Spinal Tap Tuesday

Hey all,

Just letting you know that Abby is in Denver today for her spinal tap/chemo and to start the monthly steroid treatment... Oh how I love those decadron days! Hopefully Tiffany will come back with some good ideas for Abby's stomach problems too.

Anyway, retroactive prayer for the day and the week to come would be great.

"not feeling good"

"I'm not feeling good." That's what Abby has been saying a lot in these last few weeks. It is so hard to hear that from a 3 year old, not just because I can't do anything about it most of the time, but also because she can't really tell me why. I ask her where things hurt, or how they feel but I usually get the same response... "my tummy."

Lately Abby has been waking up in the night a lot more. And last night she was awake crying about 3 times. We called CHOA last week and they said to put her back on Zantac, so we have. They also said it may take a while so I guess we'll just have to wait. Chemo medicines can be so rough of kids stomachs since the treatment is so long, because of that she might just have to stay on Zantac for the rest of the treatment.

I think it's probably an ulcer, or some other upper GI wall inflamation. What ever it is, pray that she will start to feel better soon and that her body will get healthier... she also has a yeast infection, so you can pray for that too. Thanks!

Man, what a year!

Well what a year it has been huh? I've been relfectiving lately as I remember each day from the past year on how crazy this whole year has been. It's been a year?! I mean that alone is crazy enough. From that morning before we knew that Abby had cancer until just a few days ago... one whole year! Crazy. She's done soooo well and grown up so much!

The night of New Years Eve I said a special prayer of thanks as I put Abby to bed and tucked her in. A prayer and a kiss on her forehead that expressed a deeper love, joy, hope, and relief than I could ever express in words. Please pray with me this year for another year full of love, joy, and healing for my precious little girl.

On this day a year ago...

It all started a year ago today. When I boarded the plane last year, on the evening of the 29th, with my little fever laden sweat ball of a daughter I didn't know much, I just knew she was sick. She had that rash, little pin prick sized bruises basically, all over her feet, around her eyes, and up her legs. She was burning up, even with the use of ibuprofen AND Tylenol rotated every 3-4 hours, without it she was up in the 103 degree range. The plane ride was not fun at all. Abby sat on my lap and cooked me from the top. The lady in front of us put her seat back all the way... ahh the joys of air travel. I just remember wanting to be home so bad... what was wrong with my little girl?...

All during the last half of the plane trip Abby's nose started to bleed and I couldn't get it to stop. Everytime it stopped she would cough again and up it would start. I think she seriously lost a lot of blood from that nose bleed, oh man, the memories... We finally got the nose bleed mostly stopped and then somewhere right before landing or right after she started to cough again... hard coughing... on taking my hand away from over her mouth I realized that the moisture on my hand was not just coughing goobers or saliva, but instead blood! At that point I think both Tiffany and I were pretty overwhelmed. She had a big coughing attack again right off the plane. Standing in concourse B, holding my daughter who was now not just sick with a wierd rash but also coughing up blood, we decided to call our doctor. Dr. Samuelson happened to be on-call that night and he helped to calm us and told us what to look for, and what to do if she started to breath rapidly. We had an appointment with him the next day at 10am so he told us to come in the next morning and he would check her out.

Well, to make the story of the long ride home short, we took 1-70 through Denver, the longer route, instead of going home via the country roads that have no hospitals. We put our bags in the living room, put our girls to bed, and fell into the bed ourself too. We were up a lot during the night since no one could sleep much with that cough of Abby's, nothing like the cough you get with the Flu huh! Tiffany and I weren't feeling too good either, we both were getting the Flu from taking care of our little sick Abby....

Well, I guess this story will have to told in daily section for a little bit.. more to come on the 30th and about the 30th last year.... actually, if you want a reminder, just read the first few entries of this blog.... they sure bring back the memories for me!

Didn't we just do this?

Didn't we just do this?
Originally uploaded by fireater.

Well, Abby's just finished up this months Decadron/Chemo pulse week. We started early, last Thursday night. She wasn't suppose to start this chemo pulse until Tuesday of this week, but they wanted to see her early and Thursday worked great because the Make a Wish Store party was on Thursday too. The Wish Store was pretty fun. Basically Abby got to go off, by herself, into a room and "buy" gifts with her wish dollars. They also had face painting, family photos, hot chocolate, Santa and Mrs. Claus... (what's her first name anyway?), and lots of fun crafts. Abby had a blast going shopping and I did too. It was a good way to make the trip that involved a spinal tap more fun!

