the mail.

Faith Marie update for 10/7/2020
So here’s the update on faith did have some fevers monday night and last night. when we  were at Dubois Hospital she was about 100 Fahrenheit and then went back down and then when she got here she had a fever last night around 5 o’clock of 102 Fahrenheit they are giving her fluid and they are giving her anti-biotics. They feel that with the chemo treatment that she was on affected her immuno system and she did pick up a virus somehow that causes her to not want to eat which caused the dehydration.
Her heart rate had also spiked with the fevers. When she had the temp of 102, her heart rate was in the 160s
The fever had finally went down and her rate returned to normal in the night.
She’s still not sweating, She’s still not eating.
She is getting two different antibiotics to help her fight whatever it is she got
She is still receiving iv fluids. She did perk up there a little bit last night before bed but this morning she’s very tired
Overall she did well through the night and we seem to be getting on the right track to getting her better it’s just taking more time than before.
This virus has not affected her lungs in anyway, mostly just digestion.
The nurse did tell us that this is typical of a child on chemo
And it’s probably going to happen again......yay

Prayers for Faith and family. Stay strong for the little one. She is loved.
 

man oh man she cant catch a break.....stay tough Faith....you and your family are in our prayers

Faith received two different kinds of chemo yesterday. This happens every third treatment. When she has these two chemos together it really knocks the snuff out of her (VinCristine and Dactinomycin). She slept last night and most of today only to wake up enough to eat a bottle or some puréed pears ( her fav food when she’s not feeling well) then back to sleep again. 
She’s finally perking up now and wanted to sing to you all! ❤️🥰😞 (Sorry I can’t post her video)

Our Faith needs our prayers & positive thoughts because, she’s your Faith also!!
Faith Marie took an ambulance ride last night to DuBois Penn Highlands ER. She received 2 kinds of chemo last Friday, Oct 2, 2020 at CHP. She slept most of the day Saturday, but ate some pears & drank a bottle. That’s all they could get her to take. Monday night she started throwing up fluids that were brown in color at 7:15. DuBois gave her fluids & took some labs, while waiting for a transport to CHP.
Even with fluids, Faith was still throwing up, but now it was a green/yellow bile, a move in the right direction! The 2 chemos made her so sick that it dried her digestive system out. Since her stomach had so little digestive juices in it, that’s why she wasn’t able to tolerate fluids or food. So she ended up getting dehydrated.
They finally got transported to CHP this morning around 9. 
Children’s is keeping her for a couple of days. They are pumping her with fluids & antibiotics. They also want to get food into her before releasing her. 🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻

Thoughts and prayers out to Faith...   

that is the best news I have heard ....she is such a fighter  God bless her

This is from yesterday....
She doing great! Healing well from surgery! Doing fantastic with the chemo. The Dr said that basically the side effects we've experienced this past week (slight nausea over the weekend) is it. She should not be all that unwell with this chemo!

You can get ahold of me also if you want to make a donation to the family. I’m Faith Marie’s grandmother!! ❤️

Hope many give to this!  Even if you don't purchase a sign, you can call the number and get the info so you can mail a check to help this sweet little angel!  She is one of our own on here.  I feel like I know her just from seeing her photos and news from her grandma.

Help support the Spicher Family. Signs are $20.00 each. All proceeds go to the Family to help cost of going to Pittsburgh. Faith Marie was born with Trisomy 18, Edward’s Syndrome. At 19 months she was diagnosed with Wilm’s Tumor or Kidney cancer. She has to go every week to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to have chemo. Thank you & God Bless!!
Please call Deb Kalgren Kramer @ 771-8459

Just seeing this and you have another prayer warrier that will be lifting Faith in fervent prayer. She has defied odds before and God will see her through to do it again. 

Continued prayers for this precious child. 

They finally got home at 1:30 this morning!!

woohoo on the lungs!!!

Ok folks here is another update,
No cancer in the lungs!!!!
She was having some issues keeping her oxygen up but nothing serious,  just  the anesthia still hanging out in her system.
She's eating well.
She's going to be receiving chemo today.
And we should be heading home tonight.
Her discharge was up in the air there for a while but now they've decided her going home should be okay

Dr. Meade feels that Faith will only need 18 weeks of chemo!
She also said that it is extremely rare that the chemo will shrink the tumor to the point that surgery will not be needed........
But we know Faith, and we know how she defies the odds and Proves there is Power in Prayer! Our Faith can move mountains! So prayer warriors, pray! Pray that God uses his power through her chemo to smite this tumor!
 
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

lots of prayers going her way and to all of her family(extended )

Faith did not have the eye surgery today.The chemo can mess with her eyes & make her go cross eyed, so that has been put on hold for now. Faith came out of surgery about 2 hours ago. Everything went good, no problems at all. They got the port put in, & tomorrow morning Faith Marie will receive her 1st chemo treatment. She already drank a bottle of formula, the dr’s were very happy with that!!

