Caitlin chemo treatment!

Today Caitlin and I went down to Primary Children's for an other round of chemo. This was only one medicine so that didn't take very long. The doctor said that Caitlin seems to be doing really well. She needs to try and eat more. But other than that she seems to be doing really well, she still hasn't vomited once, which it so awesome. Its weird how blind we can be sometimes, I mean I have heard of cancer before, but since it has affected our family. It is scary to realize how many kids are affected with cancer, in one day at the clinic I saw at least seven kids under the age of ten with some forms of cancer. I am sure in the eternal plan there is a reason for all this suffering. I am sure that I will understand the lesson someday. Anyway I am thankful for all the kind nurse and other support systems set up at Primary Children's. So that even though kids are going through something pretty terrible, they are always greeted with a smile from a nurse, a toy, or a goodie bag from volunteers. I swear each time we have to go down to the hospital Caitlin comes home with a new toy. I plan to someday return the flavor and hopefully bring a smile to another child's face.

Giving Thanks!

Since Thanksgiving is just two days away, I decided to make a list of the things that I am thankful for. These are not in any particular order.
I am thankful for:
1. My family
2. My husband (he has been such a blessing to me, he knows how to cheer me up when I am feeling bad and he can sense when something is wrong.)
3. My girls (even though some days they cause me tons of stress, I still love them very much and wouldn't give them up for anything.)
4. Living in this day and age ( I don't think I would of lasted very long as a pioneer and microwave dinners and meals in a box without these we would starve.)
5. For doctors, nurses, and modern medicine. ( I am grateful to have the technology to be able to find cures and knowledge to make things better.)
6. My home (Its not much but it nice to have a comfortable place to live.)
7. The gospel ( We have received many blessing and miracles this year.)
8. Jake's good job ( I know sometimes he doesn't like it, but he is always good to go and put the hours in and support his family.)
9. My extended family ( They have helped us so much through this difficult time in our lives, and many others. )
10. Friends (who always ask how they can help us)
11. Allie's Teacher ( who has been so patience with our chatterbox.)
12. Caitlin's strength and bravery ( She is so brave I am so proud of her, she has endured things that make most adults cry and whine.)
13. and many other things!!!!
I encourage everyone to remember the things in life that you are thankful for, and thank our Heavenly Father for all that he has given us.
Don't take for granted the little things, like the quote from the movie Hitch. Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.

First round of Chemotherapy

Well on Wednesday Caitlin had her first round of chemo, for this first round she had to spend two days in the hospital. The medicines that they use to kill the cancer cells are so strong that they have to push iv fluids through the body, so the medicine does not harm the kidneys and other organs. We did receive the results of the spinal tap (Lumbar puncture) and they were clear, which means that the cancer has not moved to another part of her body, which is totally awesome. We will still have to go through the chemotherapy but it won't be as intense, since the LP was clear and they were able to remove all of her brain tumor. Caitlin did so well with her treatments I was so proud of her. The medicines made her nauseous , but she didn't vomit once. She didn't have much of an appetite. (But that's normal for cancer patients.) She cried the first day every time that nurse would touch her, but by the second day she seemed to understand that they were there to help her not hurt her. Since she now has a central line she didn't have to get poked with a needle at all. The nurses down at Primary Children's are so nice and friendly. The nurses taught me what I need to watch for at home and how to take care of her line and so forth. Nursing is not my chosen career but I will do whatever it takes to take care of my little girl. Since Caitlin handle the chemo so well we were able to come home Friday afternoon, which was nice since it always feels more comfortable at home. But of course we had to bring half the hospital home with us, medicines, gloves, and barf buckets. Thanks for all offers to help but we are coping pretty good right now. Caitlin has another appointment for chemo on Wednesday the 26th, but if everything goes well it should only take a couple of hours, which means we will be able to be home for Thanksgiving.

More Pictues!!!

I finally got a chance to add some more pictures, so sorry for the overload. All of these pictures are from the first surgery to remove the brain tumor.

Caitlin Update!

Well more news on Caitlin, on Thursday we had an eye appointment at Primary Children's. Which went pretty good. They just wanted to have her eyes checked before she starts the chemotherapy, sometimes the chemo side effects affect the vision. I am sure I will be use to it by the time this is all over but I wish that we didn't have to wait so long in the doctor's office. Our appointment was at 9:30 and we didn't leave the clinic until 12:30. The doctor said that because of her tumor she is crossing her eyes, the nerves seem to have stretch, to correct it she will need to wear an eye patch for an hour each day, and switch eyes every other day. Which we hopefully work or she will need eye muscle surgery.
On Friday she had surgery for a lumbar puncture and to put in her central line for chemotherapy. We were supposed to be at the hospital at 9:15 but since traffic was so bad (we pasted two wrecks) we didn't get there until 9:25, but lucky for us they still did the surgery. Later I wondered why I rushed and yelled and screamed at cars to go faster since they didn't end up starting her surgery until 2:00pm. Anyway everything went well, and we actually got to bring her home that night. An at home nurse came this morning to teach me how to clean and take care of the line. Its not really hard but still nerve wrecking I am not really trained to this stuff. I am sure by the end of this journey, I will be a pro. We should know the results of the lumbar puncture about the middle of next week, and know when chemo will be starting. Please keep Caitlin in your prayers, unfortunately this rough road is only beginning. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. We couldn't do this without our families.

Whats Up!