And now it is over. It wasn't too bad this time, demanding but not too bad. It is nice to know what the overall tone of these weeks will be like. Abby wants to be held a lot and is generally tired and a bit moody. Also hungry of course and like to rest a lot instead of playing. But that is pretty good really, I'm glad that she tolerates it so well.

Other than that, not much has gone on around here... that is probably a good thing. I like it when it isn't so exciting/crazy around here... ahhh relaxation!

Merry Christmas... drink lots of egg nog for Abby since she can't have any this year.

Schreiber Baby..... #3

Just a quick post to let all you know, if you haven't already heard, that the Schreiber Clan will be getting bigger in May. Tiffany is about 14 weeks along and is doing pretty good, still a lot of morning, noon, and night sickness, but she thinks that things are starting to calm down a bit.

Anywho, just wanted to let you all know in a really impersonal way, yet efficient way:)

Hope all is well with you and yours

Challenges and Triumphs

Challenges and Triumphs
Originally uploaded by fireater.

So for the Milken Award I had to write some essays about different parts of my teaching style, my career, aspirations and such. One question asked me to respond to the "biggest challenges and triumphs" in my life. I thought you all might like to hear what I wrote so here it is.



A year ago, I would have had a hard time finding examples to answer a question like this about challenges and triumphs but life last year has left me well versed in challenges, now I have plenty of examples. Last year, on December 31st 2005, my 3-year-old daughter Abby was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic, Leukemia. To put it simply this has been the hardest and most challenging yet also the most rewarding year of my life.



I don't know if I can explain what it is like to have a child with a potentially deadly illness. I don't know if I can put into words how it feels to hold your cold and clammy shell of a child on the 4th day of a 103 degree fever while a doctor tells you the diagnosis of cancer and then sends you rushing down to Denver all the while wondering if you will lose her before this is all said and done. I can't even begin to express how tough it is to not only watch your child get, but also have to give, chemo "medicine" that make her feel more sick than when she started; medicine that makes her faces puffy, her mood erratic, and her legs so week that she is left only to crawl around on the floor on the rare occasion that she feels like playing. How do you explain to a 3-year-old the concept of cancer? How do you explain to a child why they feel so miserable and why they don't have hair when other kids do? Why they have to wear a mask and can't go to play with their friends in Sunday school anymore?



Yes, I've had difficulties, and possibly will have even more before this whole thing is done. But in the midst of crazy life that I've taken on as normal, I also have seen some of my biggest triumphs. Obviously there is the triumph of my daughter beating this cancer so far, but even more so, I've got to learn more about what true relationships are. I've seen family and friends, students and coworkers rally around me and my family so much in this last year. This has helped me understand what love is in a way that I will never be able to explain or forget. I would say that because of this, the biggest triumph for me personally is my growth in humility. So many people have given so much to me and my family and I will never be able to repay them. All I can say is a simple, humble, "thank you".



Basically, before this happened I would have probably written a response to this question in a way that outlined my professional growth, maybe my job change and the challenges and triumphs that were involved. Now though, it is much different. I see triumphs all over the place. From the struggling kid that finally "gets it" to the love I feel from my friends and family, these are all big triumphs in my mind. But the biggest one of all is when I come home from work, open up the front door, and get to see my beautiful little girls, one bald-headed and one with hair, come running to give me a hug. Just the fact that I get to hold both of my girls in my arms is a triumph that I don't think I will ever fully be able to explain. I still get to hold both of them, they are both still alive, not just one, but both. what could be a bigger triumph than that?

Back to glasses

Back to glasses
Originally uploaded by fireater.

Just a quick update on Abby's appointments this week. Her eye appointment was good, the surgery worked but one of her eyes is still misaligned so she will need to wear her glasses again. The doctor said that the alignment will ussually go away as they get older and the kids will just grow out of it. This misalignment happens to about 1/3 of all successful surgeries.

As for the CHOA appointment, all went well. No spinal tap this month, so she only had a blood draw, and Vincristine, oral Methotrexate, and the week of Decadron plus her normal nightly 6-MP. It sounds like a lot but it is much better than having the spinal tap, a nice "break" if you may.