A farmer planted over 2 million sunflowers to provide a respite during this rough year
  By Lauren M. Johnson, CNN
 
Updated 8:23 AM ET, Mon September 7, 2020
    Thompson Strawberry Farm has been around for 70 years, but this is the first year it is decorated with sunflowers. (CNN)Everyone could use a little sunshine in their life right now, so a Wisconsin farmer decided that's what he was going to do, and planted more than 2 million sunflowers in his fields.
Scott Thompson's family has been farming in Kenosha County for more than 70 years, and this is the first year that flowers are decorating the landscape. Usually, the pick-your-own farm consists of strawberries in summer and raspberries and pumpkins in the fall.   Located just 10 miles from Kenosha, Wisconsin, in Bristol, Thompson Strawberry Farm is drawing people to a simpler family outing where they can picnic, wander fields of florals and take home a dozen sunflowers. Thompson and his wife thought with everything going on this year it would be ideal to spread a little happiness to their customers.   "We just did it ... and we just kept building," Thompson told CNN. "As the season went on, the pandemic never went anywhere ... and we thought people might be looking for something to do, and what a great way to social distance and ... smile, basically."   Thompson said he and his wife wanted to spread a little happiness. Thompson ended up with more than 22 acres of flowers, seven of which haven't even bloomed yet. It makes for over 2 million blooms of sunshine. The flowers are planted in more than 15 fields to provide room to social distance and spread out. clos "One of the things that's so cool about this is everyone is so happy," Thompson said. "We get all these comments on Facebook, or if I'm out in the field, everybody is like, 'Thanks for doing this,' (and) 'This is what I needed.' People are so happy to be out there and have a place to go."   Word of their sunshine oasis has spread mostly through word of mouth as people come to enjoy a small break from reality. Thompson said that one woman came from Chicago to get away from the protests and gloom. In addition to sunflowers, Thompson also planted a field of zinnias, a field of wildflowers, and Mexican sunflowers that are known for attracting butterflies. Thompson said the response definitely means the sunflowers will be a regular thing at the farm, even without a pandemic. "I'm just glad we get to have a business people are happy to come to ... and get away from the city," Thompson said.                                                             https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/06/us/sunflower-fields-in-wisconsin-trnd/index.html

So many prayers for Faith. I am sure she gets her strength from her two G's, God and Grandma Love your pictures and updates of her too!  We will be praying for her and waiting to hear how she and you are all doing!  Much love and prayers!

I will continue to pray for Faith as well as her family and care givers. There IS power in Prayer!! May God keep blessing you with the strength needed on this continuing journey! Thanks for keeping us updated as well!

Warning, This is going to be a long post. 
Also Trigger Alert
We took Faith to Pittsburgh on Thursday and Friday for some regular follow up visits, a BAHA hearing aid fitting as well as Pre-Op surgery clearance. The surgery is for her eyes due to strabismus with esotropia (which means her eyes are crossed but only one eye turns in at a time, not both at once)
So I’ll start from the top.
She was fitted for her hearing aid and as you seen in the previous post, it went well. 
What we did learn is that Faith should only need this type of hearing aid and not a permanent one that’s implanted behind her ear. As she grows her hearing should get better as her ear canals widen. So good news. She also got a CT scan of her ears to make sure there is nothing physically affecting her hearing such as blockages or fluid or wax....we are waiting for the results on this.
We saw her cardiologist who was very pleased that her heart has remained stable. She still has the small vsd (hole in her heart) but this is not causing any issues or affecting her in any way other than when she gets sick she has a harder time getting over the colds. So Faith graduated to one year visits!! He was very pleased that Faith has exceeded his expectations! So yay! Good news!
We saw her eye doctor who measured her eyes once more to make sure the surgery was necessary and would be effective. Yes to both of those. Even though the inner muscle pulls her eyes inwards alternately, her vision itself is fine. So she can have her hey surgery! Yay! Good news!
Okay so there’s all the good news.
While we were down there Faith needed to have a screening abdominal ultrasound to check her kidneys. Children with Trisomy 18 are at higher risk of developing Wilms Tumor which is a type of kidney cancer. 
We received these results on Friday 
The ultrasound showed multiple lesions on her left kidney (nephroblastomas) as well as a 2.2cm mass (the size of a ping pong ball). It also showed she has gallstones too.
So an ultrasound is like looking at a black and white tv through a fish bowl. This does not give the drs a full view of how much her left kidney is affected.
So we are going down for an MRI to look at her left kidney and get a better idea of what’s going on. 
Then they are going to try and do a biopsy while she is having her eye surgery.
Then once we get a better idea of what’s going on she may be receiving some “soft” chemotherapy which is the lightest stuff they can give her, easy on her heart as well as her immune system.
Or
She will receive “soft “ chemo and possibly have an operation to remove a part of or her whole kidney. This is depending on the MRI results as well as the biopsy.
We need to move fast. We are going to wage war. These lesions and this mass are ticking time bombs. It is not a matter of “if” it will turn to cancer, it is a matter of when and how bad, but remember, at this moment, it is not cancer, yet.
The chemo will act as a weed killer in a sense, by killing these nephroblastomas (the weeds) before they grow into a bigger problem and spread. 
This will be a week by week and at times a day by day process. 
This is not going to be something that is going away quickly, it’s going to take time and patience, but most of all...it’s going to take prayer.
So what I’m asking of all of you is to do what you’ve been doing all along.... pray.
If Faith has taught us anything it’s that when we come together as one, United, there is Power in Prayer and she is proof of this!
I don’t want you to feel sad.
I don’t want you to feel bad.
I don’t want you to feel sorry.
I want you to feel strong 
I want you to feel the strength of the Holy Spirit coursing through your veins as you pray.
I want you to feel the power and the hope of Jesus Christ in your heart.
She is not just my Faith, she is OUR FAITH!
We are going to keep moving forward, we are not giving up! And Faith is going to keep doing what she’s always done, Defy the Odds and Prove that there really is Power in Prayer cause that’s how she rolls! 
So pray folks and pray hard, put your hearts into it cause this little girl is living off of YOUR PRAYERS and YOUR LOVE! 
Thank you for all your support and your faith in Faith❤️