Our Brave Biopsy Girl

Well she managed to squeak in her bone marrow biopsy today. Almost had to postpone because they forgot and gave her her blood thinner. The pathologist looked at her blood work for the day and said it looked high enough to go ahead. She was so brave and it was done before we knew it. {I didn't even cry this time}. We gave credit to the pathologist for being so gentle but he assured us that it was the morphine. We should have some sort of preliminary report by late today or tomorrow. If her leukemia cells are less than 5% she will be considered to be in remission. We are praying and hoping for the best but are preparing either way. She will still have months of chemo ahead of her either way. Jen is in good spirits and welcomes all of your thoughts and comments as either her dad or I report them back to her nightly. All of Jen's numbers except for her nuetrfils {which are apparently the most important ones, go figure} are all increasing. Her nuetrfills are only down slightly today so we hope they will recover tomorrow. Jen says hi. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. Love the parents

Attra Girl Here We Go

Good day today as Jen's numbers are up and still no fever. The docs have postponed her bone marrow biopsy till tomorrow to make sure her counts are still up and she is stronger. They've decided to put her back on the Attra today and we are praying that that is not what has caused the problems. We will no within 3 days and they assure us that they will not let her get as sick before taking her off it again if that seems to be the problem. It is the best possible chemo for this type of cancer so us along with the docs are hoping that she had a viral infection that was cleared up with the heavy duty antibiotics. I took her for a short walk on our floor and though it seems like a slow go I think she is getting stronger. They gave her the ok to finally shave her legs so she sat while I shaved them. It took us to shave a whole leg before we both realized that the cover was still on the razor. Had a great laugh over that one. David has postponed his trip home until she is out of the hospital and stronger so we are very grateful for that. Jen will not start her next round of iv chemo until we see what her biopsy shows and her numbers continues to go up. The clot in Jen's arm was so large that she will have to have blood thinning shots in her tummy twice a day for at least three months. It seems that when she was first admitted to the hospital they couldn't thicken her blood now they have to thin it. They do keep telling us that it will get way worse before it gets better. We are all learning patience and how to live one day at a time. Please keep up the prayers as they sure are working.
The grateful Parents

Sunday Good Day

Low numbers still, but no fever so far. Went for an ultra sound for her swelling & no clotting, so hopefully its only fluid. Still the Dr.s are trying to decide if it's the Atra, Ibuprophen, or the Antibiotics keeping things at bay. They will post pone the bone marrow biopsy till later this week when her numbers hopefully recover a bit.One of her great Dr.s (and there have been many) is leaving tomorrow, but will let the new Dr. know of her plan: Wait for #'s to recover, stop Ibuprophen & Antibiotics, then start Atra hopefully with more success. She should be starting her I V chemo this week sometime & we are hoping she will tolerate it better this time.
Heres to hopeful thinking & lots of prayers.

The Parents

Swell day (Not Quite)

We had a good nights sleep (No temp Yeh! ) but when our Jen woke up her hands ,feet and face were swollen.We are hoping it was because she was lying in a flat position. It has continued through the day so her Dr. is ordering an ultra sound.Her Nutrafils are down again slightly to .4 which is concerning , but her other numbers are up. We'll concentrate on that !. Kind of a yucky feeling day knowing it's been a month and not a great plan in effect but we assure her tomorrow will be better. Your prayers are a big help.

The Parents

Better today than yesterday........

No fever today!!!! But now the Doc's don't know if it is because they have stopped the Atra, if it is the Antibiotics working or if it is the Ibeprophen they are giving her. The plan right now is to get her stonger and her numbers up again( they dropped very low today) and then restart the Atra.The Atra Chemo is such an important part of Jens recovery that we are praying that we can sucessfully restart it. All her numerous tests are coming out negative which sounds like a real good thing but doesn't let us know what the problem is so they can treat this properly.The main thing is that her breathing is improving and no high temperatures today. Lets all pray for more of the same tomorrow. Jen says she so appreciates everyones concerns.

