Thursday, March 15, 2007

T-Cell Leukemia (ALL) Diagnosed

Yesterday was the first day that I realized Izzy was sick. After a full day of tests and operations, she was swollen and flushed. Nothing has ever wrenched my heart-strings like seeing her suffer through that.

Today was much better. Izzy was more comfortable, and we got an official diagnosis and treatment plan. The full diagnosis is Pre-T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The "Pre-T-Cell" part is referring to the immune system cells that seem to be most affected. The Acute Lymphobalstic Leukemia is usually condensed in to the acronym ALL. The two main buckets of leukemia are ALL and AML. The treatment is less intense for ALL, and it is the most common type of cancer found in children. You can find more information on her type of cancer at the National Cancer Institute site here and/or at curesearch.org. Below is a picture with Izzy's oncologist Dr. Connelly. You can see that she is in good hands. :)

She starts chemotherapy tonight. Her treatment will last for 2 1/2 years. The first 6 months will be the most intense followed by two years of maintenance therapies. We were happy to be told by the doctors that most of the chemo she'll receive in the first 6 months will be outpatient--meaning that she won't have to be admitted to the hospital for them. However, during these 6 months she could be admitted for other reasons such as a fever (possible sign of infection) or for her protection.

Chemotherapy works by destroying cells that multiply and grow quickly. Unfortunately, this destruction of fast-growing cells is not targeted to just cancerous cells. Other cells usually affected are hair, bone marrow and intestinal. This is where most of the side effects come from such as the loss of hair, low red and white blood cell counts (fatigue and risk of infection) and mouth sores. We can expect that Izzy will begin experiencing degrees of these side effects in the next few days.

Izzy will be in the hospital for approximately 5 more days depending on how her body does with the chemotherapy. She has received lots of great support items in the hospital, especially visits from her sisters. And she is wicked excited about going to Chuck E. Cheese when she gets out of the hospital.



12 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Hi Costley’s . All of our thoughts are with you during this time.If there is anything you need, we would be happy to help in any possible way.
Andres, Gaby & Luli

Karen said...

izzy...hang in there kiddo..
know that you are loved by many. i have my girls ryann and kapri look at your pictures everyday and they say their prayers at night.. and they remember to bless "izzy". they cant wait to see you at the idaho reunion and go swimming with you and your sisters!
love you
karen dustin and the kids

Auntie Amber said...

It must be a relief to finally have a firm diagnosis and treatment plan. We think of Izzy all of the time. You are all still in our prayers. The pictures are great. You have the most beautiful girls.
Love, Amber

Grandpa and Grandma Costley said...

We were so happy to hear about the bubble blowing lsst night and are so glad that Grandpa is there to see you. We love you and send all our hugs and kisses to you.

Grandma Costley, KK, Ali, Tiffany, Jacob

Unknown said...

Kerri and Cory,

We are with you in our hearts and our thoughts. It's good that Izzy was diagnosed so early. Everything will be fine.
We will be praying for you and Izzy.

All our best wishes to your wonderful family.

Anna, Ryan and Aglaya Hovey

Unknown said...

We send all our support to the family and a special hug to Izzy. we will be praying for her recovery. Please, let us know if there is anything we can do.

Maria, Matias and Eduardo

J-Lo said...

Maybe I'm naive, but the "pre" part of the diagnosis must be a good sign, right? Did the doctor say anything about Izzy's Jabba the Hut neck (or lack thereof) going away soon?:) Either way, she is beautiful and so are Ryan, Lolo, and Kerri. Cory, you're not so bad yourself:)

Tammy said...

Izzy is in great hands - both with her family and her medical care. It sounds like you've got a long road ahead of you, but you're up for it - you're all stronger than you know - but you're about to find out. You are all in our prayers every day with lots and lots of love!
Lane, Tammy, Jonny, David, Sarah and Sam

Jeremy A Maynor said...

Hi guys.
I am very glad to know that you are finally able to start seeing some action toward curing Izzy. It was very good to see you guys today, and nice to see Izzy playing. She looks like she is doing great with all that she is going through. Megan, Chloe, Emmett, Willa and my thougts and prayers are with Izzy and you two, Lorin and Ryan. We wish Izzy an easy recovery.

All our love

Jeremy, Megan, Chloe, Emmett and Willa Maynor.

MBA Cutie said...

My heart and prayers are with Izzy!

monniaux family said...

hang on little princess , we thought of you everyday
lots of love
aurelie gilles axelle and roxane