New Day, Same Attitude...enough said

New Do

The last two days have been fairly uneventful (thankfully). No surprise trips to the clinc. However, the Dexameth is making her such a swollen GROUCH!!! As you can see by the grimace! She had such a chip on her shoulder yesterday that Aunt Lauren and I decided she maybe needed a new look! That always cheers us up! I cut her hair. It is cute! Much easier and less in her way! Check her out! In the first two she is sporting her new haircut and her new nightgown from Sophie and Gabby! So cute!

Clarification 11/26

Today I took Cora to the clinic just to get her levels checked again. They are still low, but holding. She will probably not need transfusion before Friday. We may check them again on Friday just to be sure. I spoke with the doctor in more detail about the conflicting bone marrow results from yesterday. In very basic terms, the pathologist's sample had 50% cancer, but was a VERY TINY localized sample. The flowcytometry sample had 3% sample, but was a VERY LARGE sample with lots of cells in it. She said that the flowcytometry sample gives a more accurate picture and probably the pathology sample just happened to be from an area in which there were many cancer cells. This is potentially VERY VERY good news. It will not change her treatment. It will be 2.5 years. If it's correct, it will put her into the category of early responders which means that the odds are with us! They will repeat the bone marrow check on Monday. Stay tuned then for more results! It looks like the chemo and prayers are working!!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Conflicting Results

We anxiously waited by the phone today for the results of the bone marrow biopsy. At 3:30 we spoke to the doctor and she said they were requesting for one of the test to be redone and they would call us back. At about 5:30 this evening, Dr. Whittle called us back and told us that he had conflicting results. There were two tests done. The first was done by the pathologist looking at the sample under the microscope. The second was done by a machine called flowcytometry. He said that when the pathologist looked at the bone marrow he found a 50% decrease in the number of cancer cells from the week before when it was done, but he still found a significant number of cancer cells. (Dr. Whittle acted like this was a typical result for Day 8 of treatment) He then said that they did the flowcytometry result was so good that he didn't believe it and asked them to do it twice. Both times the flowcytometry found less than 3% cancer which is remission status. He said that is not a typical result for day 8 and would be surprising news. Whatever the case, the good news is that the treatment is working and there is less cancer now than a week ago. They will new another bone marrow biopsy on Monday and see if they can get more conclusive results. When we called Rob's dad with these results he was totally perplexed and frustrated at why they would be conflicting. He asked me all sorts of questions about which kinds of tests the pathologist did, which I had no clue! So he said that he wants to call the pathologist personally tomorrow morning and talk with him about what exactly was done. My hope and prayer is that next week they will be conclusive and agree that there is no more cancer! As for the girl, today she was whiney and pale and begged for pizza all day. Cora is an eating machine on these meds! I was worried that her hemoglobin may have dropped again, so the doctor said to bring her in to have her finger pricked in the morning just to be sure. Then after daddy got home and gave her the pizza she'd been dreaming of she was better!

A Dance to go along with the singing

This was taken a few days ago, before the grumpiness set in. This tutu was a gift from The McLeans and Cora insisted on wearing it on top of her big belly!

Monday 11/24

Well, it seems like the steroids have kicked in and we have a very hungry little grouch on our hands. She is REALLY grumpy! I think I would be too! We went to the clinic today for one chemo treatment through and iv, one injected into the spine, and a bone marrow biopsy. It was supposed to be a bone marrow aspiration, but for one reason or another the doctor couldn't get liquid bone marrow again. The doctor said not to freak out because it may just be because anatomically it is difficult on a child so small. Her hemoglobin is holding at 7.9 so we didn't have to transfuse (woohoo!) Her platelets are 59 since her transfusion on Saturday (woohoo!). Her white blood count is still low, but holding. We still need to be very careful about exposure and can't take her anywhere. Tomorrow we will find out the results of the bone marrow biopsy to see just how effective the first 8 days of treatment have been. PRAY FOR REMISSION!!! There may still be some cancer, which is not out of the ordinary at this point. If there is, we will do another bone marrow check next Monday. We actually don't have to go back until then unless we think her hemoglobin may have dropped before then. So the bone marrow thing scared us a little, but Rob's dad chatted with the doctor and she reassured him that the blood work looks fine at this point. This is so nerve racking. It is such a waiting game. I am learning patience, like it or not! Cora was really nervous about the whole thing today and cried for like the entire two hours. Rob was trying to explain to her that there are some bad guy cells in her blood and the doctors and nurses are trying to get them out. As soon as she came to after her procedure she asked for chicken fingers, then immeaditely after that she looked at Rob and said, "Did they get the bad guys?" She's such a lil trooper!

Dec. 5th is Cora's Day at SCPS!

Our school, Savannah Christian Preparatory School, is having Cora's Day on December 5th! They are having 2 blood mobiles where parents and teachers can donate blood that will be banked in Cora's account. They are also selling t-shirts with Cora's picture on them for 12$ with proceeds going to Cora's Medical Fund! I am shocked, amazed, and honored by all that SCPS has done for us! This is why it's the BEST school in Savannah! I only wish Cora could be there to enjoy her day! Thanks to those of you helping organize all of this for us!