Izzy's Place

Soccer, 1st grade, and finding her sense of humor

2011-05-11T01:02:00.006-04:00

As cancer appointments have gotten fewer and further between (and taking Graf with us is a huge bonus when we do have to go), Izzy has shown that what she learned in perseverance has paid off. She has overcome some major deficits in school this year--going from an inability to write and read (due to predicted deficits post-cancer) to 100's on spelling tests and beginning chapter books. It hasn't been easy playing catch up at home or at school, but she has worked her booty off. (I have to mentioned: We owe a huge thanks to constant one-on-one help from teachers at school). Meanwhile, she has become! (I was going to list all those things she has become, but I think that pretty much sums it up :)

(Oct conference in SLC on temple square)

Kickin the crud out of a Boosterthon Fun Run...she ran 41 laps when 35 was the most they counted. No walking in over a half hour!

With some visual-spacial challenges, soccer wasn't the easiest sport to learn. She ended up scoring twice and was always the one that never quit trying. One of her goals I can still see vividly in my mind: She got a bit of a break away from about half field. When she got to the goal and gave it that last kick, it hit the side post and bounced back at her. She stopped, looked at it, slumped her shoulders very noticeably for all to see as if to say "you gotta be kiddin' me" and then kicked it on in. GOAL!! Then you should have seen her strut with her hands on her hips looking down at her cool Junebugs jersey back to center field. Man, she loves that jersey!
Happy Birthday...wow 7 years old! Pizza party on the trampoline with good friends...what more could you want!

Mrs. Hawkins should win best teacher in the universe award. She hardly refers to Izzy with her name. It is always "sweet baby girl." Her husband passed away from cancer and she has taken Izzy in with as much tenderness as a teacher could have. Here she's proud of Izzy for singing her heart out at a school concert.

GOOF BALL:

#1
Onions...the smell of onions....the thought of onions...let alone cutting them for cheese soup make Izzy tear up. Had to get a picture of it :)
#2
So sappy sweet for her Bo-Peep shot
#3
Always giving somebody bunny ears

and the winner is... #4
A snowflake pose she came up with all on her own in a dress-up outfit not allowed out of the house...lol!

Always livin' and lovin'

2010-03-02T09:43:00.003-05:00

I love to post for Izzy! Always conquering a new feat and living it up!

Even something as simple as dalmation day at school.
As for Leukemia...we continue to check her blood monthly and everything is still looking great! She has skipped over 5T clothing sizes and passed up the 6 months she was most likely to relapse! Counting blessings.

Jack-O-Lantern...Boo!

2009-11-02T09:37:00.000-05:00

Kindergarten!!

2009-10-15T21:05:00.002-04:00

Izzy started kindergarten, learned to ride a bike, and lost her first tooth!!

So we are 6 weeks past due on this post.

Kindergarten Story: Izzy's brain and body have awaken! Since chemotherapy ended she has lost a pound and gained an inch. She has also had the energy to go a full day at school (8 to 3) and come home wanting to do more school work! Mrs. Hodges has been a total blessing--Izzy loves her! She told me she wishes all her students were as eager to learn and content to sit, listen, and smile as Izzy.

Bike Story: We started with a tiny bike--the one that Lorin learned on and then noticed Izzy and Lorin are different! (like opposites!) Lorin can peddle 150 cycles a minute...Izzy prefers a stroll. So we got her on a bit bigger bike and she caught on quickly--great to see some physical coordination come around. Now she rides to school with Lorin in the mornings and can't get enough! (pic coming soon)

Tooth Story: A week ago Izzy came to me pumped to say she found a loose tooth. This is something she's been wishing for since Lorin lost her first. I thought it would hang in there a while, but she came home from school yesterday tooth in hand--she had wiggled it out on her own during class! The tooth fairy took care of a very happy girl that night :)

Izzy's Journey (video link)

2009-07-05T21:30:00.006-04:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/cory.costley/IzzySVideoTreatment?feat=email#5353297774305690898

Here we are--4 days away from the end of chemotherapy and the beginning of a new season for Izzy. Her journey has epitomized Heavenly Father's love for our family and the plan of happiness that he has for each of us. He has placed amazing people along the path to lift us up and carry us through--we love you. Thank you all so much. Enjoy the video :)

(Don't forget to click on "view HQ video" above the top right corner of the video.)

2009-06-04T09:33:00.002-04:00

Isadore had her very last spinal tap, her second to last round of steroids and vincristine, and started her last month of Methotrexate, 6-MP, and Bactrim. Due to low blood counts (not sure why), she has been on 1/2 dosage of chemo this last week and WOW the energy! We can't wait to see her completely done. July 10th here we come!

Izzy is a Texas fish!! She is swimming like a pro and is determined now to master the art of diving for sinker toys--working against the fact that her body naturally wants to float. We'll blame it on the steroids :)

2009-04-19T21:00:00.002-04:00

Just a couple of cute shots of my girl, Izzy. Every day we are amazed at her strength and spunk and can't wait for these last couple of chemo months to fly by! Watch out Kindergarten, here she comes!

So close to done!

2009-03-03T21:49:00.002-05:00

Izzy had her second to last spinal tap. I'm guessing she's had close to 30 of them. We're so close to July 10th we can taste it. She wasn't thrilled about the PJ getup this particular hospital has for her, but sweet and submissive as usual and thrilled that they let her keep the yummy smelling breathing apparatus.

I found Izzy all dutied up in red one evening--hot date or something :)

Happy 5th Birthday, Izzy!

2008-12-27T00:57:00.005-05:00

Saying "happy birthday" to Izzy is extra special having once questioned whether or not she'd experience 5 years old. She's our cancer survivor and we'll forever think of the black day that was March 9, 2007 when we celebrate her life.

She came down the stairs as a new 5 year old, completely dressed with no blankie in sight (big girl stuff, you know) and grinning from ear to ear. That grin only stopped once the whole day and that was to blow out her candles. With a holiday party at pre-school (in which she traded with a boy to get her own gift back again :), her favorite dinner, swimming with Abbie, and a b-day bash with the Strattons, she knew she was the woman of the day! You really can't get much sweeter or more loving than this girly-girl!

Mmmm....cake....good!

Zoo

2008-11-19T16:11:00.003-05:00

So Izzy's bladder infection went promptly away with the antibiotics. She continues to have little issues like this off and on, but nothing that keeps her down. I have been amazed at her all of a sudden looking and acting so grown up and strong. For so long it seemed like she and Ryan were both 2. But within the last couple of months Izzy has skipped a few shoe sizes and 4T clothes--just in time for her big 5 year old b-day next month. She wrestles with Lorin and jumps on the trampoline like a wild woman. She also rides her bike every chance she can get and can't stand going slow. All of these things seem pretty normal for a kid, but for Izzy not being fatigued and weak is a blessing we count every day!

gorilla face -->

Going to the Zoo in November and having to strip down (see below) because you're too hot has been a really fun change-up for us :) I was lucky Ryan couldn't figure out how to get the onsie off.

Angry!!

2008-11-07T18:36:00.002-05:00

OK, I've got 5 minutes to post. I've got to get this out of my system.

Izzy has had bladder infection symptoms going on since Sat. I tried to take care of them myself with home remedies I have been given. Monday was her appointment and I told them there at which time they took a urine test. I called back later that day wondering about the results and 2 days later I finally had to call and basically chew the receptionist out for her to let me talk to somebody (the same somebody that never called me back when I was told they would.) So, finally I got to talk to a nurse and sure enough her urine test was positive for bladder infection. IT IS THURSDAY!! She has had burning, constant urination (sometimes as close as 10 min intervals) and wetting herself often for 6 days and I never got a call back!!!! A LEUKEMIA PATIENT WITH AN INFECTION....HELLO DALLAS CHILDRENS!!!!!! Anybody home??? Angry!! Starting antibiotics tonight. Angry I'm not still dealing with my favorite doctors and nurses in Michigan :( Thankfully Izzy has been amazing and continues to smile through it all.

Done. Thanks for listening.

Weekend Fever

2008-10-21T08:56:00.003-04:00

We made a quick (of course quick is relative) ER run last weekend for a fever. Thankfully her ANC was really high due to us taking her off her chemo for the week since her counts were really low at the beginning of that week. Now she's doing really well again. I have seen her go from 3T clothes to almost growing out of her 4T clothes (that should be lasting a whole year) just over the summer. It's great to see her body finally trying to catch up. Here are some fun shots of what she's been up to:

McKinsey Kickball party--face paint being the best part!

Pumpkin patch with Aunt Jenny.
Blow-up slides with sisters. Hmmm, not really wondering where she got those germs :) She had a great time though!

Sleeping at the BYU vs. TCU game. I might as well have been too with how aweful we did :( I mean...go cougs!

2008-08-26T16:52:00.004-04:00

Here is a shot of Izzy at Dallas Children's--very excited she gets a sky walk to her new doctor's office. Doesn't she look great! She has been growing like a champ--of course the 5 days of steroids a month help a bit. Have you noticed the outfit goes with us to every appointment? Definitely an Izzy's choice day. (Reminder: Costleyfamily.blogspot.com up and running :)

This face cracks me up--chocolate all over it and she acted like "what are you guys laghing at?" Though she was fully aware of the mess.

A tender story: Izzy continues to pray every night for Grandpa Kofoed to get better and for Grandma to be happy. She refuses to accept that he has passed on. She will miss him.

Moved!

