All Clear

We had our visit to Maggie's doctors today. We started out going down to Cincinnati to visit Dr. Mezoff, Maggie's GI specialist. He continued to be encouraged by how she was looking and acting. He decided the next plan of action is to take a look at her small bowel again through an upper GI with a small bowel follow through. Maggie had this test awhile back and it was quite a traumatic experience for her, along with it taking a surprisingly long time. If her bowels are looking repaired (not smooth), they will begin weaning her off of TPN.

Weaning Maggie off of TPN is a little bittersweet. It would be nice to not have Maggie continuously accessed and not have to poke her with a needle weekly. On the other hand, it has been nice not to have to stress about counting calories, measuring liquids going into her, worrying about potassium. Maggie hasn't been eating much since she gets most of her calories through TPN. I worry that she will not meet her calorie intake and not eat because that sensation of hunger hasn't been there. Oh well, we're not even there yet, so I should probably just hold my worry until we get to that point.

We also visit the clinic today and had another chest x-ray. The verdict is that Maggie's lungs look clear of pneumonia. Her oxygen saturation level was 97% and though her respiratory rate is still high, I guess it doesn't have a link to her lungs. It might be due to the fact that she is still quite congested and has a pretty nasty cough.

We were happy with the report though, and even happier with her quick recovery. We have read many stories of kids in Maggie's situation who take weeks and weeks to leave the hospital. However, Dr. French couldn't guarantee that it won't come back. But hopefully we know the signs that we can catch it early again if it does indeed come back. Let's pray that it doesn't though.

Please continue to pray for Maggie, that she is completely healed of cancer. Pray also that her bowels have healed and she can be successful when weaned from the TPN. Also, please continue to pray for those children who are fighting their own battles with cancer.