Feeling Good

Sierra was released from the hospital today. Her ANC had come up to 702 and her mouth sores are pretty much healed. She didn't hang out at 0 quite as long as she has in the past, and was only there for one day actually this go around, maybe because she only got one chemo instead of 2. She actually never ran a fever besides the one that landed her in the hospital, though she did have to get 2 blood transfusions and a platelet transfusion. She tested positive for some bacteria in her urine and complained of pain in her side when she went potty so they added an antibiotic for her in case she has a bladder infection. Her mouth sores never got as bad as they have before either, which is so nice. she never was in so much pain that she couldn't eat or drink, though they were pretty bad, morphine was able to keep her eating her pizza rolls and powder donuts:)

WE aren't scheduled to have chemo until at least Wednesday next week, so we have a free weekend, which hasn't happened in forever. We have lots of things planned though, which she is so excited for, I hope she has the energy to keep up. Sorry no pictures to update, I dropped my camera on Reece's birthday so I am waiting on it's replacement to come, hopefully Saturday, I take so many pictures so it is hard to be without it.

Low Counts Again

I don't know if I will ever be able to start a blog post again without apologizing for it being so long since the last update. Apparently I am pretty burnt out on blogging, it is just really low on my priority list. Sierra had her 6th to last round of chemo on Friday the 14th of September. She normally would've gotten two chemos together over 2 days, but she has had her limit of the cisplatin, so was only given a 15 minute injection of Doxorubicin 24 hrs apart. Some kids are allowed to do this chemo as outpatient, since it is such a quick injection, but Sierra's oncologist wanted to be sure that she wouldn't have any issues with nausea, so we were inpatient. I think she would've handled doing this chemo as outpatient just fine though because she had no trouble with it at all. She was given the second dose on Saturday and they sent us home right afterward. She went to 3 full days of school this week and then was sent home on Thursday with a low fever, it wasn't even over 100 degrees, so I wasn't too worried about it. Friday she had a clinic visit scheduled around noon and when I took her to that appointment she actually had a fever of 100.5, which meant no playroom for her, and she was admitted because her counts were bottoming out. Her ANC was at 20 and her red blood cells were borderline for a transfusion. Besides having low energy she has been feeling really good, even with the low counts. She was given a red blood cell transfusion early this morning, and her ANC was up in the 60's so even though I thought her counts were still on the way down, maybe they will just recover more swiftly since she had only one chemo instead of 2. The doctor today said she may be able to go home in the next day or 2, so we will just have to see how her counts look tomorrow.

On another note, I know people have been wondering how Sierra's scans went last week. I had spoken to a doctor about them, but it wasn't Sierra's actual oncologist so I wanted to speak to him first and have a fully clear understanding of the scans before I posted anything. Her bone scan is looking clear, she has no areas that light up anywhere else in her body, so that is a very good sign. Her chest CT is where the concern is for now. Sierra has some small nodules in her lungs which could be osteosarcoma. She had 3 very small nodules at her first chest CT that was done in March, but we were told that since they were only 2mm that we would just watch them, she had more scans in June, and apparently had 3 more 2mm nodules, though I was under the impression that they were the same 3 nodules, apparently I was misinformed. With these newest scans it appears that one of the nodules may now be 4mm, which is still incredibly small and could only "look" bigger because of how the slicing is done for the scans. So for now we are looking at finishing the chemo regimen she is on and then having a lung surgery to remove any nodules that show up on scans that will be done when her treatment is finished. This is obviously a scary thing, lung surgery seems incredibly huge compared to all we have been through so far, but we are hoping that if nodules do remain that they will be anything but osteosarcoma, or maybe that at least it would be dead osteosarcoma with no living cells. Sierra doesn't know about any of this yet, so please don't say anything to the kids about it, and please start praying that the spots will go away and that we can avoid this whole thing altogether. We are always hopeful that everything will turn out well, and have faith that Sierra will be just fine.

On a lighter note, here is a cute pic from last week when some Rodeo Princesses came to visit the hospital, Sierra was all smiles.

6 Left

Sierra has only 6 more rounds of chemo left. If she has no delays, she is set to be finishing chemo in the middle of November, right around my birthday. wouldn't that be the best birthday present ever, to know she is done with treatment, and can get back to living a somewhat normal life. Although she will have to deal with using a prosthesis, and have scans for the rest of her life to watch for the cancer to return, we hope that Sierra will be able to live a normal life, and do all of the things that she wants to do.

I have been very bad about posting updates regularly, and posting pictures. Life with a child with cancer is very busy, not to mention having 2 other kids to take care of as well, and a house to keep clean, and errands to run, well, you get the idea. We have a busy house, and when I get time to relax and unwind, I just don't always feel like having to think about what has been going on. Sierra has been doing really well. She is responding much the same to every treatment that she has had in the past. We have got a good routine down, and this life is getting more and more normal to us. Getting things packed for the hospital is a breeze now, and we know exactly what we need and what we can do without. Dave and I have a good system, rotating between the hospital and home, so that neither of us gets burnt out. Having Sierra and Reece in school again is helping to get some routine into our lives, which is very helpful, although it is hard to not be able to lounge around the house and sleep in until we please anymore.

