Update

Hi everyone. Our energy is low tonight, so our update will be brief. Maggie is going to be put on TPN tomorrow (IV nutrition). We did this in June for 49 days and it plumped Maggie up and improved her diarrhea situation for a brief while. So, this will get her to the point where she'll be nourished better and she should put some weight back on. It is an inconvenience having her port accessed for an extended period, but it is the right thing to do. Dr. Mezoff guessed that she would stay on for 3-4 weeks, although last time it was longer than that.

Our question tonight is whether or not Maggie will be hospitalized for a couple days to get her started and to insure that she is getting a good mix of fluids, vitamins, and lipids. Dr. Mezoff thought that we would, but the Hemonc office sounded as though they may do this through homecare nurse visits.

We're not closer to identifying a cause for the diarrhea. The test results didn't show anything new and Dr. Mezoff is assuming that it is treatment related. We've been told to not bother with the gluten-free diet as Celiac disease has been ruled out several times. So, we'll continue to plan to deal with diarrhea until treatment ends in July. All we know is that it is worse now than it has ever been.(By the way, we are now 2/3 of the way through treatment, 16 months down, 8 more to go).

Our other concerns tonight are that Maggie is acting funny--she seems jumpy and less secure since yesterdays procedure. Also, she seemed to almost hyperventilate today and this evening she hasn't been using her thumbs--she tucks them under her palms and holds her hands awkwardly. We've seen it all now, I guess. We are assuming that it may be due to her new medication, but it would be really nice to see it be resolved soon.

We are all exhausted and drained. Tomorrow is a new day and it will bring some changes. We'll provide more details and explanations as soon as we can.