Monthly Archives: July 2009

Hospital Update

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Tanner’s fever is down this morning after 2 IV antibiotics. Her leg pain has also lessened, thank God. Her blood cell counts still look good today, so I think we’re going to get to go home. We just have to find an attending who can make that official. The hospital is packed and it’s a holiday, so we may not even see the attending until this afternoon.

She’s on contact precautions right now. It’s so funny, because here I sit with my cold that has brought all this on, but every medical person that comes in here gowns up and wears gloves. So strange. Definitely don’t plan on coming by to see us unannounced; we can’t have visitors at the moment.

Good grief! When else does a 100.7 degree fever send you to the hospital overnight? Will keep you posted.

Love,
Beth

In the Hospital… again

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Well, it was shaping up to be such a good week, but Tanner came down with a low fever this morning that crept up to the dreaded 100.4. Once it hits 100.4, we have to come to the hospital to be checked out. We thought we were going to make it into the clinic, but with traffic, didn’t make it in time and had to come in the the ER. They did some bloodwork and her counts look good, and normally they would have done some IV antibiotics and let us go home provided we come back to the clinic tomorrow for a follow-up. Since it’s a holiday tomorrow and the clinic is closed, we are having to stay overnight so they can do bloodwork tomorrow and just keep and eye on her. Unfortunately, the hospital is full, so it looks like we’re stuck in the ER for the night. It’s noisy in the ER and no one sleeps very well here. It’s 10:30 and Tanner has still not been able to go to sleep due to all the interruptions and some pain. No nap today, either. I’ll be “sleeping” sitting up in a rocking chair. Lovely.

I’m a little glad we’re staying, though. She’s having more leg pain than normal and odd hot and cold flashes even though her fever is down. Better here than at home where all of this would be freaking me out.

The reality of this disease never ceases to amaze me. We were planning an afternoon swim at the Whitlers today and Tanner was so much more vibrant today. Even while she had a fever, we sat at the kitchen table and painted suncatchers, a project from VBS, which we missed, but a friend was nice enough to bring the crafts by. Just makes you feel like everything could go wrong at any moment. I’ve never been a worrier, but by the end of this I may be.

Did I mention that Jake and I have had colds and that’s probably why she has this fever? Imagine feeling like the smallest sniffle you have could be deadly for your child. I’ve hand sanitized myself to death, gone to the minute clinic and begged antibiotics out of them so I would get better quicker and even worn a mask around her at my worst. But, I’m learning that even when her counts are good, she still doesn’t have even close to the immune system you or I would have.

Thank God my Mom was in town so I could leave the house quickly without worrying about Jake. I keep thinking I can do this by myself, but I can’t.

Anyway, I’m rambling now and Tanner’s pain is increasing. I’ve had them call her oncology team because something weird is going on… my Mommy radar is going off. I’m going to see if they can get her some stronger pain meds.

Will update in the morning.

Beth

More Great News!

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In the words of Tanner’s doctor she is now among the “lowest risk” of all leukemias. The results of the detailed bone marrow study from yesterday confirm that there is no leukemia left in Tanner’s bone marrow. TAKE THAT CANCER!!! This isn’t some cupcake you’re dealing with here… this is Tanner Page. I mean, have you ever seen this child throw a tantrum? If you had, you would have never chosen her as an incubator for your vile, evil lazy leukemia cells. You would have recognized that you have met your match! Just move on, give up and DON’T BOTHER TO COME BACK!!! This is how we roll at the Page house and you are NOT up to it… I promise!

So many things to be thankful for this week. Our last day of steroids for a while, the end of the first phase of treatment, Induction, and now this. Just two days with no steroids and I can already see a difference in Tanner. She is still eating like a maniac, but she was definitely more lively and sassy today and her stomach pain seems to be lessening. Hoping she sleeps better tonight.

Thanks to all our friends who came by today, we had a great day. Tanner had visits from Gracie, Leah and Zach and Grandmom came today, too. Big day with lots of fun. Thanks to Leah for teaching Tanner how to “finger weave.” She sat on the sofa all afternoon weaving a very long rope. It made me happy to see her sitting up for that long instead of lying down.

Tonight as we were going to bed, I tried to tell Tanner how proud I am of her. I just hope it sinks in because usually she looks like she’s just embarrassed when I say stuff like that. I tried to explain “grace” to her, which is very difficult, I found out, to explain in terms that a five-year-old can understand. I finally resorted to referencing a Disney movie “Princess Protection Program” to explain the concept. I think she understood. I told her that I was particularly impressed by how she was handling losing her hair, which has been falling out for the last week or so. She looked shocked and said, “My hair isn’t falling out!” Oh no, I thought, she’s in denial now. Then, she exploded into peals of laughter and shrieked, “I’m going to glue it back on! No, I’ll finger weave it to my head!!!” We laughed hysterically and I reminded myself how lucky I am to have gotten such a kid. I’m glad to see her sense of humor returning to her. Goodbye steroids… for now.

Thanks again for everything people are doing for us. We are humbled every day by the outpouring of support our child has inspired. She is awesome and we know it, but to see many others recognize it and lift her up and help carry her through this awful mess is so touching. We are blessed by those who love our daughter and care about her plight in this way. All we can do to repay this kindness is to pay it forward. To hope that our story will help inspire people to demand that no other family ever have to live through this again. To donate, to give time and energy and to raise awareness for childhood cancer.

Love,
Beth