2008-08-02T21:44:00.007-04:00

OK, it's time to move to a family blog for our general family blogging. So go to costleyfamily.blogspot.com for an update of our summer fun and our becoming Texans. I will continue to keep y'all updated on Izzy's health here:

We have been very blessed as Izzy has gotten through half a year of Maintenance Chemo with only 2 ER runs and a hospital stay. The rest of the time she has felt amazing for having cancer and has been able to be a kid again. Our hearts go out to Morgan--one of our best cancer friends from Ann Arbor--who is taking some of her last breaths. She is 13 and adored Izzy so much so that she would bring a gift for her every cancer center day in hopes of a smile and a hug. Morgan is one of those kids I will never forget. (shot from last fall--steroid buddies :)

Izzy had quite the summer:

Boating at Bear Lake with Grandma and Grandpa Costley

Spending some precious last moments with Grandpa Kofoed

Playing the days away with cousins

Moving to Texas--loving sleeping upstairs in a pink room with Ryan

Now she is on to a new hospital and the works. This Thursday, the 7th, she will get her spinal tap and start the dreaded monthly 5 day dosage of steroids. We are praying for a good experience at the Dallas Children's Hospital. I'll keep ya posted :)

Izzy's Grandpa

2008-07-10T19:44:00.003-04:00

This is a quick note for those of you who have known Izzy's Grandpa Kofoed and his struggle with cancer these past 10 years. He passed away peacefully in his sleep last night, July 10th, just a few hours after his 68th birthday. We are grateful he has been released from his sick body and is resting now. We will be having his funeral Friday, July 18th at 10:30 a.m. in the Middleton Stake Center.

Thank you all for your concerns and prayers--we have felt every one of them.

Little Hiccup

2008-06-25T11:32:00.009-04:00

Izzy came down with a fever a week ago in which some heinous virus caused a 103/4 degree fever, her ANC to plummet down to 100, and her red blood cells to be completely anemic. She ended up with a 3 day hospital stay and a blood transfusion. With as good as she's been feeling, it was a little reminder that her body is still putting up with a lot.

Now her counts are almost all back to "normal" (up to par with maintenance expectations) and she is having fun swimming in Grandma and Grandpa Costley's pool and playing the day away.

We caught the end of the Bear Lake get-away after our hospital stay--all the sweeter after convincing our doctors to let us out of prison a bit earlier than planned.

Pile on Aunt KK

Shredding on the Flowrider

2008-06-15T20:21:00.001-04:00

We are in Utah now visiting my (Cory's) family. Izzy is doing really well, but has put on quite a bit of weight with this round of steroids. We are thinking that her body is finally trying to catch up with a imminent growth spurt on the way.

Yesterday we went with my family to play on something called the Flowrider. Here is a quote on what it is from the website. "The attraction operates by high volume pumps generating a continuous sheet of flowing water (approximately two-and one-half inches thick be up to thirty-four feet wide) over a specially designed soft riding surface. This stationary 'sheet wave' can be ridden just like a similarly shaped wave that moves in the ocean." Izzy had an amazing time shredding the "sheet wave." Here are some pictures of her mad skillz.

(After they shut the water off, Ryan got to play in the puddles for a bit.)

Spinal Tap in Idaho

2008-06-05T17:23:00.002-04:00

Izzy had her monthly spinal tap yesterday in Boise, Idaho. Kerri explained the process a couple of posts ago, but here are some pictures. We feel priveleged to be working with some great healthcare professionals again.

(As opposed to being accompanied by smiles as shown here, in the past this procedure was escorted by much discomfort and grief.)

Our New Home!!!

2008-06-02T10:47:00.003-04:00

We are excited to report MISSION ACCOMPLISHED on our house-hunting trip to Dallas. We went knowing the area and price-range we wanted and were able to catch an LDS family with 6 kids right before they put their house on the market ready to meet our needs (not wanting to keep it clean and show it for 2 months). We couldn't be happier about it and are excited to live in the same neighborhood as Scott and Mindy and the Bairds, and close to the Strattons and the Stones...YEAHHH!!!

Izzy update: She has fought off a couple fevers and one ER trip while in Utah. Thanks to continued prayers her fever came down (which never happens) on its own while we were away in Dallas. Otherwise she is doing a pretty good job at keeping up with her Idaho cousins for now.

Idaho Appointments

2008-05-11T12:06:00.003-04:00

A quick note to let y'all know that we got Izzy through her first appointment in Idaho and were very happy with the doctors and facilities. For her spinal tap, they did things a little differently. They gave her Propopol--a drug that puts her to sleep instantly and she wakes up within 20 mintues or so...just long enough to retrieve her spinal fluid and replace it with some Methotrexate chemotherapy. We had to go to the NICU and have a whole team of doctors there for it to happen due to the increased risk of putting her out. Izzy woke up and I told her she could eat and she was very surprised and ecstatic she had already had the procedure done. Usually she has to scream it out for 5 minutes through the pain. We were excited about the change-up.

As for the rest of us: We are loving being with family in Idaho and Utah. We love and miss the rest of you. Cory and his Dad are having the time of their lives in Greece, Italy and France. Happy Mother's Day to all you amazing mammas out there!

ROSS Kids Graduation

2008-04-23T18:54:00.002-04:00

Today was a big day for Izzy and her sisters. They got to graduate from Ross Kids (notice Izzy shaking the Dean's hand...big time!) I was able to take some fun shots on the grounds of the Michigan Union Building. Also, it was Lorin's last day at Bryant Elementary and Izzy got to help throw her a going away party.

Cory graduates Friday. The girls fly to Utah with Grandma and Grandpa Costley on Saturday. And Cory and I start the long driving trek on Tuesday! Goodbye Michigan :(

Add-on to last post

2008-04-11T08:53:00.004-04:00

Izzy caught Lorri's attention the moment her file showed up as a new cancer patient. She has been there for us in a major way! They're kind of bonded at the hip whenever they get the chance--two peas in a pod :)

Lori = Mrs. Claus! Known to pull the biggest stuffed bear out of the tiniest cupboard to surprise Izzy. One was so big I had to push it in the stroller instead :) We laugh a lot with Lori .

Goodbye UofM Cancer Center

2008-04-09T09:03:00.005-04:00

Today was our last Cancer Center appointment before the move and it was very hard to say Goodbye to these special friends. I have never met a more concentrated group of amazingly selfless and empathetic people.

It was Pajama Party at the Cancer Center today. Dr. Connelly was upset he didn't get the memo. Dr. Connelly and Izzy have a race down the hall after each check. He usually cheats and grabs a medicine push-cart to roll on--all in hopes that Izzy will bust up laughing. Their giggle sessions together are a unique experience.
Judy is our Spinal Tap lady--thanks to how patient and loving she is, Izzy doesn't hate her for how bad those hurt. In fact she's a favorite!

Marcia takes care of all of Izzy's infusions and transfusions--we spend a lot of time getting TLC from her. She must never have a bad day--always happy!
More of our happy cancer center family. Jessica in the bottom right is a Childlife Specialist and becomes mommy to my children as soon as we step in the room. Izzy adores her. For me to get to talk to doctors, check email, or read a book is her goal--ready to take her to Dallas with me :)

I think we're the only non-employees who have a free pass back into the offices (we get in trouble if we don't sneak back and say hi). Anne made Izzy this blanket. Lorri, Lori, Deb and others shower Izzy with gifts every time they see her (Think Christmas once a month). As soon as they send pictures ;), I'll post a few more "family" faces.

Wish Ball

2008-04-03T08:49:00.008-04:00

Last Saturday the UM Stars (a student run organization that supports Make-A-Wish) held their annual Wish Ball. The event was a formal dinner and dance to get support for fulfilling more wishes. Izzy was one of the honored guests, and the UM Stars did a fantastic job.

Izzy sang "I am Like A Star" in front of 200 peole--belted it out loud and clear.

(Izzy and Kevin, a doting UM Star) (Wyatt, Izzy, and Brooklyn dancing the night away)

People were very generous in providing silent auction and raffle items and in bidding on them.
Some of the items included sports memorabilia (e.g., signed Tiger's baseballs, Red Wing jerseys and a Rich Rodriguez signed football). It was an inspiring thing to see so many people willing to sacrifice for someone else.

As it turns out, Kerri was also one of the honored guests. She was the keynote speaker and got a standing ovation at the end. It was a great feeling to see Kerri be recognized for all of the amazing things she has done this last year (i.e.,mother a daughter trying to survive cancer, help two other children thrive and support a husband trying to fulfill his dream all at the same time).

Kalahari Waterpark and Easter

2008-03-22T11:58:00.007-04:00

We continue to try and party as much as possible with Ann Arbor friends before we move and while Izzy is feeling well. We spent Thursday night in a 3-room suite at an indoor waterpark in Ohio with the Maynors and the Ingmires. We had such a fun time! Izzy was full-on swimming (coming up for air when needed) for the first time.

We celebrated Ryan's 2nd birthday and Willa's first while we were there.

The girls have loved the Easter festivities!
Friday Night / Saturday Morning the Easter Bunny came and hid our shoes (a long-time Kofoed tradition) and each girl's treasure hunt notes and dropped off some candy.
(The candy has put them into a trance apparently.)

I thought this was a cute shot of Izzy's hair growth.

One Year Anniversary and Ode to Red Blankie

2008-03-09T22:44:00.012-04:00

Today is a fitting day for a little story as March 9th marks the year anniversary of Izzy's diagnosis. I let the Disney post linger a bit before telling the sad tale of Izzy losing Red Blankie on our trip:

The blankie I made her as a newborn, the blankie that has been her friend through all the rough times was lost (and I mean lost regardless of my blood, sweat, and tears trying to find it) in Florida. The first night without it she sobbed 'til about 2 a.m. But then amazingly she has not shed a tear for it since. I think she sucks her thumb less and has more energy without it here to lull her. So as much as I miss it :) I think it has been a positive thing altogether.

Izzy has a way of turning things postive as I was reminded today at church. Laura Hall told a story of babysitting Izzy once a few months back in which Izzy started really wanting me. Instead of crying, she found a toy keyboard of theirs and started singing a made-up song "I want my Mommy back." I thought it was a good example of Izzy's amazing coping skills.