Abby's a little clingy and grumpy this week but that is to be expected. Hopefully she will be a little better by the time that we go on the road trip in a few days. Well, that's about it, have a great day!

On to the next pulse

So tomorrow Abby will start her third chemo pulse of the long term maintenance treatment. I'll tell you next week for sure, but it really hasn't been that bad for her or us. She is a bit out of it mentally, probably from the Methotrexate, for a few days but seems to come back to the real world for frequent visits during the whole week. The grumpiness hasn't been too bad either, at least when compared to her 21 day stint on it that one time... That was rough! Her hunger definitely goes up during these pulses and she can be a bit demanding about it but it really has been OK. At least she doesn't get up at night and raid our pantry anymore!

So, I'll have to tell you how it all went next week but I think it going to be alright. Actually for the last day of the pulse, or the day following, we'll be driving in the van up to Utah and then on to Idaho for Thanksgiving. So, if she is grumpy and just wants to eat a lot on the trip that will be fine because that's what people do on trips anyway right?

Abby has a lot going on tomorrow so please be praying for good results. She has an early eye doctor appointment where they will tell us if things are looking good or if they will still need to do something else to help her eyes track correctly. I hope she passes with flying colors. After that she will go to CHOA to see Dr. Smith. She doesn't get a spinal tap tomorrow so that's good! She'll get oral Methotrexate, a Vincristine IV push and she'll start on Decadron. Pretty light day really. They'll do the normal blood work and check her out to see how she is doing overall and that will be it for another month. Much better than going down 1 to 4 times a week like we did in the past!

We'll I better go get the little ones. We hope all is going well in your neck of the woods too. 

Contrast

Sitting here staring at the fire, listening to a bit of George Winston Autum. This stuff always reminds me of living in our old house on Mulberry, where it was so noisy from the constant traffic that we played music all of the time. But the music helps me write and sometimes it's a bit hard to write down my thoughts about my family to a whole group of people that I may know or may not. Interesting stuff this public journaling. Maybe that's why I haven't written for a while. Ya sure, there has been a lot going on in life, but I don't think that is it really. Yes, we've all been sick since almost Abby's last pulse treatment, and yes that award did take over some of my minds thought capacity, but overall, I just don't think I've wanted to write. Both Tiffany and I have been very reflective lately. Reflective mostly about life and Abby.

You see, the end of October, or early November, was when Abby actually got Leukemia. Since it is a blood cancer, they can tell pretty well when the Leukemik cells started to appear and thus started to breed out the normal blood cells by the normal blood cells half life. I don't quite understand it, but it was within these 2 to 3 weeks a year ago. So, we go to the pumpkin patch and though I enjoyed it, in the back of my mind was this little voice saying, "she had it last year and you didn't know". Or saying, "she used to be normal last time we where here". I know weird thoughts but I guess it is just part of the process of greiving the loss of our old life, our cancer free life. A life where we all got to go to church on Sunday morning as a family, a life where we didn't have to worry about Abby getting sick from such a low immunity, just a more normal life really.

I know you all know it, but let me restate it. Life has been hard in the last 10 months for the Schreiber family. Lots of great things, don't get me wrong, but still hard. I think I'm comming to a place though where in a weird way I welcome Abby's cancer in our family because of all of the great things that it has also brought into our life. But just as often, and especially as we approach her diagnosis date, I think about how I'd rather trade all of the awards, money, and anything else that I could just to have my little cancer-free girl back from last year. But that's not how it is, and that's ok. What a joy she is. Maybe we'll pile up some leaves this afternoon and she can jump in them like last year. That will be fun and on perk is that any pictures that I take I'll be able to easily identify in the future since she still doesn't have much hair! What a cutie. Thanks again for checking in on Abby and the Schreiber family as a whole. 

I'm in a Daze... but it's not from Decadron!

I'm in a Daze... but it's not from Decadron!
Originally uploaded by fireater.

This afternoon at a school wide assembly a bunch of people from the Colorado Department of Education gave a give presentation to our whole school. As the assembly went on it became clear that one teacher in the school would be getting an award... a big award. They talked about the trip to Washington D.C., the black tie banquet in Denver and then started to add zeros to the dollar amount of the cash prize. 25, 250, 2500... then another zero, $25,000. Some teacher in our building was going to get 25k for teaching! I started to think who it was going to be... Dr. Madden? Some elementary teacher?... as they rolled out the giant check with the name on it I couldn't believe my eyes... It was my name, Mark Schreiber. They called my name and my body stopped working as hamsters started running faster on their wheels to try to power up my brain. I think my thought process was something like this..."my name was just called".... "there seems to be writing on a giant check up there with my name on it"... processing.... processing..."I think I may need to walk up there"... processing..."everyone is looking at me"... processing... "ya, that really is my name"... it seemed like forever, but somehow the message finally got to my feet and I started to walk towards the Department of Ed. folks to shake some hands.



