Chemo continues

Well, after another visit to the clinic early this morning, we were given the go-ahead to begin chemotherapy. Maggie's ANC had to be at 500 and it was at 700 this morning, so we made our walk up to the inpatient oncology floor. Once on the floor we quickly found a red car for her to cruise. This will be our entertainment and exercise for the next 5 days. She will be getting Cytoxan and VP-16, a 5 day infusion of a couple of hours a day. Currently, they are giving her 4 hours of IV fluids to help boost her levels and then she will get the most unfortunate urinary cathater. They give her Ativan to help with the procedure, but it doesn't do much.

Our neighborhood had trick-or-treating last night so we dressed Maggie up for the occasion. I will post pictures of her later this afternoon.

Pray that this next round of chemo will go routinely, that Maggie will not get any fevers or mouth sores, and that she will be in good spirits while in the hospital.

Chemo postponed

We went into the clinic early this morning hoping to start Maggie's next chemotherapy treatment. However, her counts were not at their appropriate numbers. All of her numbers look good except for her ANC. It needs to be 500 in order to begin treatment and it is currently at 310. It seems to have taken a hit from the virus that she probably has. Her cultures have come back negative (well one of them did, the other got lost), so I guess when this happens it means that there is a virus. So, for now, we must wait for her ANC to come back up. The plan is to come back into the clinic on Friday morning and see if her ANC has recovered. With her ANC as low as it is, it means that we cannot be indoors with crowds. When her ANC was low, we used to go outside and walk around or sit on restaurant patios. With the weather growing cold, it's going to be hard to do this. We can only hope that winter is not a bitter one so that we might escape the indoors every now and again.

Maggie's mouth sores have healed. Please continue to pray for her counts to recover, for her to get rid of this virus, that she might be able to sleep soundly at night, and that she continues to be in good spirits. Also, pray that we don't get too far behind schedule. We will be a little over a week behind. Though I know my plans mean nothing in the scheme of things, I'd really like to be finished with the heavy chemotherapy before Thanksgiving. Thanks.

Fever again

We visited the ER last night because Maggie was running a 100.5 fever for over an hour. If the fever doesn't get above 101 degrees, however is 100.5 or greater for over an hour, we must go in to get her blood cultured and begin antibiotics. We spent about 3 1/2 hours in the ER and were again pleasantly suprised to be able to go back home. We have been told in the past that when we go to the ER, we should expect to be admitted. Maggie was able to go home because though she had a fever at home, they didn't consider to have a fever when we got to the ER and she was acting very good. Throughout the day, as well as in the ER, she was smiling and babbling. She didn't act sick at all. This is a blessing that although she has been fevering quite a bit, she doesn't seem to be too bothered by it.

We went back into the clinic this afternoon for a scheduled visit to look at Maggie's counts (her platelets were low the previous week). Because of our trip to the ER last night, this visit also became a time for them to give her antibiotic through IV. Again, Maggie didn't act sick though her temperature was just under an official fever of 101 degrees. During our visit, Maggie was again cultured. During this time, she tried very hard to "help" out. She wanted to grab every vile, syringe, alcohol prep pad and put them in her mouth. She is becoming quite the involved patient, which is very different then a couple of months ago. When we first began this process, Maggie would scream at anyone, including Andy and me, when her broviac lumens were accessed to give medicine. It shows the comfort level she has for others and perhaps the "normalcy" of the situation that we are in.

Regardless, the plan for the week is to get antibiotics tomorrow through home care and go back into the clinic early Wednesday morning to check her counts. If Maggie's counts are at the appropriate number (her platelets are great now, but her ANC has dropped to 410, which means we are no longer allowed to be in public places), her cultures are negative, AND she doesn't have any more fevers, we will be admitted to continue her chemotherapy treatments.

Please pray for Maggie that her fevers will go away, her cultures will show that she doesn't have an infection, her mouth sores will continue to heal, and she will continue to be the happy, babbling baby that she's been the last day or two.

Chemo Postponed- Home for now

We were discharged from the hospital a couple of hours ago. On Thursday when we went to the clinic, we were expecting to start chemotherapy again, but instead were surprised to be admitted for mouth sores. Of course, I knew Maggie had mouth sores, but they were not bothering her, they only looked bad (a bloody mess). The doctors continually assumed she was in pain and wanted to give her pain meds or magic mouthwash (it numbs the mouth). Throughout the last couple of days though, Maggie has not appeared to be in any pain and has been smiling and playing. So, finally the doctors listened to us (or I'd like to think they did) and allowed us to go home and wait it out because her counts are not high enough to start chemo. Maggie's platelets are below the necessary number in order to begin. We will be going into the clinic on Monday to check them and possibly give her a transfusion of platelets.

