Spring Break (Day #3)

What a day... Russ started getting a scratchy throat last night, so he left the hospital last night to get away from Maddy.  He made a doctor's appointment today to make sure he didn't have strep or something.  (He doesn't have strep, but probably has a little virus which still isn't good when your child has no immune system.)

Maddy finished up her last dose of chemo early in the morning.  She woke up with a belly ache and was worrying about the shot she was going to have to have.  After all the worrying-  a little numbing cream, a little ice, and a very loud scream later and it was done.  Maddy was brave as usual.   We just wish she didn't have so much to worry about.  It is so hard not knowing what to say to her or how to make her feel better.  As parents, we feel so helpless!

Maddy felt a little better after her shot was over.  We were able to do some crafts and her mean mom made her do some math homework.  She then started to get tired, so she got snuggled in bed.  I put the call button by her so I could step out to get a drink from the lounge down the hall.  One minute later, when I got back to the room, Maddy was laying in bed covered in puke.  She just looked at me and said, "I couldn't get to the call button."  After a little chaos, the nurse cleaned up the bed while I cleaned up Maddy.  The only good thing about the whole ordeal was that Maddy got to take a nice warm shower since we were going to have to change her dressing anyway.  (We then bagged up her "chunky" clothes and blankets for Dad to take care of when he got to the hospital : )

The doctor then stopped in to see Maddy right after the puking episode.  She told us that Maddy's platelets were so low that she needed a platelet transfusion.  She then reminded us that she would need to stay in the hospital until her counts rebounded- about 14 days!  What happened to 10 days??????  The number keeps going up!

The rest of the day was a little better.  Maddy was finally able to take a nap.  Dad and Julia made it to the hospital and did a load of clothes and blankets.  Maddy woke up and played a little with her sister and ate a little supper.  Maddy then started to get a little anxious and uncomfortable, so the nurse gave her a little "happy juice" and she is now sleeping peacefully.

P.S.- I forgot to tell you the topper of the day. Our friends made us a pie. Russ brought it to the hospital for us to eat and put it in the refrigerator in the Family Lounge along with some of our pop and other food labeled with our name and room number. A couple of hours later, I went to get the pie to have it with supper and it was gone along with our pop! Someone took our pie! : ( No pie for us!!!! A perfect ending to a perfect day!


 

 

Spring Break (Day #2)

Maddy had a pretty good day today. She slept a lot of the morning. Her blood counts are so low that she does not have a lot of stamina. She received another blood transfusion this afternoon and it seemed to give her a little energy- she was able to do a little school work, read, and paint a picture frame from the playroom. The chemo is starting to affect her eyes (dark red circles around them)- she might need to borrow some of Mom's concealer! Maddy is getting a little stir crazy already. It's hard to not get bored being stuck in a 10x15 room. Her third chemo treatment is just about done. One more to go and then Maddy has to get a deep muscle shot followed by daily shots to beef up her white blood cells. Maddy is not looking forward to the shots- we may need some more of that "happy medicine". Then we just have to wait for her counts to recover so we can come home. We are praying for no fevers or infections during this time!

P.S. We didn't find the pool today, but we will keep looking!

Spring Break at St. V's (Day #1)

Maddy and Mom arrived at our Spring Break destination at 10 AM today.  After getting "checked in" to our room at the St. Vincent's Resort, we waited and waited for blood work to come back.  Maddy slept most of the day with only the occasional outburst.  Finally, around 5 PM, the nurse started her chemo treatment.  Maddy continued to sleep most of the time (must be the jet lag), but would wake up very unhappy and would let us know it.  Dad and Julia arrived in time to witness this.   At one point, we had two residents at our door peaking in to see if everything was okay.  They looked scared!!!  : )  With a little help from what we will call her "happy medicine",  Maddy is now resting peacefully and isn't quite so agitated.  We have one out of four treatments done!  Maddy's immune system is way low and getting lower.  As a result, we have a lovely 3 ft. tall Heppa Filter system in our room (we had to pay extra for that) to clean the air and a "Protective Isolation" sign on the door (St. V's version of "Do Not Disturb").

That's it for today.  We are not sure what we are going to do tomorrow-  maybe lay out by the pool!

She's Home

Maddy was able to come home this evening.  Her temperature stayed around 99 without Tylenol this afternoon.  Maddy's persuasion along with the promise that we would return to the hospital immediately if her temperature went up again was enough to convince the doctor to let her come home.  Hopefully she will be able to get some much needed rest to get ready for her next treatment on Thursday!

Thanks for all the prayers!

Sunday Update from St. Vincent's

Maddy came to the hospital on Thursday for a bone marrow aspirate and to start the second month of induction treatments.  She was supposed to have 4 chemo treatments twelve hours apart and then come home.  However, she spiked a fever on Friday night so the doctors ordered cultures and antibiotics.  Maddy has also slept almost continuously and not eaten since Thursday, which is not like her at all.  Maddy is ready to go home, but the doctor was just in and said her counts have already started to drop.  Maddy needs a blood transfusion and we are going to try to get her to drink some Ensure or Boost to get her energy up.  She also still has a fever.  Most likely, we will be spending another night at the hospital.  Unfortunately, she also  has to do this all again on Thursday...

The sun shining through the window this morning reminds us though that there are better days to come.

St. Baldrick Event

The St. Baldrick event today was a huge success thanks to the outpouring of support.  Thanks to everyone who donated or took part in this event!

Our family was able to spend some time at the event.  Russ got his head shaved and as we were getting ready to leave, Julia said she wanted to do it.  Of course, Mom wasn't so sure but she was determined.  Julia wanted to shave her head last year and didn't, so Mom gave in.  Julia grinned from ear to ear as they cut off her pony tails to donate.  She still has not stopped smiling.  Not only did she want to do this for her sister, but she is pretty excited that she can now sleep in longer in the morning!  : )

Our hope is that one day we won't need events like this because a cure for childhood cancer will be found!

University of Michigan Visit

Today we had our appointment at the University of Michigan to meet the Bone Marrow Transplant doctor and discuss this treatment option compared to continued chemotherapy treatments for Maddy.  I can not even begin to describe what Russ and I are feeling right now-  the thought of having to make this decision is almost too much to bear.  PRAYING, PRAYING, PRAYING!!!!


On a more positive note, below are links to the Buckeye and Crescent News articles and pictures from the assembly at the high school on Wednesday.  Enjoy!

http://www.archboldbuckeye.com/news/2011-03-09/Front_Page/AHS_BOYS_BASKETBALL_PLAYERS_GET_THEIR_HAIR_SHAVED.html

http://www.crescent-news.com/news/article/4996681