11.12.2008

Written Nov 12, 2008

Today's results are in.......well almost!

This morning around 4 am after Hannah's morning lab draw we were informed that her potassium levels were really low and she had to receive a potassium infusion early this morning.

Hannah had her morning CT scan of her head and then we were waiting for the doctor to make rounds. I asked the doctor if Hannah's brain bled due to low platelets could there be a bleed somewhere else. There is a chance that this could happen so Hannah went back down for a CT scan of her chest, abdomen, and pelvic area.

We finally received the results. Hannah's head CT showed know new change. This is good; NO change means the bleeding has stopped! The brain should absorb the blood spot in her head within approximately the next 14 days. In two weeks Hannah will have another CT scan of her head. The results of the chest, abdomen, and pelvic CT showed nothing except healthy organs!

YEA...WE LOVE GOOD NEWS!

Hannah's heart rate has been high. It has been staying around the 190's and 200, due to her high fevers. Since this heart rate is really really high Hannah had an echocaridiogram (ultra sound of the heart) done today.
We are still waiting on these results.

Hannah received her neupogen shot, her two doses of her seizure medicine (only five more days of seizure medicine), and the doctor took Hannah off of one of her antibiotics and put her on two new antibiotics. We are trying two different antibiotics in hope that it will help Hannah's fever to go away. She is still running a continues temperature.

Her ANC is still low at 16.9 but her platelets are 210! This is the highest her platelets have been in over a week. We now have to make sure that her platelets stay up so she does not get any new crazy bleeds! Hannah's mouth sores are better but they still look really bad.

A BIG thank you goes out to everyone who has been praying so hard for our Hannah. Thank you for taking time out of your day to say a prayer for her and checking out her website. We really enjoyed all the guest book entries. The entries help us keep our spirits up and we appreciate them.

We are praying for a complete and totally healing of Hannah's body. We are believing that Hannah's brain bleed will vanish and her mouth sores will disappear, that her heart will be healthy, her counts to increase and stay within the normal limits, and NO MORE FEVER! We are proclaiming total restoration of Hannah's body.

She will SURVIVE!

Keep the Faith!

11.11.2008 (Special Prayer Request)

Written Nov 11, 2008 

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST!

I noticed today that Hannah was acting very lethargic. She slept from 6:30 this morning until around 3:00 or so. I know she is a sick girl but she never sleeps this much. I informed her nurse to talk to the doctor and to come and check Hannah out.

Her old ommaya reservoir appeared to be a little bigger than yesterday. I was concerned and the doctor was as well; she had some blood work done. He called the neurosurgeon, the neurosurgeon came an checked out Hannah and decided we needed a STAT (aka. right now) CT scan of her head.

We received the lab result and the CT scan results. Her electrolyte counts were the same as today, which were pretty decent. However the CT scan showed a small bleed in her brain on her right side where the OLD reservoir was removed. When our neurosurgeon came after the CT to inform us of the results he noticed her left hand twitching a little. Therefor, Hannah was put on Phenobarbital an anti seizure medication.

If Hannah's brain bleed grows it could make her have a seizure so the medication is to help prevent a seizure. Hannah will be on the Phenobarbital for seven days. She will have another CT scan in the morning and she should have one daily to monitor the bleed.

Since, Hannah has NOT had a brain injury the doctors think the brain bleed is due to her platelet count getting too low and her body not being able to maintain the platelets.

**Today Hannah's ANC was down to 15 and her platelets were down to 26. She is supposed to be getting a platelet infusion this afternoon and we are still waiting.
Hannah did get a Neupogen shot today. This shot is to help her counts increase. Maybe if her counts are higher her body can start maintaining her platelets and her lab levels will become normal.

We need prayer! Pray for the bleed in Hannah's brain to vanish, pray for her body to be complete and totally healed of this crazy mess. Don't forget the mouth sores and the burn on her back. They have not improved either.

Keep the Faith!

I will post more after we get the results to the CT scan tomorrow morning!

11.11.2008

Written Nov 11, 2008 

Hannah is still running a fever off and on. Her temperature will spike and then go away with Tylenol then 4 hours or so later it will go up again. Today it spiked all the way to 103.1, then slowly went down and now it is back up to 103.3.

We should start seeing improvement with Hannah's lab in just a few days. Seven to 14 days after chemotherapy is called the "nadir" period. This is when counts go way down and her body tries to rebuild new cells, since all the good and bad cells are being destroyed from the chemotherapy treatments. Hannah will be 14 days out on Wednesday!

Sunday:
Hannah's ANC was 18.43 and her platelets were up to 51 after finally receiving a platelet infusion. Hannah's potassium was down to 2.3 so she also had to received a potassium infusion.

