Slow But Steady Improvement

Just as with the last cycle, Isabella is finally slowly improving around Day 11-12 of the cycle. Her appetite is finally picking up today (she wolfed down a McDonald's hamburger, minus most of the bun for lunch) and she's beginning to act a little more like herself. All of her blood counts were low today, so she's receiving platelets infusion and red cells. She has had some nose bleeds over the last couple of days, which is a direct result of the low platelets (which clot the blood). She has also been lethargic, but we expect her energy to pick right up after her red blood cell infusion. During the last cycle, she immediately perked up after her red cell transfusion. Finally, she is also neutropenic again (low white cells), meaning she is susceptible to infections, but we are giving her neupogen shots at home to assist with the white cell creation.

So I think we've turned the corner for this cycle. Julianne has been speaking with the nutritionist and scouring the Internet for all sorts of low carb/high fat/high protein recipes that we are trying to get Isabella to eat. (I'll see if I can get Julianne to post some of her more unique recipes she's discovered.) Isabella has been pretty good at trying new things over the last few days, but her tastes are even pickier than ever - so we'll just have to wait and see what kinds of foods she likes. Isabella has one last shot of chemo (vincristine) this Friday, then at some point before the start of Cycle 4, we will do another stem cell harvest.

We will also be continuing with in-home physical and occupational therapy and learning.

Thanks for keeping up.