I explained to Izzy today that it has been a whole year since she got cancer. I asked her what she thought about the last year of her life. She mentioned being at the cancer center a lot. I asked if she remembered all those leg shots we had to give her..."oh yeah I remember that." Then I said, remember when you couldn't talk for a while... "that was kinda funny," she said. Then when I asked if she remembers her seizure and ambulance ride and the doctors cutting her shirt off, she had absolutely no recollection of it. Strangely we had a nice little chuckle about it all as a family. And now, as recommended by Grandpa Costley, I think we're going to "cork it all like a bottle of fine wine and put it on a shelf: far far away!" :)

Red blankie used to have stripes on one side...
Red blankie used to be shiny and soft...

Red blankie got played with a lot...

Red blankie gave a lot of comfort...and got a little scuzzy...

Red blankie gave a last hoorah to Izzy and possibly found a new friend to cheer up...thus marking the beginning of a new year of feeling better and apparently not needing Red Blankie anymore.

THE END.

Disney World: Izzy's Wish Came True

2008-03-03T16:42:00.023-05:00

We had an amazing trip to Disney World this last week. Thanks to everybody who helped us get excited about and ready for the trip--UM Stars, Disney bucks, Disney toys, Make-a-wish, Give Kids the World and the amusement parks. Izzy was feeling great which made it possible to really suck the marrow out of Orlando.

Warning: Slew of pictures to follow.

Monday
We knew that we were in for a fantastic vacation when the limo showed up to pick us up in the morning and take us to the airport.

We spent the rest of the day at the Give Kids the World Village (GKTW) that was a mini Magic Kingdom where we stayed for the whole week.

(They had free ice cream at GKTW, and the shop was open from 7 AM to 9 PM. You can guess how many trips we made there.)

Tuesday
Tuesday we took the Magic Kingdom down to china town. They gave us a permanent fast pass to use on all of the attractions which was incredible, but it also made for a day of little breaks as we went from ride to ride to ride.

(Izzy and Jack Sparrow)

(A pretty freaky little roller coaster)

(We had a sweet Florida rain storm hit us as we were heading to our car for the night--Yes, I was excited)

Wednesday
We spent another fun filled day at Disney World, specifically Animal Kingdom in the morning and then Magic Kingdom in the afternoon when Izzy had her dinner with the Princesses.

Thursday
Thursday morning we spent some quality time with Mickie and Minnie and then headed to Sea World to hang with the dolphins and friends. The girls loved feeding the sting rays and the dolphins. That night GKTW had a Christmas parade during which Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up.

(Dang I look good in this one. The girls were wearing me out.)

(Izzy and Haley--a fellow leukemia fighter at the UM Hospital)

Friday
We decided to take a day trip to the East Coast and let the girls get their first taste of the ocean and a little sunburn. That night Izzy and the girls had a Princess party at GKTW.

Saturday
Our plane didn't leave until 7 PM so naturally we decided to spend some more quality time at Disney World after one last ride on the GKTW carousel. We rode on this carousel literally 5 times a day, every day of the week. I got close to puking a few times. At the Animal Kingdom, Lorin and Izzy got to be in a Lion King Festival show.

An Amazing Trip
After 24 carousel rides, 10 rounds of Buzz Lightyear's Coaster, 2 rides on It's a Small World, 1 ride on every spin in a circle and go up and down attraction, an African safari, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shamu, sting-rays, dolphins, a trip to the beach, 3 days at Disney World and one day at Sea-World our little Izzy's wish was fulfilled and our family has more strength to keep fighting.

Thanks again to everyone who made the trip a reality.

More Photos

2008-02-20T15:39:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more shots that Myra Klarman, Izzy's photographer, posted on her blog. To see the full post go to: http://relish.myraklarman.com/make-a-wish-princess-izzy

Make-A-Wish threw Izzy a great party at Jump City to get her excited for Disney World. She was on steroids all that week and so took it a little easy at the party. But she was definitely excited and had a great time getting to meet 3 of her Make-A-Wish Stars (The group of U0fM students who are sponsoring Izzy's Disney World trip wish). I'm waiting for some pictures to post of it.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for Disney World pictures . We leave in 5 days! YEAH!!!!

Fairy Princess Photo Shoot

2008-02-05T08:29:00.000-05:00

Isadore was really lucky to be invited by Make-A-Wish to her very own photo shoot with a professional photographer. (Http://myraklarman.com) Myra and Izzy became friends very fast and got some great shots! She sent me a "sneak peak" of the pictures:

Elephant Ears (http://relish.myraklarman.com/elephant-ears-kerrytown)--an adorable kids clothing shop at Kerrytown (in Ann Arbor) was so awesome to let us come and model their clothes (the fairy costume Izzy is wearing was one of them) thanks to Myra's hook-ups being their photographer. The 2 owners treated Izzy like a star and showered her with gifts. We had so much fun! Stay tuned for more of the photo shoot. Izzy will be featured in Make-A-Wish brochures and possibly the Elephant Ears store.

And while I'm at it...Cory and I got to go to MBA formal. Like High School prom, the girls all met together to do hair and make-up before. Then we danced until we couldn't dance no mo' with our good friends the Ingmires and the Maynors. We had a blast! (I would just like to say thank-you to my wardrobe coordinators, the Costley Women; my make-up artist, Elizabeth; my hair coaches, Sara and Megan; my child educators, Ben and Telia; and my dashingly handsome Man in Black...who made this all possible :)

Quick ER Run

2008-01-26T20:18:00.000-05:00

Izzy has had a few hiccups this month. She felt nasty for a week of steroids (5 days at the beginning of each month). And then Thursday afternoon she got a fever that cost us 6 hours at the ER. The ER doctor wanted to admit her as her ANC was at 600 (500 = neutropenic = automatic admittance). I told him 600 for Izzy is a pretty great number. They are used to normal kids who's counts are 5 to 10 thousand. Anyway she was asking for her chest tube to be unhooked so she could run and requesting Cheetos. So I got a hold of the on-call oncologist and we convinced the ER doctor to let us go home--hallelujah! Fortunately her fever never came back and she's feeling great again. So basically, this is an excuse to post some cute shots!

Lorin has been an amazing source of comfort for Izzy--so sweet!

We went to the Detroit Auto Show with the Maynors today! Emmett and Izzy are buds :)

We brought that place to its knees. The kids tested out the cars nicely.

That's actually a car behind us.

Happy Birthday Izzy!

2008-01-04T12:28:00.000-05:00

I've recently heard of some Izzy-update withdrawals...sorry, and thanks for caring...here goes:

Obviously no news is good news. In our case, no news has meant we have had more parties going on than we can handle. And Izzy has been feeling so great and loving every minute of it. Here are some highlights:

Izzy reached her 4 year birthday--a thing I questioned would happen 8 months ago. Whew! For her birthday our Make-a-Wish Stars (a group of students that chose Izzy as their make-a-wish kid to sponsor) set her up with a personal phone call from Dora The Explorer!! Not kidding, Izzy even asked her how she met Boots (her pet monkey). And she told Izzy they met up in a tree and decided to go on an adventure together. It was very surreal to hear this television voice through our phone. The amazing chefs at Cake Nouveau also had a special birthday cake sent to her:

Cory and I continued the spoilage with a b-day trip to Chuck E Cheese with friends: (L to R: Izzy, Lorin, Emmette, Ryan, Chloe, Evan, and Brandon)

For Christmas we met Grma and Grpa in Missourri where my brother's family lives with his wife and 7 kids (aka cousins galore). What a rush of fun and excitement! Izzy particularly loved the 4-wheeler rides!

(L to R: Summer, Lorin, Ryan, Izzy, Kimberly, Juliet)
Uncle Karvel with (L to R) Kimmie, Izzy and Summer.
Finally, for New Year we partied all night with the Maynors and the Ingmires (neighbors, b-school friends, rock-band stars ;). And when I say all night, I mean it--due in part to being snowed-in, we slept over and continued the party in the morning.

Izzy has had to continue bi-monthly blood counts as her dosage is causing her ANC to be a bit lower than where she should be for Maintenance. But all in all she is doing better than I ever thought she would, complete with teasing Ryan non-stop and playing with Lorin constantly! Still too good to be true!
P.S. The generosity toward Izzy and our family has quite overwhelmed us this b-day and holiday season! THANK YOU!

Jolly Holidays

2007-12-13T22:39:00.000-05:00

We have been flying high with Izzy feeling good this month. The 5 of us are having such a great time together! In particular we have done some really cool Christmassy things:

1. Izzy sang a duet with Lorin in our ward Christmas program. I tried to upload the video...didn't want to work. They did the cutest job, standing up there smiling and singing out. Granted there was a little microphone trouble, but they handled it really well. The first verse you could hear Lorin best and the second verse Izzy announced "I want to sing too" and took the microphone in which you could hear her best. Lorin just smiled and kept singing, so it was really cute.

2. The Ross MBA Partners Club and UofM Childlife specialists were able to coordinate a Christmas Store at the Cancer Center with donated gifts and volunteer helpers to bring some "shopping" fun to the kids who's counts are too low to go to regular stores. They were pumped to pick out something for each member in their families, complete with professional gift-wrapping!

3. Izzy got invited to go on a magical journey to the North Pole with other cancer kids throughout Michigan. Cory took her to the airport where they proceeded to board a plane that took off and landed at the North Pole. Santa and a huge celebration awaited them. She was on the 5:00 Channel 2 news tonight (about 5 seconds worth).

4. Finally, you've got to check this out http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1379704339. I have one question...who are all those cute elves?

Another Transfusion

2007-12-04T15:57:00.000-05:00

Contrary to the way Izzy has been feeling, her Hemoglobin was at 6.1 (aka. low). So we are in for a blood transfusion today. All of her nurses and doctors are surprised as she is being very bubbly and fun. Yesterday she had a triumphant moment and exclaimed "Mom I just made it up the stairs without using my arms." A week ago I thought she was practically back to normal, but then everyday she gets stronger and does another thing that I forgot she used to do (like trying to wrestle Lorin)--it's great to continue seeing the progress. Her hair is even 1/4 inch long now! Thanks again for all the prayers and thoughts.

NO MORE SHOTS! NO MORE SHOTS! NOMORE SHOTS!

2007-11-20T21:39:00.000-05:00

Triumph over the Biohazard jug containing all of her needles!

