We left for Ft. Worth on Wednesday to stay the night since Briley's had to be at the clinic 7:00 Thursday morning. We left town around 5:00 Wed. afternoon and arrived at the Embassy Suites without any problem. Briley was very excited to be staying at a hotel! The place was very nice and we appreciate them giving us a great deal on the room. It was located in the middle of Sundance Square. We walked across the street to a mexican food place, ate, and back to the hotel. Alicia and Briley took a dip in the hot tub, but Briley was a little scared of the deeper water, so they didn't stay in long. I'm going to have to work with her on swimming!
We arrived at the clinic on time. Her port was accessed and blood drawn and tested. All of her counts looked great, so she officially started D.I. We went down to the Special Procedure Area (Spa) for the spinal tap. The tap went just fine, then we went upstairs for a echocardiagram, then back to clinic for a couple of rounds of chemo. She did very well with all of this and we are extremely proud of her for being such a big girl. The staff did a great job getting us in and out. We never had to wait long.
They said it will be a couple of weeks before her counts really start dropping to the point of isolation. That is wonderful news. She hasn't been feeling her best after the new chemo. We are just ready to get this phase over with. It will be a long and tiring process, but we'll get her there and better.
We go back for more chemo this Sunday (Day 4), then on Thursday (Day 8) and then again on Day 15. She has also started back on the dreaded steroids. After Day 15, she will have a little break before the second phase of DI starts. Until then, we'll keep pushing forward. Thank you for thinking and prayer for her.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Last Treatment for this Phase!
Briley had a 3:00 appointment yesterday at Cooks, so we left a little early and made a quick trip to Bass Pro! I had a rod I needed to exchange and the kids had fun watching the fish swim around. Of course, they couldn't leave out of there without a "prize", so Briley got a little princess tackle box and Bryson got a Mickey Mouse rod and reel. They are their daddy's kids!
We got to Cooks on time and everything went very smooth. This was Bryson's first time at the clinic and he was actually really good! There are lots of toys to play with! Briley's counts came back good and the chemo went according to schedule.
We talked with the nurses and doctor about the next phase, Delayed Intensification. I've mentioned it many times before, and it is going to be a rough couple of months. I sarcastically asked the doc is she could skip this phase, but I don't think the doc found it very funny. Oh-well, I tried. She starts it on May 26th. Her counts will get very low and the doctor said it would be a 50/50 chance of her being hospitalized again during this treatment. A couple of the chemo's have some very nasty side effects and Zofran will be her best friend. She will pretty much be isolated in the house for those two months and she will loose her hair during this time.
The good news is, once she gets through this, then it will be all down hill. She has also been so strong that hopefully it won't affect her as much as it could. We also asked the doctor about the side effect of one of the chemos that causes heart damage and she told us that the leukemia patients dosage of that particular chemo was low and that they don't see heart damage with their leukemia patients. We were extremely happy to hear that!
That's all for now, please continue to pray for her during this trying time and maybe one or two prayers for me & Alicia as we are very stressed about the upcoming phase. I know that it needs to be done, but she is doing so good right now that it will be hard to see her knocked back down for that long. Thank you very much!
We got to Cooks on time and everything went very smooth. This was Bryson's first time at the clinic and he was actually really good! There are lots of toys to play with! Briley's counts came back good and the chemo went according to schedule.
We talked with the nurses and doctor about the next phase, Delayed Intensification. I've mentioned it many times before, and it is going to be a rough couple of months. I sarcastically asked the doc is she could skip this phase, but I don't think the doc found it very funny. Oh-well, I tried. She starts it on May 26th. Her counts will get very low and the doctor said it would be a 50/50 chance of her being hospitalized again during this treatment. A couple of the chemo's have some very nasty side effects and Zofran will be her best friend. She will pretty much be isolated in the house for those two months and she will loose her hair during this time.
The good news is, once she gets through this, then it will be all down hill. She has also been so strong that hopefully it won't affect her as much as it could. We also asked the doctor about the side effect of one of the chemos that causes heart damage and she told us that the leukemia patients dosage of that particular chemo was low and that they don't see heart damage with their leukemia patients. We were extremely happy to hear that!
That's all for now, please continue to pray for her during this trying time and maybe one or two prayers for me & Alicia as we are very stressed about the upcoming phase. I know that it needs to be done, but she is doing so good right now that it will be hard to see her knocked back down for that long. Thank you very much!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Long Day but All is Well!
We left out of town around 5:30 this morning for a 8:15 appointment. We ran a little late due to the wonderful rain falling basically the entire way and heavy traffic past Springtown into Ft. Worth. Briley had another spinal tap scheduled and chemo treatment in the clinic after that. I don't know what happened today, but everything moved so slow...........
