Sharing some pictures...

Emily is home tonight in order to receive chemo #3 tomorrow. She is doing great at school, and is almost caught up. Now that we are somewhat back to normal, we thought we would share some pictures. We have so many people from all over the country following Emily's blog that have never met her. So we will help you put a face to her name. This is our family on a cruise from last summer. When Emily was diagnosed with Hodgkins, we agreed we would face each step as a family.

Now that the memory of ICU is fading, we are ready to share some sweet & funny stories. In a blink of an eye, we went in for an out-patient procedure, and ended up in ICU for 10 days. We were in survival mode at first, but met a lot of great people and have new appreciation for the medical community and people facing medical challenges. We met our neighbor in ICU. She was there due to complications during heart surgery. Her husband was so sweet, and asked about "that baby girl" every day. We rejoiced when our neighbor got to move "closer to the front door", that was everyone's goal in ICU. We had almost 70 visitors when in ICU. Many were pastors from churches all over the city. The nurses were amazed because we had such incredible support. They were also amazed at Emily's strength. They had to use enough sedation that they would normally use for a man twice her size. I guess she didn't want to miss a thing! Also, after a few days in ICU, she was using a white board to communicate and was on her computer while still heavily sedated. No one could believe she could do that. It did not surprise us at all!

Below is a picture of her catheter bag. She received her 1st chemo in the hospital. One of her chemo drugs is bright red. It made her urine bright orange. When we told her about it, she asked us to take a picture of it. We couldn't understand why, but it was hard to refuse her anything. She then had us show it to her boyfriend Blake. She wrote," I guess I am a true poke, I pee orange!" She also showed it to all her college friends.

It is hard to look at the picture in ICU, but look at her strength! This is when she shaved her head. I was so worried that it would devastate her, but I forgot how strong she is! I have not always appreciated her strong will and attitude, but I do now!

Bald is Beautiful! She often goes bald at home, because as cute as her wigs are, they bug her after a while. She also wears beanies and hats.


This is a picture with one of her wigs at her brother's cross country meet. A woman who did not know she had cancer, told her she had beautiful hair! She just said,"thanks". She has 4 wigs in all. She decided since everyone knows she is bald, she might as well enjoy a variety of looks. She went to a banquet at college, and called me so excited. It took her 20 minutes to get ready including a shower! All she had to do was dress, put on make up and put on her hair! No more hairdryers, and straighteners! She is a half full kind of girl! Below is another look, and just as cute! She has made a decision to live life while battling cancer! She is not letting it stop her from pursuing her life and dreams!