Daisy has been doing very well this week. Her Chemo appointment was on Wednesday (usually Thursday), and will be again next week, and then back to Thursdays.

She has been making major strides in dealing with the fear associated with the appointments! Daisy Love has been feeling so chipper that we sent her to school on Thursday. You may remember we sent her there three weeks ago, but she was only there for two days because the flu hit the school hard so we had to pull her out.

This week we checked and no one was sick so we sent her back yesterday. Unfortunately she got worn out half way through and called us to pick her up. Worse, we found out that one of the girls in her class was out today with 103 temperature.

Obviously, she was contagious yesterday when Daisy was there, so we need to pray that the Lord keeps her from illness. She has not gotten any symptoms of Britt’s Swine Flu, praise the Lord!

Britt is still sick, going on two weeks, but getting better. We love you all and are still experiencing so much of the beauty of Jesus through this and we can honestly say that we know Him to be good more than ever before!

Psalm 40

¹ I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
² He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
³ He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.

Thank you for your prayers! Daisy had no adverse affects to the medicine today!

We expected that, and that is good. The real breakthrough was that she did better with fear and pain than ever before. Daisy said that Jesus answered our prayers about these things directly today.

This is great news because she had felt as though God had not been answering our prayers about pain and fear for the last few appointments. We talked about prayer this morning and what it means to trust God and act on His promises and we prayed together a lot.

She had a major spiritual victory! Truly her heavenly Father carried her through the day and she knows it!

She is feeling well and is in great spirits.

Thank you for your partnership friends. We love you all.

11.11.09 - Here is a quick bullet update.  More details follow:

• Daisy was given the incorrect formulation of a certain Chemotherapy drug two weeks ago and had a severe and frightening reaction.
• She has Chemo again tomorrow and they are going to give her the same drug, but formulated correctly and are hoping she will not have the same reaction, but are going to pre-medicate her before just to be safe.
• Generally, Daisy has been feeling very well and her spirits are up.
• Her hair is getting pretty thin and today she said, “I am happy that I am going to be bald… no more knots, no more messy hair in the morning, and I won’t get a hot head in the hot sun!”
• Isaiah turned 9 today!
• Britt has swine flu.
• The whole family needs an extra prayer covering with Britt so sick… especially Kate, who is carrying such a heavy load.
• The risk for Daisy being exposed to the swine flu in the Merrick home while her immune system is weakened is obvious and needs prayer.

Some further details:

• Yes, horrifically, Daisy was given the wrong formulation of a chemotherapy agent. The doctors all said, “This never happens.” And of course they all felt terrible. There is an internal investigation going on to figure out how such a grave mistake could have occurred. For now, an additional third party will check all of Daisy’s treatments before they are administered to her.
• Obviously, litigation is quick to enter people’s minds. We were able to tell the doctors and nurses that we, as Christians, are not vindictive or vengeful people. We understand that people make mistakes and we are okay with that. Of course, it was a really big mistake, but which of us has not also made a really big mistake? And so how can we ourselves being imperfect, try to hold other people to the standard of perfection? We cannot. We know what it is like to be forgiven, having been forgiven of so much through Jesus Christ, so we must forgive in the same way. We were able to communicate this to our oncologist and tell him that we love and appreciate and value him and are so deeply thankful for all that he has done.
• The investigation will go on at the behest of the Cottage Hospital Pharmacy and associated parties to whom they are accountable. We do not want anyone to lose their job or reputation; we just want to use this experience to help create a safer system for future patients.

Technical Chemo Info:

• The medicine that Daisy was supposed to receive two weeks ago is called Doxorubicin. It is one of 3 agents she will be receiving during Chemo.
• What she received was an alternative formulation of that called Liposomal-Doxorubicin. It is a formulation that more aggressively attacks the cancer and is usually used in adults and administered over a period of 2-4 hours.
• Daisy got it in a manner that would have taken 6 minutes if it were not cut short by her reaction and the nurse’s stopping the flow through the access port in her chest.
• The pediatric pharmacist’s and the oncologist’s research leads them to believe that the reaction was due to the variant formulation and not the agent Doxorubicin itself. Therefore they feel confident that they can administer the treatment to her tomorrow without any adverse effects, but there is no guarantee.

Prayer Points:

• For Daisy to not react negatively to the Doxorubicin.
• For Daisy not to contract swine flu.
• For Daisy to be free from fear at her treatment tomorrow. (Fear has been a really huge problem for her at these treatments)
• For Kate to have extra strength and the Lord’s joy at this time.
• For Britt to get over the swine flu quickly.

The Merrick’s love you all and thank you so much!

The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

2 Chronicles 16:9

Thank you so much friends. We believe that your prayers have been powerful and effective. As we revealed a few days ago, Isaiah’s desk-mate at school got sick with the flu. What we did not reveal is that the doctor thought it was Swine Flu. Who knows… they don’t test unless you have to go to the hospital, so it is just a guess by the doctor.

Either way, it was alarming because if Daisy gets any form of the flu it would be very dangerous. So we pulled Isaiah out of school. He did have a low-grade fever for a while which is one of the symptoms of Swine Flu (and a lot of other things, of course), and he also had some of the other possible symptoms.

We had to move him to the grandparent’s house to minimize the danger for Daisy. After two days there, he has no fever today and is feeling great! Thank you for your prayers!

Additionally, Daisy’s white blood cell count and her platelet count have both gone up!! Praise the Lord! We really sense and believe that your prayers to God have sustained and protected us.

Tomorrow (Thursday), Daisy is supposed to have Chemo again. Last week she had a radical reaction to one of the medicines. It was a really scary moment and it seemed like we were close to losing her. It was horrific. Beyond expression. I really thought she was going to die right then. In light of that event, the doctors are still trying to decide how to proceed and we are concerned. Please pray that we and the doctors would have wisdom and know exactly what to do.

Also, she was very fearful of her Chemo treatments, because of the needle accessing her chest, before the horror of last week. Now, she can’t even imagine going back. Neither can we really. She really, and we really, need prayer not to be ruled by fear.

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Philippians 4:6-8

⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

John 14:27 (Jesus speaking)

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Please continue to pray for protection from illness for the Merrick family, especially Daisy.  The flu is traveling around school, and a student who sits next to Isaiah is now sick.   Thank you for praying faithfully!

Prayer worked!  Daisy has made a miraculous turn around since yesterday and is doing much better today!  Praise the Lord! She was able to spend the night at home.

Please pray for wisdom in how to proceed with treatment and for protection from the swine flu since people close to Daisy have it.

Daisy had an extremely adverse reaction to chemo today.  The doctors do not know why.  She was given Benadryl and is asleep right now.  She may need to be hospitalized.

Please seek the Father!!

Today at 1pm Daisy will have her next Chemo treatment.  Please pray Philippians 4:7 for Daisy today “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Having returned to school the first half of this week, we would also appreciate your prayers for Daisy to be protected from sickness during the flu season.

Thank you!

Daisy is going back to school today!!!

Please pray against infection as her white blood cell count is low and so she is very susceptible to illness. Being in school will help her emotionally by making life feel more normal for her. This is great because she had been a bit emotionally distraught lately, but it does run the risk of illness. So let’s pray! Thank you!!!

Daisy had her last radiation treatment today!! Praise the Lord for sustaining her through this phase!

After today Daisy will only need to go to the doctor for Chemo once a week instead of daily visits. Even today she is fearful of her next Chemo appointment. Please continue to pray with us for Daisy to be strong and courageous like Joshua!

Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”