Abby's Journey Archive

First, praise God that the MRI people allowed both C.R. and I to go in the room with Abby on Friday. Despite the fact that she had a hard time part way through, they got all the scans necessary for the surgery! Also, our Child Life Specialist, Debbie, did an awesome job keeping us on track for everything we needed to do that morning (having blood drawn, paperwork in admitting, pre-op stuff including the fiducial placement, MRI, and back to pre-op). She made phone calls and arrangements that would have been impossible for us to take care of. We also got to know her a little better and learned that she lives about 10 minutes from our current house and goes to a church near where we used to live in Mesa.

I have a lighter side-note about the fiducial placement process you might enjoy hearing about. The same person ran the stealth guided imaging equipment for Abby's first surgery and this one. We call him Mr. Tim. Last time he offered to give Abby a fiducial for her bear. This time she chose Daddy to be the honorary recipient of her extra fiducial. Mr. Tim let Abby choose where to put it. She placed it on Daddy's neck under his right ear. C.R. received a number of strange looks, questions and comments about it during the surgery. However, it was most amusing when Dr. Shafron came out of surgery to give us his report. He was in the middle of a very detailed description of the surgery and he paused, stared at C.R. for a minute and said, "Did you know you have a fiducial on your neck?". Abby has since declared that C.R. cannot remove it until she comes home. I think he'll be begging Dr. Shafron to release Abby for his sake. She is appreciating Daddy's willingness to share a little in her trials.

Last night was much better than the first night as far as our sleep. Abby woke up on her own about 2 or 3 times and the nurses just used those times to check her vitals etc. It was great to have longer stretches of sleep.

Today, we saw Dr. Abella. He said he had spoken to Dr. Graham about Abby's platelet counts. Dr. Graham said it is quite normal for her counts to be down for about 5 days after the 2 stem cell collections. I believe he said this is because they can't prevent pulling out platelets as well during the process. In any case, her platelet count is now at about 145,000 and they like it to be at about 150,000 for a child Abby's age. So, that's no longer a concern.

We also saw Dr. Shafron. He came in to remove Abby's drain. They gave her a sedative and she was great for the whole process. She did cry, but she sat perfectly still. We decided to take advantage of the effects of the sedative and remove her wrist IV. C.R. used the good old adhesive removal pads (which are becoming our good friends) to get rid of the nasty tape. This was quite a traumatic experience for her. But, soon it was done and she was rid of yet another attachment.

Dr. Shafron said she looks great and he released her to floor status (meaning they no longer had to monitor her vitals constantly and she could go to the regular PEDS floor if a room was available). He also said that he would come by tomorrow and if she still looks good, he'll change her dressing and discharge her!

We ended the day with a visit to the playroom where Abby read some books with Daddy, painted a picture and played on the computer. Then, we took her to the cafeteria for dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Josiah, Daniel, Elizabeth and C.R.'s sister, Adrianne who flew down from California to help out. Finally, she got to enjoy a quick trip to the Froggy Playground with everyone. It was great to see her walking around and "climbing the rocks" (with help). We realized that it just took her one extra day to bounce back this time. It still amazes me how quickly she is wanting to be up and around.

Thank you for your constant prayers. We are continually grateful to all of you and we praise God for his goodness throughout our trial.