Shocked is about the most mild way to put this, dazed may be a better term. Me? A National Teacher of the Year? One of 2 recipients in Colorado this year? 25 grand cash award? A trip to Washington D.C. and a black tie event in Denver? Crazy stuff. Slowly but surely it is sinking in. And yes, I think I'm still blushing.



You know just a few days ago I was looking at a large stack of medical bills and looking at our budget wondering how as a teacher I was going to pull this all off. As you can imagine, I was getting pretty stressed too. I try to depend on God in all of this stuff with Abby, but sometimes I just don't do a very good job with that. I was thinking how I was never going to be able to make this work, and then 2 days later this happens. This type of stuff seems to happen a lot and still I doubt God's provision in my families life... So much blessing on our family from friends, from our family, from my school, from all of you that faithfully read my ramble and pray for my daughter... man! I am a very lucky guy.



Thanks again for all of your prayers, support, love and compassion on my family! We definitely feel loved!

Decadron Daze are over... for now

Just a quick post to let you all know that Abby is done with her second pulse in this Maintinace phase. Her last Decadron (grumpy/hungry pill) was taken this morning, so hopefully she will be more like her normal self tomorrow.

She did almost suck her two middle fingers off though trying to comfort herself during last week and was rarely seen without her blanket. She did seem pretty normal though for most of the week, not too hungry, not too whiney, and played pretty well for a good part of the day before she would tank out. The first few days she did want to be held a lot and then today she also wanted to be held a lot but otherwise she did fine.

See what else... lots going on in life right now for me but on the Abby front it is pretty calm.

Good night and I'll try to post some more info and pics soon.

Long Haul

Long Haul
Originally uploaded by fireater.

It struck me last night as I crushed up Abby's nightly medicine and smothered them in chocolate syrup that we are going to be doing this for the long haul. Every night for the next year and 1/2 I'll continue to crush up some little pills douse them with syrup and have Abby take them with lots of water. It not that this make me really sad or even discouraged, just the way it is going to be. Maybe this is a good sign, a sign that things are going so well that I can start to let myself think more about the future without getting sad and discouraged. That's still a lot of crushing, but hey, if it helps her that's what I'll do.

So like I said, Abby is doing really good. She was a little nauseous from the Methotrexate on Monday night and all of yesterday but pretty mild in comparison to what we've seen. We'll start another Decadron pulse next Tuesday along with a spinal tap, Vincristine and all of the other "normal" home chemo meds. I think this one will be a good example of what these pulses may look like, how she'll feel and such, since she won't have had surgery along with it. Hopefully she isn't too grumpy.

On the University Village front I think I've got to the end of the road there for now. I finally got in touch with a statistical analysis person at the Colorado Central Cancer Repository (CCCR) and they were very helpful. Statistically the occurrences that I reported to him are not significant. They get about 200 calls from the public like mine each year and based on several factors they either can classify it as a cancer cluster or not. These instances would just be chalked up to chance on the statistical side.... ya I know it seems like there should be a connection, but I can also see this other side pretty clearly too. If it was a rare cancer, all the same type of cancer, or a higher number then it would start to become more significant but since it was 2 of the most common cancers in kids, ALL and Brain Cancer, it isn't as significant. Also since there are so many kids in that complex it also is less significant because there is a greater concentration of kids than in a normal population sample. Finally, even if it was significant, because of a large number of the same types of cancers, or a bunch of rare cancers, it would be really hard to calculate accurately anything about UV because it is such a moving target, people only live there for a couple years, and then move on.

So, I'm going to talk to the UV manager to see if he will just keep tracking any more occurrences and also talk to CSU to see if they want to investigate it further. For me though, I don't think I can do much more. If there is another case of ALL though... well, then I've got a problem.

Hope all is well with you!

