kid with swollen lymph nodes

Boldelly · Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:49 pm Post subject: Hi Anna

Don't worry about it being long I don't know if you can see our posts, but they are quite long a lot of the time. I am so sorry that Meg is not going well today. I am sure that the shunts will help with the pressure in her brain. Please tell her if you are able that I am sorry and we are thinking of her and praying for her.

I am glad you told me the story of how her and Sebastion met cuz I never knew, but he sounds like a really good guy for her. She does seem to be mature for a 13 year old but she has probably done a lot of things grown adults have not done, such as flying by her self to all these different countries. I was telling her I have never been out of Texas, lol. I hope to some time in my life time. It sounds like yall all have been great with Meg and that is very important. I am not sure you realize how much the support of her family and friends plays a role in her recovery. Sebastion was telling me how yall all take shifts to stay with her. That is so wonderful, she is truely blessed to have friends like yall.

I know all about the crying before going to the hospital. Randi started to cry and have anxiety about middle of her 2nd or 3rd round of chemo. Randi would have to go into the hospital on Monday for 1st chemo which involved giving her 5 drugs that day, then on Tuesday we would stay until they gave her 2nd chemo which was 3 drugs, then we would get to go home late that evening and we would have to be back at the hospital on Wensday for 3rd chemo which was only 2 drugs (outpatient), then she would not have any chemo for Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun and then back to the hospital on Monday for 4th chemo which was one drug (outpatient). Then we would get 2 week break, if you could call it a break because she would not feel good until about a week before we had to start all over again. Now she hates even just going for check ups and when we had to re-test after her 4 complete rounds of chemo she would cry even though she knew what they were going to do to her. She fell down Thursday night and we had to go to the hospital because she hurt her back and some of the chemo drugs they gave her could make her bones easy to break. We went to the local hospital just down the road from our house because she was scared to go to UTMB (where she is treated for her cancer) because she is so afraid they will admit her. Last time we went she had an infection and they did admit her for 2 or 3 days because her white counts were 300 and they should be like 12,000 or so. They gave her antibiotics and two more units of blood (she had already once before received 2 units of blood). So anyway they x-rayed her at the other hospital and said everything was okay, no breaks, which I was so thankful. I understand that Meg has been having problems with her plateletts. Your white blood counts help you fight infection that is why they put Randi in the hospital and she had to do the whole mask thing, which she hated. Plateletts have to do with how your blood clots. We are fixing to start radiation therapy 14 weeks and they tell me she will have platelett trouble instead of white count trouble. We go to the Oncology Radiology appointment on Wen. Randi's oncologist gave her valium for the anxiety and she was having trouble (and still is) sleeping, so they gave her Ambien (sleep med), she still does not sleep throughout the night but now she only wakes 1-2 times where as before when she had tests or had to go into the hospital she would wake 4-5 times per night. So she was tired from not sleeping and tired from the chemo. It is a lot for a teenager or anyone to go through. Randi also had a hard time loosing her hair, it was very hard for her, which they say all girls and women have trouble with this. She is now more comfortable with it but refuses to let me take a picture of her without hair, she does not like to take many pictures because she says she does not want to remember this part of her life. Anyway, her oncologist has now made her start seeing a psychiatrist which Randi hates the idea but she goes and hopefully it will help because it is such a life changing experience for all envolved but mostly for the one going through the cancer.

Meg's cancer is a lot more advanced than Randi's was. Randi started with a cough and it would not go away so I just kept taking her to the doctor every 2 weeks until he did a chest x-ray which showed a large mass (tumor) pressing on her lungs and heart. He sent the x-ray home with us and wanted us to see a pulmonary (lung) specialist but it was taking too long and she told me when she laid on her stomach or laughed or ran it was hard for her to breath. So, I took the x-ray and her to the ER and they sent the oncologist down to speak to us and I knew then that it was not good. Randi's was in her neck, tonsils, subclavical area, under her left rib cage, and a spot on her right shoulder blade. None was in her bone marrow, thank God. We did 4 rounds of chemo, which most of the time they do 6 rounds. Her's is considered stage 4 a (a because she had not started to loose weight, or have fevers, or night sweats) and at an intermediate stage as well. She did have a rash that would come and go but we live near the coast (Galveston, Texas) and it is humid here and so I thought it was just heat rash. We retested last week and got news that all was gone except there is still some in her upper chest. They will still do radiation to all the areas that she had cancer in. I asked the oncologist what happens if radiation does not take care of the spot in her chest and he told me we would have to do harder chemo and more radiation. That scares me, but just pray that radiation takes it all away.

