January 5, 2009
quick updates…Happy New Year everyone!
Well, we had a nice time in New Orleans. Brad got to see his MaMaw and PaPaw again, and Benjamin got to meet more of Brad’s family. Benjamin took right to PaPaw. It was so cute. They played and played. Benjamin giggled and giggled! MaMaw said that is the best PaPaw has been in quite some time.
Ally ended up getting sick on the way home and got worse the first day back. New Year’s day she wouldn’t eat or drink anything. We called Dr. Bob to see if keeping her home was the right thing to do (we had an appointment the next day). He did not want her in the ER because of all the horrible stuff going around this city. As long as she was urinating and didn’t spike a fever, she was ok until the next day. - Well, when we go to the office the next morning, she was dehydrated. She got a five hour IV fluid drip. Lucky us, we were also sent home with an IV backpack again (those of you that follow this blog will know this is NOT our favorite thing) for fluids. THe doc wanted to make sure Ally didn’t dehydrate again. - Back at the docs on Saturday morning. She was OK to get chemo.
New news…During one of the routine tests they run on Ally, they found her body is not producing enough antibodies to fight infection. To make a long story short, she needs to begin an IV treatment this Friday to help boost her antibodies. This is a good thing, but unfortunately, this will be an on-going treatment every three to four weeks throughout her chemo treatment. Chemo is scheduled to end August of 2010. Since that is the beginning of flu season, the doc want to keep her on it through that winter season. This means she’ll be on this IVIg treatment until spring of 2011. (We know this is going to be the best thing for her health, but we did not want to hear we’d have to extend treatment…yuck!) - Anyway, this new infusion takes 6 hours, (yes, I said 6 hours) the first time. They infuse slowly so they can monitor her reaction to it. After this first infusion, the others should take something like 3 hours every time she gets it. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for no reaction!
Both kids have coughs and runny noses. Benjamin is fairing very well. Ally always has a cough for quite some time when she gets one.
Brad and I are back to work this week.