Thursday- Test Day

This is me when I first got to the hospital at 10:00 am. I had my good luck outfit on from Steph, Whit, and Delinda and I had my booties on from Jon, Linz, and his mom. I had all of my stuff given to me just for my special day.

Thought: At this point Blake and I were just fine and were very positive and strong about today. We knew that the Lord would be with her and everyone else assisting with her procedures today.

After arriving we waited in the waiting room till 10:50. We got placed in the anesthesia room where they checked her vitals, weight, height, etc. They also went over with us the schedule of her procedures. They told us she would first have her MIBG scan, then her MRI and last her bone marrow biopsy. We were also told that we would see her in recovery in the OR area because that is where her biopsy would take place.

She then started crying and screaming because she was hungry since she had not eaten since 8:00-her big day was to begin at 12:00.It was so hard to look at her sad face and tell her I can't feed you angel. She finally cried herself to sleep at 11:30. At about 11:35 they came in and said that there had been an emergency and a little boy was in the testing room,  so we won't get started until 12:30.

While we were waiting in the room we had Judy Madden from our church come to visit us. All 4 of us circled together and she began to pray for us. At that point we could feel the Lord's presence in the room!! It was so amazing and touching to have her come see us and pray with us!! It definitely helped prepare us for the day.

Well, as you well know 12:30 rolled around and we had not yet started. She began to wake up at 12:45 crying AGAIN because she was hungry. At this point we were feeling every emotion possible- sad, desperate, aggravated, mad, etc. We had to pray at that point everything is going to be OK.
It was then at 1:20 that they finally came in and said we are ready for Miss Reagan. We were told that both of us could go to the next room with her to watch her fall asleep. At that point I thought to myself- I wasn't planning on doing this but I can do it. Blake held Reagan-(still crying) and I walked beside them to the next room. Blake laid her down on the bed and stood right next to her and I stood at the end of the bed. They placed the breathing mask over her crying mouth and at that point I lost it. Just hearing her crying and it echoing inside the mask was so hard to hear. Blake stood next to her saying "I love you angel bug, it's going to be OK." It was then at 1:27 about 1 minute after they put the mask on that she fell asleep. Blake gave her a kiss and I walked over and saw her laying there still and not moving- boy was that hard to see. I saw her mouth wide open just like she does when she is sleeping. I gave her a kiss and said I love you and we both left the room. Blake and I walked out and just hugged each other and said we can do this, everything is going to be OK.

This was probably the hardest thing ever so far other than hearing the news that our sweet girl has cancer. Blake and I definately could not have gotten through this without all the prayer warriors we had reaching out to us and Reagan. We can not thank everyone enough!!


After eating lunch we arrived at the  Surgery waiting room at about 3:00. We were told at this point that the MRI had just started. I began to wonder how long she was going to be under because the MRI takes about an hour and the bone marrow takes about 30 minutes. It was scary to think that our precious girl had already been sleeping for an hour and a half.

At 4:00 we went to the receptionist and asked if she could call  to see where we were at in the process. We received a phone call at 4:15 that Reagan was about to finish up her bone marrow biopsy and she will then be sent to recovery.

It was at 4:45 that we heard the best news of the day- "parents of Reagan Herren ya'll may come on back." When we got to her room she was laying on the bed still asleep. Blake and I talked with the doctor about her day and it wasn't but 15 minutes later that she finally opened her big blues and looked at us- what an amazing sight!! She then began to show us her crying face but no cry was coming out. They explained to us that a breathing tube was down her throat which will cause her throat to be very dry. It was sad to watch her try to cry and not be able to hear anything. We knew at that point she was trying to tell us she was hungry. The nurse picked her up and handed her to me and I sat down to try and feed her. She wasn't really wanting to eat so we poured some breast-milk in a bottle and the nurse attempted to feed her. She did very well and finished  all of her bottle! Once she had eaten and she was breathing on her own, they told us we could go home. Blake and I then dressed her in her going home outfit that Aunt Lindsay bought her!!

We meet on Tuesday February 15th with the oncologist to go over her results. She will also go over with us the action plan we are going to take to help Miss Reagan fight Neuroblastoma.

Blake and I want to graciously thank everyone again for reaching out to us during these hard times. We can't thank you all enough for the words of encourgement and the prayers. We will update on Tuesday with the latest, unless we know something sooner.