When the Unexpected is the Expected

One thing is for certain, you have to enjoy the ups, and prepare for the downs. 

Hutton was supposed to be in the middle of 5-day chemo right now…but she’s not.  Her numbers were too low to get chemo so she is off this week. She went in again for platelets and blood and we are  praying her numbers come up so she can get chemo next week. 

The plan was labs on Monday, talent show, then 5-day chemo Tuesday - Saturday but that didn’t happen. As disappointing as that is, we are extremely happy that even though her numbers were extremely low, she felt perfectly fine and was able to go to, participate in, and absolutely enjoy the talent show.   

Throughout her treatment process her numbers being too low has happened SO MANY times, causing her to have to wait an additional week for chemo, and every single time it is a huge let down. We know that there is a reason for this, even if we can’t see it, and a few of the times, the delay was also a blessing in disguise, but because this happens regularly, it is hard knowing that we can’t really plan for anything…and if we do plan, we have to be able to cancel last minute. We know it, we have done it, but this time it was harder. We were packed and we are ready to go, riding the high of Hutton eating well and feeling pretty good for two weeks. We are mentally prepared for being in the hospital for 5 days and all of what that entails and then we are paused for a week. Talk about frustrating. 

Especially because we have a lot of “things” going on in June. 

Steph’s birthday is June 10th. She has a birthday trip planned. Hutton is in a wedding, and I will be traveling for a week for work again.  That is a lot, not including the lab appointments, therapy appointments and all the other daily life THINGS. We had a great plan of attack that seemed to work perfectly. Steph would be in the hospital for the 5 day chemo, then once they got home, on the weekend we would celebrate birthdays (Steph and Dash), then I would work from home from Tuesday - Friday, while Steph got to take a much needed break, spend some time away and celebrate her birthday, then she would come home and I would be leaving the next week for business. Now that chemo was delayed, Steph seriously considered canceling her birthday trip to be in the hospital with Hutton for her chemo. But for the first time ever, Steph listened to me when I told her “No.” (just kidding…kind of 🤣 ) 

Since I was already scheduled to work from home, I just had try and move a couple other things around which would then allow me to be with Hutton at the hospital while Steph got the much needed break, as well as be be able to celebrate her birthday…and if you know Steph, you know how BIG of a deal that is. Thankfully, I was able to swap some things around to make that happen. But things like this are becoming common place during Hutton’s treatments, but that doesn’t negate the stress and anxiety it can cause. 

We, well Steph, tries to plan as best she can to keep things running smoothly and negate any additional stress, but as you can see that is extremely difficult. Even though we know that Hutton’s body typically needs 3 weeks in between chemo sessions to heal, we and her doctor(s) still push to try and make it only 2 weeks between sessions.  It was 2 weeks in the beginning, but now, even though she is feeling better and hasn’t had any issues or emergency admittances like in the beginning, her body just seems to take a little longer to recover…but that is ok, because in the bigger picture, we would much rather wait a week with her still feeling good, then having to rush her up to LA into the emergency room to have her admitted for 3-5 days and then start chemo, making it a 8-10 day hospital stay, like it was in the beginning.

I think we are just so ready to be done, especially Hutton, that we are hoping that we can do chemo every 2 weeks and just be done with it sooner than later, but that’s just not the case. And as frustrating as that is, we just have to remember that God’s plan may not line up with our plan, but He is playing 4-D chess while we are playing checkers. What that means is he sees things that we can’t and don’t and we have to trust that when things don’t go according to our plan, it is because He has a better one. 

Looking back on Hutton’s fight against cancer, it is 1,000% that He has His hand on her, guiding her and protecting her. So many things had happen exactly as they did, with ZERO deviation for us to be where we are now, and for Hutton to be doing as well as she is. Even the stressful and absolutely horrifying things that have occurred in her fight against cancer, all serves a greater purpose, even if we cannot see it now, we just need to try and remember.  

I know this is kind of a long update, but I wanted to again thank each and every one of you for supporting Hutton and out family through all this. We know you have your life battles, so it means everything to us that you take the time out of your days to keep up to date with how Hutton is doing as well as take time out of your days/nights to pray for her. It means the world to us to see how much love and support you all are showing Hutton, and we are forever grateful to each and every one of you, and one day I hope and pray to be able to repay you all in one way or another.