Flu Shots

Whitney was complaining she hurt her left arm at school's 1st recess today. I was surprised she didn't tell the teacher or anyone about it. She was holding her arm straight out and wouldn't use it for over an hour after she got home from school. So... off to the doctor. At first they thought she broke a bone but... after a few fun filled tests, everything was okay. She hurt her arm but it would just be fine in a few hours. So... we went home after each child got their flu shot.

In a couple weeks... H1N1 flu shots. They did just GREAT with the flu shot. They didn't like it, but neither would I. After about 10 seconds of crying, they were examining the cool metallic reflective band aids.

Lots of medical things

Ashley and Whitney had medical appointments today. But this last week Ashley had her oral follow up, her Oncologist visit, labs, and... her immunizations. Whitney had her 5 year well child exam.

Ashley has been given a clean bill of health and her oncologist expects her to be fully recovered from her cancer and she'll live a normal life. She has graduated to 6 month CT's and Provider visits and just to make me feel comfortable, her oncologist said I can come in every 3 months for blood work i.e. AFP marker. Otherwise she really doen't need an AFP for every 6 months also. She's officially graduated from her cancer. Just 4 more years and she'll be considered "cured".

Her oral surgery a couple weeks ago went GREAT. Her two front teeth got caps and they put a sealant on her teeth to prevent cavities. She also had two small cavities filled on her second top teeth. They were small. At our dental follow up visit on Monday this week, the dentist wants her to change her diet and limit the starches. Startches turn into sugar and promote cavities. So dorito's, chips etc... out. Until she can brush (or we can brush) her teeth and really get in there, we have to control her diet, doctors orders. She should eat fruits, vegetables, protein. Limit juice to 6 oz a day and snacks should be of protein type like cheeses, beef jerky etc... All until we can really get in there and brush her teeth.

Both Whitney and Ashley got shots today. I'm amazed at these kids and their bravery. They did so well. 3 shots for each of them. It is a milestone as Ashley has not had any immunizations since January 2008 and was not allowed them due to her cancer. Now she is caught back up... Oncologists orders. So Ashley got Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, Haemophilus b, and pneumococcal conjugate. Whitney got chicken pox, MMR, and polio. Whitney officially doesn't need any immunizations till she's 11. YAHOO! Unless we decide she needs a flu shot.

Almost forgot. Ashley's AFP is 2.8. she's doing really well. The oncologist wants me to make sure I get a hearing test again, we're due and I'm hearing Ashley drop the "f" in the word Fish. It could be just normal, we'll have to find out.


April

Whew... AFP 1.8 today.

Yeah! 1.8 is the lowest AFP ever. I never posted last month's AFP... on April 23, 09 it was 3.2.
Today her AFP is just 1.8. NICE!

WHEW... that's all I have to say.

Whew! Yesterday was Ashley's quarterly CT and man... it was a breeze until we got our results. That new nodule that showed up in Jan had now grown from 2mm to 4mm. The doc's said they weren't worried, but we needed to wait the 24 hours for her AFP blood work to come back. Well... I just got the numbers and he AFP is 2.4. I cried tears of joy. CANCER SUCKS! I can't begin to tell you how hard living in the moment is when you have a loved one going through a medical crisis. The emotions that run through your body are indescribable. Sometimes all you can do is focus on the negative but then you get distracted and sucked into a TV show or some other responsibility. I'm learning to accept getting sucked into things... this is probably what my mind needs. For now... all danger is averted. We're in the clear for another month until our next blood work appointment. WHEW!!! Happy Easter to all of you. And give your loved ones a BIG HUG today and then throw in an extra squeeze just because you want to. - April

AFP 2.3

When they did Ashleys CT last week, they also did an AFP. (it was a mistake as they're only suppose to do them 1x a month). But I don't mind, especially when the number is 2.3 YAHOO!

CT Clear.

As expected Ashley's CT was clear. There was a new nodule on her lung however they said it was just "compression". I guess when your sedated your lungs can make little marks on the CT image and they aren't anything. She now has 2 of these. One was new but the other has been there since her diagnosis back in May. It has not changed in size so no worries said the doc's. Still... I get so nervous for CT's. It takes an army to prepare for them. Fasting, no breastfeeding, forcing her to drink this contrast solution, keeping her occupied while we wait for the contrast solution to reach her intestines... its really hard. Ashley managed to fall asleep in my arms 5 minutes before the Anasthesiolgist came to get her. This made it really easy to put her on the CT machine and she didn't wake up when I laid her down. The doc held the gas to her face for about 5 minutes and then... she was "out". The scan took 5 minutes and then she woke up 30 minutes later. She's my hero. She's such a champ. She barely even gets scared of the doc's anymore. And if she does... she's okay in just a few seconds. I like to think she gets that personality trait from me... I too can easily just brush things off and move on to the next thing. Its a great trait.
Next visit will be in 1 month. I'll post more then if not before.
April

CT scheduled for Friday 1/30/09

Ashley has her quarterly CT this Friday. Hopefully it will be just fine. Her AFP 2 weeks ago was normal so this should be a clean scan. But we always get nervous before any medical visit. Also, we'll find out what the Oncologist thinks about her iron levels. We've been giving her oral iron supplements for about 2 months now. I guess the chemo she had can cause your iron levels to be pretty low.

Keep you fingers crossed that her chest cold and coughing are gone by this Thursday so she can have her CT on Fri. I don't want to schedule it again. Its hard to keep rescheduling. CT's are hard for us because she has to fast... and because she's still breastfeeding... fasting is REALLY difficult when the food supply is right in front of her everytime I pick her up. We're taking she and Whitney to the dentist tomorrow (tues) for their first visit. Hopefully Ashley's teeth are okay. We're concerned about their coloring and think it might be time to ween her. But the coloring may be due to the chemo. We'll find out tomorrow.

April