Well not much more news with Caitlin just yet. Tomorrow I am heading back down to Primary Children's for a checkup and surgery on Friday to put in the port for the chemotherapy. Wow, this chemo stuff is pretty overwhelming and we haven't even started treatment yet. They gave me a binder full of information, which I read and high lightened the important parts which was pretty much the whole book. I think that I have been driving Jake nuts but I know that I am the one who has to watch out for the side effects, so I want to be informed. I know he wants to help too, but because of our different personalities we just deal with this kind of stuff differently. Today I took the girls to get their flu shots, which was an adventure since Allie hates getting shots, she won't hold still. So the nurse and I had to hold her down, and for a five year old she is pretty tough. Well I hope that everything goes well tomorrow and I try to keep everyone updated.

Allie

Since I have been busy updating about Caitlin, I haven't had much time to write about Allie. But I didn't forget her, and she has been such a trooper through all of this. The only thing that she got upset about was that we had planned to go watch High School musical 3 on Saturday, October 25th. ( Which was my birthday so I am not quite sure how I got talked into it.) But anyway, Caitlin and I were still in the hospital on that day, so unfortunately Allie missed the show. We were finally able to make it up to her yesterday. We took her out to eat for lunch and then headed to the show. Since we had come home from the hospital with a car full of toys for Caitlin, we made a quick stop at Target to pick up the High School Musical 3 soundtrack. Allie loves music and has such a good memory she already knew all the songs to the movie. So at theater she is singing along. Jake and I were trying to tell her to sing quietly, but Allie does not know the meaning of quietly. Well I think she really liked the movie and had fun. Really it was alright for us adults too.

Caitlin Update!

Yesterday we traveled back down to Primary Children's for a checkup to make sure that she was healing good and to remove her stitches. The doctors said that she looked really good and that she was healing well so they took out her stitches and then had us go get a ct scan to make sure everything looked okay on the inside. Caitlin did so well, but then she knows the drill since this was her third ct scan. The scan looked good so the doctors said we were free to go, but right before we walked out the door the doctor took one last look and noticed that her wound was leaking spinal fluid, so we turned around back in the exam room. They figured that restitching it would fix the problem. So I gave her some pain reliever and the doctor numbed up the area and she stitched it back up with dissolve able stitches this time. I hate watching them put in the stitches or anything with needles. So I held Caitlin's arms and my Dad helped to hold her head still. She did a really good job, but she is a tough little girl, so we had a hard time holding her still. But everything went well. Next Thursday we have another checkup and then surgery to put in the port for the chemotherapy meds. Also I keep forgetting but I want to thank all our friends and family for all their support, prayers, and love.

Hope!

I got this book from the Library today, called Hope for Families of Children with Cancer. It is really good, here is a quote from it that I really like.

Cancer is so limited.....

It cannot crippled love

It cannot shatter hope

It cannot erode faith

It cannot destroy peace

It cannot wipe out confidence

It cannot kill friendship

It cannot suppress memories

It cannot silence courage

It cannot invade the Soul

It cannot steal Eternal Life

It cannot conquer the Spirit

It cannot lessen the power of Resurrection.

Anonymous Author

I just thought this was a really awesome quote, no matter what happens down the road, there is still love, hope, family, friends, peace, and Heavenly Father.

The longest week of our Lifes!

Well, in my last post I mentioned that my daughter Caitlin was getting an MRI done since she wasn't walking. Well instead of Monday that changed her appointment to Thursday, so at 5:30 am we went up to the hospital. Caitlin did really well throughout the whole thing, they said that they had to give her a little bit more sleepy medicine since she was singing. After that we went back home to get Jake to bed and wait for the results from Dr. Armstrong. I didn't want to stress myself out, so I just kept telling myself that there wasn't something major wrong. At about 10:15 Dr. Armstrong called me, and says I have some bad news, and my heart fell. The MRI showed that Caitlin had a brain tumor and it was causing pressure on the brain. He said he would call Primary Children's and get us an appointment as soon as possible. Not a half hour later someone from Primary Children's called and told us to pack for about a week and get down there as soon as possible. I think we were ready to leave in 15 minutes. I drove as fast as I could, I wasn't worried about a speeding ticket. Both my parents and Jake's weren't very far behind us. When we got there we were soon took in, Dr. Brockmeyer decided that we should take care of this as soon as possible, so we were taken to the Pediatric ICU, to prep her for surgery. Caitlin was not happy about any of it. I don't blame her. Before she left for surgery Jake's Dad and my dad gave Caitlin a priesthood blessing. At 6:00 they took her to surgery, Jake and I walked down with her, it was so hard to hand her over to the nurses, but we need that they were going to take good care of her. After we walked out the ER doors, Jake and I hugged and broke down crying. We were not prepared for this, but what parent is. At about 11pm surgery was done, everything went really well, and they were able to remove all the of tumor and put in a EVD( a tube that helps drain the extra fluid on the brain). We were all able to see her at about 1 in the morning in the PICU. I was worried about what she would look like, but she looked pretty good I thought for what she just went through. On Monday she was well enough that they moved her to the neuroscience trauma unit, which was nice since in the PICU only two people can be by the bedside at a time. My mom, Jake's mom and I took turns spending the night at hospital with Caitlin. On Tuesday we unfortunately got another drop in the bucket, the test on the tumor came back as a medulloblastoma tumor which is a Grade 4 type of cancer. So even though they were able to removed all of the tumor, we will still after to go through chemotherapy. On Wednesday they removed the EVD, which was nice. We were suppose to then come home on Friday but we noticed leaking of spinal fluid from the EVD site, so they had us get her a CT scan and added two more stitches, and we had to stay for another 24 hours, which kind of suck. But this morning we were able to come home which was nice and nerve wrecking all in one. Since I am now that one responsible for making sure everything is alright. Sorry this is so long but since I have been at Primary Childrens for eight days I have been unable to update my blog. Please keep our little angel in your prayers. We still have a long road ahead of us. Also more info to come since I am sure I have forgotten a lot.