Monday was a day of good news for Izzy:

1. We got the call that Izzy is done with her Lovenox (bloodthinning) leg shots. She has been getting them twice a day since July 18th which is approximately 260 of them.

2. Her blood counts were up higher than they've ever been at 1,000 WBC (regular children are from 5,000 to 10,000; Izzy has been between 100 and 300 the last 2 months). We have been strictly quarantining her in our house ever since the last hospital visit.

So needless to say we felt like PARTYING! We called up friends and we all met at Jungle Java (kid's play place) and ate lots of junk food. It was very refreshing and Izzy was flying high with the chance to leave the house and play with friends.

So today we started maintenance kicking off with a spinal tap and 5 days of steroids. But all the doses are lower and should keep her counts between 1 and 2 thousand. Lots of smiles here! Happy Thanksgiving to y'all!

Feelin' Good!

2007-11-15T21:48:00.001-05:00

Check out Izzy's smile...she's back!!!

Home! And Intense Chemo Done!

2007-11-01T14:36:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures to go with the descriptions of the last few days' posts:

Rash and hives

Trick or treating on the cancer floor (shortly before leaving our vampire-like blood trail :) Izzy not feeling the best here. Notice the pink cowboy boots won over the red costume matching boots.

SuperGirl all tuckered out (after this nap she started feeling much better).

Visit from the Sisters--much needed on Halloween night.

Our ice cream / popcorn / movie party to celebrate our return and end of intense chemo phase. As you can see Ryan did what she's best at and took our basement/playroom down to China Town!

Staying Here for Halloween

2007-10-31T12:47:00.000-04:00

She really was perking up yesterday, but Izzy is feeling downright nasty today with constant diarrhea, belly aches and random fevers. The cultures are not showing anything bacterially growing, but apparently there are still spots in the body that could be hoarding an infection that doesn't show up in the blood cultures. So they don't feel good about letting her go, and honestly I don't either with how yucky she feels.

She wanted to trick or treat to the rooms with the kids though, so with some strian we were able to get her SuperGirl costume on and move her to the stroller. Things were going pretty well (she pointed to me every time she needed to say "trick or treat" so that I would say it for her), but then one of the connectors on her Port tube broke apart and we were half way down the hall before anyone realized the blood trailing behind--nice Halloween surprise. If only she had been a vampire it would have all fit together a little better, but SuperGirl bleeding? Com'on :)

We hope she feels better soon. I'll keep you posted when I can. (I'll post pictures when we get home)

Hospital Update

2007-10-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

Izzy is having a hard time with some phlegm in her chest and a hacking cough which caused her to need oxygen while sleeping last night. Thankfully though, the bloody noses have subsided and her fever has come down a bit through the night. She won't eat anything still (I think 2 bites of pancake was all she had yesterday), but is drinking plenty of water.

So, we're really hoping that the fever will go away and that we can head home before Halloween and at least party together at home since outdoors isn't going to work for her. But just in case, we have her SuperGirl costume with us--nothing cuter than a bald supergirl, right?!! :)

As for Izzy's morale, she is chatty-chattin' with me nonstop and loving me to rub her head and feet with lotion. When she is gagging and puking she says (almost everytime) "this chemo is really so hard....I don't love it." I think that's way cute. One of the student nurses this morning was sad when she saw Izzy telling me I could go ahead and give her the Lovenox shot in her leg (still bawling) and trying to hold as still as she could. Her strength is inspiring to me.

Thanks for your offers to help--I'll be calling you real soon I'm sure :)

ER / Hospital stay

2007-10-29T14:30:00.001-04:00

Well, I spoke too soon yesterday with my blog. Izzy developed a 103 fever in the night. With her white blood cells at 200 and her platletts at 5 they promptly admitted us (3:30 a.m.). If it is that infected thumb, the antibiotics they are pumping into her (7 doses a day) will take care of it.

A couple of concerns: with her plateletts so low she has been bleeding from the nose every time she coughs; and she reacted to something (one of the meds or the platelett transfusion) with a rash and hives. Hopefully both of these things will be cleared up soon. The doctors act like they've seen both enough that they are not too worried.

We've got at least 48 hours here either way. Thanks for your concerns.

Super-Girl

2007-10-28T21:38:00.000-04:00

Izzy has done an amazing job recovering from steroids and fevers. Fittingly, she wants to be Super-girl for Halloween and her cute Daddy paid handsomely for the costume (jk, it wasn't too bad :). Stay tuned for after-Halloween shots of that.
For now here is a cute one of her deflating (from the steroids) and feeling better. ***I should have started this long ago, but better late than never...new game: FIND THE HIDDEN CRAZY STUFF LORIN IS DOING IN THIS PICTURE***

Her counts are still very low however, and as a result any little wound is having a hard time healing. Here is a picture of her thumb which, ironically enough, was hurt by a hospital bed. After almost 2 weeks and lots of bandaids, it looks nastier than ever.

Home Sweet Home

2007-10-18T15:32:00.000-04:00

They freed us! I was actually a bit surprised as Izzy woke up after an endless night with a headache and a belly ache; her leg had a problem clotting after a blood-thinner shot; and her fever is still there, though minor. But the cultures they drew didn't grow any bacteria and so we will give her Tylenol until the virus goes away. All in all she is playing and feeling pretty good. Didn't want to leave you all hangin'. But I'm signing out with a quick blog and no pictures :) Thanks again to all of the help and love.

Hospital Time

2007-10-16T16:12:00.000-04:00

Another (at least) 48 hour sentence has been issued by the docs due to a fever that occurred during a blood transfusion (which obviously means her counts are way low again). So we have been here at the cancer center for 7 hours (all inclusive platelett transfusion, spinal tap and chemo) and await our room on the 7th floor where we will spend some more quality time while they make sure her port is not infected or something of the like. It's been a while. A hospital stay was predicted for this last intense month. We're holding out for November. I'll keep you posted! (Kerri)

Bye Bye Hair

2007-10-01T21:13:00.001-04:00

It happened all of a sudden, but a few days ago Izzy's hair really started to fall out. Kerri would run her hands through Izzy's hair, and it would come out by the handful. Today it started to look extremely wispy. So with the incentive of going to buy a toy, Izzy had us shave it off. She looks way cute. Her new look was definitely a shocker for us. But we knew that she would take her reactionary cue from us so we've been telling her how cute she looks non-stop. Here are some photos of her new look and some of the hair alternatives. Thank goodness she has her mom's shapely skull.

Quick Hoorah!!

2007-09-27T08:16:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to say that Izzy ended steroids Tuesday morning, and within 36 hours I could tell she was feeling better. Before she could not sit up on her own or focus on anything for longer than a couple of minutes, but yesterday she sat around the table coloring and learning her letters for a good 45 minutes. Lorin is very happy to have her playmate back a bit. As for the eating fetish....we'll just say it's come down a hair from her most feeding frenzy moments. Non-steroid moments are a beautiful thang! :)

6 more doses

2007-09-23T18:36:00.001-04:00

We are almost done with these dang steroids. Izzy is trying desperately to keep her chin up while dealing with constant diarrhea, belly pain, and extreme hunger. She prefers laying on the couch dawn 'til dusk and puts up with some stroller walks to the park even when she tells me "I don't need any fresh air." Lotion foot rubs are her other form of exercise :) But we are rounding the bend to a steroid-free existence once again and hopefully the lucky "Buddha belly" rubbing will bring some new energy.

Other than a port-poke for a quick blood draw, she gets a break from treatment this week. Starting on October 2nd we've got a month left (including 2 spinal taps...ugh!) before Maintenance begins (which will feel like a good dream...yeah!!).

As always, we appreciate all of you and know your positive vibes are coming our way.

Steroids redistribute weight to cheeks and belly as well as cause some swelling (and of course with all the eating, she has gained about 4 pounds which is good--finally back to pre-Leuk weight)

Between low platelets and blood-thinner shots she can be a pin-cushion for Halloween :)

Cancer sisters at the cancer center. Morgan (left) and Izzy are good friends.

Steroids...all the "rage"

2007-09-16T19:50:00.000-04:00

Steroids hadn't hit yet at this fun shot of a carnival ride.

Wow! Some major flash-backs to the beginning of April. Izzy has been on Steroids again now for 12 days. Major irritability, extremely tired, and her belly is so swollen she looks pregnant--it is hard as rock and yet her brain tells her that she is still starving, so she eats. It is the craziest thing...she starts talking about what she ate on a certain occasion 2 months ago and how yummy it was. Her mind is consumed by food. She wakes up in the night deciding what she wants to eat come morning. And then she sits there groaning that her belly hurts.

I asked the doctor what exactly the steroids do for her and he simply said "it is a chemotherapy." He commenced to tell me that it is one of those parts to the protocol that they don't fully understand what it's doing; they just know it plays a key role in wiping out any hiding cancer cells still looming in her body somewhere. So, we feel a little like it's the blind leading the blind. Then again we want that 85% chance that she will make it through this.

So we are in a bit of a valley as she screams (literally) for more food (e.g., mac n' cheese, pizza, and cereal all before 8:00 in the morning) constantly. If we remember to laugh instead of cry (or worse, rage back), it works a lot better.

Or if we remember that Make A Wish is sending our family to Disney World in February, it can help a bit :). The rep called and worked out the details just recently. Afterwards I told Izzy I was talking to her Fairy Godmother. Her eyes got so huge as she smiled in disbelief and said "I have a Fairy Godmother?....what color is she...blue or pink?" We had the cutest conversation.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Here is a video that is worth watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGS4yE5v9rM

These four ladies work at the cancer center doing all the behind-the-scenes grunt work. They bought Izzy this tile that she could turn into a work of art and it will become part of the new Children's Hospital when it is done. They love Izzy, and we love them!

Last Phase of Intense Chemo (2 more months)

2007-09-04T20:09:00.000-04:00

We are back in Ann Arbor with Lorin and I starting school today, Kerri and Izzy at the cancer center and Ryan with a babysitter from church. We are busy again but excited about our last year here in Michigan. ...nobody say anything about the Appalachian State game...