I just wish Meg could have caught her sooner, but we have a really good family friend who at 10 was diagnosed with a rare leukemia and she went into remission and relapsed at 16 they did total body radiation in high amounts and had a bone marrow transplant and she is now 30 years old. She has hair but it is thin and she cannot have children but she has accepted that. She could carry a child just not conceive one. I say this to give you hope because they did not expect Tanya (family friend) to live and here she is.

How is Megan's brother, well I hope and I am so glad that she has a matching donor. Now we need her to get better so they can do the stem cell transplant, which from what I understand is a lot like bone marrow transplant. We may be facing the same thing if this radiation does not work for Randi.

Our oncologist gave us tons of literature on Hodgkins lymphoma, ask for some or go to the library or research the internet (I do this constantly research the internet on this disease) and there are lots of information. But if you have specific questions please write me and ask and I will try my best to answer them for you.

Randi said to tell Meg Hi and she is sorry to hear she is not feeling well. Tell Meg as I have already told her that she does not have to be strong to the point she never cries. Randi would cry a lot and I am glad because she is the type to hold her feelings inside and not talk about them. You tell Meg to cry till she has no more tears if that is what it takes. She has a good support system with her friends and with her mother being a doctor I am sure that helps even more.

Well I think I am a little longer winded than you, lol but if you need anything or have questions please write and please keep me informed on how she is doing I think of her every single day. Tell her hello and rest and take care because she will survive this just like Randi is going to survive this hard time in her life.

Take care and thanks for writing.

megd93 · Regular Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 46

Hi. Wow that was a quick reply. I am at the hospital and I thought I would check and then there it was.
Megan is up and they are going to decide about the shunt soon. I think they will put it is tommarrow. Her reaction was "great, now I'm gonna have 2 things sticking out of me"
She was joking around with her mom about high school. They just sent her last report card around to a bunch and she got in to them all. Her mom was worried about the smoking at one she liked she said "Gosh mom I can barely breath with them giving me oxygen and your worried about me smoking"
They are actually giving Megan benadryl to help with not being able to sleep. She was worried about becoming addicted to the other sleep aids.
I have done a lot of searching online. Basically, lymphoma spread to the brain is universally fatel but there is hope for long term survival. Her oncologist says being young she withstand harder treatment so we should stay optimistic and that he would never put her through all this if he didn't think there was a chance it would help her.
Her mom is pretty supportive but she is having a hard time dealing with everything. I think in some ways it is harder for her having been to med school and knowing all the facts about this illness.
Megan has seen things most adults haven't. She watched from the street as the planes hit the world trade center on 9/11. She was at the train station on the platform during the London train bombings so I think she has seen more death then most people should in a lifetime. Also, she has never been to Disney or done things most kids have.
We also live on the coast. Megan lives on a private island in Long Island Sound off of the Atlantic ocean. I live in the "poor" part of town but still near the water. It is cold here now and we will get more snow tonight.
I am glad your daughter is hopefully done with chemo. Good luck with the radiation and I will tell you how she is doing again on Monday. (We are all hoping for a snow day or two since school starts again this week after having last week off)

Boldelly · Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:54 pm Post subject: Re: kid with swollen lymph nodes

I am glad she is up and feeling like joking around. She reminds me of my neice (Jamie) who was always up and kidding around and laughed about things including her cancer. She was always above average in math and would help my son (Ian) a lot with his algebra homework and she used to joke to him after she surgeries that they still did not take that part of her brain. She had three surgeries to remove tumors from her brain (one was the size of a tennis ball when she was first diagnosed). I hope Megan keeps that attitude. She won't always and will break down because we all have our breaking points. This will be up and down type thing.

