Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Hospital Stay

This week isn't turning out much better than last week for Maddy. She came to the hospital on Sunday for platelets, spiked a fever, and has been in the hospital ever since. The doctors can't find the cause of her fevers which they say sometimes happens. Her immune system was wiped out with the latest chemo treatment, so they are very cautious and aren't going to let her out until counts improve and fevers stay away... : (

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Rough Week

It has been a rough week at the Lambert house. We were with some family over the weekend and we picked up a flu bug. Everyone we were with started getting sick. On Tuesday, Maddy started to vomit. We took her to the clinic and she was admitted to the hospital- she was dehydrated, needed platelets, and overall, just did not feel well. On Wednesday, Julia was sick. Maddy got to come home, so we quarantined Julia to a room upstairs. Then, on Thursday, mom got sick. Maddy also started vomiting again. We called the doctor and found out that Maddy has C. Diff.(they had done a culture while she was in the hospital and it had come back positive). This is due to the high doses of antibiotics that she has been on for her central line infection. Now she is on yet another antibiotic for the C. Diff. Fortunately, she has been able to keep the pills down or she would have had to go back to the hospital. We are ready for the weekend!

On a more positive note, the ABC 4 Maddy Relay for Life team is in full swing. The team has recently designed the new "team t-shirt" for this year. They are AWESOME! Below, you can see the shirts on the Lady Streaks. The girl's basketball team is wearing the shirts during their tournament run.


Also, the annual St. Baldrick's event held at Terry Henricks in Archbold is quickly approaching.  All the money raised through this event is donated specifically to finding a cure for childhood cancer.  You can see all the details at:

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Finally Coming Home

After getting her central line removed and a new picc line put in on Tuesday, Maddy started her chemo. She finished up with that on Thursday evening, but since she spiked fevers, she wasn't able to come home on Friday. The doctor said if she didn't have any more fevers on Friday that she would be able to come home Saturday. We made sure to drink a lot of cold water before temperatures were taken on Friday (Ha Ha) and Maddy was good to go. Unfortunately, her blood counts have already started to drop so she has to get a blood transfusion before she leaves. She is getting that now and then we should be on our way... Finally!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Moving Forward

Maddy did very well today.  She had her catheter removed and a picc line put in her arm.  She continued to get antibiotics today and she will start chemo tomorrow.  The hope is that she can come home by Friday or Saturday-  depends on how she handles the chemo (this is the one her body really doesn't like).      The picc line can stay in 5-6 weeks.  The doctors will plan around her treatments to remove her picc line and replace the catheter.  Maddy says it feels weird not to have the cords hanging from her chest-  they had become such a part of her.

 
On another note, as you may have heard through recent national news stories, there is currently a significant shortage of the chemotherapy medication preservative-free methotrexate in the United States. This drug is critical to the treatment of children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Unless production of preservative-free methotrexate increases, hospitals will run out of the medication completely in the days and weeks ahead.  (This is the next chemo Maddy is due to receive in a couple of weeks!)

YOU CAN HELP IN TWO WAYS

Contact the following pharmaceutical companies who produce methotrexate and ask them to:

Prioritize the production of the preservative-free form of methotrexate. 
Consider working with the FDA to import preservative-free methotrexate if sources are available. 

APP Customer Service
1-888-386-1300
Hospira, Inc. Customer Service
1-877-946-7747
Mylan Institutional
1-888-258-4199
Sandoz Customer Service
1-609-627-8500

Second, contact your Representatives and Senators on Capitol Hill and ask them to immediately send a letter to these same pharmaceutical companies requesting that they:

Prioritize the production of the preservative-free form of methotrexate. 
Consider working with the FDA to import preservative-free methotrexate if sources are available. 


To send a letter to your representatives, go to the following web-site and click on "Action Items":
http://www.kintera.org/c.8hKOI3MFIjI2E/b.6440521/k.82B3/Action_Items/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=8hKOI3MFIjI2E&b=6440521&aid=517204

Monday, February 13, 2012

Decision

All of the brains got together today- the oncologists, the surgeons, and the infectious disease doctor- and they have decided that it is time to remove Maddy's central line. Waiting to see if the infection clears just puts Maddy further behind on her chemo treatments. We would rather have a new line than give those leukemia cells any chance of sneaking back in. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow to remove her central line and put in a temporary picc line in her arm. They will then treat a day or two more with antibiotics and then do chemo. Then the doctors will decide the best time to have a more permanent line put back in.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Delays Continue

Well, here we are Sunday evening and Maddy is still in the hospital. We thought she was going to get out on Saturday, but then her cultures started to come back positive for two different types of staph infections. While these are fairly mild forms of staph and they are not making Maddy physically ill right now, the bacteria seems to have colonized in her catheter lines. Their hope was that the antibioctics would clear it up, but the more days of positive cultures, the chances are getting more slim. Today, they tried a procedure using an alcohol based substance in her lines in hopes that this would cut through the film that has formed in her lines. Unfortunately, we won't know if this has worked for 48-72 hours (the time it takes to watch for growth in the cultures). To complicate all of this is the fact that Maddy is due for a chemo treatment, so each day that passes, puts her that much farther behind. In the end, if the alcohol and the antibiotics don't clear out the bacteria, she will have to have her catheter removed. The doctors will then have to decide whether or not to replace the catheter right away or put in a temporary line until the bacteria is completely gone so she can get her chemo. (This particular bacteria likes to cling to catheters, so they don't want to put a new catheter in until they are sure the bacteria is gone.) We are hoping we will get a few more answers tomorrow as to what the oncologist are thinking. Maddy is also scheduled for an ecocardiogram to check her heart where the central line is located to make sure there are no infected clots. This may also help to determine what needs to be done. As you can imagine, Maddy is going stir crazy. She is leaving notes for the nurses and doctors- "I want OUT now!" and "I still want out!"...

Fortunately, she had some visitors over the weekend. Her aunt and cousins visited since they were home for grandma's funeral. Maddy also had a GREAT time with Miss Heckel and Mrs. Buehrer who "babysat" while Russ and I were at the visitation. Tomorrow, she gets to spend time with our neighbor Lilli while we are at the funeral. A BIG thanks to everyone for helping us out! Words can not express how grateful we are!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Another Delay

Maddy was supposed to start the second chemo cycle of four on Tuesday after having many delays. Her counts finally made it, but she had been having some episodes the last two weeks where she would get chills, run a low grade fever, have a headache, and eventually would vomit. When we got to the hospital on Tuesday to start chemo, we went over what had been happening again with the doctors. To make a long story short, the symptoms she was having were due to an infection in her central lines. Everytime her lines were flushed after blood draws, the bacteria was pushed into her system. Luckily, the bacteria she has is very treatable with antibiotics, so that is what they are doing now. Hopefully, her cultures will start coming back negative and we will be able to come home in a day or two and finish up the antibiotics at home. Then she will have to go back to the hospital to start the next cycle of treatment when the infection is taken care of.


To add to all of this, my (Dorothy's) grandmother passed away this morning. She passed peacefully in her sleep. Something we are all grateful for.


Thanks again to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers!