Day: June 18, 2010

98% – 28 Days

We just had a meeting with Geli’s doctors and ALL the support staff, all crammed into her room. The diagnosis is that she has Leukemia ALL Type B. Based on the tests from yesterday, she does not have any Leukemia cells in her spinal fluid, which is really good. She will have a whole series of medications that will treat this exact condition and will have to be in hospital for a week.

The statistics are that 98% of kids that have this condition that get this treatment are cancer free within 28 days. The treatment then continues for two more years (although it reduces down to a couple pills that she takes once a week).

As far as this bad news goes, this is as good as it gets.

There are side effects and it will change a few things about life. Angelica will loose her hair (but she does get a custom-designed wig – i’m trying to get her to go for multi-coloured spikes). She will have to come into the hospital for a couple of days a week for most of the summer. She will have to start high school missing a few days from school every 10 days or so and work with a tutor here to keep up. But by Christmas she should be able to return to normal life.

Thanks for your prayers and comments (she reads them all).

jon

Of Note

Angelica is feeling a bit overwhelmed today.

She just left to go have an echo cardiogram done and just before she left she started crying.

I’m not upset about this at all as it means that she is starting to process things. Often she stuffs her feelings and emotions and for her to let herself cry would be a good thing.

Please pray that she is able to process through some of the feelings and emotions and to be able to handle all of this in a healthy emotional way.

This is a HUGE thing for anyone to deal with let alone a 13 year old. It’s hard to see her hurting and crying but at the same time I’m so thankful for it.

Angelica – Start of Day 2

Well, we had an uneventful night last night.

Around 7:30pm, Angelica went into surgery and got a VAD placed into her chest. She went through the approx 60 minute surgery like a champ and was quite groggy when she got back to her room. After a few sips of juice – the first food she’d been allowed all day – she just relaxed in her bed.

Angelica fell asleep around 10pm and slept most un-interrupted until about 1:30am. We had a short Jaunt to the toilet at that point and then got back to bed. She was in a bit of pain from the VAD and so got some meds to help with that.

She slept again until 5am when we needed to make a second trip across the hall. Once finished her business over there, she came back to bed and was out again until 7am this morning.

We brushed our teeth, had a few bites of cereal, ate 2 pieces of soggy bacon (maybe not the best choice – she feels a bit gross now) and have had our vitals checked. She’s doing well, but tired. Her counts are a bit low which would be a factor there.

So far, we’ve heard that she will probably be having an echo cardiogram today sometime around 12:30pm….this could mean around 4pm hospital time.

She’s resting in her bed and watching Road to Terabithia.

Last night her brothers and sister managed a visit, but it’s hard when you’re not feeling that great. Mostly the kids just needed to see Geli and know that she was doing okay. They explored the hospital a bit and watched some of a movie with Geli and then Nana Karen took them home.

Around 7:30pm – Brianna, Rebecca, Zacharius, Aunty Chelle, and Uncle Kenny came by for a quick visit. Angelica had been sleeping, but they met her in the hall on the way to her surgery and were able to give a quick hug and say a quick hello before Geli was taken in to be put to sleep. They brought presents and although Gel wasn’t able to open them last night. So far we’ve opened one present already this morning. It was a nice morning treat. Thanks Guys!

Jon and I went to Labor and Delivery last night to try and figure out what the plan is as far as me having our sweet boy and I’ll write about the chaos of that in another post.

We thank you so much for your encouragement and prayers and support and love.

This time seems so surreal and to feel my phone buzzing all day long with encouraging messages and love and prayers being sent our way means SO MUCH! It helps us to feel connected to this amazing network of love. Thank you.

We are supposed to be having a family meeting with the Dr’s and Staff here at Children’s around noon today and should know the outcome of the bone marrow biopsy and spinal fluid tap (these were done yesterday afternoon) and have more ideas about what the plan is moving forward.

The staff here is amazing and we are so thankful.

I slept in the room with Geli last night and Jon slept in the playroom on the teeniest little couch. Originally they set us up with a room in the Easter Seals house, but due to certain circumstances we both stayed close. More on that soon.