The mouth sores were still really really really bad and it looks so painful. Hannah is still receiving Morphine to help control the pain and she slept the majority of the day.

Today/Monday:
Hannah's ANC is up to 21! Her platelets are back down; they were 18 this morning. She received another platelet infusion and may possibly need another tomorrow. We are going to try to keep her platelet count higher than what is good for most kids with cancer; since Hannah's are having difficulty staying up.

Hannah started swelling today. Her legs, arms, face were starting to look pretty big. The doctor ordered for her to have a dose of Lasix so her body would remove the extra fluid before she is in fluid over load. Needless to say I had to change a lot of wet diapers today!

On the flip side, removing all the extra fluid with the Lasix can make Hannah's potassium decrease. Since she already has trouble with her potassium counts staying up she most likely will have a potassium infusion tomorrow.

Hannah's mouth sores still look bad but I can tell a little improvement from yesterday. Hannah also is wanting to eat and drink. She can't with those painful mouth sores but I am glad that the will is there. The TPN and lipids are keeping her healthy she is still gaining weight. Hannah is almost 22 1/2 pounds.

Let's not forget about Hannah's radiation burn on her back. When we were admitted to the hospital two weeks ago her back was almost completely healed. Now with her counts so low her burn is getting worse. The new skin is starting to peal, and the underneath tissue has became exposed and it is pink again in a 4"x4" area. I requested a burn consult and we are trying a new treatment on her back. If it does not improve in the next day or two we will be trying something different.

Hannah and I have had a busy two days. She is staying strong and still fighting the mouth sores and the fevers. Thank you for all the many prayers for Hannah and all the love and support from everyone. Thanks too for all the encouraging comments on the guest book and the e-mails they really do help us stay strong and shows us how much support and prayers Hannah and our family is receiving.

"But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,"
Jeremiah 30:17a
Keep the Faith!

11.8.2008

Written Nov 8, 2008 

Hannah's fever has officially broke!

It has not been over 101* since around 7:35 last night. We are very thankful that Hannah's temperature is staying down. She is NOT doing very well and the fever was just adding extra pain and aggravation.

Hannah was also put on a new antibiotic yesterday and her TPN and lipids were increased to 16 hours.

Mouth sores are evil!

Hannah woke up yesterday morning with mouth sores covering her entire mouth (lips, tongue, cheeks, and gums). We were told that the sores can go down her entire digestive system! She was in a lot of pain from the sores and was put on a Morphine pump. Thus far the Morphine is controlling her pain pretty good.

Hannah's ANC was 8.5 yesterday and her platelets were 36. Her platelets were low enough to get a infusion, except she was not at the critical level yet and the Red Cross was out of platelets. This morning her ANC has increased to 23 and her platelets are down to 13 (normal range 150-400), now she is critical and her mouth sores are bleeding really bad since platelets are to help the blood clot. We have been informed that the Red Cross were on there way to NWA to get some platelets for Hannah.

***It is 11:00 and the platelets just arrived! I pray that the bleeding stops!***

Even though Hannah was not feeling well yesterday she did get a couple of interesting visitors. A little dogie name Cheeko came and visited Hannah. She enjoyed petting the dog and holding his leash. She also had a couple musicians come by. One played the chello and the other the bass. Hannah loves music and loved listening to them. She wanted to hold the bow and play too!

Pray, Pray, Pray, for these mouth sores to go away!

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannnot see." Hebrews 11:1

11.6.2008

Written Nov 6, 2008

Hannah still has a fever!
Her fever is not going away. It has been three to four days of a continuous fever. The doctor started her on a new antibiotic today that should help with the fever. All of her cultures have still been negative. That means no infection is in her body; but her fever has still yet to break which makes this confusing. We have to treat her as if she does have an infection. Once her fever breaks she will slowly be tapered of her antibiotics to make sure the fever stays away.

Hannah is still having this very thick mucus throw up! She went down for another chest x-ray and abdomen x-ray today and both x-rays were clear! Hannah's ANC has dropped today back down to 21. Her HGB was a low 6.9 so she had to receive a blood transfusion today as well.

We have officially been introduced to mouth sores. I have heard from the older patients and other parents how painful and uncomfortable the mouth sores can be. Hannah is having to take this special mouth wash three times a day to treat the sores. I believe that it is a good thing that Hannah is back on the TPN and lipids for nutrition because with the sores it hurts to bad to eat!

The neurosurgeon came by this afternoon because Hannah has been hitting her head with her hands as if her head was hurting. The oncologist requested a sample of her CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) be sent to the lab for tests to make sure there was no infection in her brain or spine. The neurosurgeon accessed her new chemotherapy reservoir and the sample of CSF was clear. Clear CSF means no infection but it will be sent to the lab for further testing. Hopefully we will have official results tomorrow afternoon.

