Reeling

This post is #156 in a year-long series ... Through this series of posts I plan to share our family's experiences during our 17-year-old daughter's year-long battle with brain cancer, which began in February of 2008. My desire is to process through the events of that year from the perspective that a decade of time has brought ... for myself, really. But if you'd like to follow along, you're welcome to join me.

January 6, 2009

The remainder of that brief hospital stay passed in a blur.  The sudden roller-coaster plunge of the last couple of days had taken a toll on us.  The news that the "very faint stuff" seen in the area of the original tumor on Hannah's MRI from just three weeks ago was now "regrowth of cancer cells" had left us reeling ... especially after being told that everything was stable.  The sudden introduction of an additional chemotherapy drug with an entirely new slew of side effects was also a bit much to take in.  And then there were the concerns about administering either of these chemo drugs with her difficulty in maintaining adequate platelet levels, but the risks of not giving the drugs outweighed the potential risks of giving them. 

At this point, we just wanted to go home and huddle together as a family.

Before they would release us, though, Hannah's doctor wanted her to have a platelet infusion.  They sent over to the blood bank for the platelets ... and there were none available.  While we waited, they contacted numerous other locations around Little Rock where platelets might be found to no avail.  Apparently there were no platelets in all of central Arkansas.  At last they allowed us to go home with instructions to return the next day for an infusion.  What a relief to finally get home where we could begin to process the events of the last few days!

My email from a decade ago ... 

We should be heading home from Children's momentarily. Hannah had a good night, with no side effects at all from the chemotherapy she received yesterday. We are so thankful for that! One of the drugs can cause some rather unpleasant gastrointestinal problems, and she had no sign of that at all. 

They wanted to do a platelet infusion before we left, but there are no platelets available in all of Little Rock right now, so instead we will return tomorrow for an infusion. Then we will come back again on Friday for another one. Right now, we are just looking forward to spending the night at home! Thank you again for all your prayers ... God is good, all the time!

Jill and Brad