We had a great time in Idaho a week ago visiting Kerri's family. Izzy was feeling really good and had a great time with her cousins, riding horses, riding four wheelers and chasing chickens. I had a great time getting bucked off of a pony. If you are feeling up for a good laugh at my expense you can check out the video here.

Izzy is in her last phase of intense chemo. The phase will last about two months. It could be a really tough one for her in that the doses of chemo are heavy, she is back on steroids and she is still getting her twice a day blood thinning shot. The steroids will likely cause a similar swelling (redistribution of her fat) in her face and stomach as the first steroids she took did. However, we are extremely grateful that she is doing so well and that we are close to being done with the intense chemo period of her treatment.

Trip to the Hinterlands and West Coast of Michigan

2007-08-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

We just got back from an amazing trip to Western Michigan. A family whose daughter passed away of a brain tumor has a cabin with 5 apartments there in a little town called Wellston. The family lets families who are going through similar trials come and stay for free. It's called Little Mary's after their daughter. The cabin has a large playground and a small lake with a dock and boats. Needless to say, fun ensued. Thank you Maurine and family.

Izzy's counts have been higher through this phase of chemo, so she was feeling well and able to do a ton. We went horseback riding, canoeing, paddle-boating, swimming, dock-diving, etc. It was fantastic.

Izzy has her next chemo day on Monday of next week. We are getting so close to the end of the intense chemo, about 6 weeks left. This trip made us realize how great it will be to have her feeling better.

High Counts, Low pounds

2007-08-11T17:51:00.000-04:00

We were happy to find Izzy's counts relatively soaring yesterday. March through May she had about a dozen transfusions between platletts and blood and in June she had about 6 transfusions. But her body is finally picking up the pace and she hasn't needed any blood or platletts for July and August. Now we just have to figure out how to get her to gain some weight. She was at her lowest yesterday...25.7 pounds (Ryan weighs about 24 right now) and her 3T shorts drop to her ankles when she runs (it's actually really cute). The problem is nothing tastes good to her anymore and I guess that's common through this phase. So I let her have a dinner of brownies if that's what she wants. Extra butter, tons of cheese, chocolate milk galore, and full meals at bedtime. I'm sure the rest of us are gaining the weight she's losing :)

So to celebrate high counts and feeling good we FINALLY took Izzy to Chuck E Cheese. Since her first week in the hospital back in March she has been wanting to go. But low counts and scuzzy arcade games don't match. So yesterday was a huge treat for all of us (especially when high on excessive hand-sanitizer and clorox wipes). And Izzy ate 2 1/2 peices of that good 'ol Chuck E Cheese pizza...another win!

I also wanted to thank all y'all again. We have continued to recieve abundant donations, amazing gifts, and dinners sometimes 3 times a week. We could not feel more grateful for the constant show of emotion and generosity. Thank you thank you thank you!

Another Cancer Center Day Down

2007-07-31T15:10:00.000-04:00

The Cancer Center has become a happy place for Izzy. She particularly loves to see Jessica (picture), a Childlife Specialist, who has been known to tell knock-knock jokes with Izzy for 2 hours straight if that's what she wants. Back in March I thought she would never become one of those kids playing happily between infusions of Methotrexate and Vincristine, but she has and it is so refreshing to see. It makes cancer days doable.

On a solemn note, one of our cancer friends, 5-year-old Gavin, spent his last day at the cancer center. He has had 3 bone marrow transplants, and they are not working. So "team Gavin" (his main nurses and doctors from the last four years all have a team shirt) sent him home with a hug and a smile but unfortunately not much hope for him to live out the month. We are constantly reminded of how wonderful Izzy's prognosis is, not to mention how great she's doing now. But we wish the reminders didn't come at the despair of others sometimes.

Her shots are almost tear-free now which is amazing. Her counts are staying high enough to continue. She's loving to swim, ride bikes, and play with the sisters. And riding Daddy like a horse is at the top of her list right now--it's great to have him home again :)

The Art Fair and Shot Practice

2007-07-22T20:59:00.000-04:00

On Friday afternoon, we took the fam to the Ann Arbor Art Fair. It was a lot of fun walking on campus and downtown with the girls checking out the exhibits. The girls even spent some quality time in a fountain.

The blood thinning shots that we have to give Izzy every 12 hours to prevent seizures have turned out to be pretty horrific. Our system is to have Izzy in Kerri's lap. Kerri holds her/pins her down while Dad administers the shot. We got some advice on the least painful way of giving it to her, but to be sure I made Kerri practice on me. She tried a couple of different ways of poking me with the needle. Then Kerri might have ;) injected the blood thinner, and the blood thinner might have ;) burned like the devil himself stuck me with his pitchfork for about a minute. The poor kid has to go through it twice a day. Below is the shot of Kerri practicing, and my legs are not that white in real life--curse you camera flash. :)

Seizure Pictures

2007-07-19T23:10:00.000-04:00

Cory posts... Great news. We got Izzy home from the hospital, and the test results came back that there was no permanent damage from the seizure. Here are some of the pics from the last two days and one of the freakiest pics you'll see of the 911 team--they did an amazing job--and Izzy in seizure. (See last blog post for details)

911 team and Izzy's hollow stare during her seizure

The EEG test to make sure that the seizure wasn't still happening

Scarfing down some soup after the battery of tests was done today

Seizure

2007-07-19T16:05:00.000-04:00

We are still at the hospital, but I wanted to share our story since I can't call everybody:

Wednesday at about 2:00 Izzy suddenly stopped playing her game with Lorin and she turned her head away. Lorin and I were perturbed that she was being a turkey about the game. So I told Lorin to go do something else and quit trying to coax Izzy to play. When Lorin walked away I expected a protest from Izzy, but she remained unmoved, upright in her chair with her head turned to an extreme angle up and to the right. With a hint of worry, I picked her up and carried her to sit on the couch with me. I turned on cartoons and laughed at something silly, sure it would get her attention and she would turn to watch. When she didn't I looked at her eyeballs and they were fixed, unblinking in the top right corner of her eyes and her head still cranked up and right. "Izzy you're scaring me. Can you look at me and tell me you're ok?" ...no response...just a hollow stare. I turned her head toward me and it moved easily, but not her eyes. I knew I had to get her to the ER. Then I thought again and called 911 telling them that I thought she was having a seizure or something. Within minutes the firetruck showed up, then the ambulance, and all of a sudden there were 6 or 8 ER team members working on Izzy. 5 more minutes and Izzy and I were in an ambulance with the alarm blairing through the streets and the driver yelling back to the 2 working on Izzy warning them of each turn. It seemed like an hour, but soon we were in the ER with 20 more doctors and nurses waiting to restore her. Thankfully she began to fight with them and cry, her eyes now tight shut, wandering where she was and how she got there. 8 hours later Cory arrived (was able to fly in from Arkansas within our time at the ER) and at about that time we moved from the ER to good ole' Mott 7.

Today she is back to normal! Wow! What a miracle! Yesterday, before her seizure she told me she thinks heaven would be a great place to go, and I wonder sometimes how close she must feel to heaven and her Father there. Right now she is our little angel and we're hanging on to her.

So, EEG (pictures will come when I get home), MRI, MRA, MRV, no eating for about 22 hours now (she's still in the MRI room) and she has finally lost a little of her patience, but smiles in between telling me what she wants to eat first and then second and so on.

Lorin and Ryan got to spend some quality time with the firetruck team until friends showed up and took them for the evening. At midnight I was able to pick them up both sound asleep. They're hanging in there like champs (of course plenty of worried questions from Lorin as she witnessed all of the trauma).

Finally, the plan to reduce further seizure risk is for me to give her blood-thinner shots twice a day at home for at least a couple of months (that's right...me give her shots). The Chemo called Asparaginase causes blood-clotting issues (which is the assumed reason for the seizure) and will stop being given at the end of the two months. Doc said he's giving me my nursing degree when this is all over. I told him I don't need it, I call all the shots with or without it :)

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. We feel very loved!

Yeeehaw!

2007-07-03T17:04:00.000-04:00

Did a great job with her mask on the airplane.
Cousins, gotta love 'em!
Showing off her "cute little bubble."
Sandbox fun with Aunt Ali and the sisters.

Izzy and I just got back from Idaho and Utah last night, again parting with Cory (back to Dallas) and Ryan and Lorin who stayed with Gma and Gpa Costley. Izzy got to milk a cow, chase goats, pick peas, swim a lot, and get lots of lovin' from all the peeps that have missed her so much. Although there were some puking family members and others with fevers, Izzy thankfully stayed healthy the whole time.

Now back to the grind. Today her platelets were too low for her scheduled procedures (spinal tap, chemo) so they pushed us back another week. So 4 months left of the intense 6 1/2 months which has turned into 7 months due to the 2 setbacks we've had. (confusing? Sorry.)

On Friday she is getting an EMG (follow-up tests to make sure they know what caused her speach issues 2 weeks ago) which consists of them poking needles into her muscles to see how her nerves react. So it will be a tough day for her, darn it.

We're hanging on tight to the memory of the 10 days they gave us--thanks to everyone who made them so great!

We're Home...with Pictures!

2007-06-20T08:52:00.000-04:00

Wow it is so nice to be home!! Izzy was feeling so well and eating/drinking accordingly, that they unhooked her from her IV/Med pole for much of yesterday. This means playing on the 8th floor balcony playstructure, walking to the gift shop with Chrstine (see pics), and showing all the nurses and doctors how cute she is trying to run down the hall with atrophied muscles. So they said we could go and she started bawling "I don't wanna go home!" Here are some great pictures and accompanying descriptions:

Not so happy about the fully awake CT-scan.

Quite happy about the cute little x-ray chair (checking for throat absess, etc).

Extremely happy about the 2 kitties Christine insisted on buying her.

