30 Apr 2009, 9:25pm EST
Hello everyone. We have some results, and they have spoken to Dr Furman today. He said Kara looks good and shows no outward symptoms. A lot has been going on today and they've had to make a BIG decision.

Kara still shows some residual disease (cancer). They saw a faint spot on 1 leg.
They don't have the pathology report from the bone morrow biopsy back yet, but Dr Furman said they saw a small lump in the morrow from one side of Kara. They are saying she's stable.

Dr. Furman explained that they are doing an antibody study at St. Jude. The next phase starts Tues. and they have found that it works better for kids with a small amount of disease, like Kara. He wants her to be in it. They can always do more chemo on Kara, but they won't always be able to get her in this study. After prayer and discussions, Tony & Megan want Kara to be in this also. The antibodies are not toxic. That is wonderful part! She will be closely monitored during this study. Since this starts Tuesday, they will come home tomorrow after she has an eye exam. Tony will work the weekend, and he wants to be with Kara during this first round, so they leave again this Monday back to Memphis. Kara will be inpatient on the ICU floor for 4 days while she is injected with the antibodies. The 5th day she'll be examined and released to come home. She'll have a follow up appt. with Dr Mylick at Children's hospital in Knoxville on the next Monday. Then she can stay home for a month. Then back to St Jude for another round of antibodies. There will be 4 rounds total. Megan can tell you more when she gets home. This is just the basics of what they know so far. They are ready to get out and enjoy the evening.

Please pray for a little guy with a brain tumor named Dorian. We've known him since Kara was first at St Jude. We haven't seen him in a while though. Megan saw his mother and talked to her today. She said that he has relapsed 3 times, and had 4 brain surgeries. Right now he is getting total brain radiation. At one time he wasn't walking, but Megan said he's walking all around now, but he's a very sick little guy. He is adorable, as most of the children are. These children are so strong and brave and fighting for their lives like nothing I've ever seen. We have to do more, this cancer is not going away! We can throw millions of dollars up in space, but we need to find a cure instead! Pray, Pray, Pray!!!

God Bless,
Mary

29 Apr 2009, 5:25pm EST
They got to Memphis late last night and had to stay at the Marriott downtown, this made the girls happy. They love the big fluffy beds and they like riding the glass elevator.
Everything went real smooth today. They went to clinic and Kara was checked out real good and cleared for her sedation tomorrow. Sandy, the Nurse Practitioner, said she thought Kara looked bigger.

Her chemistries, were good.
Her ANC is 1300,
Platelet's are 200,000,
her Hemoglobin is 12.6,
her white blood count was a little low, but it always seems to run just a little low.

Let's pray that all goes smooth for them again tomorrow, and for God's hands to be on the Dr's and the Angel's of the Lord protecting Kara during the tests. We especially want to hear good news...........NED (no evidence of disease) would be excellent!!! We are really expecting good news this time. Kara feels, and looks so good, she has energy and is a happy little girl. We are truly blessed. Have a great evening and enjoy this beautiful weather. I'll update again tomorrow. We love you all and thank you for being here for us, we need your prayers and support.

God Bless,
Mary

27 Apr 2009, 11:35pm EST
Kara's doing great, playing, eating, etc. She is back up to at least 40 lbs. now. Life has been busy for us around here - Tony's been busy getting things done around the house, working at the shop, etc. The kids have been playing a lot, & we have had a couple days where we have had quality family time together with extra fun time, and we also got the twins registered for K-garten. I am glad for the girls that they were able to go and tour the classrooms, see what they look like, & see some things that they will be doing. They did a couple activities, and talked with some really nice people at the school. I know this helped them!

We will be leaving out for Memphis tomorrow afternoon. It also happens to be Brent's 9th birthday. But, we celebrated today, and we are also planning on taking cupcakes and drinks into his classroom tomorrow afternoon. I know he will really enjoy this! We will wait to see the kids after they get home from school, and head out then. Tony & I will be taking Lauren along with us like we usually do. Erica & Brent will be staying with Mamaw & Papaw Lee at our house, and/or Aunt Dina & Uncle Duane while we're gone.

Here is a run-down of Kara's schedule for this week. I will have to start Kara on the oral potassium iodine drops that protect her thyroid on Tuesday. She will take these 3 x's/day for 3 days. She has to take these in preparation for her nuclear medicine injection into her central line. That is the "glow medicine" that works in conjunction with her MIBG scan.

