Category Archives: hope

starting to feel better

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We finally got Tanner to leave the couch! I put her in her room today after lunch for a nap (she slept 3 hours) and then had a pretty uneventful afternoon. Then, Tanner, whose entire life right now seems to revolve around what food she is going to eat next, remembered that Dad said he might bring her home McDonalds. I told her maybe we could spread a blanket upstairs in the play room and have a picnic. So, she calls Dad and puts in an order for she and Jake and we had a picnic upstairs. She was propped up on pillows the whole time, but was very alert and laughed a lot watching Jake and Daddy play like wild men. It seemed very normal, which is rare. So, I’m hoping today she might have a little more energy. I think the chemo is going to put her down for two good days every time and then, slowly, she will feel a little better each day until it is time to get whammied again. She told me today she was afraid to see her friends because she was scared she might give them leukemia. It took me a while to convince her that can’t happen and I’m still not sure she believes me. She also said she was afraid kids would make fun of her because she has leukemia. In what universe is it okay for a five-year-old to have to think about these things? Here’s hoping to see a little more of my girl back tomorrow. Beth

Awesome News

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Oh, you people must have really been praying for low numbers, because we got the results of Tanner’s bone marrow biopsy and, to everyone’s amazement, including the doctors, it shows she has less than 1% of leukemia cells left in her bone marrow after just one week of treatment!  That’s my girl!  So like her to be ahead of the curve.  The doctor was thrilled.  They had told us not to expect to get below 5%!

What does this mean?  Well, she is officially in remission, which seems such a weird term since she still has years of treament left.  But, the fact that she got there so quickly puts her in the “rapid responder” category which positively affects her course of treament and her prognosis.  Basically, this news, plus the test results from last week that classified her as low risk mean Tanner is in the very best position you can be in if you have ALL.  In the midst of all this awfulness, we feel extremely blessed for a moment.

So, no bone marrow biopsy next week… yeah!  Just IV chemo, which is oddly uneventful, but deadly to Tanner.  As I have said before, when she is kicking cancer’s butt, she feels like crap.  So, after waking up in a great mood today with awesome energy and improved walking, she deteriorated to just plain old sick by the end of the day, once yesterday’s chemo treatments kicked in.  She never did anything today but color once or twice.  Even after I turned off the TV, she laid on the couch for 4 hours with no entertainment other than watching Jake play.  Sad.

Speaking of Jake, he had tubes put in his ears and was home by 8:30 am (Did I mention that today was a VERY long day?).  He did well.  Cried a lot, and was pretty whiny and awful today, but otherwise okay.  My mom came with me to the surgery and John stayed home with Tanner.  My Mom and John’s Mom have been Godsends.  Seriously, there is no way we could do this without them.

Again, thank you to everyone I haven’t thanked in person or by email for the cards, presents, meals, favors, etc.  You know who you are and you know if I could, I would send a proper thank you note, but the kids’ needs right now are all consuming and I just can’t do it all.  I surrender.

Okay, and let me give one last futile attempt at steming the flow of presents coming Tanner’s way.  It is not that we do not appreciate them, but we have a whole room of them now, and she’s just too sick to appreciate them.  Many are not even opened yet because I just keep hoping she’ll feel well enough to get at ’em, but when she does feel good, she just wants to be a kid and play with her brother, sprinkle water from a watering can onto the patio, blow bubbles in the yard, etc.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be bringing all those crafts you’ve given us out over the next 7 months, I’m sure, and we’ll use them.  But, rather than send us anything else, make a donation to the leukemia association and help keep someone else from ever having to go through this.  Seriously.

What amazing friends and family we have.  We are humbled by the outpouring of support for our family.

Love,
Beth

Low risk, low risk, low risk!!!

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Never have a wanted to kiss a doctor more than when Dr. Mixon told me that the results of Tanner’s chromasome translocations test (I’ll explain this later) moved her from standard risk to low risk!!!!!! This means the best outcomes prognosis and the least aggressive treatment plan. Hallelujah! Not only that, the doctors are so pleased with how well she is responding to the treatment that she may get to come home next week! Unbelieveable. You cannot keep this child down. Not leukemia, not crazy drug reactions, not even disease-carrying ticks!!! Tanner Page… world champion disease fighter delivers the first of many roundhouse punches!

