HAPPY DAY!!

After two weeks of me being just a ball of anxious irritability today my feelings were relieved! We went to clinic to check if we could get ViviAnne to start responding to treatment again by a drastic increase in chemo and....SHE DID!!! The very minute Dr. Ayyanar said her ANC is 1700 I smiled so big and just wanted to jump up and down. I was so relieved and excited! She is responding to treatment!! Relapse averted!! YAY!! They are going to maintain this very HIGH dose of chemo as long as she tolerates it and IF she stops responding to it then we will just cross that bridge when/if we get there. I am not even thinking about that. I don't want to think about it. Today she is responding to treatment and her cancer is still being held at bay!!! YAY!!

Today is Brent's birthday and what a wonderful gift for him to have, a daughter who is staying in remission!?!?! So excited!

They are thinking she has asthma because the allergy medicine they put her on 2 weeks ago is not working at all! She has coughed and coughed for nearly 7 months and the only time she was ever under control was when she was on breathing treatments. I was against the asthma diagnosis months ago but now I am thinking that might really be it. She coughs all the time and if she gets upset she coughs so much she has a hard time catching her breathe. We go to the asthma doctor next week. They want to hold off as much as possible on any further X-Rays or C.T's because they do not want to further radiate her unless absolutely necessary. Which we appreciate.

So, today is a GREAT day. The sun is out and it is cold BUT I am on a high today. Which is good because I've been in a pit for 2 weeks!

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers over the past year and a half. And especially the past 2 weeks.

March 12, 2010
CRAP!

Well, ViviAnne had treatment today and it was not good. She fought every move we made just like she did in the very begging. I told her we could do it the hard way or the easy way and I really wanted her to chose the easy way. Well, I don't think she was falling for it so it was a 3 hour battle from finger poke for counts to when they came into her room at OMO to sedate her for her LP.
And to add insult to injury, her ANC had doubled from last month when they increased her chemo. So, basically her body did the direct opposite of what they wanted it to do. Her ANC was 6200 and her Hemoglobin had decreased a bit. I did not like the look of the blood work at all. The Nurse said they weren't thinking relapse but Dr. Ayyanar jumped on it and maxed out her chemo on all 3 different types. Which I appreciated. I mean, come on lets be proactive and avoid relapse at all costs! We will go back in 2 weeks to check counts again. They need to know sooner if she is responding to the increase like they want or if it will puts her counts too low. I personally do not think it will put her counts too low but I am praying that her body will respond to the increase in chemo and we will bring down the ANC. I hope I am explaining this all correctly and letting you

know that even if her counts do not respond correctly it does not mean for sure that she will relapse; but the thought is if the ANC stays too high for too long then your chance for relapse is higher, because you are not responding to treatment. ViviAnne, bless her heart, has not been responding according to the books for a year now. A lot of her cancer has not been by the book, not even the symptoms for diagnosis. But hey, that is how we do things in our home. We do things our way and not the way that is most popular and we still seem to pull it all off.

On a happy note, the new meds. they used to sedate her for her LP worked wonderfully. She simply went to sleep and woke up as if she was napping. I asked her if she thought her sleepy medicine went okay at the hospital and she said yes. We didn't talk about it too much. I am thinking that part of the reason for her being so hard to handle during the day was because of the fear of having a bad experience at OMO like last time. So hopefully the next time she has to go to OMO she won't be so afraid.

Her hair is beautiful and people comment on it a lot. I think in one way she does not like adults at school to dote on her hair because it is a reminder that she is different. She has been quite the handful the past 3 -4 weeks with attitude and anger and everything seems to be an arguement. We are trying to work with it the best we can and often I question if we are doing it correctly. Constantly wondering if it is the cancer and chemo or just her. But, maybe with her blood work getting all out of wack this past month added to the frustration inside of her. God only knows and it is going to be through his strength that we will get through this next year. Praying for her to respond to treatment and not relapse.

Best wishes to everyone as we welcome SPRING!!