Category: family

Danielle has been home since November.  Her heart has some damage but she takes 15+ pills a day and we’re seeing results!  There is still no sign of cancer…she has energy.  She is starting to laugh and play like an 11 yo girl again.  This has changed her forever, but she is putting a positive twist on it and wants to give back.  We’re still working on what we’re going to do, so stay tuned!  I’m posting pics so you can see her pink cheeks and healthy glow! I threw one from the hospital to show you the drastic difference… She was so pale and look at the circles under her eyes…. Then look at her now!!!! Wow!

We finally got her released Monday afternoon (we were told Noon, but you know how slow hospitals are to release) and we’ve been holed up at home together since.

It’s so refreshing to have her home again.  We made a promise to let her “be” without interruptions or pressure.  She’s been poked, prodded, woken and forced to do things for 7 months and we let her have peace and she’s loving it!  Of course, we kiss and hug her every chance we get!

She was scheduled to get a bone marrow biopsy Friday to determine if the cancer truly is gone, but her platelets were still too low, so it’s being rescheduled soon and we should have an answer to that impending question after the test is complete.

We’ve been asked by several people when she will return to school and our answer to that is: We don’t know.  Danielle is still very weak, has low platelets and tires easily.  We may try home tutoring for a bit before she returns.  We were thinking of easing her in slowly once she does return-perhaps trying two hours a day, three days a week at the beginning until we get her on a full schedule once again, but I can’t see that happening until after the first of the year.

Needless to say we are beyond happy to have our baby girl home with us once again!!

I’m very happy to report that we should be going home early next week, hoping for Monday. They are lowering steroids and taking her off  the calories in her IV. Even changing her daily medication from IV to pills.

The last two days we’ve been walking around the hospital, actually out of the ward. She kind of sprinted out the door. Lots of breaks, but she’s doing great!

It’s so good to see the silly Danielle again (and patty)

Danielle has very crackly wet lungs and so they checked her heart output and it has decreased since they checked it last…this can be an issue for people who go through AML, so they brought in the cardiologists and they are watching her closely.  So we have a team of doctors monitoring her cancer, a team of doctors monitoring any infectious diseases she may have (i.e. fungus and such) and now a team of cardiologists….i’m thinking we may need to bring in some mental health officials soon to start pumping ALL of us with some happy drugs, but we barely have time to pee anymore with everyone marching through this hospital room.

NOW…They are talking about moving us to a larger room, which is causing mixed emotions.  We think “yeah a bigger room, more room to move and for all these doctors to stand further away and not be rubbing elbows with us every time they come in”…then we think “wait a second, people who are leaving soon don’t need to move into a new room and dirty it up!” that’s not a good sign that they are interested NOW, after six months here, of making us more comfortable!  Not feeling good about this at all…

On another note, Grumpy Cat was here in Beaverton/Portland area on Wednesday and i’m praying they get my messages and bring her to Doernbechers to meet Danielle.  Its a LONG shot, but you never know, you have to at least try right?  See my Facebook posts and share with all your friends please to get the message out there to someone who may have some influence in the Grumpy Cat World!!! https://www.facebook.com/Mischievous1

http://www.katu.com/news/local/Grumpy-Cat-draws-happy-crowds-333000661.html?fb_action_ids=10206132360082719&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B836218343160789%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.recommends%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D