The chromosome translocations test shows them the actual makeup of the leukemia cells, which of course, are abnormal. Leukemia cells are actually just white blood cells that don’t mature. Some stop when they are babies, some when they are toddlers and some when they are teenagers. Just depends on which type of leukemia you have (Tanner has pre-b ALL). So there are all these teenagers running around in your body partying and drinking and trashing the house. These cells also grow more quickly than normal cells, and just like word spreads like lightning about a great party, more and more teenagers come and the whole place goes to you-know-what in a handbasket. Within these crazy immature cells, the chromosomes sometimes swap genetic information. What boggles the mind is that modern medicine knows which of these translocations, as they are called, are predictors of good outcomes or bad outcomes. Tanner’s translocation is an indicator of, and I quote, “very good outcomes.” (thanks Kim for the helpful book that helped me understand this).

John and I are elated by this news and I got Tanner to high five me, but it means nothing to her and doesn’t change that fact that she has been woken up two nights in a row from a deep sleep to take five NASTY medicines, or that now her cheeks tingle and drive her crazy, or that tomorrow she will get a shot in each thigh, simultaneously, that will put a vaccine to shame. Not to put a damper on the good news, but just to say that life is pretty miserable for her and will be for a while. The reality is that for a leukemia patient the good news that treatment is working really well is bad news for the way they feel. We are cheering as we watch Tanner’s white blood cells drop because we know most of those cells are leukemia cells and their butts are being kicked, but for her, that means she feels very tired and weak. She still has some pain from too many cells exerting pressure in her bones, but that seems to be lessening as the chemo does its job. The side effects of the chemo are beginning to show, though. She had jaw pain today that is classic for one of the drugs and has had to have morphine twice today in order to be comfortable. Thank God for morphine.

So, speaking of side effects, they warned us mightily about the heavy dose of steroids she will take for 28 days straight and boy, were they right. Talk about cranky and unreasonable. And, sadly, a little girl who wakes from sleep crying uncontrollably and just wants Mommy to hold her. I want to hate all these drugs, but they’re saving my baby’s life.

We did have some good moments today, though brief. Again, Jake was a miracle-worker. I have some hilarious pictures of the two of them wearing John’s mother’s wigs and laughing hysterically. (I’ll get Ron to post them as soon as they download them along with a picture of my brother and his newly shaved head.) They played paddle ball and Tanner practically jumped out of bed to follow him around the room (yes, on her own two feet) while I followed along as unobtrusively as possible with her IV pole and tried to pretend I wasn’t there. Then. after lunch and a long nap, she and I went down to the playroom after dinner and drew some pictures. I drew her a picture of her, her future husband, child and cat when she grew up. She thought that was silly — I’m hoping it’s prophetic. She drew a picture of a dress, jewelry and a scarf. Then we cut out hearts and flowers to decorate the room. Priceless.

I want to take a moment to thank Ron Whitler for setting up this site for me. It has made it much easier to keep people updated without me having to respond individually to each inquiry. Please don’t be offended if I don’t write you an email answering your questions about Tanner’s status or even ours, but direct you to this site instead. Sometimes I just can’t answer everyone’s emails, even though I want to. And please don’t feel bad if you only read the first paragraph since I’m so lengthy at times. I’ll try to put the meat right there so you don’t have to wade through if you don’t have the time or inclination to do so. You don’t have to read it all, but I do have to write it all. It’s the only thing that lets me lay down my head at night without having nightmares.

Speaking of laying down my head,

Good night.
Beth

Reason to hope — Tanner!

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Okay, we have a little hope that it is not Leukemia… Doctors came in today to say the more tests they run and the more Tanner’s symptoms progress, there are some things going on that are not typical of Leukemia. She still has abnormal white blood cells — a strong indication of leukemia — but her elevated enzyme levels and and an enlarged bile duct are not usually associated with Leukemia. They are currently doing a battery of blood tests to rule out some kind of viral or bacterial infection as well as having a liver specialist chase down her bile and enzyme situation before proceeding with the bone marrow biopsy. This by no means rules out leukemia, but is the only hope we have that it could be something else. How typical of Tanner to be atypical.