Back to life

I am so happy to say that Amanda has recovered from the stomach flu and is back to herself. Well, her "new life," as she puts it. She woke up today with more energy and coloring to her face than I've seen in several weeks. Her stomach calmed down a few days ago and yesterday was the first headache free day, which was just in time for her weekly clinic trip. I have not been convinced that the intense headaches were just from the virus and her team of medical staff agreed. We are still suspicious of her lumbar punctures causing problems. The doctor didn't think her brain cyst was an issue (no CT scan, yeah!) and instead we came up with some other ideas of how to try and improve the procedure for her (IV fluids during sedation, more bed rest on her back, drinking coca-cola (seriously) the type of needle used, and being exactly precise as to the amount of spinal fluid coming out as chemo therapy going in). I think what we tried is helping based on how much better she's doing today. And her LP's will go from weekly to about every six weeks, so this will probably help as well. She also doesn't have to go in for clinic until July 8th. We'll start treatment phase 3 of 5 at that time, if her blood counts are high enough. Her immune system took a pretty good hit from this virus. But, her red blood cell count is up, which means more energy and feeling better. The next two weeks should give her time to rebound even more. She will just have a daily oral chemo drug and some home health blood draws. The medication has not been as bad as I feared. The side effects are minimal. I'm officially leary to post any hint of optimism, but it does look like things can calm down for a few days for her.

I had to throw this picture in here, even though neither one of us is looking very spectacular. But who really looks great when they are sick? It's not that often that mom and daughter get to sport matching IV pumps. I'm hoping this is the only time!