Moving Forward?

Hauna had a great day today. She was able to get out of her hospital room and take a walk around to see the fish aquarium. Her white blood cell count is back to normal. The only thing bothering her right now is her biopsy wound. She gets so upset when the gauze and dressing have to be changed. They will slightly sedate her for all future dressing changes.

We are not sure when the next chemotherapy cycle will begin. The oncologist, surgeon and infectious disease physicians will have a meeting on Wednesday to decide what the next step should be. Do they wait for the wound to heal a bit or proceed with the next cycle of chemotherapy? Time will tell.

WHAT A GREAT RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR THE CAR WASH!!!
Thanks so much to all of you who have signed on to help out on Saturday and to all of you who are getting the word out to others about it. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. God has given us such good people in our lives. Thank you.

Deney

FIGHT CANCER CAR WASH AND BAKE SALE

Hello everyone. Just a quick update on Hauna and then on to our fundraiser.

Hauna had surgery this morning to clean out her biopsy wound site. An abcess had formed under the skin and had to be drained. She is doing well and with close attention paid to the wound and it's care, recovery will come quickly.

THE FUNDRAISER: Aunt Deney and Aunt Lisa are having a Car Wash-Bake Sale-Hotdog/Soda Sale this coming Saturday August 16th. It will be held at Ada Pediatrics in Boise. The address is 650 N. Cole Road and it is right across from the Boise Towne Square Mall. We will begin at 9 am and end at 3 pm or so. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS to help wash cars, serve hotdogs and sale baked goods. If you are willing to do any of this please let Deney know at 794-0011. Please tell everyone about it as well so that they will stop by for a wash and a treat. Thank to all of you.

Aunt Deney

Update

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. These past weeks have been a rollercoaster for Hauna and her family. But, God is truly listening to all of the friends who have been asking for his loving/caring/guiding hand to hold and lead Hauna during/through her present situation. Hauna, Brandie and Brian all returned home on Monday the 28th. It was so wonderful to see them at their house. We only got to wave thru the front room window at them. Hauna's blood counts were too low to be around us. But she was smiling and laughing at us looking in on her. On Wednesday, she was seen at the children's oncology clinic at MSTI in Boise. She had a fever and her blood counts were even lower than when she came home from Utah. Due to protocol, they admitted her into St. Luke's Peds downtown. She has had a fever ever since, in spite of some very strong antibiotics. She wasn't able to keep food down again and they started her on IV nutrition and fats. Because they were unsure of why the fever was persisting, they decided to do a CAT scan last night (Saturday the 2nd). They felt that she may have a fungal infection or that her biopsy incision site was infected deep where they could not see. The pediatric surgeon did come up last night and do an exam of her biopsy sight and felt that it was not the cause of the fever. So the CAT scan went on as planned. To our great relief, the CAT scan showed that the tumor has shrunk and has low density area indicating that those areas of the tumor have died, that all of her lymphnodes are of normal size AND the mets in her lung are GONE!!!!!!!!! What a blessed piece of news. I haven't seen Brandie and Brian smile for almost a month and those smiles were huge. Hauna might be able to come home tomorrow if her blood counts have risen. I am not sure what the course of treatment will be now. Maybe, (this it totally my thinking) they might remove the tumor so that no other metastatic lesions can be seeded. They might continue with the next cycle of chemo to ensure that things keep going the way they are and then remove the tumor. I am not sure. Your prayers and thoughts are working in amazing ways. I ask you to continue until Hauna is 100% better.

Part of my journey

Well, some of you know that Hauna's last week has been miserable. After the biopsy results came back, confirming that the tumor is indeed malignant (rapid growing germ cell/yolk sac tumor), the oncologist started her on high-dose chemotherapy. Hauna will undergo two cycles, which total 21 days each. The first five days, she receives chemo, then day 6-16 she has nausea/vomiting/decreased blood cell counts, etc. etc. Then, days 17-21 are supposed to be when her system starts building itself up again enabling the chemo to be administered again. After the second cycle, Hauna will have another scan to see if the mets in her lung are gone and if the tumor has shrunk. If that has happened, they will allow her system to recover and then they will remove the tumor. If these things have not happened, she will undergo two more cycles of chemo (she can have up to as many as eight cycles). She started chemo last Friday and has finished her first "5-day round". It was terrible as expected. She has had severe vomiting and due to that she has had to have an NG (naso-gastric) tube to feed her. Unfortunately, she has not been able to keep that down and tonight they were going to sedate her and place an NJ (naso-jejunum) tube that will place the food right into her small intestine, by-passing her stomach and hopefully reducing her nausea/vomiting. Of course there are long-term side effects from the Cisplatin (chemo). There is an 80% chance that Hauna will lose her hearing and perhaps not develop speech because she has not had enough opportunity to learn the sounds to help her develop words etc. If she stays cancer free for 5 or more years after the tumor is removed and the mets to her lung have been destroyed, she has an 80% chance of survival/no reacurrance of the cancer. Maybe, if the NJ tube is a success, Hauna will be able to come home next week and receive the second cycle of chemo here. God willing. We will see what happens.