March 21, 2007 - a very long day . . .

Keira got another MRI today to check the spinal canal. It was negative. That is good news. We also had a long talk with the Dr today.

This Friday, Keira will have a port put into her chest. It is kind of like an IV that stays under the skin until the chemo is over. Instead of sticking her each time (which her veins could not handle anyway because of her age), there will be a port just under the skin with a tube attached leading to a mjor vein. Each round of chemo will be administered through this port. The Dr said that it is a little uncomfortable at first, but that kids do really well with it.

This Friday they will also do a biopsy to determine the type of tissue of the cancer. This is a very important test. A favorable tissue means a better prognosis. Please pray for this.

Her chemo will begin either this weekend or by wednesday of next week. On this first round we will be spending 3-4 days living in the hospital. Then, every three weeks after that, she will have another round. Each time she gets a round of chemo, we will spend 2-5 days living in the hospital. Then we get to take her home for at least 2 weeks, which is nice.

We got to go up to the floor where the cancer patients stay. For a hospital, it is pretty nice. There is a very cool playroom with lots of toys for Keira. The people we talked with were also very nice. And while we are not looking forward to this, if we have to live in a hospital for a few days at a time, this is a pretty good place.

So, we have a very important procedure this Friday along with a port placement and maybe even the beginning of chemo.

It has been a very long day. We were supposed to go in at 11:00 am and be gone by about 2:00 pm. We got there at 11:00 am and sat in the waiting room with our very hungry 11-month old for 1 hour and 50 minutes (she is not allowed to eat for 6 hours before the scans). That was less than fun . . . then the hour long scan she went through took 1.5 hours at which time a nurse came and told us it would take another hour. So, we went upstairs to meet with the doctor. When we got upstairs, they called us and told us Keira would be done in 15 minutes. So we headed back down. Before we even got off the elavator, they called again to tell us she was awake. We were very confused by the whole thing.

So after 4 hours, she was finally done and we went and talked with the Dr for about an hour. By this time, we were all very ready to go home and eat something. So we walked the mile or so to our car, and I reached into my pocket to grab the keys but found only pocket lint. We frantically searched for our keys, but they were nowhere to be found. So we treked back to the hospital, retraced out steps and checked with house keeping, security, nurses, and random people walking down the halls, but our keys were lost. To really make this exciting, you know those little credit cards that banks give to place on a key ring? Erin's bank card was on her key ring. We called the bank to tell them we lost it and put a stop on it, but wouldn't you now it, the card had already been used. Yes, someone robbed the parents of a cancer patient in a children's hospital (and some poeple wonder if sin is real). The thief had gone to Kroger and spent $10.87! The bank put a stop on the card, a friend brought us a spare key and we rolled into our garage about 8:30 pm. What a day!

Thank you all for standing with us. We love you. We appreciate you. We need you.

Jason, Erin & Keira