neupogen shots

Zoe's doctors realized that her blood counts aren't going to make a dramatic improvement on their own.  So, last night we started neupogen shots which should stimulate her body to make more neutrophils.  Three shots a day for a bit... the poor kid was so good about it last night.  I'm running out of "shot spots" though - it's tough to find a spot in her little bruised arms or legs anymore, but we were finally able to start giving shots in her belly because it has a teensy bit of fat on it now.  I'm really hoping neupogen will do the trick...

Stuck on repeat

Same story as last week... Still waiting for blood counts to come up so she can get chemo.

The home health nurse came on Tuesday to do a blood draw - Z's counts are still too low to get chemo. It's so nice to have this home health system now so that atleast we don't waste our whole day sitting at the blasted hospital waiting to find out if she can get chemo or not. Zoe's cousins are so fascinated with all the shots, blood draws, etc. Nurse Nancy definitely had a captive audience on Tuesday - the cousins all wanted to be in on the action...

a family again

Our little family was all together this past week - it was wonderful!! Two months is too long... Zoe was beyond excited when she woke up last Saturday and saw her dad. We had a great time together and it was nice to have Sean here on Wednesday for Zoe's MRI. The next time Sean comes into town he'll have another little girl to hold and love...

physical therapy

Once upon a time, Zoe was comfortable climbing ladders all by herself. At the park in Jerusalem, there was a natural rock wall that was about 20 feet high and Zoe would climb it alone.  This all changed about six months ago, when she became blind in her right eye. She began to want someone to help her go up and down stairs, needed help at the playground to climb the ladder for the slide, etc...  We had talked about beginning physical therapy earlier in the year, but Zoe just didn't have the energy.  She has been feeling much better since being in Utah, so we started therapy about two weeks ago... I couldn't be happier with the way it's going.  The therapist is fabulous and works so well with Zoe.  The best part is she comes to the house for therapy.  Zoe made major improvements in just two weeks.  She will go up and down a ladder by herself and walk on the balance beam.  She still has trouble going down stairs, but we'll keep working on it.

 

 

desensitized

The other day Zoe was eating some candy, and I told her she could only have a couple pieces or she would get sick.  She thought for a minute and then said, "Well, if I get sick you can just take me to the hospital."  Another day in the hospital = no biggie for Zoe... in her little mind, she can eat candy until she pops and then just go to the hospital to get better.  She is completely desensitized...

special K and MRI

Zoe had another MRI on Wednesday... when Sean and I arrived in the recovery room, the nurse told us that they had to give Zoe some Ketamine.  My unspoken response was "ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  You gave her WHAT??"

You see, in my pre-mom life, I did some work as a substance abuse educator/counselor in various settings - prison, court system, hospital, and schools...  I learned about this funky little drug called "special K" - aka Ketamine.  Ketamine is often used in the club/rave world because it is a short-lasting dissociative anaesthetic that causes hallucinations.  In the veterinary world, Ketamine is a large animal tranquilizer.  My sweet little girl is neither a raver nor a large animal, so why in the world did they give her Ketamine????  Well, ketamine is also used as an anesthetic, so it was actually perfectly safe and appropriate for them to give it to her (her leg kept spasming during the MRI) but my initial reaction wasn't so accepting...

Anyhow, back to the MRI... the results showed neither growth nor shrinkage.  Stability is considered to be a positive outcome by the doctors.  I didn't expect any shrinkage since Zoe has had only two whole doses and two partial chemo doses in the past three months.  She was supposed to have chemo directly after MRI, but surprise, surprise her counts weren't high enough - even after a three week break from treatment... this definitely made me feel a bit disappointed and frustrated.  Zoe has had problems with her white cell count all along and it just seems to not make any major improvements, regardless of whether we keep her out of public, follow the neutropenic diet, yada yada.  So, we might try one more round of chemo and then rethink our options.

gimme a break

It has been so nice the past three weeks to have a break from chemo! Happy kid, warm weather (finally), it's been fabulous! Although Zoe has a break from chemo, she still has to have weekly blood draws... BUT her doctors arranged for a nurse to come to the home and take care of everything. Life is good...