Friday, January 8, 2010

Second Round Down

A long day, but a good day. We went to the clinic early this morning to prepare for Georgia's second round of treatment. First, the nurse had to access her port-a-cath to draw blood and administer her IV medicine. The cool thing about the port is that the nurses can access and deaccess it with ease, and it saves her from getting a million pokes! Everyone had a good chuckle at Mommy's expense because I might have put a bit too much numbing cream on her chest before we left home. Well, I'm learning!

Our awesome "hem-onc" (hematology-oncology) doc, Dr. Neff, was pretty busy this morning, so we switched up the schedule, and Georgia got her IV medicine before her other procedures. Her blood counts were great - her Hemoglobin count was even back up in the normal range. Dr. Neff said the two units of blood she got before leaving the hospital really "juiced" her up! With treatment, we know that her counts will go up and down, but it was nice to hear the word "normal" about something.

We had to wait quite a while before Georgia's procedures over at DCH Day Surgery, and the only problem with that was she was starving! The steroid regimen usually increases your appetite anyway, plus she had to stop food and liquids at midnight last night to prepare for surgery, so by 1 pm, you can imagine how hungry she was! And as a show of solidarity in the name of the Peachy Keens, Trevor and I were also fasting. And starving. Which was only made worse when we turned on the television after yet another delay and were treated with a parade of food commercials! We even saw one for appetizers for your cat - come on! But finally, it was our turn, and, in about 30 minutes, Georgia sailed through without any problems.

So now we wait. In our first biopsy last Thursday, there were 60% leukemia cells in the bone marrow, and we're hoping that today's biopsy shows less than 5% - amazing that it can go down that far that fast, but it's possible! If so, Georgia won't need another biopsy until the all-important Day 29, when we want that percentage to be ZERO! If it hasn't gone down that much this time, we'll check again next Friday. The good news is, we know her spinal fluid was clear of leukemia cells last week and this week, so it seems the bad cells are limited to the bone marrow, and we shouldn't have anymore spinal taps after today. But she'll continue with various intrathecal chemotherapy medicines (injected into the spinal fluid) throughout treatment. We should get some results from today's biopsy early next week, so everybody think LOW numbers!

As usual, Georgia inspired and amazed all of the doctors and nurses we saw today. They can't believe how much she can - and wants to - participate in her care. I'm no doctor - I chose law school over medical school because of all that math : ( - but I don't think you have many peds patients helping take their own blood and access their ports! She continues to tolerate everything very well, but her back is pretty sore after today's round of pokes. We'll take it easy this weekend, and see what news next week brings.

Again, we SO appreciate everyone's kind words and prayers - keep it up! The more you spread the word, the more support we get, and the more we can all help our girl. We're looking into some other ways to share Georgia's journey like blood drives, bone marrow registration drives, and rubber LIVESTRONG-type bracelets. We're also going to visit her classroom via Skype, so hang on Parkside friends, she's coming soon! And if you have any other ideas about how we can share her story and hopefully help other kids with ALL and other childhood cancers, let us know.

Also, as a housekeeping matter, we have Comment Moderator turned on to avoid comment spam - they find you everywhere! So, if you leave a comment and don't see it right away, check back because we just haven't published it yet. That said, the wireless at the hospital and the clinic isn't always so reliable, so we may have lost a few before we could get to them. If it's been more than a day or so, and you still don't see your comment, repost it - we're not rejecting it! :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you - and lots of Georgia love to all of you!

16 comments:

  1. Hi, Georgia. I am thinking of you and sending you good wishes from California. We loved your blog and will be eager to hear all about how things are going. You did a great job with the site! We love you, Julia, Paul and Sam (your West Coast cousins)

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  2. Come on low numbers! We always knew you were exceptional, and this just proves it. If there were a "patient of the year" award, I think you would be a major contender.

    Your cheerleaders,
    Trent, Linda, Max, and Mason

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  3. Go Peachy Keens! I'm so impressed with your site, your sense of humor and your enthusiasm in eliminating ALL this! You'll always hold a special place in my heart, and when I think of you, I think of watching you dance in the Nutcracker, trying to dissect squid without touching them, reading, and being taller than everyone else in the class, just like I was! I'll be praying for low numbers, and keeping up with this site, and you keep up the good work! I remember you saying you wanted to be a doctor someday, if that's still the case, you're now on your way ;)

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  4. Hi Georgia! Wow, the "Second Round" was quite a day for you!!! I hope you are still feeling alright and that you aren't experiencing to much pain:) Keep up the good work Georgia!!! LOve ya lots, Claire:D