Findings

2007-06-18T18:44:00.001-04:00

A quick note...we have all breathed a little sigh of relief hoping we have found out the cause to Izzy's articulation issues. The Vincristine (chemo) she has been getting for the last 2 months has a really rare side effect (they had to dig to find evidence of) in which temporary nerve damage can happen in her neck--the same nerve that controls the soft pallett on the top of her mouth which explains exatly what the speach pathologists are seeing with her examinations. So...it could last 3 months or a few weeks. The waiting game again, but at least we have an idea of what it is. Phew! The upside, we get to play charades non-stop :) Thanks for your prayers.

In the Hospital

2007-06-18T12:48:00.000-04:00

We are back at Mott 7 (aka cancer floor of the Children's Hospital) thanks to a fever and a really weird speach impediment that all started Friday and progressively got worse over the weekend. The fever is not a huge thing--they expect a few of them when she is "neutrapenic" (blood counts at rock-bottom). It is protocol to admit her for 48 hours and make sure nothing grows on the cultures they draw.

But the speach issue has everybody stumped. I can't describe it very well, so bear with me. She is no longer able to say her p's t's b's c's...ok everything except the m, n, and ing that come out her nose. I can't understand her for the most part. So they did a neck x-ray, cat scan, and an MRI--worst case scenario would be a mini-stroke due to the PEG Asparaginase (chemo) causing clotting issues with her blood. Luckily the tests all came back with no huge indication that this is the case.

So we are waiting and watching. Meanwhile kicking back in Izzy's home away from home (the same room we were in at her initial diagnosis) watching movies and eating cheetos. The nurses all come in vying for Izzy's shift and remind her how lucky her parents are to have such a beautiful and sweet girl. She is an amazing little angel.

Last of Consolidation

2007-06-14T16:52:00.000-04:00

So Izzy and I are holding down the fort this week (this is Kerri for the first time--w00t!). She knows it's her time to have me all to her own, so Tuesday after dropping off the others at the airport she made me stop for hot chocolate and later she suggested dining in at Cottage Inn Pizza. She's runnin' the show like the Leukemia Princess she is :)

On Monday I noticed some blood on the side of Izzy's mouth. When I looked there were a bunch of bright red (what looked like) sores all over in there. Come to find out, it was petechiae from her platelet counts being so low. Luckily not mouth sores as we have heard they are very painful (those are a common symptom with the next phase starting in July). So she ended up getting a platelet transfusion as well as a blood transfusion (which we suspected according to her energy level) as her other counts were about 0 too. The docs assured me this is normal at the end of Consolidation...

Which leads me to yeah!!! almost halfway through the intense 6 1/2 months!! We are keeping our fingers crossed that those counts recover (which we will check 3 more times in the next week) so that we can go to Idaho and Utah for about 10 days starting on the 23rd. If it happens it will feel like a really great dream. So chant with me now...NO FEVERS! HIGH COUNTS!....NO FEVERS! HIGH COUNTS!

Family Pictures

2007-06-03T20:09:00.000-04:00

Izzy is back on schedule with her chemo and almost out of the consolidation phase. The next phase starting in a couple of weeks will be another induction phase that will have her going to the clinic every 10 days for chemo as opposed to every 7 days.

Her hair and spirits are still hanging in there like champs. We continue to feel so grateful for how well she is doing and the great support with which we are surrounded. However, we still have our bad days. We can definitely describe the last few months as the best of times and the worst of times.

We'll be working with a new change in a couple of weeks as I begin my internship in Dallas for six weeks. Family in Utah and Idaho will be taking Lorin and Ryan there for the first four weeks; and then family and friends will be coming to Ann Arbor for the last two weeks to help.

We took some family and Izzy pictures about a week ago that I've posted below. The girls, including Kerri, look amazing.

Low Counts

2007-05-16T16:46:00.000-04:00

Izzy's counts were too low on Monday to go through with the chemo treatment yesterday. This just means that they want her bone marrow to recover a bit before she gets more chemo that will kill the marrow. This pushs our treament schedule back a week, but hiccups like this are not uncommon. We'll take her in on Monday morning for another blood draw; and hopefully her counts will have recovered sufficiently to go through with the treatment this coming Tuesday.

In general she is still feeling really good with the occassional puking bout. Below I helped Izzy make a little Play-Doh sculpture. Kerri said it was the scariest thing she has ever seen. :)

Hamsters and Bikes

2007-05-12T18:53:00.000-04:00

Izzy had a great time celebrating her sister Lorin's sixth birthday today. As part of the festivities, Izzy spent some quality time playing at the park and riding her new hand-me-down bike from Lorin because Lorin got a new one today. And by some crazy alignment of the stars Izzy and Lorin talked us in to buying a couple of dwarf hamsters. The girls are loving them, and I made sure that when they get tired of them in a couple of weeks we can take them back to the store. :) You can see hamster and bike pictures at the end of the post.

In another vein, we have met a great family, the Hill family, during our visits to the hospital. Kelsey Hill is 18 and had lymphoma, but is now cancer free. It has been extremely enlightening to go back and read her blog to get the perspective of someone going through chemo since Izzy isn't old enough to fully describe how she feels. If you are interested in getting Kelsey's perspective you can find her blog at carepages.com. You will need to create an account for privacy and security reasons and then on the left of the account page click "visit page" and search for "kelseyhill".

Grazin

2007-05-09T17:35:00.000-04:00

We had a short clinic day yesterday with Kerri and Izzy only there for three hours. This Tuesday could be another 12 hour ordeal depending on whether her blood counts are high enough. If her counts are not high enough then we'll have to wait a little while before we have the 12 hour session.

Since getting off the steroids, Izzy's eating has gone from gorging to grazing. She will want food often, but only a few bites. Dr. Connelly says that this is common during this period because she is not feeling well most of the time. We've seen evidence of her nausea in the almost daily up-chuck sessions. They don't last long, and she usually feels pretty good before and after them.

Below the girls are enjoying some time out in the warmth.

Dance, Dance

2007-05-06T10:08:00.000-04:00

As evidence of her feeling better, Izzy decided to join in the fun last night during a mini-Dance, Dance Revolution party with her Sunday School teachers. For those of you not in the know, Dance, Dance Revolution is a video game that has you stomping on a game pad to various musical tunes trying to step on the right arrows at just the right time. It was a lot of fun to see her using those spindily legs to mash the game pad arrows. If you look closely you can see the increase in concentration on her face in this series of pictures.

Izzy's next big chemo day (12 hours at the clinic) is on the 15th of May. Her consolidation period, which has been some pretty intense chemo targeted at her central nervous system, should be ending at the beginning of June. After that she will start another induction period during which she'll only need chemo every 10 days. We're hoping her counts will be high enough that she will be able to make a quick trip with Kerri to Idaho and Utah to see our families.

A Month and a Half Down and 4 and a Half Months Left of Intense Chemo

2007-05-03T07:56:00.000-04:00

Sorry it has been a little while. As you can imagine we had a lot going on. After one of the toughest weeks we have had--3 trips to the ER and finally admitted for a few days all for a fever and a totally-understandable, Izzy, emotional thermal meltdown at the cancer clinic last Tuesday and me finishing up my 7-week long project at school--we used some of the moneys that have been donated to call in the reinforcements and flew Kerri's sister in to stay for a couple of weeks. Thank you to Traci who flew in this time and all of the family members that have come to visit and help and those that have made it so they could.

Izzy's chemotherapy these past couple of weeks has involved us administering chemo at home by mouth and through her port. It is a singular experience injecting poison directly into your daughter's bloodstream from the comfort of your home. Now that she is getting chemo everyday in some shape or form her hair is getting more sparse but still hanging in there like a champ.

As the title of the post suggests, we have completed about a month and a half of the intense part of her chemo protocol; and we have four and a half months left of heavy chemo dosing. She is getting big doses every Tuesday at the clinic and currently blood draws and usually blood transfusions on Fridays. Again, because of all of the chemo her blood counts are dropping quickly. However, strangely enough she is more herself than she has been since her diagnosis. She is riding her bike again with the other girls and gets moving pretty good with a cute shuffling run.

She has lost a lot of weight through the process which you can really see in her skinny little legs. To give you an idea of how dramatic the weight loss has been, she currently weighs 28 pounds at 3 and a half years old. Her little sister Ryan who is of average weight for her age of one year weighs 20 pounds. Izzy and Ryan are separated by a mere 8 pounds. When they wrestle Izzy has to work hard to overpower her. It's pretty funny.

Here is a recent picture of Izzy and Ryan and their cousin Carter.

Dad's Head Shaved - I Told You It Would Be Ugly

2007-04-21T22:02:00.000-04:00

Without further ado ...

Kerri shaving away.

An attempt to shave an "M" into the side of my head.

Lorin enjoying the feel.

Bald and proud (Kerri used her leg razor to really polish me up).

Surprisingly, I don't have nearly as many weird lumps in my head as I thought. A Good thing. Tonight Izzy was feeling a little sick and said to Kerri, "Maybe if you cut Dad's hair some more my fever will go away." We hope so Izz.

Besides shaving my head, the event was fantastic. There were about 100 of my fellow classmates and teachers in attendance. Again, we are overwhelmed with all of the support from so many amazing people. Thank you to all of the organizers and participants for working your tails off to help us.

Dizzy for Izzy Event

2007-04-18T00:41:00.000-04:00

A group of friends and school mates worked extremely hard to put together an event/party for Izzy this Saturday. You can find all of the info and buy tickets by clicking here. The general info is that the party will take place on Saturday, April 21st from 5 - 8 pm at the Ross School of Business courtyard (click here for a google map) and an after-party at Leopold Brothers, 523 S. Main Street, Ann Arbor at 10 pm that night. They are selling tickets to the afternoon party with the proceeds going to the Izzy Fund.

Our whole family is planning on being at the afternoon session, and we'll be shaving my head around 7 pm--I'm warning you that it is not going to be pretty. We would love to have anyone that can make it come.

