It has been about a month since our last update, and it has been a very pleasant month. Katie has been feeling great and things have gone very well for her. After her last round of chemotherapy, she didn't even get sick. She didn't need any Zofran, any Miralax, or anything drug to keep her going. She went on with her life the very next day as if she had never received any chemotherapy at all. It was amazing. Since that time, she has been living the life of a normal 3 year-old, albeit a 3 year-old with what appears to be a little cold that is hanging on. The only symptoms are a slightly runny nose and a persistent cough.
Katie just received another dose of chemotherapy this Thursday and seems to be taking this one well too. She did ask for some Zofran yesterday, but today she is feeling fine and is outside running and playing. While we were at the hospital, we asked the doctors about her cough and told them that we had begun experimenting with Katie's inhaler as a method of controlling the cough and it seemed to work - at least a little. The doctors suspect that she is dealing with a slight case of asthma which isn't surprising given her history respiratory issues each winter. We were given an updated prescription for her inhaler and were asked to closely monitor her condition while she was taking monthly allotment of Dexamehtazone for the next 5 days. Dexamehtazone is a steroid that is a normal part of her chemotherapy, but if her cough gets better while she is on it, that may indicate that she is dealing with some asthma and a steroid based inhaler will help her control it more effectively. So if this cough disappears in the next few days, Katie may be issued a new steroid based inhaler that will let her run and play even more than she already does.
So as not to end this post reporting yet another medical complication, and for your viewing pleasure, I also uploaded a short video that was shot Easter morning while Katie ran around outside of my brother's house, collecting Easter eggs with her brother, Josh and her cousins, Kyler and Eric. It is short, but it makes me smile when I watch her running and having fun.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
A Spring Day at The Barn
Katie is still feeling pretty good even with the Vincristine that she got Thursday. Today was such a beautiful day that we spent a good portion of the morning outside splashing around in the mud and brushing the horses. Here is another quick video that I grabbed with my cell phone of Katie enjoying the sun and fresh air.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Common Cold
Things have been going reasonably well for Katie lately. She has been going about her normal routine of playing with her friends at daycare all day and zooming around the house playing at home each night. Markers and paint are her creative release of choice lately. Unfortunately, her body and her books have become her favorite canvas. She has colored or painted on herself and her books no less than eight times in the last ten days. I'll post some pictures the next time she gets creative.
In the last couple of days she has taken a turn for the worst. She developed a nasty cold over the weekend. It is restricting her airway again and making it hard for her to sleep at night. We can easily identify the source of this cold... Every kid in her day care suddenly got sick over the weekend. Unfortunately for Katie, while her body is busy fighting off this cold bug, we are going to give it more things to have to deal with. She has an appointment for another dose of Vincristine and Pentamadine this Thursday at Fletcher Allen. So, by the time she should be recovered from her cold, the Vincristine will be making her nauseous. Her doctors asked us to get a blood test done last night to ensure that her body had the resources to fight back, and it does. Her numbers look really good and all of the right numbers are elevated, indicating that she is fighting the cold. The next 10 to 14 days are just going to be a little extra rough.
In the last couple of days she has taken a turn for the worst. She developed a nasty cold over the weekend. It is restricting her airway again and making it hard for her to sleep at night. We can easily identify the source of this cold... Every kid in her day care suddenly got sick over the weekend. Unfortunately for Katie, while her body is busy fighting off this cold bug, we are going to give it more things to have to deal with. She has an appointment for another dose of Vincristine and Pentamadine this Thursday at Fletcher Allen. So, by the time she should be recovered from her cold, the Vincristine will be making her nauseous. Her doctors asked us to get a blood test done last night to ensure that her body had the resources to fight back, and it does. Her numbers look really good and all of the right numbers are elevated, indicating that she is fighting the cold. The next 10 to 14 days are just going to be a little extra rough.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
No More Mouth Sores
The mouth sores are nearly gone. The last remaining sore is the one that we found first. It is on the inside of her left cheek and it was the biggest of the sores. It is now a tiny spot in her mouth and fading. However, all is not yet as it should be.