Sierra is happy to be back at school with her friends, and I know it is good for her to have some normal life things going on. We aren't focusing as much on her academics at this point, though of course that is important. We will work really hard on that once her treatment is over, but for now, we want her to just do as much normal stuff as possible without overwhelming her. Now for picture overload:

Excited to get to work on the molding for her prosthesis.

She had to wear this funky unitard thing, here she is all wrapped in the molding material.

Even though she had been very excited to get started, she was not thrilled by all of the touching an maneuvering that went along with molding.

She was very happy to get back to our room afterward.

Waiting for the first fitting.

Smiling as the upper piece is fitted.

Both pieces on.

Sierra's 3 feet:) she was excited to see the knew foot that would be on her prosthesis.

trying on the temporary prosthesis, once some hardware had been added. She was not a happy camper for much of this part.

Standing up on a jig for the first time, not that she was actually doing much standing, her hands did much of the work, but she was in the position:)

Passed out cold on our way home from Portland.

 

First Day of 3rd Grade

 

Sierra was very excited to go back to school today. She woke up early and kept bugging us if it was time to leave yet. I know she is so happy to be able to see all of her friends, and to get to be like the other kids for a change. She is disappointed that she wont get to go to school every day, but hopefully by January she will be back full time.

All set in her class room, Her teacher's name is Mrs. Dempsey(forgot to take a pic with her)

Sierra is so excited to be in class with her friend Seiya, they were in 1st grade together and are back together again:)

Chemo Again

I have been so bad about blogging, just wanted to give a quick update. I will try to do some better posts once we are home. Not much has been going on, just the same old chemo routine. Sierra had her Methotrexate on Friday evening so we are now just waiting and keeping her busy until she clears it and can be released. She has handled it very well, with only one round of nausea and vomitting last night, she usually doesnt get sick with this chemo, but she has been eating so much more than usual, thanks to an appetite stimulant, so she might have just had too much in her belly. We are expecting to go home tomorrow morning. Sierra starts school on Wed. and is very excited, we are hoping she will be able to make it to a few days each week now that we have the chemo routine down and know when her good days are. She should be done with chemo before the end of the year, and we hope that staring with the knew year she will be back to school full time. So, pics and some more detailed posts to come.

Portland, Take Two

Sierra and I flew into Portland yesterday so she could follow up with the surgeon here and begin work on her prosthesis. She had a great time on the airplane, wasn't afraid at all, and we made it here with no bumps
( besides a bit of turbulence). We hung out at the Shriners hospital yesterday, watching TV and playing in their playroom. We are lucky that they have rooms onsight for folks who come in from out of town, so we can stay on premesis and not have to worry about paying for a hotel, and we are blessed to have famiy in the area to shuttle us to and from the airport . (thank you Uncle Monty and Aunt Penny, and Auntie Missy).
This morning Sierra met with Dr. Krajbich, who did her surgery, and he is very pleased with her result. Her Xrays show that her bone is fully healed and she is now cleared to begin weight bearing. Of course, that will be a bit hard until she has a prosthesis to work with, but we are going to start working with her to put some weight on that side to ready her for when her prosthesis is complete. She was molded for her prosthesis today as well, she wasn't incredibly happy with the process, since they wrapped her fully to her thigh, and it was a bit uncomfortable, but she soldiered through like she always does. We were lucky to attend and activity day her as well today, they had crafts and music and games for the kids,  and a lunch for the parents. And all of the kids were given a build a bear, Sierra's is a pink flowery bear with a black and blue shimmery dress. She really loves it, I just hope I can fit all of the new things she is getting in our luggage on the way home.

Another Delay

As I suspected last weekend, Sierra's oncologist put off her chemo for another week in order let her mouth fully heal. I knew it was a possibility, but that doesn't make it any easier to hear when you have spent hours packing and preparing for a hospital stay. Sis and I knew around noon that chemo was a no go, so we went out to lunch and a movie together for a mommy, daughter date. We haven't done anything like that in a really long time, and it was nice. Although it is disappointing to be delayed, we look at the bright side. She will likely feel really good for the next week, which means our Portland trip should go smoothly, we are able to attend a few functions this weekend and go to church as a family on Sunday, and she will have an extra week of feeling well at the beginning of the school year which will mean a few more days of school before her yucky chemo. Sierra wasn't too disappointed about it either, though she was upset that her port would have to be deaccessed, though she did a great job, and didn't cry at all.
So we are looking forward to a week of feeling good and spending no time in the hospital, or at appointments. It will be a chance for all of us to recharge.