What a week

Boy what a week that was! It started on Monday with a flurry of tests which were very hard on Shania because she had no energy at all. Her blood counts where falling and she had a slightly high temperature. So after every test she would lay down and go to sleep. Tuesday she was very lethargic, so Karen called Julie (clinic nurse) to see what she thought. She came down to the pulmunary function waiting room on the fourth floor and took her temperature right there and said that she was going to be admitted. They also thought Shania was slightly dehydrated. Shania didn't like that news to much but it was for the best. You don't take any chances when your blood counts are that low. They hydrated her interveniously, gave her some tylenol and also a transfusion. Karen stayed Tuesday night. Wednesday Shania had a Bone Scan, by now she was starting to feel much better, although she still had a fever. I stayed that night as we switch every night at the hospital. Shania and I were having fun joking around and doing some beading when she asked me a very serious question, as sometimes eight year olds do "If I drink while I am peeing will I ever stop peeing". She has a great sense of humour and cracks me up. Thursday it was time for her MIBG scan. This is a scan that they inject her with a radiated solution that makes the cancer glow under there scanner. The MIBG is a very good test for Neuroblastoma. Although this test is good, they still like to do a Bone Scan and CT Scan to give them a total picture. Shania did very well considering that she had to stay still for two and a half hours. Everyone there makes it fun so the time goes fast. The staff in Nuclear Medicine are just excellent and they all know Shania quite well. While Karen was coming up the elevator in the hospital, she ran into Dr Baruchel. He told Karen that he got the results of the Bone Scan and it still showed the two tumours in the skull and a very small one on her pelvis bone. If these tumours were still there after round 7 and BMT, they would radiate those spots. On Friday Karen got her socks knocked off when Dr. Baruchel came into Shania's room and happily explained that they couldn't see any cancer anywhere on the MIBG scan. "Her bones are clear" said Dr. Baruchel. Karen and Shania gave each other a huge hug of joy, as tears rolled down their faces. Karen called me right away and knocked my socks off. This is the best it could every be going into Bonemarrow Transplant. We got home from the hospital Saturday night after her last transfusion. Next up on Monday, Shania gets a bonemarrow aspirate to test her bonemarrow and then Thursday she may get admitted, if her blood work is good. On Friday they want to Harvest Shania's bone marrow. They will use this as a back up if needed. On Sunday, her chemo will start. The chemo runs for about 5 days. After that Shania will go into isolation and get her stem cells infused in. Then we wait for her body to start to respond. So we're not out of the woods yet, we still have a long way to go. But it was great to get such positive news.
Shayne,Karen,Shania & Shannon.