Long and Busy Days

Did you miss us?

It's hard to believe that our last post was on Sunday. These days have been long and full of action (and tiring...what else is new?).

Trip to the clinic yesterday was L-O-N-G and frustrating for daddy. Her numbers are low but not horrible so she was able to get both medicines. Unfortunately, she refused to take the temozolamide in any type of food no matter how much we tried to convince her that it wouldn't taste bad (and it shouldn't). She's way too smart for us now and knows that when we bring her food or drink that is unopened, it is already "tainted" with something.

Anyway, Roger took the prescription to the compounding pharmacy and they made a concoction. Fortunately, we only have to do this medicine once a day until Friday (for now). The topotecan infusion also seems to be going well.

Oh, and she's still having problems with no poop. I think it might be the Zofran that's stopping her up so we're back on the mag citrate regimen.

She's been very quiet and mellow lately. She definitely gets tired quickly. I took her to OT today and she worked hard. Then we had to go back to the orthotic place to get her brace readjusted. The PT wants her to go back to wearing the brace again just to help support her muscles. They are still carrying a lot of tension and it should help with the overcompensation.

In other news:

We found out that BOTH MD Anderson AND Shands Jacksonville are in our insurance network AND they should be able to find us radiation oncologists in-network at both places as well AND the insurance will cover the proton beam radiation (yay). This opens up a whole host of possibilities and I think MD Anderson is back on the table for options. While we know we would have great family/friend support in Jacksonville, MD Anderson is already going to be fully supportive of her protocol (since they created it) and we wouldn't have to get to know a whole host of new physicians. Plus, we know they will accept her in TX. Not so sure about FL yet.

SOOOO...Roger and I have been doing some talking and we will talk some more tonight. Look for a big announcement tomorrow I guess.

The other potentially bad news is that wherever they go, they may want her there as early as the end of next week. That's right. We may have to reschedule her birthday party. Stay tuned and we will let you know. Kind of a bummer but we're learning how to go with the flow....

Meanwhile we have also been looking at the transportation logistics. Odds are, one of us (probably Roger) would fly out to (wherever) initially with Charlotte and we would switch places about every two weeks. Whoever is in VA would cover RNR and hold down the fort. The other person would handle Charlotte and all the medical stuff. Oh joy. It really doesn't make me happy as I know that part of why and how we have survived all of this so far is because Roger and I make a great team. This goes for parenting as well as all the business stuff. Potentially, Roger and I may go over 6 weeks without some quality time together and we haven't done that since before we got married (let alone had our lives in crisis). Yes, we know we will need lots of support and we will plan to seek it out!!!

Fortunately we have some airline credits saved up on AirTran that will probably help with tickets and the fundraising efforts will definitely help with travel expenses. We will be investigating lodging options (apartments, Ronald McDonald House, etc.) once we make a final decision.

So that's my update for now. More to come. I'm hungry and dinner (cooked by the 'rents) is calling...

Rachel