Quick update!

Today is Jessica's 3rd day at the hospital here in St. George. Last Thursday, her ANC (her immune system) bottomed out to zero. All of her counts dropped dramatically, which is to be expected, we just always hope that her ANC won't go to zero. Thursday she needed red blood cells because her hematocrit was 20, so Cody went in with her to get a transfusion. They went in about 7 p.m. and didn't get home until 11 p.m. All went well until about 4 p.m. On Friday when she spiked a temp. of 101.6. With healthy kids that isn't always alarming, but with Jessica and kids like her, they admit them right away. This happened with our last round of chemotherapy so this may become our normal. They started antibiotics and drew blood cultures right off. Friday evening her platelets had dropped to 13 so they gave her a transfusion of platelets also. At first her cultures looked fine, but soon after the first look they showed signs of a staff infection. The good thing was that by Saturday morning her temperatures were back to normal and she physically looks and acts ok. They have done more blood draws. They are doing them each night at 7 p.m. Her counts today were, total white- .7; hematocrit- 26; platelets- 61; and ANC- .1. To me, her body is starting to rebound. I hope we keep moving on up. Last round of chemotherapy we chose the daily neupogen shots to help build back her immune system more quickly. This round we chose to try the 1 time shot of neulasta. If she keeps coming up each day from now on, I think that neulasta will be the better choice for Jessica! Hopefully we will be able to come home tomorrow. We head back to Primary Children's one week from tomorrow on February 28th. They will do a CT scan, then we will meet with our oncologist and the surgeon to decide if surgery is possible on March 8th. We are crossing our fingers that the scan will show great improvement! After surgery Jessica will have radiation for about a week and she will continue chemotherapy.
Jessica is doing great and still has a very positive attitude. She just has a great outlook on life! Kids are amazing! Thank you to everyone for all of your love and support! So many people are doing so much for our family. It means so much to us! We truly love you all!

One of the special children that we met at PCMC, Ari Lane, passed away the end of January. We just found out yesterday. We love her And her family so much. They were a great strength to us during our stay at PCMC. Ari's brother and sisters were such great examples to our kids. They were so kind and thoughtful, mature beyond their age. We feel very lucky to have been able to meet their family. It was a
blessing for our family! Our thoughts and love go out to them at this time.