She is put to sleep during every spinal tap, so of course, they don't want her to eat anything after 10:00 the night before and no drinks after 6:00 the morning of. Everything was done as they asked. She went to clinic first to have her port access then blood drawn to get counts. Her counts looked great! Then off to the special procedure area. We waited and waited some more. Then finally they called us back. We waited. Then we overheard Briley was the last procedure for the day and then for some reason we were moving upstairs to the main surgery area. The paper work is different between the two areas, so we waited some more while they got the paper work straighten out. Finally, at 1:00, she went back for her procedure.
Now, trying to tell and keep a 3 year old from eating or drinking for that long is a challenge. I felt bad for her because they were handing out donuts at the clinic so she got one to have on hand for after the procedure. That donut became very tempting to her and she wanted to hold it for the last couple of hours and said, "I promise I won't eat it!" Although she tried to sneak a sprinkle or two!
Other than my little rant about waiting, things went according to plan with no lasting side effects as of yet. The doctor is still very impressed with her progress and said she is one of the strongest kids she has seen at this point in treatment. I think alot of that has to do with the many prayers that are said for her daily! There is not a doubt in my mind that God hears these prayers and He is watching over her.
After the procedure, we went back to the clinic and I think they were feeling sorry for us for waiting so long. They had her lunch there and the chemo was ready to go! 20 minutes later, we were done! We left Ft. Worth around 4:00. The trip home was uneventful. Briley and Alicia slept most of the way. I finally tired out and actually let Alicia drive right before we got into Olney. She is always telling me that she will drive while I slept. Well, I can't sleep when I'm that nervous!
We made it back to Seymour, and then drove to Munday to pick up Bryson. I don't know what we would do without the kid's grandparents! It's wonderful having them here to help out when need be.
Briley has one more chemo treatment in 10 days, then she will have a 2 week break before starting the next phase. Please continue to pray for her as we can see that all of the prayers are working for her. Thanks!
She is put to sleep during every spinal tap, so of course, they don't want her to eat anything after 10:00 the night before and no drinks after 6:00 the morning of. Everything was done as they asked. She went to clinic first to have her port access then blood drawn to get counts. Her counts looked great! Then off to the special procedure area. We waited and waited some more. Then finally they called us back. We waited. Then we overheard Briley was the last procedure for the day and then for some reason we were moving upstairs to the main surgery area. The paper work is different between the two areas, so we waited some more while they got the paper work straighten out. Finally, at 1:00, she went back for her procedure.
Now, trying to tell and keep a 3 year old from eating or drinking for that long is a challenge. I felt bad for her because they were handing out donuts at the clinic so she got one to have on hand for after the procedure. That donut became very tempting to her and she wanted to hold it for the last couple of hours and said, "I promise I won't eat it!" Although she tried to sneak a sprinkle or two!
Other than my little rant about waiting, things went according to plan with no lasting side effects as of yet. The doctor is still very impressed with her progress and said she is one of the strongest kids she has seen at this point in treatment. I think alot of that has to do with the many prayers that are said for her daily! There is not a doubt in my mind that God hears these prayers and He is watching over her.
After the procedure, we went back to the clinic and I think they were feeling sorry for us for waiting so long. They had her lunch there and the chemo was ready to go! 20 minutes later, we were done! We left Ft. Worth around 4:00. The trip home was uneventful. Briley and Alicia slept most of the way. I finally tired out and actually let Alicia drive right before we got into Olney. She is always telling me that she will drive while I slept. Well, I can't sleep when I'm that nervous!
We made it back to Seymour, and then drove to Munday to pick up Bryson. I don't know what we would do without the kid's grandparents! It's wonderful having them here to help out when need be.
Briley has one more chemo treatment in 10 days, then she will have a 2 week break before starting the next phase. Please continue to pray for her as we can see that all of the prayers are working for her. Thanks!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
I had a big surprise last night. Both Alicia and Briley came home with "above the shoulder" length hair. Both Alicia and Briley have always had long hair so I was shocked to see them with the short hair. I must say that I like it!
Both girls will be donating the hair to Children with Hair Loss! The program is similar to Locks of Love, however CwHL have donated wigs to a couple of Briley's friends at Cooks, so we decided to donate to them. Who knows, maybe Briley will get a wig made out of her own hair!
Briley's hair still hasn't fell out completely and you really can't notice how thin it is until it's wet.
We will be heading back to Cooks on Monday for a spinal tap and then to the clinic for chemo. It will be a long day and one step closer to the final treatment.
Both girls will be donating the hair to Children with Hair Loss! The program is similar to Locks of Love, however CwHL have donated wigs to a couple of Briley's friends at Cooks, so we decided to donate to them. Who knows, maybe Briley will get a wig made out of her own hair!
Briley's hair still hasn't fell out completely and you really can't notice how thin it is until it's wet.