I have mixed emotions about our being home. I am glad that the doctors are taking every precaution necessary for Maggie, but I feel that our last 3 days in the hospital were unneeded. Maggie has been good--nursing, and like I said earlier, playing and smiling. It was frustrating being in there knowing she is feeling so good. I am glad that we are home, but I wish that we could have started our next chemotherapy treatment. We have two more in-patient treatments before we move to the next phase in which we have weekly chemotherapy treatments in the clinic. I cannot WAIT for the day we get to that next phase. I am a planner and on my calendar I have her treatments penciled in. We are now 3 days behind schedule and will most likely not begin until later next week. I would love to be finished with this phase before Thanksgiving because it would be nice to celebrate the holiday with family. We have been trapped in Dayton for about 4 months now. Andy and I are beginning to feel the effects, and I think to be able to get to the next phase of treatment would help.

Please continue to pray for Maggie, that her mouth sores will heal, her counts will recover, and she will remain in good spirits.

10/23

We're back in the hospital, but it's been an interesting day. This morning we woke Maggie up so that we could go to the Clinic and check Maggie's counts. As long as they weren't too low, we'd get admitted and start chemo. However, when we woke her her mouth was full of blood--her bottom lip was just covered with broken sores and......well, I won't describe it in too much detail, it was gruesome. It certainly got people's attention at the hospital--it helped us get back to see the doctor sooner, that's for sure. Whitney is convinced that it looks worse than it actually is. There are more sores inside her mouth--Dr. French said they look like they could be about to get alot worse, or else they're going to get better. It's hard to tell what stage they are at. Also, she has a scab on her stomach that broke open yesterday and is now another of the doctor's concerns. Her counts are starting to drop and this week's chemo will take her all the way down again--meaning slower healing of all of her sores.

Given all of this, Dr. French wanted us to be admitted, but chemo won't start yet. He started her on antibiotics to try to prevent an infection from developing on her stomach sore. And he'd like to see some progress on her mouth. So we'll wait a few days and see when we can move forward. We have 5 days of chemo ahead of us, so it's a bit intimidating to think that we might be here a while just waiting to get to the 5 day chemo.

We'll keep you all posted.

Fevers, the Finale

I write to you from the couch in our home--Maggie's fevers appear to be done, and she was discharged around 4:30 this afternoon. We are thrilled, relieved, and very excited to be away from the hospital--despite the good care that Maggie gets there.

Maggie seemed to enjoy the newness of today as well. Since her fever has been gone since sometime early yesterday, she was allowed to ride her car around the hallways of the hospital. We did that for quite a long time today. When we ask her, "do you want to ride in your car?" Her legs kick, hands clap, eyes get big...it is quite cute. She also perked up when we got to our driveway, Whitney asked: "do you want to see doggies?" She loves the neighbor's dogs, Max and Molson. "Da, Da, Da." Again, her feet kick and swing.

Maggie's mouth (on the inside) looked pretty clear of mouth sores today--her lips are another story. They have a stripe of yellow gunky sores, a couple deep cracks that are bleeding, and drool running out the corners of her mouth. So she's not 100% happy. She's worn a bib the last 24 hours or so to try to keep the dressing under her shirt dry. Her appetite continues to be affected by the condition of her mouth, too.

We'll rest and enjoy our time at home, but not for long. Thursday we're scheduled to continue chemo, and we'll stick with that schedule as long as her platelet count is high enough. So we'll be here for a day and a half, then we'll knock out another week on our treatment calander. Though we'd love to be home longer, we both agree that we want to get through this phase of treatment as quickly as we can.

Thanks to everyone for their support, prayers, and for following along. It helps us knowing that you care for us. And Maggie will be glad to see you down the road, too.

Fevers Continue, Part 2

Maggie has continued with her fevers throughout the night and into this morning. All of her cultures have come back negative so they seem to think that Maggie might have a virus. She could have caught this virus anytime within the last couple weeks, but there's no way of telling. Regardless, she is miserable when she is spiking a fever and waiting for Tylenol. And to make matters worse, she is getting mouth sores again. The last couple of days she has not breastfed much and since this is her source of calories because she doesn't eat solid foods, she hasn't taken much in. And if we want to add more issues, she is beginning to teeth, so that is not helping matters any.

Maggie is currently getting a blood transfusion, which means multiple blood pressure readings. This is causing her to be very upset with the continual "hugs" on her leg. She will most likely get a platelet transfusion today as well.

As for the future, we must be patient and wait this virus out. Please pray that her fevers will stop and that her mouth sores will not get worse or be painful. Please pray for us all during this difficult time.