| 8-31-03 Diagnosis On this day Hannah was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor Difuse Anaplsia stage 4. She had a fever and was physically ill so I took her to her pediatrician. He was out of the office so she saw Dr. Tiberio. He did a tummy exam and felt something swollen. He told me he thought her spleen was swollen and to take her directly to Children's Hospital. We arrived at Children's at noon. They did blood work and a CT Scan. At 5:30pm we received the horrible news that Hannah has cancer. She was admitted immediately. Hannah's plan: 8 radiation treatments, surgery and aproximately 1 year of intense chemotherapy. (Doxyrubicin, Cytoxin, VP 16, Ifos, and Vincristine.) If you are a parent whose child has this cancer and want info on the drugs, side effects, etc feel free to email me. hannahmoody2000@yahoo.com 9-02-03 Surgery Hannah had surgery to remove her left kidney and the tumor. She did great and was in the hospital for 10 days. 10-09-03 Hannah will have her 4th treatment of chemo. Requires a trip to the clinic. Hannah's counts are low right now so we can not have visitors or go out. Hannah learned to clean her own tubies today...meaning she pushes the fluid through the syringe. (Tubies are the tubes to her catheter, and they are cleaned daily with a solution which is inserted into the tubes with a syringe and flushed.) She is a very bright child, who is independant. Special notes: Hannah has had an Implantofix catheter and now has a Broviac catheter. A catheter is used to draw blood and give chemo...so no ouchies. 10-10-03 Hannah had her 6th dose of chemo today. Originally she was to receive 1 treatment a week for 13 weeks so I thought great 6 treatments done... we are almost 1/2 way to week 13. Wrong! They changed her diagnoses from WT Focal Anaplasia to Diffuse Anaplasia. It changed the whole plan. So we are officially on week 2 of 13. Once we hit week 13 Hannah will recieve chemo once every 3 weeks until we reach week 48. Some weeks she recieves 1 chemo drug, sometimes 2 and sometimes 3. Yesterday Hannah received 1. She has gained 1/2 a lb. She has lost a total of 2 lbs since we started chemo. Since Hannah is so tiny the Dr. discussed with us about putting her on TPN (total parental nutrition). Good news-it's been 5 1/2 weeks since Hannah's surgery to remove her kidney. Therefore, the doctors are allowing her to play on her swing set at grandpa's house. She can swing and slide as long as someone watches her like a hawk. lol! This is great news and she has been confined to the house all week due to low counts. Her counts are back up and she can go outside again. YEA! We still can not visit the mall or crowded places but she is thrilled to get to play out doors and ride her bike again. She got to eat at one of her favorite places today-Max and Erma's. They know who Hannah is now and she gets special treatment there. They are sure to keep her away from the smoking area and away from any large number of people. 10-23-03 Hannah came home from the hospital yesterday. She had chemo for 5 days aprox 2 hrs of chemo each day, 3 different types of chemo drugs. Yesterday her hemoglobin was low so they did a blood transfusion (red blood cells.) She was also started on TPN (Total Parental Nutrtion.) Since being on it she has not eaten in 4 days and barely drinks. This round of chemo has taken a toll on her. We return to the hospital tomorrow for another treatment of chemo. After tomorrow we have 44 more weeks of chemo. Hannah had lost 4 lbs but has gained 2 lbs back. She now weighs 26 lbs. Depending on her counts tomorrow she may get to trick or treat. I went shopping today and bought her 2 cute hats from GAP KIDS. 4-16-04 The night before last Hannah had some bleeding from her catheter site. The home nurse was here at the time. We called the dr. and an RN , they said that bleeding is normal with broviac catheters if platelets are low. We were instructed to change her dressing and clean the site and to watch for more bleeding. There was no more bleeding. Ok I have tons more to write but Hannah is kicking me off the computer so she can get on. I'll finish this update later. 4-16-04 Yesterday morning a home nurse assisted me in getting Hannah to the dr. in columbus. The dr. stated the bleeding was probably from her scratching the site and her platelets being low. Her platelets yesterday was 40. Normal is 140-150. Her HMGL was 8.2 normal is 12. She recieved blood for 3 hrs and platelets for an hour. Her WBC is pretty much 0 right now. She gets her daily nupigen shot to bring that count up. If couints are good we will go into the hospital April 27th for 6 days. We have 5 more treatments over the next 15 weeks. 