another check-up...4 months off chemo!!!

We had a very long day at Primary's yesterday. All in all it was a good day though. The day started with Kaidan getting her labs done. She had to be fasting because we were checking her glucose, which was great. I'm not sure what is causing the continued cloudy vision, but it isn't diabetes, which is awesome! All her other labs look great, just a couple of liver function labs that are off, but only slightly, so it's really not a concern at this time. We also drew an iron and ferritin to see if those are normal. Her ferritin was extremely high in the past, but we haven't checked it for awhile. I haven't received those results yet. So, all in all, blood looks great. From a leukemia standpoint she is doing very well. She'll have another check up on April 6th.

We also had our long awaited visit with the GI doctor. Kaidan has struggled so much with her stomach problems since her diagnosis of leukemia and it hasn't gotten any better. We had hoped that as more and more time passed since her last chemo she would improve, but that isn't happening. This doctor was great! He took a good long look at Kaidan and asked her many, many questions. He also listened to me which is a plus. We had a test called a hydascan back in February. Clinic told me that this test came back with no abnormalities, but unfortunately they misled us. Her gallbladder didn't empty, which is an abnormality and can cause pain. We are also going to run more blood tests and stool tests to check for inflammation of her intestines, celiac, colitis, infection, etc. If those tests come back normal we will do an endoscopy to look at her intestinal tract, etc. If all of that is normal then we will remove the gallbladder. That is going to be our last resort, as we could go in and remove it now because there is some abnormality there, but it wouldn't necessarily stop her problems. The doctor felt like this was probably not the source of her problems, so we will only do that as a last resort.

It was a long day, but I was satisfied with our new plan (but very disappointed in the oncology clinic for not telling me that there was some abnormality a month ago). Kaidan deserves to live a normal life. Right now her stomach problems are interfering with this. I hope we can get it taken care of soon! Other than all of that she is doing well. She is going to play spring soccer and she absolutely cannot wait!! She is so excited.

Preslee is doing well, she will be playing with the same soccer team this spring and will also be doing lacrosse if the two schedules don't interfere with each other. She loves playing sports and is very good at it.

The boys are doing great too. They both just started an itty bitty lacrosse program that is just awesome. It is complete chaos, but so fun to watch. They are having a lot of fun and it's a good way to help with the spring fever we are experiencing. It seems like we have a couple of good days that they can play outside and then it's back to wet weather and they are couped up again. They absolutely love being outside...all of them do.

The dog....well, what can I say...he's a dog named Goose. He is insane. He still eats everything, not so much chewing, just completely consuming everything in his path. He's still wild as ever, and very easily excited, but hopefully next weeks neuter and a couple more months of puppyhood and we can get past that. Hopefully we'll have the funds to do some good training classes with him too. His damage to the house is getting repaired nicely. It's taking us a while because we are doing all the work ourselves with the help of our families, but it's looking good and we are making progress! I think we should have it all done in another month or so. Then, maybe, we can just sit and enjoy having a home of our own. We are looking forward to finally feeling settled.

I'll update more as we get results from Kaidan's stomach tests. Thank you all for the continued support and love. We really appreciate everyones continued concern for our family.

p.s. please visit www.crochetforcancer.blogspot.com and support my sister and childhood cancer!! she makes the cutest crocheted items and it would be great to start getting the word out about her website. childhood cancer is just awful. i read stories of other kids and it just breaks my heart. i wouldn't wish this life on anyone...it's horrible for all involved. if you are able, please support us. thank you