Staying Here for Halloween

She really was perking up yesterday, but Izzy is feeling downright nasty today with constant diarrhea, belly aches and random fevers. The cultures are not showing anything bacterially growing, but apparently there are still spots in the body that could be hoarding an infection that doesn't show up in the blood cultures. So they don't feel good about letting her go, and honestly I don't either with how yucky she feels.

She wanted to trick or treat to the rooms with the kids though, so with some strian we were able to get her SuperGirl costume on and move her to the stroller. Things were going pretty well (she pointed to me every time she needed to say "trick or treat" so that I would say it for her), but then one of the connectors on her Port tube broke apart and we were half way down the hall before anyone realized the blood trailing behind--nice Halloween surprise. If only she had been a vampire it would have all fit together a little better, but SuperGirl bleeding? Com'on :)

We hope she feels better soon. I'll keep you posted when I can. (I'll post pictures when we get home)

Hospital Update

Izzy is having a hard time with some phlegm in her chest and a hacking cough which caused her to need oxygen while sleeping last night. Thankfully though, the bloody noses have subsided and her fever has come down a bit through the night. She won't eat anything still (I think 2 bites of pancake was all she had yesterday), but is drinking plenty of water.

So, we're really hoping that the fever will go away and that we can head home before Halloween and at least party together at home since outdoors isn't going to work for her. But just in case, we have her SuperGirl costume with us--nothing cuter than a bald supergirl, right?!! :)

As for Izzy's morale, she is chatty-chattin' with me nonstop and loving me to rub her head and feet with lotion. When she is gagging and puking she says (almost everytime) "this chemo is really so hard....I don't love it." I think that's way cute. One of the student nurses this morning was sad when she saw Izzy telling me I could go ahead and give her the Lovenox shot in her leg (still bawling) and trying to hold as still as she could. Her strength is inspiring to me.

Thanks for your offers to help--I'll be calling you real soon I'm sure :)

ER / Hospital stay

Well, I spoke too soon yesterday with my blog. Izzy developed a 103 fever in the night. With her white blood cells at 200 and her platletts at 5 they promptly admitted us (3:30 a.m.). If it is that infected thumb, the antibiotics they are pumping into her (7 doses a day) will take care of it.

A couple of concerns: with her plateletts so low she has been bleeding from the nose every time she coughs; and she reacted to something (one of the meds or the platelett transfusion) with a rash and hives. Hopefully both of these things will be cleared up soon. The doctors act like they've seen both enough that they are not too worried.

We've got at least 48 hours here either way. Thanks for your concerns.

Super-Girl

Izzy has done an amazing job recovering from steroids and fevers. Fittingly, she wants to be Super-girl for Halloween and her cute Daddy paid handsomely for the costume (jk, it wasn't too bad :). Stay tuned for after-Halloween shots of that.
For now here is a cute one of her deflating (from the steroids) and feeling better. ***I should have started this long ago, but better late than never...new game: FIND THE HIDDEN CRAZY STUFF LORIN IS DOING IN THIS PICTURE***


Her counts are still very low however, and as a result any little wound is having a hard time healing. Here is a picture of her thumb which, ironically enough, was hurt by a hospital bed. After almost 2 weeks and lots of bandaids, it looks nastier than ever.

Home Sweet Home

They freed us! I was actually a bit surprised as Izzy woke up after an endless night with a headache and a belly ache; her leg had a problem clotting after a blood-thinner shot; and her fever is still there, though minor. But the cultures they drew didn't grow any bacteria and so we will give her Tylenol until the virus goes away. All in all she is playing and feeling pretty good. Didn't want to leave you all hangin'. But I'm signing out with a quick blog and no pictures :) Thanks again to all of the help and love.

Hospital Time

Another (at least) 48 hour sentence has been issued by the docs due to a fever that occurred during a blood transfusion (which obviously means her counts are way low again). So we have been here at the cancer center for 7 hours (all inclusive platelett transfusion, spinal tap and chemo) and await our room on the 7th floor where we will spend some more quality time while they make sure her port is not infected or something of the like. It's been a while. A hospital stay was predicted for this last intense month. We're holding out for November. I'll keep you posted! (Kerri)

Bye Bye Hair

It happened all of a sudden, but a few days ago Izzy's hair really started to fall out. Kerri would run her hands through Izzy's hair, and it would come out by the handful. Today it started to look extremely wispy. So with the incentive of going to buy a toy, Izzy had us shave it off. She looks way cute. Her new look was definitely a shocker for us. But we knew that she would take her reactionary cue from us so we've been telling her how cute she looks non-stop. Here are some photos of her new look and some of the hair alternatives. Thank goodness she has her mom's shapely skull.