no wonder...

I will no longer wonder why my kid seems to always be neutropenic... yesterday, my brother and I took Z and Loola (aka - Kambree) on a short walk and Zoe picked up some leaves from the middle of the road, started to eat them, and offered one to Loola.  Seriously!?  Apparently she thinks we can eat any leaf since we eat spinach, basil, and mint.  Not so much...

PARTY!!

When I told Zoe she gets a three week break from chemo, she went crazy and started running around the house yelling PARTY, PARTY!!  We are so excited!!  Zoe's neutrophil count was still at 500 (neutropenic) this past week, but I think her new doctors are realizing that she's not likely going to make major improvements... so if we're ever going to make progress with chemo, we're going to have to make some exceptions.  So... they gave her 75% of her dose.  She's had a really good week - no fever/reaction to the chemo, and no throwing up.  It's been great!

can you see?

Can you see??  I've heard this phrase several times this week as Zoe laughs her little head off and gives me eye tests.  She thinks it's so funny to give the tests to others, and I have to laugh as well...  She had "real" eye tests last Monday and there isn't anything new to report, which is good in one sense.  The pallor on the left optic nerve hasn't gotten any worse and her vision in that eye remains 20/25, thank heaven.  The right eye is about the same - she seems to sense light, but can't "see"...

no chemo

Z was still neutropenic yesterday, so she did not receive chemotherapy.  However, the good news is that the doctor thinks that the issues Zoe had last week may not have been related to a "hypersensitivity" to the carboplatin.  Because of other symptoms Zoe developed last week, her fever/other issues may have been simply a viral infection - I'm really hoping this is the case, but we probably won't know for sure until she gets another dose of carboplatin.

Zoe's chemo appointment last week went perfectly -- at first...  I was shocked that her neutrophil count was high enough to get treatment - that was a nice surprise.  Everything went quickly and it looked like we were going to get out of there by 1pm.  We were almost out the door and then Zoe started shivering uncontrollably and walking like a robot.  I felt her head and knew she had a fever... sure enough, 103 and rising.  So, needless to say we did not get out of there by 1pm. 

The doctor believes that Zoe has developed a "hypersensitivity" to the carboplatin - this is not good...  not quite sure what the treatment plan is going to be at this point.  We'll discuss at her next appointment on Wednesday.

(Back to her last appointment) -  When they realized Z had a fever, they had to reaccess her port and give antibiotics.  We were there for another couple hours...  It was a long day, leaving my parent's home at 7:30am and getting home at 5pm.  When we got home, Zoe seemed to feel fabulous.  She ran around and jumped on the trampoline with cousins for a couple hours.  By bedtime, her tylenol had started to wear off and she was ON FIRE!  Her fever was 105 - no exaggeration.  She has had several fevers of 104, but this was definitely her highest fever ever.  She still had a fever the following afternoon, so we had to go back to the hospital for more antibiotics.  They also performed more blood tests and noted that her neutrophil count dropped from 1300 to 500 in one day.  Since she had been having a fever and now her counts were low, they said she was on the verge of needing to be admitted to the hospital... BUT they said since I was a "conscientious mother" she could go home and I would just need to watch for certain symptoms. 

Zoe is really an amazing little girl.  I feel blessed every day that I get to be her mom...  At this last appointment, I was holding her after she developed the fever, and she looked up at me and sweetly said, "I need you momma..."  It melted my heart.  I need her too - she changes my soul...