May 2, 2011

We’re home. Which is a wonderful thing and more than we had hoped for when we left here yesterday morning. The psych team believes that she is suffering from traumatic stress and that the past few weeks have been a little too much for her. In addition, they thought the aftereffects of the steroids could have played a role as well.

They didn’t think her antidepressant was to blame, in fact, they raised her dosage. She was on such a low dose and had gotten such good results initially that they felt they were helping.

It was reassuring to know they didn’t see any signs of mental illness; just too much stress for our little girl to take. The doctor said she believes that Tanner’s age group has the hardest time dealing emotionally with cancer treatment. Older kids are able to express themselves better and relieve some stress by venting and using coping strategies. Younger kids don’t really understand the seriousness of their treatment and are spared some of the fear of dying or of relapse. Tanner’s age group is old enough to understand, but not really old enough to express themselves and use coping strategies. Tanner, in particular, does not really talk about having leukemia or what stresses her. She just doesn’t.

Doing her best Transformer impersonation while getting an EKG

The next couple of days may still be a little bumpy, but I think we’re better prepared to deal with it until the increased dosage of antidepressant might help relieve some of the tension for her.

Thank you so much for all the love and support you sent our way; it truly buoyed us when we were drowning. And huge thanks to Beth, Kim and Ann, who went above and beyond, as always.

Love,
Beth