More cancer research

So, I've been a little obsessed lately with cancer research based on geography. I've been up too late for my own good searching the ol' Internet for info. And talking to people from University Village (UV) that know a few more of the facts about what has gone on there in the last few years in terms of cancer occurances, especially with kids.

Here's what I've found:
More than one case of a single type of cancer in a small region could still statistically be attributed to chance. One site that I saw talking about statistically analysis of cancer occurances said that it would take 16-18 instances of the same type of cancer in a population of 200,000 people, in the same geographical area, to no be attributed to chance. I'm not sure how large of an area they were speaking of but it does show that these could just be a crazy coincidence. Doesn't seem like it to me, but it could be attributed to chance. I think a lot of this came from a bunch of ALL case in Fallon.

Also I talked to an old long time resident of UV last night and confirmed some of the information from the last post. Here it is:
6 kids total have been diagnosed with cancer while living in UV in the last 4ish years.
1 with bone cancer, age 1? I think
2 with ALL (Abby and the girl that we saw down at light the night). Both diagnosed at age 3.
2 with brain tumors... not sure of their ages but I think both were young.
1 with Lymphoma, age 16 at diagnosis...lived in the building adjacent to us. Not sure of what type of lymphoma but some non spreading type that effected some nodes in his chest, neck and groin.

So 6 kids. But according to research only the same type of cancer can really be linked together for statistical puposes sooo.... hmmm. Very interesting stuff to me.

Anyway here's what I'm doing:
I've called the UV manager to let him know what I'm doing and see if he has records of any other cancer case.
I've contacted the CCCR Colorado Central Cancer Repository... (thanks Julie for the comment on this) and they are going to call me back. These Central repositories are set up in most states now and they track all occurances of cancer based on type of cancer and geographical data. They also will research reports of "clusters" from the general public. So that's what I'm going to ask about.

I'm trying to take this research from the bottom up so that the people at UV don't get a bunch of top down presure with out being in the loop. Actually, I think most of the people at UV have kids and all of them live there so they all definately have a reason to want to help. Hopefully none of their kids get something. Maybe it is just a statisical anomaly? Definately weird though huh?

Other than that obsession of mine, things have been pretty normal. Abby's doing good. Her counts are good, and she has great energy. Her next pulse of Decadron is in 2 weeks as well as a spinal tap, and Vincristine. Until that time, we are just pluging away and having fun.

More news on all of the Schreiber's crazy life to come soon... and yes it's just gonna get crazier.

Light the Night, and a Wierd Encounter

I almost forgot to post about the Light the Night event that we went to on Friday night and some things that make you go... Hmmm.

So, we went to the Leukemia and Lymphoma "Light the Night" event and walked around Old Town Fort Collins with lit up balloons to help make money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. It was a good event all in all but there was this one weird thing...

We were getting registered when Tiffany and I recognized a young couple who also used to live at UV, University Village. I went over to ask them if they had lived at UV and the first thing she asked me was, "did you live in the 1600's?" I told her yes and asked her about her daughter, who seemed to have the typical round puffy cheeks of a kid with cancer. Her daughter, also has A.L.L. and also lived in the 1600 campus of CSU's Married Student Housing in UV. She proceeded to tell me of several other people who had contracted Leukemia, Lymphoma, and other cancers, at least 4 of them kids, all in the 1600 block of UV, 8 total.

So, basically that really sucks. I know that I couldn't have know about that when I signed up for graduate school and moved our family into UV... But it still stinks. And it stinks for all the kids that are still living there. I wonder if anyone will get it this fall? To me, there is an obvious link. There is no way in my mind that when 3000 kids a year get A.L.L. that 2 of them would get it 2 years in a row and in the same building complex!

So, I don't know what to do from here, but I don't see myself being able to let it go. CSU has to have good records of everything that has been sprayed around there, everything that those old buildings are made of, and much much more. It seems like a great opportunity to help figure out what may be one of the causes of Leukemia and Lymphoma.

Anybody have any ideas of where to start?

Eye Follow Up Exam

So Abby's doing really good lately, still not sleeping through the night yet, but we'll keep working on that one.

Tiffany and her mom and Anna, took Abby down to see the eye doctor early Monday morning... Anna drove. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention. Anyway they all went down to see Dr. King. He said that everything looked perfect for this point and now it's just up to the brain to snap it all back together. We won't know if the brain has started to drive both eyes, man everyone driving in this blog entry, for about another couple months. Until then Abby won't need to wear her glasses and in a week or so her eyes won't be so bloodshot either. So hopefully she will have straight eyes from now on!