I am sure her mother is just sick over this and especially since she can talk doctor to doctor about Meg's condition. My mother-in-law at the time Jamie was sick was a RN nurse and she understood a lot more than we did. She knew from the beginning Jamie would die. Jamie had two different types of cancer, the one in her brain was a type that only children get and the one in her spine was one that only old people get. They did not know how to treat her or even how this happened. She died two years ago at 28 years old and left behind two beautiful daughters Ashley and Amber. Ashley was 9 and Amber was 6. They do pretty good I guess because they were young. Ashley is now starting to have difficulties with her mother's death since she is getting older. Her dad is fixing to remarry in November, but they like his girlfriend and all.

I know as a parent it is the hardest thing I have ever had to go through is to watch Randi suffer and not be able to take it away. I always want to take it away for her and I am sure Megan's mom feels the same.

Well Randi was put in for Make a Wish Foundation, I am sure Meg may not want that since they have the money but when she gets better (and WE KNOW SHE WILL!!!) then she should go to Disney. We had a place in Houston called Six Flags Astroworld, kind of like Disney with rides and stuff but nothing in comparison to Disney. Jamie got a wish and that is what she did with her wish was take her girls to Disney.

Well as far as the weather here we never ever hardly ever get snow here. It was around the 70's today sometimes (really most of the time) we can still wear shorts in December, only difference in summer and winter is in the winter the humidity is not as bad. Water is still to cold to swim in at the beach in the winter though.

Well honey thanks for the update and I hope yall get a snow day so yall can have fun and be with Meg. Tell her we say hi and get better.

NEVER EVER GIVE UP HOPE!!!!! ALWAYS PRAY!!!!!! BE THERE FOR HER IN WHATEVER SHE NEEDS OR DOES NOT NEED!!!!

I was told by our friend Tanya that little things like bringing her a clean blanket from home or some stuff from bath and body when she cannot get up and bath herself always made her feel better. Tanya went through 2 years of chemo.

Well did not mean to end on that note but yall stay possitive and keep on keeping on!!!!

Write soon.

Laurie

megd93 · Regular Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 46

HI. Its Anna. We didn't get a snow day even though we got a foot of snow. All the other schools did. We just have a 2 hour delay to give them time to plow the roads. We all love when we have snow days. We get one or two hurricance days in the fall to when the last bits of hurricanes work there way up to us. Those aren't as fun because there is usually at least a little wind and rain damage. I am not going over to the hospital now becuase we can't miss anymore school.
She is pretty good. She will have the shunt put in this morning but should be awake this afternoon. Someone brought her a lot of clothes. She hates hospital gowns. The problem is most of her clothes don't fit she weighs now in the low 70s. She was always really really thin but not this thin.
We also have amusmnent parks. We have playland. Which used to have the biggest wooden rollar coaster. Hope Randi stays well and thanks for the info.

megd93 · Regular Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 46

Hi. Its Sebastion.
Meg had the shunt put in and she is doing great. Having all the fluid out of her brain really helped. She even asked me to pick up some work from school.
I am at the hospital now(in lounge getting some work done) and talked to her a few minutes ago. She was up and dressed. Even wearing make-up. Very Happy

I would post a picture but like your daughter she doesn't want any pictures of her taken now. She will have another round of ICE tomarrow. If you have time(its ok if you don't) I was wondering if you could post some of the side effects Randi had after chemo. The info the doctor gave us is written in doctor launguage. Thanks.

Boldelly · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:45 pm Post subject: Re: kid with swollen lymph nodes

I was just sitting down to ask yall how she was going. I am elated (sp?) that she is up and feeling well. It always made Randi feel better when she was able to get up and put her real clothes on and do her make-up. I am happy for Meg and you tell her so. I been saying small prayers all day today for her.

Randi had some different drugs than Meg is getting the only one I know of that they both are or were getting was etoposide and that one is one that always made Randi feel bad, nausea, tired, dizzy, it made her white counts low and she would bruise easily. Like some time when I would give her her Fillgastrum shot it would bruise and it really would not have if she had not been on that med.

Randi also, not sue from what drugs had or still has numbness in her fingers, tingling of her hands, weakness in her hands and knees. Sometimes her knees would give out for just a second, she never fell.

