Done With Red Devil; On To Headaches

Hannah finished the first half on Delayed Intesification 2. The main chemo for that is Doxocrubicin, or as it is affectionatly known; The Red Devil. It is red, can make you sweat, pee, or cry red. It can cause serious heart problems so there is only so much one can have in their life. Hannah actually did better with it this time around. She has had more side effects this time from the Vincristine than anything else. For the second week in a row, Hannah's reflex's from knee down, when tested, were zero. It is something called peripheral neuropathy. It causes her to lose the ankle jerk reflex, which they call "foot drop syndrome". All that said, she doesn't seem too bothered by it, except for the taste of the medicine!

The second half of DI 2 involves the chemo's Ara-C and Cyclophosphamide. For the next two weeks she will go to Children's for five days in a row, two days off, then five days on again. They are long days in a chair getting meds that give her a tremendous headache. This time, however, her doctors are taking steps to help decrease the pain. They are going to run the chemo drip half as fast as usual, give her extra IV fluilds, and order up doses of oxycodone to have on hand.

Today, Hannah had Methotrexate intrathecally. The whole procedure went perfectly smooth. She woke up happy, which I am always grateful for.

Hannah has been such a little clown over the last week. I have about a million funny stories I have been meaning to share and great pictures to post. But...my brain is mush. Seriously, by the end of the day for the last week or so, I sit down to type and then, mush. I will try again a little later. For now, here is Hannah in the hat her Uncle Brett sent her. The whole Children's staff was commenting on it!

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Button Update-Thank you all for weighing in on the buttons. I was going to go with the picture of her in the pipe and then my friend Sarah sent me an email. A friend of hers fixed the picture of Hannah at the park so that is wasn't so blurry. I have decided to leave them both up. Yeah, indecision as a decision! hee hee

Which One Do You Like?

Thanks to The Empress over at Good Day, Regular People, I have learned how to make a button for Hannah's blog. Let's just say, it is not easy. Or, at least, it wasn't for me.

You see, my all time favorite picture of Hannah is the one at the top of the blog. You actually might already know that, as it is titled, "Favorite Hannah Picture". Anyway, as a button, it needed to be cut down to 125 x 125. Super small. It looks all blurry to me.




I don't know if I want to give up on it, though. I took that picture upon arriving at one of her favorite parks in Seattle with my cell phone camera. It was her reaction to seeing where we were. I just happened to have snapped at the right moment.

That photo is her story. It is a pure rush of joy. It encapsulates her ability to to experience every moment life has to offer without reservation.

It is, however, already on the blog, and a very blurry button. The other picture cropped a bit better. Plus, the colorful splash of pink Hannah inside the gray spiral pipe has always struck me as visually appealing. Or, as Aaron puts it, "That looks awesome!".

We were at a pumpkin farm. She had a great time. It was pre cancer. It is how I remember her. The steroids have changed her cheeks a little. I love them, don't get me wrong, it is just a difference I can spot. I know this sounds sappy, but I can't believe I didn't take more pictures. There won't be anymore of how she was.

What do you all think? Which one makes a better button?

A Vigilant Muse

Everyone, this is Mugdha. She has a blog called A Vigilant Muse. She is a college student, majoring in biology, I think. Total smarty pants, in a good way. I am a sucker for science. She also is clearly into fashion and often posts pictures of a cute outfit she has put together. Hannah and I love it. I think she is a wonderful role model. She is someone you can point to and say, This is Winning. (shameless Charlie Sheen quote, I know)

Hannah and I were scrolling through her blog tonight looking at pictures of dresses she has posted when I found her post from Feb.8. I don't know how I missed this one. Apparently, Mugdha, in the mist of studying is also doing the Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society. Which, she has done for the past SIX years! In her blog post, she says she always keeps a couple special people in mind and this year, Hannah, is one of them! How amazing is that??

Here is a link to her blog post. It has a link to her Relay Web Page to donate if you would like to help her reach her goal.


http://a-vigilant-muse.blogspot.com/2011/02/relay-for-life.html
Ok, I tried to use my link button (I have done this successfully a couple of times) to link to her page, you know, the underlined one, so you can just click and go there? It won't work! GGgrrr. For now, I put up the one you can copy and paste. If anyone knows how to do this, I would be so grateful.

Little Bits of Life

Last Friday, I met with one of Hannah's oncologist's, Dr. Blythe Thomson M.D., to discuss Hannah's new treatment plan. It was a chance to run by the team what I had been researching. I found a couple of things that would help lessen the side effects of the High Dose Methotrexate, HD Mtx. We got the go ahead to try both the Glutamine and the Nuerontin. Hopefully, it will help Hannah avoid some of the harder to deal with side effects. I am crossing my finger and toes through the next phase!

Hannah is still in DI 2. She is only a few weeks in, so her counts are on the way down, but not completely crashed. She has some energy and is in a good mood almost all the time. I don't know where she gets it, I am burnt out!

Our family has been doing a lot of low key things, trying to fit life in around low counts.

Learning how to play "Angry Birds".


Getting all tatted up.



Hanging at Rian's, where, apparently, no one wants their picture taken!




Watching Aaron, in his role as a singing football player, in his school play.