The Parents

Back to 5F4.............

We've managed to make it back to our original floor (different room # ). Still haven't figured out the source of the infection.Still can't get rid of the fever. had the infectious disease people in to try to figure it out to no avail. Had a stomache CT, blood cultures ,blood gasses & so many blood tests we have lost count.She is being very brave and trying to take everything in stride.We are so very proud of her. Lets hope for a better day tomorrow!
Thanks for your prayers.

The Parents

Confusion all around................

Apparently Jen does have a blood clot in her upper left arm. They will continue on blood thinner and she will go for abdominal C T scan and an x-ray to see if there is any hidden infection causing the ever persistant fever. The Dr came in yesterday and said that he just doesn't know what is causing it. She had lots of shallow breathing last night but sounds better this morning. She is like a little pin cushion as they continue to take blood cultures 4 times now that they have removed the picc line so the needles have to go into her hand and arm.OUCH. Hope fully we will have some answers today.
UPDATE
Dr. just came in and said her white blood count is not good.He will start her on the heavy duty antibiotics and he has called the Infectious disease Drs. to talk to us. If they can get her blood pressure up they will still take her for the scan.
Please keep praying and we will keep you posted.

Love from The Parents & Jen

Hotttt....we go again

Well we still can't figure out the high temperature.The Doc came in and said "I just don't know"Jen went through the gauntlet today with an ultra sound(which said she had clots),an echo of her heart which was clear and a C T scan which said she had no clots. Her Temp. rose to 39.9 which is scary.The Doc finally said if she continues to go (downhill and get fevers) that he will put her on big gun antibiotics and call her fever unknown. We are still down stairs in the emergency waiting for a bed and are feeling all your prayers. Please keep us in your thoughts and we are going one day at a time.We will get through this.

Love from the Parents and JEN

back to the hospital we go.............

Well it's been another long night with our Jen spiking a fever off and on all night. We finally took her back to emerg at 4:00 this morning and went through the whole routine again. They can't seem to find what is really causing the infection so they are admitting her and putting her through a slew of tests. Poor girl is very exhausted but still manages a sense of humour and laughs at our crummy jokes (or my singing). I put off my job interview until next week. I thought she would be happy to get me out of her non-hair for awhile but not quite yet. She started crying when I said I would not go yesterday and thanked me for staying with her. She is such a sweet girl. I will play the job thing by ear. The plan is that David will fly home on the 30th and go back to work and I'll stay out here as long as needed. She has her next bone biopsy on the 29th and we are praying for the best. Her next round of iv chemo starts the beginning of Feb but she will stay on the oral chemo for the next two years. I think her body is slowly getting used to it but it is very hard on her. Her doctor assures us that she will slowly start to feel better before she gets knocked down with her next iv chemo. We are hopeful that she can do this on an outpatient basis but we will have to see how she reacts. We all appreciate all the thoughts and prayers we are getting. Will keep you posted.
love from the parents!

Our Jen

Hi All
I just figured out how to make this blog.To let you all know how Jen is doing.She had an up and down weekend with 9hrs in the hospital on Friday .Her auntie Pam came out for the weekend and helped while we were back and forth to the hospital. Her auntie Trudy came and visited
and gave an up date on things back . Her friend Angela came out from Vacouver and before she left ,shet let Jen shave her hair off. Ashley and Sam showed up for a visit on Sunday.
Shortly after every one left Jen's temperature spiked to 39.2 so off to the hospital we went.
They took blood samples and some scans and more blood over the next6 hrs and back to beig hooked up to more I Vs.She has some sort of infection that they can't find. She' back on antibiotics hoping to control the virus. Today is one of her daily visits and they are giving her blood so she will have anther long day in the hospital. Toni is with her and waitng to find out all about what happened on the week end. Visiting will be kept to a minimum till we find out the results. I will keep you all posted

Thanks from the Parents