Meg may have already experienced the mouth sores and Randi even had them in her throat. It was hard for her to eat, not so much drink as eating. They said that it was normal that as long as she was eating something and drinking not to worry.

She also had and still complains a lot of her stomach hurting but they never say much and nothing showes up on the scans so I think it is a combination of side effect and anxiety. She also had an episode where the drug she was getting called Vincristine it made her where she could not go to the bathroom for about 3 weeks and that was extremely painful for her and they say that all his patients have that problem but not to the extent Randi did.

Still two of her fingers on her right hand hang down and do not straighten out. Hopefully that will correct itself but we do not know when or if ever. She has no reflexes if she does they are very low (you know when they hit your knee in the right spot and it jerks, or same thing with your feet and elbows) hers do not move at all.

This sounds gross but it effected her saliva, it was soooo thick she would have to spit it out in cups or papertowels, because she could not swallow it.

We went to the dentist today and she could not brush her teeth during chemo and she has braces so now she has decalcification (tooth degeneration) and is starting to get a few cavities. We have to go to the Orthodontist and take her braces off and have her teeth fixed and then put the braces back on. That was also a side effect.

The Filgastrum shots (makes bone marrow reproduce cells at a faster rate) make her bones ache so badly. She would tell me she felt like an old lady. This would be to the point we would have to push her in a wheel chair around Wal-Mart and stuff. That has gotten better.

But those are I think the main side effects that she had for the most part. But about a week after chemo, she would start to come back up again, but we had to do all kinds of home meds when she was "on her break" within the two weeks before she had to go back into the hospital. About a week after the filgastrum shots her bones would begin to feel better, took lots of pain meds at that time, but she has lowered her dosage or times she takes it by a lot!!! I just worried when she starts Radiation, there is a whole other set of side effects and very sore throat is one of them, so I suspect we will be back on pain meds pretty regular, hope not though.

Hope I have not worried you but those are some of the effects she experienced. Not everyone is the same so Meg may have some and she may not.

Tell her I am glad she is feeling better and we are praying and thinking of her. Write soon and let me know - KEEP ME POSTED !!!! Wink

megd93 · Regular Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 46

Hey. Guess what its me Megan. I am up and about and I feel GREAT.
Well actually I feel awful but the first 2 are true anyway. I ate dinner last nights. Our housekeeper made lemon chicken(my favorite food in the world) and brought it to the hospital. I could only eat a couple bites of the chicken but I had a lot of spegetti.
In other news Sebastion got a black eye. At school(this is what Anna says happened) Jenny(girl who HATES me) told him that this is like karma me having cancer. Sebastion screamed at her and then Sean- Jennys boyfriend who likes me punched him. Anyway he has to come up with an explanation to tell his parents. I think next time he better just walk away. I feel bad for him but am happy he stuck up for me(I don;t think it was worth getting punched though).
The best news of the day is my tumors are shrinking. I had an MRI. It looked good. If they hadn't shrunk they would have just sent me home. I am glad the dr. didn't tell me this before I started chemo.
Other then weird blood counts I haven't had any side effects except the mouth sores.
I still have to decide about high school- since I am looking on the bright side(according to the pychiatrist this is a good idea) having cancer helped me by eliminating boarding schools. I still have to choose between rye country day and greenwich academy. I am a horrible decision maker.
I hope Randi doesn't have any side effects from the radaition. I will have someone post after I get more methotraxate tommarow.

Boldelly · Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject: Re: kid with swollen lymph nodes

Hooray I am glad you are up and moving around, you are such a strong and couragous young laday!!! Laughing

Well Sebastion cares about you and that is why he got punched because he is sticking up for someone who he cares a lot about, hope he does not get into too much trouble. I think his parents would understand, don't you think?

Megan that is such great news that the tumors have shrank, just keep possitive like you do and your psychiatrist is probably right. But there again honey don't try to be so strong all the time cry when you need to because it is all a part of the process.

I really hope you do not have all the side effects Randi had and they told us that hers was acutally mild compared to some, so I am thankful for that. They say each individual is different and they do not know why some react differently than others. Just consider it a blessing that all you have are the mouth sores. Do they prevent you from eating much? They told us cold popcicles and warm drinks would be soothing to your mouth and throat.

