This is Cute

I absolutely loved this picture. I was surprised to open up the paper the day after the ball game and see it. I didn't even know someone took the picture, much less give anyone any information about our girl. Ally just looks so innocent in the picture. And happy. I still don't think she was quite herself that night, so seeing her look so happy made me very happy. I love seeing my Dad encouraging her. It will go down as one of my favorite pictures and it tells such a story just by looking at it.

Ally went to the clinic on Thursday for her monthly chemo infusion. The actual appointment went very well. However I wasn't too thrilled with the results. Her ANC had dropped to 630. This is about half of what they would like it to be. The goal is to keep it about 1200-1500. Dr B said not to be concerned, that he would decrease the amount of her daily medications that she gets and try to bring it back up. So we have to recheck it in a week. It is funny because we used to feel so safe if the ANC was over 500, but once we are used to it being higher, now we are more tentative with this low ANC.

The most concerning part of the appointment was her liver numbers. The liver numbers were not back from the lab yet, and her chemo was done, so Dr B let us go home and said they would call. Later in the day, I got a message that her AST and ALT numbers were both very high. Dr B had been wanting her to see a GI (stomach) specialist anyway, because much of the past year Ally has dealt with stomach pain. It has been her primary complaint. Now that these numbers were higher, it became more of a priority. I really don't know anything about it...except the numbers are suppposed to be between 40-60 and hers are around 480. Alarming.

It is all scary. The chemo that saved her from the leukemia is known for causing organ damage. She will be watched for something like 20 years for long term side effects. The chemos themselves can cause secondary cancers. They are such strong and powerful drugs especially in a child who is still growing/developing. I am hoping we are not looking at something like this, but rather hoping that these numbers may still be spiked up from that horrible virus (that Dr B referred to as a hepatitis?) He did think the numbers should be going down, so we are getting them tested again this week. And we are seeing the GI specialist tomorrow.

I am a bit afraid we are not going to get any answers tomorrow. I am kinda expecting that actually. It is part of the territory that we are walking through. Some people think that the doctors have all the answers and know what to do. Although they are very very smart and have all of my respect, the human body is still somewhat of a puzzle and sometimes they just don't know what is going on.

The really good news is that Ally seems normal to me again. Just in the last couple of days. She is smiling and being silly and definitely has more energy. She does not appear to be a girl that is sick, and that makes our minds a little more settled. Even though we know something is going on with the liver. The intuition kicks in and she seems okay to me. We are trying to keep the worry at bay.

With that being said, we would still appreciate any and all prayers that the doctors know exactly what to do with her situation. That they can fix it and that we will start going down a smoother road again. We continue to keep all the children and also several adults we know in our prayers as they battle this dreadful disease.