That's about all on the medical front until our next appointment on Tuesday next week.

Out of the fog

Just a quick FYI to let you know that the Decadron fog has lifted in the Schreiber household and Abby has been reported to be in good spirits.

I came home from work yesterday not to find her waiting by the door for my like a lost puppy, but instead playing with Anna. Pretending to draw her outline on the floor like she must have seen on one of our videos. They giggle and laughed all the way through dinner pretending that their rice was some different food... "you want some potatoes Anna?" Anna replies, "You want some green beans Abby?" and on and on... They both were almost crying with laughter... Does my heart good!
Just nice to know that Abby can be almost back to herself, still a little tired, just a couple days after some pretty major surgeries and chemo treatments.

Hope all is well in your world too ;)

Abby's doing "OK"

So, Abby had her last dose of Decadron this morning so hopefully she will be back to herself in a few days. She was pretty sore the first day home, Saturday, and the rest of the week she has been doing so so. Some days have been pretty good, not too whiney, and not super hungry either. Most afternoons she has been pretty grumpy and very clingy, she would be content just being held all day long. Often she just sits at Tiffany's feet while she does the dishes or fixes a meal. Today, I found her sitting on the rug by the back door waiting for me to come home to hold her. So, hopefully she will feel better soon.

At least she has been sleeping well, for the most part. She's only really had one terrible night, the rest have been pretty good.

That's about it, not much to report, just a tired sore little girl that wants to be held because, as she says, "I'm just not feeling good" and, "I'm just having a hard time"...

Speaking of sleep... I better get some rest too.

5 day forecast

5 day forecast
Originally uploaded by fireater.

Sunny skies were overhead all week long last week so it must be time for a change. A sudden cold pressure system, attributed to Decadron, (i.e. the grumpy pill) moved in quickly on Friday and seems like it will be hanging around for the next few days.

The forecast for all 4 remaining days is as follows:

Sunday---Partly sunny with sudden intense Thundershowers showing up only to vanish seconds later

Monday---Afternoon looming clouds with a chance of the demands for noodles to fall out of the sky

Tuesday---More Thundershowers, often intense in nature, followed by high gusts of a whiney sounding wind that seems to sound like my daughter asking for food... must just be the wind.

Wednesday--- Ever changing weather, suggest wearing "layers", as hammock sitting weather may be on one side of the yard while gusty winds and rain engulf the other side... wear sunscreen, SPF 82, and bring your umbrella.

a.. Thursday--- Weather should be tapering down as the Decadron front moves out to sea... only to gain strength for another visit in 3 weeks. Sun should come back to the region as will the presence of my kind, sane little girl.

Ahhh.... the joys of Decadron!:) Pray that the weather stays clearer than my forecast predicts... hopefully I'm a bad weatherman.

Till another break in the weather.

Home and Healing

Well, we got home earlier than expected last night, around dinner time. Our good friends the Maddocks had dropped off dinner and it was waiting for us. I (Tiffany) sat with Abby while Mark got it all ready. She did really well. She doesn't do well with one of the relaxing meds they give before going into the OR so Mark went in with her, all gowned up. He said she was just chatting away with everyone and asking about what everything was. Then they put her under and he laid her down on the bed and left. 3 hours later we saw all the docs (in the meantime I took Anna to the zoo, she had a ball) and everything went fine. She has a new mediport on the opposite side (left) and the broviac site is healing without stitches. Her eyes are pretty red and bruised but will look worse than they feel for her. She also had a spinal tap and two doses of chemo. She came out of the anisthesia pretty confused and upset that her eyes were draining and she couldn't see but once we got her into the van she fell asleep and did fine for the drive home. Anna sang us Barney songs and a few made up ones of her own about flushing the potty the whole way home so we were kept entertained! Thanks for all the prayers! The next few days will be filled with her getting used to her eyes, healing from all the pokes and prods and starting the side effects of the steroid and other two oral chemo meds we started yesterday for this new maintenance phase of her treatment. So pray for lots of patience for us and that no infection develops in her eyes, there's a 10% chance of one. But all her blood work is excellent right now so that's good! Oh, and the doc said that the broviac needed to come out, it was hanging by a thread and looking pretty, well, lets just say it wasn't as clean as when it went in!