As far as your decisions about high school I am sure you will make the right choice you seem to have it pretty together. Trust your self and ask your mom and dad to help with your decision. But I know you will make the right one.

I really hope she does not have many side effect too. She is nervous about it but I think it is the unknown, even through they have showed her the machines and told her what to expect it is not the same as going through it. We go the the Radiation Oncologist tomorrow at 1:30 and get the plan so we will know more then.

Thank Sebastion and Anna for keeping me informed when you can't. You have some pretty awsome friends little missy. Well I am happy for you and will keep praying for you and keeping you in my thoughts. If you need anything just let us know and Randi says hi and she is glad the tumors are shrinking too.

Take care and I will talk to you soon or some of those awsome friends you have, lol.

Laurie

Boldelly · Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:47 pm Post subject: Re: kid with swollen lymph nodes

Just checking to see how things are going. Write me soon if you can.

Just thinking about you. Went to the Radiation Oncologist and they said that she just has to do 3 weeks of radiation instead of 14 weeks, Hallaluia!!

We will start next week sometime. Just thought I would share our news and check on you deary!!

Write me and let me know how you are doing.

Laurie

megd93 · Regular Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 46

Thats great news. Tell Randi I am really happy for her. I had more methotraxate today. I am actually getting used to the daily lumbar punctures and if they give me a morphine boost right before I don't get a headache after.
Sebastion is great. His black eye is turning purple and his dad just rolled his eyes after hearing it from the principel what happened. What no one told me is that Sebastion threw the first punch.
I never really understood why choosing a high school was that big a deal. I mean they are all really good schools with great college admissions rates(both had 100% go on to ivy leauge schools). In my opinion it is to soon to start worrying about college.
Congrats again on your news I have more schoolwork to do(I am sooo behind and I am only taking 2 classes). Can Randi go back to school- can you go during radiation? Bye Very Happy

Boldelly · Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:57 pm Post subject: Re: kid with swollen lymph nodes

He baby I am so glad you are doing well, you always sound so positive in your wiritng, sometimes I can tell you are having a hard time, but you have a good attitude.

I don't blame Sebastion one bit for what he did!!! I am sure his dad completely understood.

I agree with you about worring about college right now you have other things to put first right now. College will be there for you dear. I hear you want to be a brain surgeon just like your mom and I know you would be a great one. So like they tell me/us try to take just one day at a time.

When we went to the Radiation Oncolgist today he said tha the fact that the lymphoma traveled to the should bone which is completely away from her lymph nodes was a very rare thing. He says that if it had not traveled there she would be a stage 2. He says that being a stage 4 and where the cancer went does decrease her cure rate to about 70% but he is optomistic that we can still get the 90-95% cure. So me telling you to try to take it one day at a time is something I have to practice all the time. Now I worry will it come back, is the radiation going to take care of it, how hard of chemo will they have to give if it does come back. But I should not think that far ahead and just be glad that we have 3 weeks compared to 14 weeks of radiation.

Randi will probably not go back to school this year. She is still having a lot of neuropathy in her right hand and weakness in both more so in the right than the left. It makes it hard for her to hold the pencil or type so it takes her a bit longer. I think she will have to repeat the 10th grade. She was very upset about that but I told her there is no shame in that considering her condition. Things are hard for Randi in school (school work) so it may help her instead of hindering her. We are still having trouble getting a homebound teacher to come to the house.

They say the radiation will make her tired. She had to have more blood drawn today and she is so tired of being poked and her port has been bothering her so we went and let the chemo nurse check it and she said it was fine.

Once my son came home with a black eye from a party they went to. Some guy just walked up to him and punched him in the eye and my son is not the fighting type, he just walked away, but it really hurt his pride (you know boys and even men). It will heal and he will be all better. I commend him on his actions (not that I commend violence, but that was very wrong of what that girl said!!!! Twisted Evil

Well I hope and pray for you that things are looking up for you and they will continue to because you are a survivor and have lots of people praying for you. I wanted to ask you are you a religous person or does it offend you when I say things about God and praying for you?