She will have assessment and triage - to gather bloodwork and get her height and weight. Thursday is the BIG DAY~ Kara has a CT scan of her abdomen, chest and pelvis. She will have to drink a liquid contrast before the scan. She is scheduled for sedation at 11:30. She will have the MIBG scan first, and while she's still sedated, they will do her bone marrow aspirate and biopsy procedure. The last time she was sedated for this, she slept for a while afterwards in recovery. We are scheduled to meet with Dr. Furman (her Oncologist) at 3:45 in clinic to discuss everything. We will keep everyone posted. I will probably have Mom do the updates while we are away - thanks Mom!

Happy Birthday to Tony, Austin & Brent !!!!!! We love you guys !!!!!!

Have a blessed week...God is good....all the time!
Megan

20 Apr 2009, 6:13pm EST
Hello! Kara's appt. last week went well. One chemistry level was on the high side, but her liver enzymes were normal! Her weight dropped a little, but I'm sure she will gain it back before long. The Dr. thinks her skin issue is eczema, and we're treating it with hydrocortizone cream. I'm glad we don't have to take her to a Dermatologist after all, and now we won't have any more Dr. appts. until we go back to St. Jude. We will head out of town in 8 days. Mamaw & Papaw Lee will be staying with Erica & Brent while we're away this time. We'll take Lauren with us like usual. It gives them each a playmate while we're gone.

The kids had a fun weekend. Friday afternoon, they had some friends over to play, then that night, Brent stayed over with his cousin, and Erica had her cousin over, while the twins stayed overnight at Mamaw & Papaw Isaacs' house. Saturday, Erica and her cousin, and my sister-in-law & I went over to Sevierville Hosp. to see the new addition to our family Saturday a.m. Congratulations Amanda & Jud! Sunday, we had a relaxing day at the house, and today started TCAP testing for Erica & Brent at school. We are back in the weekly mode around here now....

We know prayer works, and we're looking for the best outcome on Kara's tests next week. Please pray that things go smoothly for us all. I hope this is officially the end of her treatment! Well, I will go for now. I hope everyone's doing great!

God bless,
Megan

13 Apr 2009, 5:50pm EST
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.... The kids had fun Saturday at the church egg hunt... Brent decided he'd play basketball with some of the older boys/guys, while Erica decided she'd egg hunt if another friend that's her age was going to.... She did end up doing it. Funny how a year changes things.... The twins enjoyed it, too. Then, Sunday after church we had friends and family over for a cook-out and another egg hunt. It was a beautiful day for it. Today, we had to take Lauren & Kara to have their K-garten screening. It was really interesting when I realized they both scored the exact same number on their tests. They were even sitting at different tables in different parts of the room, and tested by different ladies. I thought that was neat. So, they passed and did well. So, the next step is getting them registered at the end of this month. I am so much hoping that when we go back to Memphis that we get the all-clear. I really hope that this is officially the End-of-Treatment. I really need to have Kara caught up on her immunizations before school starts. I try to plan ahead, and stay on top of things, but when you don't know exactly what is next, if anything, it leaves things up in the air. But, I know God's taking good care of Kara! So, please keep praying that God's will is done when we return (in 15 days to be exact!) I know God has this under control, and we are really still looking for the best on Kara's scans when we go back. She just keeps getting better and better news each time we return to SJ for her scans.

I was talking to Tony last night and told him that this round of chemo she just completed has been her easiest round. She never did get diarrhea at all. She never had a fever. She had a belly ache sometimes, and she was nauseated some, and had a cold to deal with. But, no other side effects. She still has some dry patches on her skin, though. Kara heads back to clinic on Wednesday for bloodcounts and a chemistry check. I'll update more after we get back.

Please pray for Brooklyn & Shawn Durham's Grandpa (Tonya Howard's Dad). He has stage IV lung cancer, and is not going to have anymore treatments. Please pray for him, and his family. I know they desire your prayers now...they have had a tough year already .... Thank you!

God bless!
Meg

07 Apr 2009, 10:26am EST
April 7th .... April 7th ..... Exactly 1 year ago today, Lauren donated her bone marrow stem cells for Kara. What a day! God is amazing in what He does! I don't want to become so used to the every day rituals of life, that I forget to stop and think about exactly what God has done for us. I don't want to take it for granted and fail to thank HIM...HE IS WORTHY!

