Things to watch for; I'd much rather watch for signs of spring...

Hi Family and Friends!!

I just returned from the Oncology clinic and carefully carried Katherine still in her snowsuit, hats and gloves up to her bed to rest.

Thankfully the cold didn’t wake her, and she is still sleeping.


 Here's a quick heads up about this next week, as it was told to me by our nurse practitioner at Katherine's appointment in the HOT Clinic today.

Katherine will again begin another week of steroid medication. This medication is intended to wipe out herimmune system.

She was at an ANC (absolute neutrophil count = how strong her immune system is) of 2000 something last week, this week she was at 700, and we expect it to go down much further this week.

You may recall they kept us in the hospital the last time she was on steroids, because then too, her counts  were very low, in the 200s and 300s…

Katherine had a trying week last week with constipation, which kept her from sleeping, then diarrhea, which was heralded, as it signaled the end of constipation, but it was a pain to manage. Then there was the nausea and vomiting. She remained in good spirits, mostly.

She now has had another dose
of the chemo that may in time be detrimental to her heart muscle, and another
dose of the chemo which may cause mobility issues and will immediately bring
back the constipation.

We have to be very careful
with Katherine this week. Lots of hand washing. No exposure to ill people or
coughing people. Removing shoes at the door, washing door knobs, telephones and
refrigerator handles. Washing floors and toys and dishes right away. Watching
what she plays with, is it possibly dirty? Washing her hands often too.
Making sure she isn’t putting toys in her mouth or our spoons or dirty anything
in her mouth.

We must watch for her
coloring to remain constant, as her bone marrow is getting wiped out and she’ll
likely continue to lose blood and platelets and will possibly need a transfusion of those next week. Her counts this week are already on a significant downward trend. We should watch for an increase in bruising. She is also not making good blood
cells at this time, as her marrow is suppressed, and we need to watch her for
looking less than normal pink color, white lipped, or extra fatigued, as that
means our little vampire may need more blood products, too.  

(Looks like my birthday blood drive is going to be helpful to other kids in this situation this summer. Blood donors - you're the BEST! Please continue to watch for details on this and put June 4, 2014 on your calendar. Location and times TBD!)

She currently has two mouth sores, which are expected as another side effect of one of the medications she is taking; we have to watch her eating and intake. If she starts refusing to eat or drink, it may because she has throat sores or soft mucosal tissue sores, and likely we’ll need to get her hospitalized for dehydration and nutrition.

She has not been drinking fantastically, according to her BUN and creatinine lab stats, that’s kidney stuff.  I think she’s been drinking great, but we really need to push her
apple sauce intake and all liquids to save those precious little kidneys.

We have to check her for fevers a lot this week, as any fever is a sign that her body is fighting something off, she just doesn’t have any cells left to fight. So we’d need to
go to the hospital immediately. We get triaged right in and will likely be admitted
for days.

There is a lot going on with Katherine. She's a little aware that she doesn't feel well, but overall she's our smiling sunshine. She stopped waking up with a smile, which has us all a little disheartened, but we know it's in there.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers.

God Bless you all!

Here's Miss Smiley playing with the chemo scanner.









Here's our happy nurse giving Katherine the chemo that will ultimately make this cancer go away! Thank you!!









Yes, she's still wearing her Christmas jammies!! If the weather is going to stay so cold, we are not giving up our footed pajamas any time soon.

                                                       And from our local weather authority,
                                             "Bundle up everybody! Keep yourselves healthy!"