Take care of yourself and keep letting me know what is going on and how you are doing. Oh, one ohter thing that kin folk (lol) of mine made that blanket anyway, do you thing it is not right for me to ask if maybe I could send it to the post office and have Anna or Sebastion pick it up and have your security go through it before it reaches you? If you don't want to or don't think that is a good idea then that is okay. I will keep it and have your name embrodried on it and keep it as a keep sake. But I really want you to have it.

Okay that is all.

Laurie

megd93 · Regular Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 46

Hey. Had more chemo today. I think it is getting easier. My white count is still horrible. I have to start shots to bring it up. Were those the ones Randi had?

I am not religious but it doesn't offend me at all. Most of my friends are Jewish but Sebastion is Cathlic. My mom is half Jewish and my dad is Protestant.

I can see what I can do about getting the blanket. Please thank whoever is making it. I know you wouldn't do anything bad but there are crazy people. My mom works directly with the president advicing about health things and traveling wherever needed to see what is going on from a health standpoint. She has secret service agents for her safety and depending on the threat level me and Jeff have several. We always have one with us at all times. We live on an island and have a gatehouse at the bridge to it with armed guards and their is a stone wall with cameras around the rest of the property that are watched 24/7. The beach and docks also have guards. Just a little story; I wanted to walk home from school like any normal kid instead of going in the limo so I had a huge fit about 2 years ago and my parents said sure. We had helicopters overhead plus Jan(my agent), she turned her back for just a second and a guy pulled me by the hood of my coat into his van. I punched him and then jumped out the window of the moving car. Other then being terrified I just had fractured my ankle. I was sooo scared for weeks after that about leaving the house. I also realized my family was never going to live normally. Also, a reason not everyone at school likes me since everyone has to be checked before going into school. Back to the blanket I can ask if someone can pick it up. The main concern woud be anthrax then small pox but there are other things to worry about. We have had several anthrax incidents but none were confirmed.

Is summer school an option? I missed the entire year of second grade due to a movie and had to go. I hated it but it was better then being held back. Not that there is anything wrong with repeating the year. Thanks

Boldelly · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:46 am Post subject: Re: kid with swollen lymph nodes

Well I am glad things are getting easier (if that is the word you can use) for you. I think it is so unknown in the beginning and you don't know what to expect that it scares you and maybe even hurt you more. Now you know what to expect so you can prepare yourself better.

Well honey you certainly live a diffent life than we do (not saying anything bad about that because yours is certainly more secure in all ways than ours). But that is horrible that someone would pull you into a van. I would have security around my child 24/7 too. I do know that there are crazy people out there. I am always telling Randi and her friends to be careful and pay attention to what is going on around them. Randi is a very scary child. When she was little she could not even watch the news because it scared her (sound extreme huh, but that is my baby girl) lol.

If there is no way to get the blanket to you that is okay, we just wanted you to have something from us so you can look at it and know that we do care about you and what is going on with you.

Yes summer school is an option for her and she will probably do it but if she has to repeat some of her 10th grade classes that will not be the end of the world, just may graduate a little later.

We went yesterday to the pediatrician just for a check up for the medicaid (insurance) she is now on and when I took her to the hospital when she fell last friday the x-ray report showed she had calcifications in pelvic area, who knows what that mean, but I am now researching it and calling her oncologist to ask what that is all about. Seems like it is always something. We also went to the radiation oncologist and they made the mask that keeps her head still and marked her body and even gave her a little dot tatoo on her chest so we can start Radiation on March 12th. We have to get the dental work done fast before she starts radiation.

I am sure you will get similar shots like Randi did the Neupogen/Filgastrum/and there are some kind of initials all for the same meds. They work though. Her radiation doctor told her that at frist when we came her white counts were really high but we were giving them to her for a longer period of time because thay had droped so low. Usually she took one shot a day 300 mg for 10 days but if her counts were low we still took the same mg but we did it for 14 days. They made her bones ache really bad but may act differently on you.

I am so glad you are feeling better. My friend Tanya said that Randi would eventually have a peace about all the treatment and stuff, she has not reached that point yet. She just absolutly hates going into that hospital for any reason!!!! Well we only have 3 weeks of radiation instead of 14 weeks. The radiation oncologist doctor was finally convinced when the reports came in that it was lymphoma on her shoulder blade and he said actually that may bring her cure rate down to about 70% because it went so far away from the lymphatic system. But he says from his experience she will still probably have the 90-95% cure rate. We pray. I guess we will find out when they RETEST AGAIN after her radiation.