Please pray for Hannah's counts to elevate and her cultures to remain negative. Also, her mouth sores to disappear and her fever to break.
This chemotherapy regimen is very potent and aggressive and really doing a number on little Hannah. I pray she stays strong and continues to improve as she already has thus far.
Keep the Faith!

11.5.2008

Written Nov 5, 2008

HANNAH IS STILL TUMOR FREE!

The bone scan results were clear. It did not detect anything in her bone. I asked Hannah's neurosurgeon why the MRI showed something then. Well, it could be because the radiation treatment Hannah received is still working within her bone, it could be a bearer that was placed in case the tumor regrew it would not compress her spine again, or it could be scaring on/in her bone for her back surgeries!
Needless to say, Hannah is fine her bones are healthy we have nothing to worry about.
Thank you Jesus!

However, Hannah has been running a fever on and off for the past three days. Her fever has not broke for over 24 hours. If it does not go away by tomorrow the doctors are going to tap her chemotherapy reservoir and get a sample of cerebral spinal fluid to test for infection. All of her blood cultures she has had drawn are still negative with no growth; which is awesome!
I feel this temperature is her body trying to fight and get healthy again after all the potent chemotherapy she received but we can not assume anything. Therefor we have to treat her has if she has an infection.

Hannah did walk with Jenny from physical therapy today she walked down the hall twice; 35 feet the first time and 40 feet the second. Her muscles are getting stronger. She just needs her right leg to wake up.
Today, I asked Hannah to kick my hand with her left foot. She did very well and raised her leg above my hand. Then I asked her to kick my hand with her right foot. She started moving her toes and she was trying so hard. Her leg was not moving so she used her hands and picked up her leg to make it kick my hand. She is too cute!

Hannah ANC went up from 13 yesterday to 44 today!
Yea! Yea! Yea! I think it is on the rise.

Thank you to everyone for the continued prayers for Hannah. We appreciate your love and support. Feel free to sign Hannah's guest book anytime. We enjoy reading all the comments, support, an inspiration it really is encouraging and helps us to stay strong.

Keep the Faith and pray for Hannah's fever to go away!

11.4.2008

Written Nov 4, 2008

Hannah has had a difficult 48 hours. Sunday night, Monday and Monday night she ran a fever almost constantly. Monday morning it spiked to 102.6 and then last night it spiked to 103.1! She even had the shakes with her fever last night.
Yesterday her ANC was 10, yes a big whopping 10! A far cry away from 200. Although it is slowly on the rise. This morning it was 13.31. I'll take it in hopes it will just continue to increase.
With all the fevers and the throwing up the doctors thought yesterday she could be getting pneumonia or an infection in her lungs. Hannah had a chest x-ray and the results were good. Her lungs are clear and look fine. The doctors also started her on another antibiotic yesterday. Now she is on two antibiotics.

We were also informed that Hannah has a "spot/abnormal looking area" on her L1 bone in her spine!

(Okay, why would you tell me she is tumor free if there is something unknown in her spine where the tumor was? Can you make a mom (and Jon too) freak out or what!)

The doctors think it maybe an infection or something caused from her radiation; but they a really unsure. The MRI she had on Wednesday 10/29 showed "something" IN the bone but was not clear enough to decipher what it was. Therefor Hannah is having a bone scan today at 11am!
We will not have results from the bone scan until tomorrow! Also, Hannah's platelets are low today and she will have to receive a platelet infusion after her bone scan and she was restarted on the TPN and lipids last night for extra nutrition!

Please pray with us and believe that this is merely nothing and that Hannah will be okay! That her fever will leave her body and she will be healthy and strong.

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
Mark 11:22,23
(What you say will make a difference.)

"Therefor I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
Mark 11:24
(Believe, and you will receive.)

Keep the Faith!

11.2.2008

Written Nov 2, 2008

Hannah is still in the hospital!
I am unsure when she will be discharged. She is still on an IV antibiotic and her ANC has dropped down today to 25. Hannah's blood count is 7.7, therefor she is getting a blood transfusion. She did not run a temperature all day yesterday or today or last night. This is a good thing. Maybe she can get of the antibiotic soon.

Hannah is starting to want to eat. She is also keeping it down which is really good. Her potassium is increasing. She is taking these potassium pills that we are putting in her yogurt and apple sauce.

She is doing well and staying strong. I will talk to Hannah's doctor Monday morning and figure out what the game plan is. I am sure that she will have to be off the antibiotics and her ANC will have to be over 200 before there is any thoughts about her being discharged. We will wait and see.

Keep the prayers coming!
Thank you so much!