Today starts the 2nd (and last) set of 5 days of chemo. Saturday will mark the end of this round. There is only 1 chemo to take this week, and Kara doesn't like it, but she tolerates it as much as she can. I won't know what is planned next until after Kara's Dr. gets the results of her testing at the end of this month. Saturday, we also have the church easter egg hunt. The girls filled easter eggs with goodies yesterday, and Kara got so excited. She kept eating some of the treats. Last year, we were in the Grizzly House having egg hunts inside the room with Erica and Brent. So, she was asking me this morning how many days left until Easter. She is on a countdown.

Last night, Simba slept the night on our front porch. So, this a.m., Kara kept opening up the door, giving her Brent's tennis shoes, my flip flop, her hot pink baby blanket, and feeding her a poptart, pringles, and a taco shell. Kara's trying to take good care of her. Simba's probably 2/3rd's Kara's height now. She is growing fast!

Kara had clinic yesterday, and her bloodcounts were good for now. Her ANC is over 1000. She had a few chemistry levels on the high or low side or normal, but they were okay. She does weigh 40 lbs. now, which is 4 lbs. heavier than last year at transplant. She and Lauren are still contending with their colds. Lauren seems to have it worse than Kara right now. My Dad kept her yesterday, so she didn't have to go to clinic. On our way home from the Dr., we took a different road home. It has a hill that always gets the kids' tummies all butterflied-up when we go over it. So, after we went over the hill, Kara said it was "A Blast!" That seems to be one of her new phrases that she has been saying a lot here lately. Well, I will go for now. This week is a busy one for us! Please keep praying that God's will for Kara is done....

I had Kara's Dr. in clinic also take a look at a few spots on her skin (below right eye, on neck, inside both elbows) because they are dry, rough patches, some red and the one under her eye looked white. He said it could be caused by a few things, and we're not sure what, but that it's no harm to her. At this point, we're not doing anything with them, and he'll look at them again next Wednesday when she goes back to clinic for labs. If they're not better by then, he said a Dermatologist would need to look at them.

HAPPY '37TH' ANNIVERSARY TO MY PARENTS - APRIL 8TH!

Megan

03 Apr 2009, 2:56pm EST
Well, Friday is here, and I am glad! Kara is almost finished with the first half of her chemo schedule. She acts like she's caught a cold, and has been complaining of a sore throat, but she continues to eat and drink well. Can you believe she doesn't have diarrhea yet?! I am a little surprised, but glad for the change! She does complain sometimes that her stomach hurts. I figure it's the chemo.

Wednesday, we started off the day with Lauren at the Dentist. Kara went with us, and I should have let my Sister-in-law keep her. They had to clip a muscle underneath Lauren's top lip, that ran down between her 2 front teeth. It wasn't the most pleasant experience for either of the girls. Lauren is doing fine, and it's healing well. I know she's glad that's over with! After we came back from the Dentist, I had to take Erica to the Pediatrician. She has strep throat. She was out of school for a couple days since she was contagious, but she returned today. I am assuming that's what she had last weekend, too, when she wasn't feeling good. She just didn't have enough antibiotics to clear it completely up. The good news for Kara is that the antibiotic she is on continuously, treats strep throat, too. Then, I realized later in the day, that we had another mouse - I'm glad to say that it is gone now! : ) I also found out that Tony's lunch meat for his lunch had mysteriously disappeared....when I questioned the girls, Kara told me that they fed it to Simba. Then, yesterday, I realized that we were also missing Brent's turkey lunch meat.... I have to say, they know how to feed her good! One day this week Kara told me Simba ate her shoe, too. After she told me that, she saw where Simba had just taken off with it.

Last night, the twins stayed over at my Mom's and had a good time. They stayed up late, and played with their baby dolls. When they left last night, Erica, Brent, & I had some competition, races, etc. in the house. It was fun for us, but when it was over, I was ready for bed! This has been a busy few days, and I am still tired! Tony's been working odd hours at work this week, too. Well, Kara returns to clinic on Monday for labs and a check-up. I will update how she's doing Monday. So, have a great weekend!

Megan