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February 22, 2005 -- Maintenance #7 (Days 41-47) OT and PORT-FREE!!! Katie was back at school on Monday, February 14th -- just in time for their Valentine party. She had her last dose of weekly methatrexate on Wednesday evening. Thursday, she started running a low-grade fever (99.7 - 100.5) again, which lasted through Saturday. Fortunately, it didn't go over 100.4 more than once. Drum roll please.... she finished her last chemo (mercaptopurine) on Saturday, February 19! Katie is now officially OT (off-treatment)!!!! The surgery went well for Katie's port removal. As of 9:30 this morning (February 22), Katie is PORT-FREE!!! Now we won't have to rush her to the ER at CHOP with every fever. We can finally unpack the perpetual hospital bag!! After her surgery today, Katie wanted to go for a special lunch (pancakes at IHOP) and we went to Toys R Us so she could pick out a special off-treatment/no-port prize! She's still woozy and wobbly (but she'll tell you she's not!!), so we'll have to watch her for 24 hours. We are SO relieved to have the port out!!! The clinic visits for OT patients are the first and third Tuesday of each month. This allows patients/parents who are OT to get acquainted with others in the same phase, and more time for the oncologist to spend with each family. Katie's first OT appointment is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15. She will have a series of tests done -- CBC with differential and liver function tests, urinalysis, echocardiogram, EKG, and EKG 24-hour holter. I will go through the details of these after her appointment. It's hard to believe we've made it this far. During the thick of Katie's treatment, we were living for 'today'. Now we can look forward to 'tomorrow'! To quote a line from Katie's favorite movie (Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time), "The future looks bright!" Please continue to pray that Katie remains in remission, and that she suffers NO long-term side effects from the chemo. Thank you for all the love and support you have shown our family throughout Katie's lengthy treatment. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives. We've had a tremendous response for Katie's cookbook project! To-date, we have 67 recipe donors and 184 recipes, including favorites from an Emmy Award winning host of a national public television series, a local professional chef, and a New Line Cinema executive!! The diversity of the recipes we have received are wonderful -- from the exotic to the most basic, and from healthy to decadent!! We still need A LOT more!! Please keep sifting through those recipes and send them as soon as you can. You can email them to me at: pmharr@comcast.net Many people have inquired about the cost of the cookbook. This will all depend on the number of recipes and the quantity of books we print. If you would like to reserve copies, please let me know how many. These will make perfect birthday, holiday, and hostess gifts!! Thanks so very much for all your help!! Here is Katie's ANC, chemo/meds and schedule since last update: February 13, 2005: ANC 1730. Continue meds at home 100% until February 19, 2005. February 16, 2005: Last MTX (7 tablets - 17.5mg)!! February 19, 2005: LAST CHEMO - 100mg 6MP!! Continue 1/2 tab Bactrim 2 times per day Fridays and Saturdays through the end of March, 1 Tums or Viactiv daily. February 22, 2005: PORT REMOVED!!! First OT visit: scheduled for Tuesday, March 15, 1005 for CBC with differential and liver function tests, urinalysis, echocardiogram, EKG, and EKG holter (24-hour monitoring). NEXT: March 14, 2005 -- OT visit #0 |
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