5/9 Update
In support of
Rader Family
View Support Registry
Rader Family
Hello all,
What a week it has been over here. Although I have not given any updates it has certainly been eventful. In the past 7 days we have visited the ER once for Madeline and made 4 additional trips to urgent care for the remaining women in this household. Rhinovirus hit all of us, pink eye took out 2 girls, all 3 girls got ear infections, and I am now on antibiotics for a sinus infection. I was listing this all off to David this morning and Madeline shouts, "and cancer mom!" Ugh. We are going to cause an amoxicillin shortage with the amount of it that we have now accumulated in our fridge. It is crazy. BUT, I am declaring that next week is a new week and we will all be sleeping through the night once again and will have kicked these germs to the curb. We are tired and hanging on by a thread, but hanging on none the less. You will see a sweet picture of Madeline holding Lilah's hand on the couch during her breathing treatment one day this week. Although I am not currently working it sure feels like I run my own pediatric ward over here right now.
Earlier this week a memory popped up on my phone from Christmas morning 2021. It was of a 4 day old Madeline who had just been extubated after having heart surgery the day before. For those of you who don't know, Madeline's cancer diagnosis is not the first time her health status has scared the life out of us. Hours after she was born we found out she had a heart defect and we were immediately sent to Children's for a procedure. She has since lived a normal happy life and we don't think about her heart on a regular basis. For this we owe all the glory to Jesus. The life she has lived thus far has been such a gift.
Fast forward to this week and I went to wake Madeline up from a nap and had to stop and take a picture. 4 years later she is not a baby anymore. She is a young girl and we love more deeply than we ever thought possible and yet again she is up against another health battle. I look at both of these pictures next to one another and am reminded that God was faithful before and we will believe that He will be faithful again. He knew that she would face both of these hurdles in her life and designed her body exactly the way He intended it to be. He does not make mistakes. I think this applies to so much of our lives. It can be easy to look at the hurdles in front of us and be incredibly overwhelmed. But God promises us that He does not make mistakes AND He can move mountains. He is not scared of this cancer and holds the power to heal her body. So we will believe that He can, and even if He doesn't we know He still has a plan and we will still love Him deeply.
On a different note, thank you for praying for Madeline's mouth sores. We have been gentle with her and she has been living off of smoothies, but we have reason to believe she is improving. She is not complaining as often and is letting us brush her teeth again. This is a big win and it feels very good!
Thank you for praying always! Happy Mother's Day to all the moms tomorrow! You are so loved and appreciated. I hope tomorrow is a little extra special and you are surrounded by the people who love you.
We love you all.
What a week it has been over here. Although I have not given any updates it has certainly been eventful. In the past 7 days we have visited the ER once for Madeline and made 4 additional trips to urgent care for the remaining women in this household. Rhinovirus hit all of us, pink eye took out 2 girls, all 3 girls got ear infections, and I am now on antibiotics for a sinus infection. I was listing this all off to David this morning and Madeline shouts, "and cancer mom!" Ugh. We are going to cause an amoxicillin shortage with the amount of it that we have now accumulated in our fridge. It is crazy. BUT, I am declaring that next week is a new week and we will all be sleeping through the night once again and will have kicked these germs to the curb. We are tired and hanging on by a thread, but hanging on none the less. You will see a sweet picture of Madeline holding Lilah's hand on the couch during her breathing treatment one day this week. Although I am not currently working it sure feels like I run my own pediatric ward over here right now.
Earlier this week a memory popped up on my phone from Christmas morning 2021. It was of a 4 day old Madeline who had just been extubated after having heart surgery the day before. For those of you who don't know, Madeline's cancer diagnosis is not the first time her health status has scared the life out of us. Hours after she was born we found out she had a heart defect and we were immediately sent to Children's for a procedure. She has since lived a normal happy life and we don't think about her heart on a regular basis. For this we owe all the glory to Jesus. The life she has lived thus far has been such a gift.
Fast forward to this week and I went to wake Madeline up from a nap and had to stop and take a picture. 4 years later she is not a baby anymore. She is a young girl and we love more deeply than we ever thought possible and yet again she is up against another health battle. I look at both of these pictures next to one another and am reminded that God was faithful before and we will believe that He will be faithful again. He knew that she would face both of these hurdles in her life and designed her body exactly the way He intended it to be. He does not make mistakes. I think this applies to so much of our lives. It can be easy to look at the hurdles in front of us and be incredibly overwhelmed. But God promises us that He does not make mistakes AND He can move mountains. He is not scared of this cancer and holds the power to heal her body. So we will believe that He can, and even if He doesn't we know He still has a plan and we will still love Him deeply.
On a different note, thank you for praying for Madeline's mouth sores. We have been gentle with her and she has been living off of smoothies, but we have reason to believe she is improving. She is not complaining as often and is letting us brush her teeth again. This is a big win and it feels very good!
Thank you for praying always! Happy Mother's Day to all the moms tomorrow! You are so loved and appreciated. I hope tomorrow is a little extra special and you are surrounded by the people who love you.
We love you all.
Comments