A New Tooth!

We are still in the hospital and going through a few rounds of antibiotics. Avery seems to have gotten rid of her fever for the moment, although she still has some sort of stomach bug causing lots of dirty diapers. They did find that she has an infection in her boob tube (hickman line) and are treating her for that. They are waiting on cultures for everything else and they plan to redo the chest x-ray tomorrow am to check for pneumonia. The plan is for us to stay for a few days, especially since her counts are still at zero. She had an infusion for her hemoglobin last night as those numbers were low and that has helped in her oxygen levels, although that is still not where we need it to be.

On the up side -- she is finally getting a new tooth. She has made do with the two bottom chompers for the last 6 months and we thought she would never get the rest of her teeth. But finally today, we can feel the top left one coming in. We are so excited!! This will definitely make eating more fun for her! Since she hasn't had a big appetite (she literally had 4 bites of vanilla pudding, 3 bites of sweet potatoes and some fruit loops today - that's it) I am hoping this new fun will help her eat a little better. We'll see....


As if this wasn't fun enough, my night owl of a daughter is wide awake right now -- at 10:30 pm. This is pretty typical for her, most of you know she was not sleeping through the night yet. But Mommy could really use some sleep and she has no plans of letting that happen any time soon! The nurses give me looks...I swear she is the only kid on the floor still up and playing in her bed!



Jenn

In-Patient Again

It's Nikki again...I'm sure Jenn will update soon with more detail, but wanted to let you know that Avery spiked a fever last night just shy of 102 degrees and was readmitted around 10 pm. They are testing her for a bacterial infection and have already started antibiotics. She also received a blood transfusion and they did a chest x-ray to check her lungs.
This is about all I know at this point, but wanted to do an update so that you can all be praying that Avery feels better soon. This round of chemo has been pretty rough on her and she could really use our prayers!

Dropped Counts

Avery's counts dropped today. Expected, but still scary to us Newbies at this Cancer gig. At this point Avery's Nuetrophils are lower than 500 (200 actually) and that means her body has very little protection from an infection. The rules of the game is that we call any time her temp gets to 99.4 degrees, and from there the Dr will decide whether or not to admit her. Yesterday we hooked her up to a tag-a-long pump that was giving her IV fluids. She was a little dehydrated from the puking and pooing so we thought it best to hook her up. She is off them today, however still not drinking a whole lot, so we may have to hook her up again tomorrow.

She is progressing well in her therapies. She is able to hold her head up for a pretty good amount of time and is doing well with sitting up on her own, although only for short amounts of time and she isn't very stable. She is doing great in her Occupational Therapy as well. Has no problem picking up small items with her pincher fingers. This coming week they want to work on self feeding....course she wasn't great at that before this happened either so that might take a little more work. Speech is new for her altogether. She stares at Miss Angela when she puffs and ba's at her to teach her vowels. She starts moving her mouth though, which is a sign she is trying to make sounds. All in all, the ladies agree she is moving forward quickly and wanting to get back to her base line. Motivation is sometimes the hardest thing for patients, so she is doing great there!

Plan for tomorrow is more GCSF around noon and maybe some fluids. Then we'll watch the football game as a family. They are having a big party down in the dining room for the game, but with Avery's counts being so low it's not an option to be around so many people. Jeremy bought nacho ingredients and pizza and I have a feeling he will find a place to go pick up some wings from, so we should be set to watch it in the apt. Not sure who we'll root for since the Chiefs aren't there (never gonna happen) so no betting going on between the 2 of us.

We've heard the plans for the IA benefit are in full swing. We can't wait to see pictures and hear stories of all the fun. We are so excited, but at the same time so bummed we won't be there to see you all. We'll definitely be thinking of you -- feel free to send us pictures of the evening -- the rumor is it should be fantastic fun!

I suppose....NASCAR just started...better get going!
New Score Update: Jeremy - 3 Jenn - 4 -- I'm losing

Love,

Jenn & Jeremy