She has been displaying very low levels of energy for the last week and complaining that she doesn't feel good. We suspect that she is having a hard time managing her sugar levels, but have not proved it yet. The doctors told us no to go through the trouble of a finger pick, but to just treat for low sugar. It hasn't been working as well as it should so I am going to test her blood the next time she is feeling low. I want to know how low she is getting and whether or not we are bringing her sugar levels back up high enough for her to feel good for a sustained period of time.
To jump topics a little, Katie is officially enrolled in preschool for next year as of today. Starting this coming August our tiny little girl will be riding the bus with her big brother to meet us at the high school at the end of every day. Josh started out the same way, but he seemed so much bigger...
She has been displaying very low levels of energy for the last week and complaining that she doesn't feel good. We suspect that she is having a hard time managing her sugar levels, but have not proved it yet. The doctors told us no to go through the trouble of a finger pick, but to just treat for low sugar. It hasn't been working as well as it should so I am going to test her blood the next time she is feeling low. I want to know how low she is getting and whether or not we are bringing her sugar levels back up high enough for her to feel good for a sustained period of time.
To jump topics a little, Katie is officially enrolled in preschool for next year as of today. Starting this coming August our tiny little girl will be riding the bus with her big brother to meet us at the high school at the end of every day. Josh started out the same way, but he seemed so much bigger...
Friday, March 6, 2009
March Update
It has been too long since our last post and people have started asking how Katie is doing. As always, when things start going well, we begin to forget about updating the blog. But don't fret. Katie has been having a pretty good time and feeling very well.
The only noteworthy events are another round of chemotherapy and an LP that happened last Thursday (everything went smoothly), and the appearance of some new mouth sores as of two days ago. Since the chemo and LP were fairly routine, I will skip right over that and go into more detail about the mouth sores.
She has 4 and we discovered them all at about the same time. The largest sore is on the inside of one cheek. It doesn't seem to bother her too much unless we want to look at it or probe it with a medicine covered Q-tip. Another possibly smaller sore is on the other cheek, but it is tucked up in between her cheek and her top gums. She won't let us get a good look at that one, but she complains so much about pain when we try to move her lip to look that we stop. I have only seen the very edge of it. The remaing two sores are on her upper lip again, just as before. They are small and we are treating them early, but I'm afraid that they may get as bad as the previous round of sores. The doctors want a quick blood test to determine what is happening with the rest of her body as her mouth deals with these sores, so we will be off to North Country hospital for a finger pick tomorrow morning. This evening we already have plans. Katie is going to the dinner theater at Lake Region. She is all excited about going to the play and we are not going to cancel that outing to replace it with a finger pick. That just doesn't seem fair.
The only noteworthy events are another round of chemotherapy and an LP that happened last Thursday (everything went smoothly), and the appearance of some new mouth sores as of two days ago. Since the chemo and LP were fairly routine, I will skip right over that and go into more detail about the mouth sores.
She has 4 and we discovered them all at about the same time. The largest sore is on the inside of one cheek. It doesn't seem to bother her too much unless we want to look at it or probe it with a medicine covered Q-tip. Another possibly smaller sore is on the other cheek, but it is tucked up in between her cheek and her top gums. She won't let us get a good look at that one, but she complains so much about pain when we try to move her lip to look that we stop. I have only seen the very edge of it. The remaing two sores are on her upper lip again, just as before. They are small and we are treating them early, but I'm afraid that they may get as bad as the previous round of sores. The doctors want a quick blood test to determine what is happening with the rest of her body as her mouth deals with these sores, so we will be off to North Country hospital for a finger pick tomorrow morning. This evening we already have plans. Katie is going to the dinner theater at Lake Region. She is all excited about going to the play and we are not going to cancel that outing to replace it with a finger pick. That just doesn't seem fair.
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