1st Trip to the ER for a Fever

2007-04-15T19:59:00.000-04:00

Last night we noticed that Izzy's temperature was on the rise, so we kept checking it throughout the late night and early morning. At 3:30 am her temperature was 100.5 which equals a trip to the ER for antibiotics. Dr. Connelly assured us initially that we would have several trips to the ER for antibiotics during the course of her treatment because her immune system would be so weak.

Kerri took Izzy to the ER at 3:30 and 5 hours later they came home. The ER took her blood counts which looked pretty good and then gave her some antibiotics just to make sure that whatever was causing the fever got eliminated. She's doing pretty good now. Her temperature is still a little high so we are keeping an eye on it.

We are trying to find the right balance between isolation and keeping her life fun and semi-normal. It will probably be something we struggle with for the duration of the chemo.

Dinner and Games with Dr. Connelly

2007-04-14T11:05:00.000-04:00

Izzy's energy level improved this week as she only had the intrathecal chemo in her spinal tap and none put in to her blood stream. It was fun to see her with enough energy to play a little more.

However, a new side effect we are seeing is that it hurts her to use her legs. Several times she has had to use chairs or sisters to pull herself up after sitting on the ground and then hobbles around a bit.

On Wednesday, we had Dr. Connelly over for dinner and a stimulating round of Pretty, Pretty Princess, which unfortunately he didn't win--Izzy did. But we did get to see him wear plastic princess jewelry.

We now realize it probably wasn't the best decision, but in an effort to get outside--where Izzy has a lesser chance of catching something--while her counts are up and she has some energy we went to the Domino's petting farm. We had a great time. And we did some crazy post-animal-slime sanitation.

Easter

2007-04-08T19:44:00.000-04:00

Izzy has been feeling pretty sick the last couple of days after her chemo treatment on Thursday. I realized today after one of these episodes that she may not be chewing up Ramen noodles very well when she eats them. We'll have to work on that.

The girls had a great time yesterday decorating Easter eggs. Izzy's steroid driven hunger kicked in about half way through the process, and she gave up decorating the eggs and began eating them instead.

Happy Easter!

4th Round of Chemo and Mom's Back

2007-04-06T18:20:00.000-04:00

Kerri is back from her trip to Idaho, and I like to pretend I did a good job in her absence. Kerri had a fantastic time with her family--very rejuvenating for her--in celebration of her grandfather's life.

Izzy had her fourth round of chemotherapy yesterday. She ends up really tired and now nauseous (see pic below) for a couple of days after her treatments; but is having a good time pretending Lorin is her stallion and running her through her paces from the couch.

Starting on the week of April 15th we will be switching her long chemo days to Tuesdays as requested by our Doctor for scheduling reasons. On that Tuesday the 17th she will start her consolidation period--checking for the cancer in her central nervous system--and will likely be at the cancer clinic for 12 hours that day. We are trying to gear up for it.

Dad Holding Down the Fort

2007-04-03T19:46:00.000-04:00

Kerri has been in Idaho for the first few days of this week for her Grandfather's funeral. Kerri was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle Izzy and Lorin for a few days so my Mom came out to help. Kerri was right. :) I would have been in trouble.

We took Izzy in for her blood draw today. Having her port and numbing cream have greatly eased the process but memories die hard, and she still has a bit of a tough time. The cancer clinic has a fantastic Child & Family Services group who do a great job of helping them through the routine. Below is Izzy with Kim--one of the Child Services reps.

Izzy is getting more and more swollen in her face and belly from the steroids--a predicted side effect that goes away when she gets off of the steroids in the next few weeks. Someone gave us some great advice that children take their cues on how to react to the side effects from their parents, so we have been trying to put positive spins on all of the side effects we are seeing. In that vein, Izzy loves rubbing and smacking her Buddha-like belly for us. She and Lorin had a great time trying on some stylish hair do's from their aunts.

Remission!

2007-03-30T20:01:00.000-04:00

Dr. Connelly called with fantastic news tonight. Izzy's cancer is in remission (the goal of these first 4 weeks of chemo), meaning that less than 5% of her bone marrow cells are cancerous (actually 3%) compared to 85% when she was first diagnosed. All of us including her doctors are very excited. This also means that they won't have to intensify her treatments--we will be able to stick with the original plan. Thank you all for the awesome support.

Izzy's celebration consisted of some nausea that ended in her paying homage through the mouth to the porcelain throne. We are thankful that she won't need more intense treatments as the side effects of her current treatments are becoming worse.

3rd Dose of Chemo

2007-03-29T19:01:00.000-04:00

Izzy, Lorin and Kerri were at the hospital all day today for Izzy's 3rd dose of chemotherapy with accompanying blood draw, doctor visit and bone biopsy. Kerri wanted to take Lorin this time so that Lorin could get an idea of what goes on with Izzy's treatment. Below are some pictures of the medical staff prepping for and taking the bone biopsy (inserting a needle about the size of a McDonald's milkshake straw into the backside of her hips). She is conscious when they take the biopsy, but she is all hopped up on sedatives and doesn't remember the procedure.

On these days, Izzy comes home ready to just veg as you can imagine. Most of the side effects we are seeing now are from the steroids and are relatively mild namely: mood swings and wolfish appetite. Izzy is quickly gaining weight in her face, which is such an interesting juxtaposition to the rail thin Izzy before cancer.

Warm Weather and Lots of Food

2007-03-26T21:27:00.000-04:00

Except for the occasional steroid induced mood-swing, Izzy was a very happy girl today. We all took advantage of the warmer weather that never seemed like it was going to come and spent some fun times outside.

Another side effect of Izzy's treatment is a barbarous hunger. She asks for food all day long. Kerri and I both are amazed at how it all fits in such a tiny body. Along with the food requests come a lot of requests for Mom. I have tried to buffer some of these requests by asking Izzy what she needs when she asks for Mom. Today she responded by saying, "Geez Louis, Dad. I said Mom. Why do you keep answering when I ask for Mom? It's not fair." I guess it's not. :) Below she is enjoying one of the the many snacks of the day--baked potato with salad dressing.

Great Results and a Good Book

2007-03-25T21:57:00.000-04:00

Dr. Connelly called on Saturday with some preliminary results from the bone biopsies on Thursday. The cancerous cell percentage in her bone marrow before beginning chemotherapy was 85%. After this second dose of chemo, the doctors hoped the percentage of cancerous cells would be 25% or less, and it is--20%. Great news! They hope that by the 19th of April the percentage will be 5% or less, an indication that the cancer could be on its way to remission.

Kerri got a reference to a great book about childhood leukemia called "Childhood Leukemia A Guide for Families, Friends and Caregivers" by Nancy Keene. The book has a lot of great information that is helping us understand what is going on now and what will go on in the future. It could be a great resource for any of you wanting more information than we are providing here.

We want to express our gratitude for all of the amazing support, but worry that typed words may cheapen the deep-seeded appreciation. In spite of that, thank you all so much for the thoughts, prayers, hopes and other support. It has been awe-inspiring that we could be surrounded by so many excellent people.

I got my first experience with wearing a mask around the house as my Strep Throat came back this week.

2nd Round of Chemo and Ensuing Battle Plan

2007-03-22T18:53:00.000-04:00

Izzy's visit to the cancer clinic was a rough one today. They drew her blood, gave her a spinal tap, took bone biopsies and administered her chemo. They take the bone biopsies from her hips where her bum and lower back meet. To do the bone biopsies and spinal tap they dope her up so she is loopy and then a nurse proceeds to bend Izzy in to a ball and hold her there for a few minutes while they stick large needles in to her back. It was hard on Kerri and Izzy. However, they did find some comfort in a great play room that the cancer clinic has for the children.

Thank you all for the comments on the blog and other messages of support. We read them daily and really appreciate them.

Below is a calendar of Izzy's treatment plan for the next 5 weeks. They refer to these first 4 weeks as the induction period in which they are attempting to induce the cancer in to remission. They classify remission in Izzy's case as 5% or less cancerous cells in her bone marrow--hence the need for the bone biopsies which measure this percentage. She started at 85%.

The Thursdays in light red will be the tough days filled with chemo, spinal taps and bone biopsies. The Tuesdays will be relatively simple with just blood draws scheduled.

The consolidation period begins after the induction period. The consolidation period is a series of tests and chemo to make sure that her central nervous system is not affected by the cancer.

After the initial induction period and depending on how effective the chemo is against the cancer, Izzy's doctors will adjust the intensity of her treatment plan.

One change to our lifestyle is Izzy's twice a day doses of six medications. Below Lorin and she are getting psyched for the night's dosings.

Izzy's Video

2007-03-21T23:18:00.000-04:00

Hoping that pictures are worth a thousand words and more, we put together this video of Izzy's life to date and our hope for the future. You can see it on YouTube by clicking here or the direct link is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF3Fc0mNKcQ

Izzy goes in to the out-patient cancer clinic tomorrow for her second dose of chemo and a bone biopsy to monitor the cancer in her bone marrow. We'll be sure to let you know the results of the day.

Today she had a great time at the park playing with Lorin, Ryan and friends. During these times it still seems so surreal that she is sick.

1st Out-patient Hospital Visit

2007-03-20T16:45:00.000-04:00

We had a scheduled blood draw today at the cancer clinic. Izzy was not excited to be back at the hospital. They were able to use her port (or bubble as Izzy is calling it) to draw the blood as opposed to digging around in her arm. She still doesn't realize the difference, but hopefully will soon.

We think the results of the labs are great (we'll get her Doctor's opinion on Thursday). Her percentage of cancerous cells in her blood not her marrow, the source of her cancer, has dropped from 78% before chemo to 2% today. The general measure of her immune system is getting better too currently at 1.3 with 2.2 being a low-normal value. Kerri is making fun of me because I have all of these values over the last week in a spreadsheet so that we can graph and track them. Maybe business school is rubbing off on me.

We noticed another side effect the last couple of days--increased hunger from the steroids. :) Izzy lost quite a bit of weight in the hospital but is gettin 'er done at the dinner table now.

