December 27th, 2014

Merry Christmas! We arrived home late last Friday afternoon. We came home to find cards, gifts, and donations! How amazing and wonderful everyone has been in supporting us! We can't thank you enough for everything you have done to make our holiday season brighter! We truly appreciate your daily thoughts and prayers!

Mia had a spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy on Christmas Eve. Everything went well except them having a difficult time getting the IV. Today we received a follow up phone call from the doctor. He wanted us to come in to get her levels checked again. He was surprised by how well the marrow looked under the microscope and was concerned that maybe it was a bad sample because they are still seeing leukemic blasts in her blood which they should no longer be see. When she was first diagnosed her marrow was 86% cancer cells and today was 5%. At this point they like it to be 0, but she is still responding and hopefully the next round will take care of that. Anyway, he rechecked her white blood count and it remains to be in the normal range which is good. He also looked at today's sample and did not see any blasts; however the sample came from a finger prick which was different from previous samples. All that being said, we are still on the right path. If the next samples continue to see 0 blasts then we are headed in the right direction. Also, the mass on her chest remains the same at this point which isn't bad. We will wait to speak with him next week as he will have the final results back from the bone marrow biopsy.

On Tuesday, she will have surgery to get her chest port. He had wanted to wait a little longer after coming off the steroids, however he wants to have a good vein to start chemo next week. Wednesday she will receive an all day chemo, because it requires lots of fluids and hydration before and after the chemo is given.

We hope your holiday season has been as blessed as ours! We received the best gift of all; celebrating as a family at home!

December 18th, 2014

Looks like all of our prayers have been answered! Thank you! We will be home for Christmas!!! As long as her counts remain stable tomorrow morning we will be going home. She will then come back on Christmas Eve for a spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy which will be out patient. Then we will wait for those results and begin the next cycle the following week. We have received many generous donations and support from everyone! We can't thank you enough for everything and feel extremely blessed this holiday season! Love to you all! Teresa & Mike

December 15th, 2014

Sorry it has been a few days. I was sick on Thursday and had to leave the hospital for a few days. It was truly a blessing in disguise because it gave me an extra 2 days with my boys! They are doing well but with the holidays coming it's tough. Ryan asked, "When will we be a family again?" It wasn't an easy question to answer but we talked it through and hopefully we will be home soon.

Mia has an infection called c-diff so unfortunately she is quarantined to her room for 10 days and on antibiotics every 6 hours. Needless to say this hasn't been easy but Mike and my Mom took excellent care of her and distracted her while I was gone.

They repeated a chest x-Ray which shows a significant decrease again of the mass which is excellent. We talked to the doctor about when she would be able to come home and it all depends on her numbers. Christmas eve she will receive the last chemo for this stage and they will also complete another bone marrow biopsy to see how she responded to this first cycle. Please continue to say prayers and hope for a Christmas miracle! I have been keeping everyone in my thoughts and prayers this holiday season. We realize how lucky we are and truly appreciate everything everyone is doing for us!

December 9th, 2014

Mia has had a rough few days. It's hard because we really don't know whether she's in pain or just nauseous or maybe both. She got sick last night and threw up on her pick line so needless to say by the time they changed everything she didn't go to bed until 11:30pm. They started her back on zofran today and she's been eating well. Her favorite go to is Goldfish; and we still can't believe how many she can consume in a day. She's been napping most of the day which is good. Tomorrow is day 15 of this treatment cycle and she will receive another dose of chemo. Hoping she responds well with few side effects. We are learning that each day is different and what works one day doesn't work the next for her as far as appetite and attitude. Hoping everyone is staying dry today! Have a great day!

December 7th, 2014

Well good news, she woke up this morning and was back to her same old self walking the halls. She was still tired but she strutted through the halls as she did 2 days ago. Her numbers are borderline, so she will receive a transfusion this afternoon. Other than that, we had a peaceful night which is unusual for us, but I'll take it anytime! Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of their weekend! Love to you all!

December 6th, 2014

Today is the first day that Mia has acted sick. She really doesn't want to walk the halls and is extremely tired and irritable. The doctor checked her out and agreed that it wasn't the norm for her. Hoping it's a side effect of the chemo and not that she's getting sick! The doctor gave her some pain meds and she is sleeping right now. Hoping she wakes up in better spirits.

On a side note, Mike was able to go home to spend some time with the boys! They are playing, and wrestling around just like they like it!

December 4th, 2014

Yesterday was a long day! Mia had to fast for her 9am procedure which turned into a 12pm procedure so needless to say she was not pleasant. Her spinal tap went well and they were able to administered a 2nd dose of chemo into her spinal fluid. The results from her spinal tab were basically the same as the Original which is normal being she had only one dose of chemo to the site. Other than that, she received two other chemos yesterday. They have been treating her with zofran around the clock to help with the nausea and vomiting. She was able to visit the playroom and enjoys walking the halls. She has met new people to say NO to and has found a new love for cheese which she requests often. We are hanging in there and the boys are adjusting to this temporary life. They FaceTime with her and us every morning and night. Grandma has been teaching them different them different Christmas carols to sing to her each morning. I was fortunate to spend 3 hours with them on Monday. I was able to explain to Ryan that we would be here for a few weeks, and that leukemia was the cause for all of her fevers. He didn't mention Christmas which was good because we don't have an answer for that yet. I also asked if he wanted to come to visit and his response was; The hospital takes too long to get to and there is way too much traffic! Lol. Both boys are doing well and Mike will be home this weekend to visit and spend time! Thanks for your continued prayers!!

December 3rd, 2014

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. They both mean more than you will ever know. Mia had a rough night last night and was dealing with some nausea today but we ended the day on a positive note. Mia had a chest x-Ray late this afternoon in preparation for her spinal tap procedure tomorrow morning. The resident was happy to share that the mass on her chest has decreased significantly! This is amazing and all because of your constant thoughts and prayers! Tomorrow we keep our fingers crossed for similar results! Hope everyone has a great night!

December 2nd, 2014

Mia had a rough day yesterday! We think they are adverse side effects from her daily steroid. However, today was great! She ate, slept, and played well today. Her platlets are low but they are hoping to hold her off until Wednesday. Wednesday she will undergo another spinal tap procedure and chest x-Ray to see how she is progressing in those two areas. Besides that her lab work continues to be stable.

November 30th, 2014

Yesterday, Mia received her second round of chemo and looks good so far. Had some nausea again last night but they are treating her for that and she's eating good today. Her oncologist is happy with all of her labs and they will be stopping one medicine today. They will only have to draw blood once a day now which is great, unfortunately it will have to be at 4am. Besides that she's having some mood swings from the steroids. She loves walking the floor and actually took her pull doggie with her today. She enjoys walking and looking for the ELMO picture that hangs in our hallway and loves to tell everyone NO with a firm voice when they say hi and then proceeds by telling them bye! Again if it wasn't for all of your prayers, kind words, emails, texts and phone calls we wouldn't have made it through this week! Words cannot express how thankful we are!

November 28th, 2014

Needless to say that yesterday was a tough day for our family! Mia is in good spirits though. She needed a blood transfusion during the night but woke up with a positive attitude. They removed two extra iv's that were placed when her central line came out the other day. Mia took a walk with our help down the hallway. She was a little wobbly but did great. It's the first time she has walked since Saturday. Her counts were good today. She has been nauseous on and off today but overall she's well. She's been playing with some of her favorite toys that the boys delivered the other day. For some reason I having trouble attaching pictures.