Maggie Facts

Here's a little departure from the usual updates (well, here's a quick update: we are all fairly well recovered from our stomach ailments, thanks for your concern and prayers).

Fact: Maggie is now 16 months old!

Fact: Maggie was born with dark brown hair, though the doctor said as she pulled her out, "I think I see some red hair." I didn't see any red right away. Eventually, she did grow some red, and her hair was a beautiful brownish-auburn color when she was diagnosed in June.

Fact: Maggie held on to her hair longer than her doctor thought she would after she began chemo. Eventually, her brown hair all fell out, leaving her red highlights. It was good for mom and dad not to be traumatized by all of her hair falling out at once. So, Maggie became known as a redhead. It was cute. And her grandma Lehman was especially proud to have another redhead in the family.

Fact: Maggie recently began growing hair again since it had been a while since she had heavy doses of chemo--she now has somewhat of a dark brown buzz-cut. As the new hair grew back, the longer few tufts of red hair have fallen out. So now, no visible red. It is so healthy looking, too, to see eyelashes and eyebrows again. Of the two pictures on the right, Maggie currently has more of the healthy look of the bottom one (though with shorter hair). Ironically, she was much more sick (leukemia) in the bottom one than in the top in which she looks pale, swelled, and tired. Sorry if that is hard to follow.

Fact: She'll probably lose this hair again in the coming weeks due to this past week's chemo. We have 10 weeks of recovery and low-dose chemo before having our last heavy dose of chemo, 5 more days in the hospital. Tentatively planned for April.

Fact (maybe): Starting early summer, Maggie should start growing hair again, possibly for good. Dr. French said that sometimes hair grows a different color each time it grows and falls out. Often it gets darker over time, and sometimes turns curly when it was once straight. We'll see.

Fact: Dr. French's plan is to remove Maggie's Broviac (which is her long-term IV access in her chest) several weeks after April's chemo, and to replace it with a "port." The benefit of a port is that it would be completely under her skin. This allows her to get wet without us having to wrap her up in saran wrap. We can't wait. It also has a lower risk of getting infected, which is the real medical reason for the switch. Also, as Maggie is now mobile and increasingly curious, her broviac tubes (which hang about a foot outside her body) could get tugged at and come out. That doesn't sound fun. So a port would be safer. Also, the broviac is a lot of extra work and maintenance (weekly dressing changes, daily heparin flushes).

Fact: The downside of a port is that we'd have to punch through her skin with a needle every time she gets blood work done or medicine through an IV. (I am now realizing that I should have warned those of you who don't like visualizing such things, sorry). We'll put numbing cream on the site of her port before going to the doctor's office. Most say this isn't too painful.

Fact: Maggie is a very happy, sweet little girl. It seems as though she doesn't know what she has really gone through. She doesn't hesitate to enter the hospital or the clinic, or when approached by nurses or most doctors (people assume that she has bad associations with that place. Not really so. Sometimes her parents do, though.)

Fact: She doesn't like the hospital volunteer with a long ponytail and the long, braided beard. Though he hasn't poked her or hurt her, she doesn't trust him once he enters her 15 foot safety radius.

Fact: Maggie still needs your prayers as the risk of relapse will be present for the next few years. The longer we go without new cancer cells, the better, though. We are planning on never having to deal with them again, thank you very much.

God Bless,
Andy