Echocardiogram shows....

On Tuesday they did an echo of Summer's heart to see if it is strong enough to handle her last dose of Doxyrubicin which is due with cycle #7. The echo showed that her heart is borderline and is probably not in good enough shape to handle another dose. I'm not sure if that means it is really damaged or just on the brink of being damaged. Either way, it's a little scary. There is a heart protectant drug that they could use, but the hospital doesn't have any due to manufacturing problems and it not being available. So, I think the Dr. is leaning towards skipping the Doxy and just doing Cyclosphamide with cycle #7. He doesn't think (of course no one really knows) that another dose of the Doxy is crucial to her being cured of the Rhabdoid cancer. At the end of treatment, she would still of have received 23 of the 24 chemo meds in her regimen. If they do decide to skip it, cycle #7 will only be a one night hospital stay.

On a good note, Summer's fevers are down to about one a day. Yesterday it only went up to around 101 once. Yay! She seems to be feeling better although she still sleeps quite a bit. She is eating pretty good now. She's had 1/2 of a PB&J, a little yogurt and some turkey slices this morning. She ate really good last night too. So, things are looking up.

I don't know how much longer we will be in the hospital. We might be waiting on her counts to come back up before that happens or just for the fever to go away for 24 hours???? Initially they said the treatment for the cellulitis was 7-10 days on antibiotics. I'm not sure if they can send her home on them or not. I'll have to ask the dr. when he comes by today. I'm starting to get antsy, but I am working on my patience. This is such a fun place to be. At least we have a Nintendo 64 in our room right now. I just discovered a tetris game which I might have to try. Mario is getting old. LOL

Summer hasn't been very playful this week and has hardly been out of bed except to potty. I am hoping today she will feel like going to the rooftop garden for some fresh air and maybe a tricycle ride. I am really missing have a playful, active little girl. I surprised her with a Caillou video last night when I came back from a church meeting. We have already watched it twice. :) I got a new Barney movie too, but she hasn't watched it yet. She just told me she guessed we can watch it now....if it is good. LOL I just love the way her mind works. She always seems to put a smile on my face and I am so thankful for that.


***********UPDATE************

The Dr. just came by and said that they are going to do another scan of her heart next week. The echo they did is very sensitive to the person doing it and where they put the monitor or whatever on her chest. This new test will be more accurate and give us a truer picture of what is going on in her heart (not that there is anything major to be worried about right now). Then they will decide whether or not to do the Doxy. She may get to go home before the weekend is over. They are waiting on her counts to get up to 500 at least. Today they are around 120 I think. She will probably go home on the antibiotics to treat the cellulitis. They popped and drained one of the spots yesterday so they could get a sample of the puss and see what it is. So far they know it is a form of staph but they are not sure if it is the resistant kind or not. We just have to wait and see what grows on the sample they took.

btw - She did like the new Barney movie ("Once Upon a Time"). Afterwards she said, "That was good." Go me!!! Also, she has been smiling quite a bit today. It is kind of contagious so if you need a smile today, stop by the hospital and see if you can catch one.