Monday, Nov. 5, 2007

We finally made it-but just barely! Hannah's platelets were great, going from 61 last Thursday to a whopping 244 this week. However, as I suspected, since we stopped the Neupogen shots, her ANC went back down. It was only 687 when read by the machine, which would have stopped us from getting chemo, but to get a truer reading, they calculated it manually and it was 807. Her ANC has to be at least 750 to get chemo (which, by the way, is still considered neutropenic.)

So, today she started Round 8. She is on at home hydration right now, to be sure the chemo is flushed out of kidneys so they are not damaged. Tomorrow, same thing, more chemo, then at home hydration again. This chemo is quite long, we have to wait until her urine is sufficiently diluted, then 1 hour for the chemo, then another 4 hours of hydration at the clinic. We left this morning at 6:30am and got home tonight at 5:30pm. With all the anti-nausea drugs she also gets, along with the anti-pneumonia drug today, she wasn't so happy. Or it could have been that this morning she ate two packs of Oreos, 5 bags of Doritos, and an apple all before 11am. That was it until dinner tonight when she ate a cheese tortilla.

I think Tod would have made it feel better, but I was glad he wasn't here with us yet. They said today we could pick him up on Friday after he has a full vet check this week, but we're hoping it's a bit sooner. We'll check with them on Wednesday. She wants to take him to clinic next week for her blood check, but considering the risk for a transfusion and a very long stay at any time, that won't happen (yet). We will sneak him in one day, he could easily fit in your pocket.

One exciting thing I forgot to note from yesterday. Someone mentioned that they saw Hannah's commerical for Songs of Love on television this past weekend. She thought it was either the Discovery Channel, or TNT so I have been browsing through the stations since then trying to catch it. She said it was wonderful and brought a tear to her eyes! I'm not sure if it is playing around the country, or just in the east but I will try to find out. The production company is sending me a copy so I will post it when I receive it, but I would really love to see it on tv!

Thanks for continuing to visit and lend your support to Hannah and our family. It means a lot that you have stuck with us through this long journey.

xoxo Kim