Friday, May 2, 2008

We haven't been to clinic since March 27th, so it seemed a bit strange walking in there today. We were in and out in record time and even saw Hannah's oncologist, whom we haven't seen in more than 3 months.

Here are the results from her counts today:

White blood count- 3.97 (up from 2.88 last time) Normal 5.0-13.0
Red blood count-4.12 (up from 3.69 last time) Normal 3.90-5.30
Hemoglobin- 12.9 (up from 12.2 last time) Normal 11.5-16.0
Platelets- 240,000 (up from 237,000 last time) Normal 140-400
ANC- 2410 (up from 1840 last time) Considered at risk under 1500

So it looks like her counts are slowly but surely coming up, although the whites are still not in the normal range. She will her MRI, full cranial and spinal next month (more on that later, ugh). Her doctor suggested cutting her nausea meds by half, every other day, which I will start tomorrow. Hannah still complains about 3-4 days a week of stomach pain and nausea, mostly in the morning, so I hope this strategy works.

We also spoke at length about Hannah's leg issues. She has pain quite a bit when doing any type of weight bearing activity-even walking, but generally no leg pain when sitting or inactive. He thinks it is not neurological, but probably a result of tight muscles and reduced muscle tone. He suggested Hannah begin physical therapy 2-3 times per week, and also was positive about the balance therapy I suggested.

It was nice to see the staff that we miss (and congrats Antonella) but at the same time disheartening to see NOT ONE CHILD we recognized. I say this because all of the patients there today were NEW KIDS WITH CANCER. It was devastating to look around and remember exactly where those families were in their journey. So many kids, and even quite a few babies. It was crowded and very busy today, and Hannah's doctor said they have received many new patients in the last 2 months, cancers of all types. It just shouldn't be so.

But on a positive note, Hannah was able to deliver one of the Nintendo Wii's to Faye at Childlife today, yeh! She has waited a few weeks to deliver it, and was so happy to give it to them today. Here she is pictured with Faye and Rob (our favorite finger stick man.) You rock Rob! She will deliver the other Wii to Spaulding Rehab hospital in 2 weeks when we visit Boston for her follow up neuropsychology exam.

Thanks for checking in with us...and for those of you that are keeping count...this week our beloved Tod chewed the cord to the camcorder. It was plugged into the tv so that we could watch the video of Colby and Hannah at the horse show last weekend, and we left the room. Bad move. How many cords does that make anyway? This dog is crazy!!!!

xoxo Kim