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  5. I'm thinking low numbers! And rock on to you for making it through Friday morning on a fast! Take it from someone who knows all about what I call the "prednisone pit" that makes you so hungry it feels like your stomach is eating itself...yuck! You're awesome Georgia :)

    PS: I'm so jealous that you have wi-fi at the clinic. We didn't have it at my clinic. I had to settle for soap operas with old people :(

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  6. Hi to Georgia and company. We are loving the blog and also GG and I love the new hairdo-very cute ! We also enjoy the photos-post more of those. We are sending good wishes to you everyday. Please keep your small nurse named Ivy a hug for us, too. We love you, Aunt Lee and GG

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  7. o.k......i got my picture on as a follower!!!!!aunt lee tried to help me from her house but i had to work it out on my own.....step one..got signed in ....step two found my pics ,some get a little lost on me...selected a pictue -----had to be up and down pic because i could not flip it the usual way....first pic children were on their side and parts of them were missing .....did better on this one.....you are lucky that your old aunt can contact you at all .....luckly i'm good at making the movies......love,love,love you------tell my ivy hi xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

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  8. Hi Georgia and family! We heard your story from Mom (Doris Jean). Really like the blog - Blogger makes it so easy to put something together quick and easy (as I found when I created mine last year). We look forward to more of your writing and pictures!
    We send our best wishes and are rooting for you as you give ALL "the what for"!
    Nate and Linda

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  9. Georgia:

    You are an inspiration to us all. Since we found out about your diagnosis, we've taken a minute or two several times a day to send prayers and strong healing thoughts your way. My nutty little boy has had some interesting get-well tips to pass along to you, and I will send them via youtube to you as soon as I charge up the old video recorder. I'll let you know in advance that they aren't the most practical ideas in the world and they mostly have to do with super heroes of one variety or another. Come to think of it, maybe they aren't as far off base as I initially thought.

    Georgia, you are in our family's thoughts BIG TIME and we have every confidence in the world in you and your family.

    Much love,

    Kristen Grulke

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  10. Hi Georgia! We have 2 jokes for you today.

    Why do monsters use mouthwash?
    They like to gargoyle!

    If a skunk sprayed you, could you wash it off in the tub?
    Let's just soap for the best!

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  11. Hi, Georgia -
    I'm a friend of Lolly's in San Antonio, and am keeping up with you through the blog. You have lots of prayers coming your way from SA - and we are wishing for LOW numbers. I'm a math teacher, so I'm usually pretty good with numbers, and 5% sounds good to me!
    Love to you and your whole family -
    Susan Thomas

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  12. Georgia,

    Hi! My mom just showed me your blog and we read all about your experiences over the past few weeks. I really hope you will get better soon. I will be reading your blog and our family is thinking about you alot.

    Alex Shuler

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  13. O.K. HERE GOES AGAIN......SEEMS I MAY HAVE LOST MY LAST MESSAGE...I SHOULD BE WWW.IGETALITTLELOST.ME-----WE WENT TO SEE AVA AND THE TWINS LAST NIGHT(GUESS I SHOULD CALL THEM BY THEIR NAMES)ELLA AND TRACE...TRACE GOT THAT NEW TRACTOR YOU SAW AT CHRISTMAS AND HE HAD TO TELL ME MANY TIMES THAT IT WOULD NOT GO BUT HIS DADDY WOULD PLUG IT IN .....I THINK HE WOULD LIKE TO WATCH IT THE WHOLE TIME IT IS CHARGING....GOOD THING I'M BETTER AT MAKING MOVIES THEN SENDING A POST......LOVE TO IVY XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOX

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  14. Hi,
    I'm Lora, Ava's friend, and she sent me a link. I really hope you get better soon!!

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  15. HOLA GEORGIA!
    All my friends and I are all praying for ya!
    GET WELL SOON!!

    ~Juliette

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  16. Hi Georgia,
    I am a friend of your grandmothers and Shearin's. You probably don't remember, but, I met you at the baby's sip and see. I came with Joann Ware. I am very sorry to hear of your illness. I know that you are a very smart and brave young girl and I am sure you will beat this nasty illness and be your old self. I will pray every day for that to happen!! I have given your blog address to everyone on my e-mail list and you will be on ALL of their prayer lists also!! Before you know it, you will have thousands of prayers going up everyday!!

    I have a few friends from out of state, so, you should get a message from someone from Kansas and Louisiana (at least). I hope these guys don't let me down and write to you very soon!

    I LOVE your blog. It is the cutest one I have ever seen!!

    Love to you and all your family,
    GET WELL SOON!!!
    Lynn Ramsey

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