We will be heading back to Cooks on Monday for a spinal tap and then to the clinic for chemo. It will be a long day and one step closer to the final treatment.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Another round of chemo
We went to Ft. Worth and back yesterday for yet another chemo treatment. Briley's appt. was at 1:00 and we actually made it there with time to spare! Briley really took well to her port getting access. Only a minimal amount of crying this time. She told the nurse that did it, "you did it really easy". So now Briley has a new favorite nurse.
Her counts are still good, but her ANC has dropped to 1020 which is borderline good. It will drop even further than that after yesterday's treatment. In order for Briley to be able to be around crowds, play in the dirt, basically do normal 3 year old stuff, her ANC needs to stay above 1000. So we will start taking a little extra precautions when it comes to where she can go and what she can do. Thankfully, it seems like summer is almost in full swing and there is alot less sickness going around then a couple of months ago. I pray that she stays well.
She is scheduled to be back at Cooks on May 2nd for a spinal tap that morning and then to the clinic later that day for chemo treatment. It will be a long day for sure.
She had a little more side effect from this last treatment than she has had in the past, but nothing to bad thankfully. She started complaining of nausea on the way home and saying that her toes and legs hurt (vincristine side effect). She said, "I'll go to sleep and when I wake up my toes will stop hurting". So she fell asleep from Springtown to Seymour and she did fine when we got home without any complaints!
Briley will have just two more treatments to finish out this phase. She is slated to start the dreaded Delayed Intensification phase on May 30th. We will cross that bridge when we get there. Things are going great and we appreciate all of the prayers and well wishes. It's been 3 months of treatment now. What a ride. Only 2 1/4 years to go............ugh. Whatever it takes to have her cured! We'll get there! Thanks!
Her counts are still good, but her ANC has dropped to 1020 which is borderline good. It will drop even further than that after yesterday's treatment. In order for Briley to be able to be around crowds, play in the dirt, basically do normal 3 year old stuff, her ANC needs to stay above 1000. So we will start taking a little extra precautions when it comes to where she can go and what she can do. Thankfully, it seems like summer is almost in full swing and there is alot less sickness going around then a couple of months ago. I pray that she stays well.
She is scheduled to be back at Cooks on May 2nd for a spinal tap that morning and then to the clinic later that day for chemo treatment. It will be a long day for sure.
She had a little more side effect from this last treatment than she has had in the past, but nothing to bad thankfully. She started complaining of nausea on the way home and saying that her toes and legs hurt (vincristine side effect). She said, "I'll go to sleep and when I wake up my toes will stop hurting". So she fell asleep from Springtown to Seymour and she did fine when we got home without any complaints!
Briley will have just two more treatments to finish out this phase. She is slated to start the dreaded Delayed Intensification phase on May 30th. We will cross that bridge when we get there. Things are going great and we appreciate all of the prayers and well wishes. It's been 3 months of treatment now. What a ride. Only 2 1/4 years to go............ugh. Whatever it takes to have her cured! We'll get there! Thanks!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Tough little gal
Things are going very well. We were afraid that the chemo she is getting would run her down. But by looking at her, you couldn't tell she's a cancer patient. We have been very blessed that she is a tough little trooper. It's also been wonderful seeing the Team Briley shirts being worn all over town! What great support we have! We will be going back to Ft. Worth on Thursday for another stronger round of chemo and I pray she will continue to tolerate it just as well. We would like to thank the LVN students and Rilda Novak for the generous gift at Ag Day! Thank You!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Another trip to Cooks, things are well!
It has been a while since the last post. Things have been going great. Briley is gaining so much strength! She will climb up stairs and say, "look mom & dad! my legs are getting strong"! She has been pretty close back to normal. Although, her & Bryson miss playing with other kids at daycare. I sure wish they could go. It would do both of them alot of good. Maybe they can have some friends came over to play every now and then. Briley had her scheduled appointment at Cooks yesterday. Both of Briley's friends Lianna and Gracie were at clinic also! It was good seeing them at the clinic and not in the hospital. Briley gave them both a tutu and all 3 strutted around the clinic during treatment! Briley's ANC dropped from 3500 to 1200. It's still good at 1200, she's not in complete isolation. The doctor said that her counts shouldn't drop much more than that. Doc was also very impressed with Briley's response to her treatment! I think she is doing so good thanks to Bryson and the little terror that he is! Briley's new favorite eating place is Taco Bueno. So we stop every time at Lake Worth and get her a bean & cheese burrito. That's good, I sure was getting tired of McDonalds! Briley has been diagnosed for 3 months now. It's been 3 months worth of chemo. She still has 2 years & 3 months to go. It's just hard to imagine that it will take that long, especially after seeing how well she is doing now. I know we can make it, but it will take a heavy toll on us emotionally. Please continue to pray for her. As long as we can stay on the treatment plan without road blocks then we are doing great! So far, so good. Lets pray it stays that way! Thanks!
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