Out of 3 daughters Mimi is our middle child, older sister Iza by 3 minutes and a younger sister Magi by 3 years. Mimi was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on August 12, 2009. After 2 years, 2 months and 26 days on November 6th, 2011 she took her last chemo pill and is considered OFF Treatment! This is our story of our journey through childhood cancer.

Friday, July 29, 2011

One puke... Two puke... Three puke...

That was our night last night. Iza started the night not feeling well, Mimi advised her on what to do when she is feeling nauseous. Poor thing was running to and from the bathroom with a bowl. Shortly after midnight Magi woke up came out of her room and said she needs a new place to sleep since she has puke on her bed, and apologized for not knowing she was going to get sick. So far at 2 am I was hoping this will all magically skip Mimi. Not so much, 3 am she was right in the bathroom with her sister by her side accompanied by a fever... I made the phone call to the PA on-call. I was VERY thankful for not having to go into the hospital in the middle of the night, while two other kiddos are sick at home and needed me.

So no one has really slept last night, everyone is camping out on the living room floor in of the TV. Mimi and I will head over to clinic in a minute so she can get her counts checked, blood culture done and receive some antibiotics.

Update: Back from Clinic. Mimi got an antibiotic (Ceftriaxone) Her counts came back really good so we got to go home and relax. She still had a slight fever while at the clinic but since everyone has it here we know the cause of the fever. It is an over cast day so we will all just relax at home and re-cooperate after not sleeping all night.

Counts:
WBC 4.8
Neutrophil 3800

Monday, July 25, 2011

We HEART Child Life Specialists

Today's paper had a great article about Child Life Specialists and how much they help not just the patient but also the siblings. All three girls were photographed along with Betsy and the portacath doll. I know all three girls benefited from being able to play in the hospital, whether it was singing, painting, coloring, movies galore, computer games, Kyle's magic bubbles, bead making... gosh I can go on an on. I know as a parent I benefited also I was so happy that someone was there to have fun with the kids while I was able to "recharged my batteries".

Please read the Article below:
Childlife specialists ease the trauma and pain of a sibling in the hospital

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Clinic Day (yesterday)

I had to carry Mimi into clinic yesterday she said her stomach hurt again. No temp, counts were okay, although ANC was a little on the lower side for her. She has had a lingering caugh for over a week not it has gotten junky in the last two days, as a precaution Mimi got a chest Xray, I have not heard anything back from that yet but usually no news is good news. Later that afternoon she was acting like her regular bouncy six year old self.

Counts:
ANC - 1000

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Six Flags... More Fun!

We were all very exited to visit Six Flags for the annual Griffin's Friends Picnic. We started the day with lunch with some of our clinic friends and off to the park we went! The girls grew a lot since last year and were able to go on most roller coasters, they were SO happy! So was I since I get to enjoy the speedy, twisty, and thrilling rides with them now! The only unhappy kiddo was Magi she tried so hard to stand on her tippy-toes to get on the big rides, to keep her happy she got to go on her sized rides and got some extra treats from daddy. It was a fun long eight hour day at the park! Thank You Griffin's Friends for keeping us happy!

Friday, July 15, 2011

A Rather Lengthy Update.

We have been quite busy with fun summer happenings, work, plus our computer at home is being invaded by viruses so it has been hard to get around to update.

Since the last update Mimi was having a lot of stomach issues with every meal, so mid June she started Famotidine (acid reducer) daily and it seemed to help significantly. She is able to finish meals rather than before she would take a bite or two and not be able to eat complaining of stomach pain. She is also still staying away from milk and using Lactose free products.

June 22 Clinic Day. Counts came back pretty good and there were no issues to report or changes made to does of chemo.

July 1st Mimi helped out Dr. G with teaching new residents. She was "modeling" for a "fake" spinal tap (her words.) On a hospital bed and was positioned and prepped for a Spinal puncture, minus the needle and the anesthesia, after Dr. G did his part of explaining, each resident felt Mimi's spine and prepped for the procedure. The were all very nice and thanked her for letting them move her around. She really enjoyed it and later told me she though it was neat that now she knows what happens while she is sleeping.

July 6th Clinic Day. Counts were good, she received her Vincristine through the port and that night started the steroid pulse. It was a rough couple of days, she was very moody, there was a lot of book reading in separate corners but we made it.

July 12th Unscheduled Clinic Visit... Over the weekend Mimi was compaining of stomach pain, which usually comes with steroids but on Monday night through Tuesday morning she did not sleep and was getting progressively worse, around 7am I called the clinic. Never any fever at that point. In the morning I took her and her sisters to clinic to get her checked out, she was miserable. She was sleeping and not amused by anyone which is NOT like her, I knew she was not well. Dr. R thought 1-appendicitis 2-constipation 3-UTI. We stayed at clinic for about 3 hours she got fluids and we waited for blood and urine results, I was so proud of Iza and Magi they were so good sitting and quietly entertaining themselves while Mimi slept. At noon we went over to the main hospital for an ultrasound to check out the appendix, at that point Dan came and took the girls to get them a snack in the cafeteria. Mimi slept through most of the ultrasound which was reasuring that the pain went away and her appendix was just fine. Later we got a script for 10 days of Ciprofloxacin and and her symptoms went away within 24 hours. She was well enough on Friday to be a dare devil with Iza at Six Flags!