Day 15

Jonny and I had a restful sleep last night in the Ronald McDonald room, but were woken up by a phone call letting us know that Emma had spiked a fever of 102. We rushed out of bed and headed straight up to see how she was. They drew blood and sent them off to the lab to see if they could find anything. We haven't heard anything yet so we are just waiting. Her temp went down fast after a little dose of tylenol, but she is now working on another one. Because of her fever they pushed back her spinal tap until tomorrow at 8 a.m. She still got her chemo today, and seemed to handle it well. She also received a blood transfusion today.

The doctor got the genetics test back, and it was still inconclusive. She said that it was either a rearrangement of the MLL gene or a deletion of the gene. A deletion of the gene has a better prognosis, but the doctor explained that the numbers aren't that different. I was alone when she came in with the test and didn't understand a lot of what she said. Genetics are very complicated and they are going to perform some more in depth tests that that the doctor can't even explain. They did not get enough white blood cells in the first blood draw, and now it is too late because they have wiped out all of the cells. We may have to wait longer, but Jonny and I have peace about the situation. We will not change the game plan just yet, so why worry? She said that they will be doing a typing test for her bone marrow, and will put her on the bone marrow registry so they can start looking for a match. This is still a possibility, but not for a while. And since Emma is responding so well to the treatment, we don't think this will be an option. Non-relative matches are not as good as if she had a sibling, but it has been done. Again, this is in the future and something we are not going to worry about.

She had a good day today! She seemed a little out of it at times, but we got quite a few smiles out of her and she played a lot. We got her to eat considerably more without it hurting, but we are still struggling. Her counts are still bottomed out, and nothing has really changed. She will get another platelet transfusion at 5 a.m. and then her procedure at 8 a.m. We are hoping that she will have a good rest of the week since she has been in better spirits these last couple of days.

God is so good! He has just sent such a peace over me. It's like he is telling me that he is holding Emma in his arms every second of the day. And he is holding her especially tight when she is in pain or uncomfortable.

It is midnight right now, and she is still awake. We actually got 4 oz of formula down right before the cut off at midnight. She can't have anything orally after midnight the night before her procedure. I am pretty wired right now so I don't think sleep is in my near future : ) I am going to try to get Emma down for the night since they are waking her up so early in the morning. She is also up so late because she spiked another fever of 101.5, but it is on its way down. Tylenol does wonders! On top of everything else she is teething and in a lot of pain because of that. She has the usual runny nose, low grade fevers, and of course the pain! The doctors won't let us give her tylenol unless she has a fever of 101, so we can't use if for teething. But, they made her a little coctail of lidacaine, benadryl, and maalox that we can rub around her gums to numb them. She's pretty lucky because most kids don't get that kind of medicine for teething : ) I think Emma would rather be home though, with the usual tylenol and teething toys.

Please pray again for her procedure tomorrow. Also pray that her fever drops, and nothing comes of it. Pray that she will have a good rest of the week, and the sores in her mouth and GI tract will go away. Pray that she will start to eat regularly without pain. Pray for the genetics test to come back in Emma's favor (a deletion of the gene rather than a rearrangement), and as always a complete healing.