4-21-04 Hello all! Hannah is doing well today. She had to get more platelets on the 19th. She was at 25. very low. She has many bruises from her shots. She has a small cold today. Seems like she gets a cold every time her counts drop. Her dr. said if her counts are good she could go to the zoo next month with the kids n camp group. If she is not able to then we'll take her another time. We just have to be very careful! She can not touch any of the animals. She is riding her bike through the house right now. We are waiting for the physical therapist to get here. 6-08-04 Hi, a lot has happened over the last 2 months. To recap Hannah has had about 8 line infections, 4-5 viral infections, ear infection, shingles, flu, wring worm twice and colds. We are now down to the last 3 treatments. She is due in the hosp June 15th for 6 days. then 3 weeks later 1 day then 3 weeks after that 6 more days. At that time they will do a cat scan. The cat scan scheduled for June has been cancelled. If the 2 marks left in her lungs are still there she will require surgery. If they are gone then she would be concidered cancer free and no more chemo. She's had over 30 blood/platelet transfusions. She is home now w/ a line infection and is on antibiotics. We now have home nurses (LPN's) 8 hrs a day. Thank you American Nursing Care! 6-26-04 Hannah is doing well today. My cousin, Robbie Harper, is serving in Iraq and he has set up a post card drop box for Hannah. We have received over 100 cards/letters from the soldiers. Her counts are low today and can't go out to play. It's very hard on her as the weather is great! She gets more chemo July 6th and July 27th through Aug. 1st The last week of July they will do a CT Scan. The Dr. said Hannah needs Physical Therapy again. She is having problems walking due to the vincristine. She has a pre school Teacher/Occupational Therapist, coming to our home, starting in Sept. Our goal is to get her ready for pre school by Jan. 2005. 7-15-04 Hannah's counts are very good today. ANC is 6095. WBC 11.5 HGL 9.9 and Platelets are 108. She got to swing and slide today. Today we sent snack items to Iraq and Afganistan. Hannah went to the candy store as well. 7-25-04 The count down is on. We go to the hospital Tuesday. Hannah is doing well. It's hard to think about things being normal again. WE CAN'T WAIT! Hannah will have blood work done tomorrow to see if her counts are high enough for chemo. We have a family reunion to attend today. She got to go to church last Sunday. She loved it. FYI, Chances Night Club will be holding a golf tournament August 22nd on behalf of Hannah...hope you can be there! 8-01-04 HANNAH IS CANCER FREE! A CT Scan was done on 7-27-04 and we got the results on 7-28-04. 8-22-04 Hannah had her 1st real bath in a year 2 days ago. Yesterday she swam for the 1st time in a year. She loved it! We bought a pass to a local hotel pool so that she can swim durring the winter months. She is doing well. No more tubies. She goes for a check up this week. Then, she will go for monthly check ups and a CT scans every 3 months. Her disney trip is coming up soon thanks to Make A Wish. We are also attending KNK camp soon. Prior to leaving the hospital this last time her WBC was 1.3, HMGL 10.6 and platelets 69. Hannah just spent 7 days in the hospital b/c her tubie was infected. She went in on 8-12-04 and on 8-13-04 she went to surgery and they removed the catheter AKA her tubies. She stayed on IV antibiotics for 5 days. 9-10-04 Hannah is doing well. She has been swimming a lot. She sees a dentist for the 1st time today. She has a check up w/ her primary Dr on the 17th. He is very excited to see her as it has been over a year. Then she has a dr apt w/ her oncologist on the 23rd for blood work. Hannah had pre school orientation yesterday and she is so excited that every morning she asks if it's her turn to go to school. She just wants to be like her bigger sister. We might take her to a weiner roast sat. We are just trying to make up for lost time and have as much fun as we can. 6-14-05 Wow I can not believe how much time has past..especially since I have not updated her site in almost a yr. Hannah is doing very well. July marks 1 yr post checmo and she will have numerous tests deon, CT scan, x-rays, blood work, physical, urinalysis, EKG, etc. She has been attending pre-school and recieves occupational therapy. School is out for the summer and she is just enjoying swimming at Lake Isabella, riding her bike, and playing with her friends. Hannah visits her Columbus dr on Thursday. We are planning a trip to Wyandot Lake tomorrow..shh it's a secret. We plan to suprise both girls. I can not tell you what a difference it is noiw from being in the hosp and being ill. Our son is wonderful, he is able to babysit for us now..no more home nurses are needed. He does a wonderful job with both girls. It feels good to be able to actually go out with my husband on a date lol! Our family is finally coming together again after such hard times. Both Brian and I enjoy every minute with our kids and are so thankful we have the opportunity to be with them and that they are healthy. Oh you should see our "Allie Kat" our 7 yr old daughter, she is a ball player for sure. She plays softball and enjoys it very much. What's new with me? Well I was able to return to college and I am working on getting into the RN program at OUZ. I am currently at Zane State College. My goal: to return to Children's and work on J5 with all those fabulous nurses who gave such wonderful care to me and my child. Love you guys! Check back for further details! |
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