So far so good
And, so far today the Red line is showing no signs of bacteria growing. They drew that blood early this morning so the further away from that time we get, the better off we are. Unfortunately, it can take up to 5 days to start growing. The lab will phone the nurses station immediately if the culture starts to produce bacteria so in this case no news is good news.
Optimistically, if nothing grows by tomorrow, we may be able to bring Abby home and continue antibiotic treatment ourselves.
Radiation treatment # 2 went well this morning. I'll let C.R. report on that since he was the one to go with Abby today.
10:14 PM, 22 Jun 2004 by Amy Oldham Permalink | Comments (1) | Attach Photo
Another block and Dr. Packer
Also, I spoke with Dr. Packer in DC this morning. He just returned from the research symposium where he heard about the most recent studies. He was pleased to hear that Abby's 2nd surgery went well and that we started radiation. He says that the protocol we are following (which is the same one his team uses as well as St. Judes in Tennessee) is showing the most promising results.
I'm off to the hospital shortly to change shifts with C.R. so he can go to work. It was nice to sleep in a room free of IV pole beeps and at a temperature that doesn't require 7 layers of clothing. :)
02:12 PM, 22 Jun 2004 by Amy Oldham Permalink | Comments (0) | Attach Photo
Blue line clear/Red line still infected
This treatment session lasted an hour, but it will usually last 20-25 minutes. They needed to do some imaging for the first part of the session. Abby woke up from the sedative smiling and talking, drifting in and out of sleep.
Upon our return, we found that they had moved her from one room in the regular PEDS floor to another room in the oncology pod (we didn't mention that she was moved out of ICU yesterday afternoon and onto the regular PEDS floor.) Her new room has a nice view of the "Froggy Playground/Garden" which brought a smile to her face.
Another Pediatric Infectious Diseases doctor came to see us today and informed us that the infection in the blue line of her catheter is looking clear from her blood work today, but the red line is still infected. They are still giving her broad spectrum antibiotics and we're praying that the red line will clear up. The Great Healer doesn't need antibiotics, but He can certainly help them along, right? It sounds like they will want to remove the Phoresis if the infection doesn't clear up in the next few days. We don't know what that means as far as delays in her radiation treatment. We'll know more tomorrow.
Dr. Panchoosingh also informed us today that her hemoglobin was low (7.7) so he ordered a transfusion for her. She had that done this afternoon. The doctor said that considering her surgeries, he is not concerned about her being low.
Abby was very disappointed to have missed the Holy Moses performance and still chooses her Holy Moses CD every time she listens to music. However, our family ended up not being represented at all. We received a call 20 minutes before the show was to start saying that Josiah had a fever and a sore throat (probably the same thing Elizabeth had). So far, C.R., Daniel and I have been spared. Please pray it will stay that way!
Abby is having some pretty down times. She looks so sad sometimes and says things like, "Mommy, I don't want my hair to fall out". Somehow, "I know, honey" sounds so trite...it's very hard to imagine what a 5 year old needs to hear. But, thankfully, she still giggles at Tom & Jerry cartoons and smiles when she hides her can of cheesy Pringles from Daddy. And, last night her only prayer was that her brother, Josiah would get well soon. What a blessing!
04:08 AM, 22 Jun 2004 by Amy Oldham Permalink | Comments (0) | Attach Photo
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