Another long update...

I wrote the following on Thursday night and didnt get to post it until now...long post...beware!

Today was the first day that we could actually spend time in our house! I feel like I have been away for months! It was great to be able to stay home! Even though we've actually been home since Monday afternoon, we've been going back and forth to the hospital for continued tests with the doctors. So, it feels great to stay at home and feel as normal as we can for the time being.

In an effort to continue the updates, here goes...

The past few days have been a rush. I'm still somewhat lacking in the sleep department so hopefully this all makes sense. On Tuesday we took Bree back to the hospital to meet with her doctor, do blood work (measure where her white blood cells (WBC) are) and get some nuclear medicine (dye) injected into blood stream. Confused? Me too. Basically, what this dye does is stick to any cancer cells throughout her body. She is then put under a huge camera-like scanner that will basically make the cancer glow. This test is called an MIBG scan, in other words, a glorified organ & bone scan. We feel we are getting to know our way around the hospital pretty well now. :)

Wednesday we went back in for the MIBG. Bree wasnt allowed to nurse for 5 hours prior to the test...which made for a very unhappy baby. She was put to sleep with local anesthetic and the test lasted 2 hours. They took multiple images of her body and we should know the outcome sometime tomorrow, if not next week. The doctors dont anticipate the cancer being anywhere else in her body and this won't change the stage she is in (stage IV, intermediate), it will just basically establish a baseline for us to measure how much the cancer has shrunk after 3 more chemotherapy treatments.

As of now, she is scheduled to do another chemo treatment on November 21st. Please keep her in your prayers especially this day. There are several drugs given on one day and this will be very hard on her. The chemo drugs are scary with all the possible side effects.

It still is hard for me to fathom the fact we are going through this. Still, when I start telling someone about it, I have a hard time saying the words "cancer" and "my baby daughter" in the same sentence. We are still taking it one day at a time. I've already seen how strong and brave Bree is. She truly has a strong spirit and I know she'll get through this. We have great faith in our Heavenly Father and I know that He will carry her through this.

As for the boys, they are doing well. They've had lots of sickness this week but are doing well for the most part. We truly are so thankful to all those who have helped our little family...all the acts of kindness have truly touched our hearts and humbled us greatly. Thanks to you all for the constant prayers, meals dropped off, babysitting our boys, nice notes, flowers, and just checking in with us. Love you all!!

Here's a few pics from Halloween. We were able to get out of the hospital for a few hours to trick or treat with them. It was GREAT!
The boys had lots of fun getting tons of candy. Caleb was exhausted but it was so great just to be with them!

And the latest update...

Thursday night (Friday morning) Bree spiked a fever of 101.5. (This may not sound high, but for any cancer patient, it’s bad news). Anytime she gets a fever this high we are to immediately call the doctor and head to the hospital. So that’s what we did. Before we left, we said a prayer and asked that her fever would drop and that she would be all right. I arrived at the hospital by 2am and she was admitted right away. She started receiving antibiotics immediately in case there was a bacterial infection in her broviac IV line. The nurse then did a blood sample and did labs to see where her blood counts were. She also took her temp again and our prayers were answered. Her temp was totally normal. Even though it was normal, we still had to stay to make sure her labs were in check. So, we tried to settle in for the night but didn’t get much sleep.

The next morning we discovered that Bree was neutropenic. This basically means that her white blood cell level (absolute neutrophil count – ANC) dropped below 500. You and I normally have an ANC of 5000 or more. Hers was 42. The doctors suspected this would happen, just not so soon. Typically, patients receiving chemotherapy will drop 7-10 days after a treatment but she dropped earlier. Since her decline happened so soon, she was given a growth hormone stimulating factor (neucopene) to stimulate her white blood cells to grow new cells (neutrophils) that would bring her back up. It’s most likely we will be here a few more days. The docs want to be on the safe side and wait until her counts climb and she stays fever free.

On Friday the results from the MIBG scan came back. Unfortunately and to the surprise of the doctors they found that the cancer had spread into the long bones of her arms & legs, shoulder bones and pelvis. It didn’t show up in the bone scan but the MIBG scan is more sensitive and was able find it. This doesn’t change the treatment or the prognosis but nonetheless it wasn’t the news we wanted. The doctors tell us with the current chemo treatment, it should kill the cancer in the bones as well as kill the tumor in her abdomen.


This morning Bree woke up thinking it was still Halloween because she looks like a football player :-). The bruises under her eyes have grown bigger and look like they may turn into “raccoon eyes” which is how it looks on a bone scan (the bruising goes all around her eyes). The doctors don’t seem to be worried about it. It’s just part of the ups and downs. Despite all of this Bree has been very content. She is laughing and smiling more and doesn’t seem as nauseated. Her personality has been a breath of fresh air for us. Her sweet temperament brings a smile to our face as we deal with this disease.

So we had a few set backs this week. But we also realize that is part of the deal. If it were all easy then it wouldn’t be a trial of faith. If everything always went as planned then there wouldn’t be room for any miracles. Sorry if these posts seem rushed, we just don’t have a lot of time these days and want to people to know what’s going on. Thanks again for your continued thoughts and prayers for our Breezy. Love, Kari & Justin