Tuesday, March 20, 2007

1st Out-patient Hospital Visit

We had a scheduled blood draw today at the cancer clinic. Izzy was not excited to be back at the hospital. They were able to use her port (or bubble as Izzy is calling it) to draw the blood as opposed to digging around in her arm. She still doesn't realize the difference, but hopefully will soon.


We think the results of the labs are great (we'll get her Doctor's opinion on Thursday). Her percentage of cancerous cells in her blood not her marrow, the source of her cancer, has dropped from 78% before chemo to 2% today. The general measure of her immune system is getting better too currently at 1.3 with 2.2 being a low-normal value. Kerri is making fun of me because I have all of these values over the last week in a spreadsheet so that we can graph and track them. Maybe business school is rubbing off on me.

We noticed another side effect the last couple of days--increased hunger from the steroids. :) Izzy lost quite a bit of weight in the hospital but is gettin 'er done at the dinner table now.

10 comments:

J-Lo said...

Do the doctors and nurses think it's weird that you're snapping photos of your little girl being pinned down to a table while her blood is sucked out? It reminds me of when I was a little girl and my necklace got caught in the reel tape machine. Instead of saving me from being strangled, dad grabbed the camera to capture the moment. I guess it does make for a fun story, though:) Keep feeding that little lion. Maybe you could get some nutritious Chuck E. Cheese pizza to-go.
Love tons,
Jenny

Cory said...

That's funny--not. :) I made sure that she was semi-calmed down before leaving her to snap the pic.

Gauri said...

Izzy is a mighty brave girl - having had to go through all that.

I hope and pray that things get better soon.

Love & Hugs to little Izzy

Gauri

Unknown said...

Dear Izzy,

you really are a brave girl. We all are praying for you.

With lots of love,
Shivani (with Sidhant and Sharad)

k said...

i'm no doctor, but those numbers sounds pretty good to me. hopefully that will continue. we're praying for it :)

Grandpa and Grandma Costley said...

It is nice to see that my boy is a chip off the old block. Nice photo-during-trauma work!

One great thing about Chuck E. Cheese pizza to go: you could top it off with a layer of Purell and it would not hurt the taste!

It is nice to see that Izzy has progressed beyond a saltine-a-day.

Love,

Grandpa Costley

Elsie said...

78% down to 2%! That's pretty good! Izzy, you are such a brave girl!

Byron said...

We are so glad things are going so well. Byron, for once, was not in the hospital this weekend to bring by a little something for Izzy and her cute supportive sisters. We will just have drop it by now that she is home, yeah! We will give it a good Purell rub down before it comes your way....You guys are troopers. You will continue to be in our prayers.
The Garns

Aim said...

Hey Cory-
Thanks so much for doing this blog. I've been checking in regularly to keep up on how Izzy is doing. Trav and I trying to resist the urge to call and ask you a million questions. I know that you have a lot on your plate and don't want to have to explain it repeatedly to all of your friends, but I do want you to know that Izzy and your family is constantly in our thoughts and in our prayers. Izzy seems like such a brave little girl. It breaks my heart that she has to go through this. We love you all so much and are so happy to hear that she is responding so well to the treatment!
Love-
The Strattons

Hip Grandma said...

love you izzy.Get well soon!