Izzy's Home!

2007-03-18T15:00:00.000-04:00

We got Izzy home at 1:42 pm Eastern time today. We are so happy to have her back. You can see that she is happy to be back too.

We checked out of the hospital with minimal fuss and a backpack size bag of prescriptions. Most of them are to handle the side effects. She will be going to the cancer clinic twice a week for the foreseeable future to either have her blood drawn, see a doctor or get her chemo.

We have to be very careful to monitor her temperature. If it goes above 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit we'll need to take her to the hospital to make sure that it is not an infection. Her immune system will have its highs and lows over the course of the chemo with the lows being often and deep.

To help protect her during the lows I took the liberty of purchasing roughly a crate of Purell hand sanitizer and scattering the dispensers around the house. All of the nurses and doctors said that proper hand sanitizing for everyone at home would be key to avoiding infection.

Visits to public places will also be out, especially when her counts are low. Unfortunately, Chuck E. Cheese is going to have to wait a while.

St. Patrick's Day

2007-03-17T21:34:00.000-04:00

Izzy enjoyed a great St. Patrick's Day party at the children's hospital.

Here she is attacking a leprechaun lawn gnome with a green hula-hoop.
Her labs (results of tests run on her blood every 6 hours) came back really positive again. The chemo has been very effective at lowering the affected cell counts. However, this also lowers some of her good cell counts like the red blood cells that carry oxygen to the body. If you look closely at the first picture, you can see that her line is red, and that is because they had to give her a blood transfusion today (common in children receiving chemo).

She will also likely need a platelet transfusion tomorrow before leaving the hospital. Platelets are the cells in your blood that clot when you are cut. This has been the cause of one of the first side effects we have seen in her which is called Petikia. They are little red spots that appear on her body like freckles that are essentially small bruises because her blood isn't clotting. Again this is a normal side effect for a child on chemotherapy.

Izzy, Lorin and I had a fun time after the St. Patty's party running down one of the halls from the magic doors (doors that automatically open when you get close). Izzy said, "They must have scary ghosts in them." After which she and Lorin pretended to be T-rexes and proceeded to scare the ghosts out of the doors.

1st Dose of Chemo

2007-03-16T21:44:00.000-04:00

Izzy had her first dose of chemo last night. It was a rough one for both her and Kerri. Izzy's breathing was extremely shallow restricting the amount of oxygen that was getting to her body. They had to insert nose tubes in the night to pump oxygen in to her. This and other procedures kept them both up most of the night.

However, all of the positive thoughts and prayers directed Izzy's way made a huge difference. Today her labs came back with great results. Her white blood cell (where most of Izzy's cancer is) counts came way down (a great sign of the effectiveness of the chemo) from 38,000 to 13,000. Another sign of the effectiveness of the chemo is the reduction in the size of Izzy's neck by seemingly thousands of inches too. The extreme size of the lymphnodes in her neck were what first alerted us that there might be a problem before her diagnosis--think Jabba the Hut. Her Doctor said as much would happen when she started chemo.

On the side effects front, she had some nausea and vomiting last night that has subsided with medication. We haven't seen the other manifestations yet.

Dr. Connelly expects that we will be able to check out of the hospital and take Izzy home on Sunday evening.

In the afternoon, she got out and played dress up in one of the playrooms here.

T-Cell Leukemia (ALL) Diagnosed

2007-03-15T21:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the first day that I realized Izzy was sick. After a full day of tests and operations, she was swollen and flushed. Nothing has ever wrenched my heart-strings like seeing her suffer through that.

Today was much better. Izzy was more comfortable, and we got an official diagnosis and treatment plan. The full diagnosis is Pre-T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The "Pre-T-Cell" part is referring to the immune system cells that seem to be most affected. The Acute Lymphobalstic Leukemia is usually condensed in to the acronym ALL. The two main buckets of leukemia are ALL and AML. The treatment is less intense for ALL, and it is the most common type of cancer found in children. You can find more information on her type of cancer at the National Cancer Institute site here and/or at curesearch.org. Below is a picture with Izzy's oncologist Dr. Connelly. You can see that she is in good hands. :)

She starts chemotherapy tonight. Her treatment will last for 2 1/2 years. The first 6 months will be the most intense followed by two years of maintenance therapies. We were happy to be told by the doctors that most of the chemo she'll receive in the first 6 months will be outpatient--meaning that she won't have to be admitted to the hospital for them. However, during these 6 months she could be admitted for other reasons such as a fever (possible sign of infection) or for her protection.

Chemotherapy works by destroying cells that multiply and grow quickly. Unfortunately, this destruction of fast-growing cells is not targeted to just cancerous cells. Other cells usually affected are hair, bone marrow and intestinal. This is where most of the side effects come from such as the loss of hair, low red and white blood cell counts (fatigue and risk of infection) and mouth sores. We can expect that Izzy will begin experiencing degrees of these side effects in the next few days.

Izzy will be in the hospital for approximately 5 more days depending on how her body does with the chemotherapy. She has received lots of great support items in the hospital, especially visits from her sisters. And she is wicked excited about going to Chuck E. Cheese when she gets out of the hospital.

At the Hospital

2007-03-14T22:48:00.000-04:00

At the hospital, Izzy has had some good times and ...

some not so good times.

Today was a long day for her. She underwent 7 procedures, 5 of which required her to be under general anesthesia. The Doctors are more confident in the T-cell Leukemia diagnosis, but will hold off until tomorrow mid-morning when all of the results are back to make it official. Also in that mid-morning meeting we will be discussing the treatment battle plan.

If you are interested, here are the 7 procedures in a bit more detail. The first two were an EKG and Echo-cardiogram to establish a base-line for her heart during treatment. She was then put under for the next 5 procedures. Two of them were a bone scan and a CT scan to see if the cancer had spread to other parts of her body. She was then transferred to the operating room where she had her central-line (more on this in the next sentence) put in, a bone marrow biopsy in which they extracted some marrow to analyze and a spinal tap to look for cancer in the spinal and brain fluid. The purpose of the central-line is to give the medical personnel a place to easily access blood and give treatments without having to poke her in the arm every time. They do this by working through a port which is a small plastic half-circle that is just beneath Izzy's skin in the middle of her chest. The port is connected beneath the skin to a tube that has been inserted in to one of her main veins.

On another note, we have received more great reviews about the U of M pediatric cancer center from respected persons in the children's cancer field confirming our decision that this is the right place.

Thank you for all of the prayers, thoughts and efforts. We know that so many people are anxious to help. One of our friends asked if she could set up a fund for Izzy. We said yes because we want people to be able to help in any way they want. You can find more information about the fund at the following website: http://www.izzysfund.org

Hopefully tomorrow we will have a definitive diagnosis and treatment plan to post.

Non-Hodgkin Diagnosis and Treatment Details

2007-03-13T16:43:00.000-04:00

We met with Dr. Connelly again today--her oncologist on the team of doctors that are treating her. He has tentatively diagnosed Izzy with T-cell Leukemia. The switch to Leukemia from Lymphoma came today after some blood work and signs that much of her bone marrow could be involved in the cancer. Izzy will be going through roughly 7 tests over the next two days to confirm that diagnosis and determine the stage of the cancer. So at the 30,000 foot level, we are working to nail down her type of cancer in the next few days and then start treatment by the end of this week. Dr. Connelly again confirmed that her type of cancer is one of the more common types they treat and has cure rates in the 80th percentile. She was admitted to the hospital today to get her ready for tests during which she will be under general anesthesia.

We also got some general treatment information today. She will be receiving chemotherapy through a central line--a catheter in one of the large veins in her chest that they will be putting in tomorrow. The chemotherapy will involve both in-patient and out-patient treatments. For the in-patient treatments, she will be in the hospital 3 to 4 days after chemo to monitor how her body reacts and then released. The treatments will be through the central line and several spinal taps.

One of the short-term effects of the chemotherapy will be loss of hair. I'll be shaving my head in her honor once that starts, and we'll be sure to post bald picks as I'm sure you'll want to see my and Izzy's dashing looks with no hair. She may also suffer from some fatigue and nausea in the short-term. There are two possible long-term effects: a weakened heart and infertility. Dr. Connely says that modern treatments rarely cause the heart damage, but that there is still a good chance of infertility when she grows up.

One of the main things that we all wanted to know was where we should take her to be treated. Kerri and I both are feeling really good about the decision to have her treated here at the University of Michigan. We have heard great things about the Mott Children's Hospital here from current patients and knowledgeable outsiders. The Mott Children's Hospital is part of the Children's Oncology Group that is a national organization to which many of the best hospitals belong and participate in. This means that she will be receiving the same treatment as if she were at St. Jude's as it is a member of the COG. Another important reason for choosing Michigan is that during Izzy's treatment, she and we will need a great support network; and we feel that we have that and more here. We also feel that we don't want to totally upend her world by moving her to a hotel room somewhere to attend another hospital.

Please feel our love and gratitude for all of the support.

2007-03-12T15:24:00.000-04:00

We have had a fantastic flood of support for Izzy and our family that we deeply appreciate; and to show that appreciation we want to keep everyone abreast of the latest news. Hopefully this will accomplish that. Thank you.

Izzy was diagnosed with lymphoma on March 9 of 2007. There are two main types of lymphoma--Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin. We'll be meeting with the physicians this week to find out what type she has and what stage the cancer is in after more testing. The cure rates on both types of cancer are 80% or higher. The oncologist projected that she will need to be treated with chemotherapy for about 6 months. Of course this could change dramatically depending on the results of the tests to be run this week.

Right now she doesn't have any pain or discomfort except for the Doctors visits where she gets poked and prodded. At least three of the reasons that she'll make it through this are: 1. "That's cuz I'm Superman!" was her reply when thanked for watching Ryan; 2. She wants to grow up and be Sleeping Beauty; and 3. The day she was diagnosed we heard her singing Mom's favorite primary song: "I am like a start shining brightly, smiling for the whole world to see!...for I know Heavenly Father loves me."