Well keep me informed and we will keep praying for you and her.

Take care of yourself sweetie and keep your spirits up.

Laurie

megd93 · Regular Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 46

Hi. I hope the calcifications mean nothing.
I got a sheet about the shots. I think they call them nuelesta or something like that.
Not much going on here. We got a lot of rain. One of the building at my school is underwater and my whole house is. We will have to get new floors again. This happens every year since our island is almost below sea level. It drives my parents crazy. It is a big hassle to get the floor people in to measure and then install it. We have given up on carpet. Now we just get cheap hardwood floors. The problem is the first rain causes all the snow to melt and the ground is still frozen so it goes into the sound and comes back up and into my house. I think our poolhouse is going to have to be demolished from what is seems like everyone is saying.
Anyway, the good news is my mom said if I am better I can go to Costa Rica before school starts next year. WITH NO PARENTS. They were going to say I had to pay for it (where am I going to find $2700- I can't work cause I am not 14 and I only have acess to some of my movie money)but I got them to think surfing is educational(there is a rain forest nearby).
As for the security my life is pretty weird. Sebastion understands because his dad is a german diplimat so he has lived in different places including Saudi Arabi and Lebenon so he had a guarded house there. I still do things on my own but I have a person follow me everywhere.
I hope radiation isn't bad. I have to start it soon even when I am on chemo.

Boldelly · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:44 am Post subject: Re: kid with swollen lymph nodes

The calcifications I am sure are nothing I talked to a friend of mine who works in Radiology and she said that she thought she remembered seeing something about the calcifications, so I would think if they meant anything they would have told me. She is scheduled to have an ultrasound on Tuesday of her pelvic area anyway, maybe they will find something out then.

I have heard of nelesta which does the samething as Neupogen but I the the nelesta is a newer drug. May not be as hard on your bones as the medication Randi was on, hopefully it wont be.

Seems like we have some kind of doctor's appointment for something every week. We have 4 next week, Monday - Orthodontist, Tuesday - ultrasound, and Wens - oncologist and psychiatrist. I feel bad for Randi because she said that the doctor told her she would get a break, but seems like all she is getting a break from is the treatment, not that it is bad, but she does not feel like she has had a break from the doctors. But we just have to keep on going so we can get to the end of this time in our lives.

Galveston, some parts of it are below sea level and some of the places where we live also get water in the houses when it rains a lot. But I am sure it sucks because when it happened to my neices house, we went over to help and it was a total mess with having to take everything out of the house and pull up the carpet and all that fun stuff. I am sorry it has happend to your house.

I hope you get better so you can go to Costa Rica before school starts. That would be awsome and a good break for you. I am happy for you.

I am sure there are lots of kids that live like you and Sebastion and there is nothing wrong with that, you are very blessed to be provided for as well as yall are! Yall will go on to lead good and posperous lives. Enjoy going around the world and seeing things because some people never get that chance so always enjoy what you have in life whether it is just a little or a lot because God blesses us in his own ways with different talents and your moms is being a doctor and your father's is being a Reporter, who knows what you will do to make your contribution to this world. Smile

Here you have to be at least 16 to work and Randi was supposed to start a job at Krogers when all this hit. She was to go in for her training and when they called to set it up she was already in the hospital. But there will be other jobs when she gets better which I am hoping and praying soon. She already physically feels somewhat better but I think it is more emotionally that it is taking it's toll on her now. She has more good days than bad though.

I hope you do as well with the radiation and the chemo. I have heard over and over that the radiation is not as bad as the chemo. They marked Randi with a small dot on her chest with tatto ink and make a mesh mask to hold her head in place each time she get radiation and they put two stickers with X's on her sides. This way they can position her in the exact same position each time she goes. They say the whole treatment is only about 3 minutes long. Not too bad.

Well here I will end it as it is 1:43am here. Take care and keep me informed. We are thinking of you and praying for you. Are you home now? Stay strong and keep perservering (sp?).

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