It's a New Day!

Chemo has been done since Sunday and she made it through once again with flying colors! tomorrow cells will arrive and hopefully by evening she will receive them, they have already started one of the gvhd drugs, but at a lower dose and she will get one more drug to prevent gvhd so she doesn't get a horrible case but they won't give her the third drug to prevent it. usually they give three but they will only give two at lower doses. so it could take a couple weeks to get gvhd, they can't let her go until her blood counts are safe enough and if she gets gvhd, which i hope she will, they will keep her longer. so we wait to see what happens. but as of now there are no blasts, which is just in time to get the cells and they will kill the rest of the blasts. pray for just enough gvhd to cure her! Candice (mom)

January 27th Update on Abigail's Treatment for AML

Abbi is on day 8 of chemo and just a couple of days ago started having feelings of nausea and diarrea. they were able to get a stool sample and she has roto virus which they can do nothing for but hydrate her if her diarrea gets worse, but so far it is only once a day. but her tummy hurts and she only gets relief when she lays down, they have her on antibiotics for fevers just to make sure, but the antibiotics can't do anything for the virus she has to pass it on her own, as soon as she gets these stem cells it will help her blood count recover and fight things off better. she has not eaten in about 5 days so they were talking about an ng tube but she had a really bad bloody nose 2 days ago and since this tube goes up her nose they thought it was best not to, also she hates the tube, and i am glad they won't do it. so they will do iv nutrition instead. but that can be harder on her liver. so they will watch her liver counts, also Abbi was fortunate enough to be able to receive a donated I pad 2 from an organization her social workers found on the internet. has not arrived yet but hopefully tomorrow. i hope it gets her mind off feeling crappy, they do give her benadryl and morphine pretty much around the clock now it makes her tummy feel better so she can sleep. and she does not want to get out of bed except to go to the bathroom so she isn't moving around enough or breathing deep enough to clear out the junk in her lungs, i guess you can get tiny parts of lung collapse which she has had before in transplant. but it does clear up and i guess she can blow bubbles to help take deep breaths without even realizing it. we can not wait for Wednesday to come so she can get her stem cells and start to get better. well it is 4 am and i couldn't go back to sleep so i thought i would write an update. now i will try, goodnight or should i say goodmorning.

Abigail begins Chemotherapy...

Abbi had to start the chemo on the 20th because her blasts were continuing to rise even with the hydroxyurea. she is on standard aml frontline therapy. day 2 is down 8 more to go. her blasts have come down from 13000 to 4000. it is working so far and she is doing good, just a little tired but not sick and hopefully that will be minor. she has a nausea patch behind her ear and they give her zofran for nausea as well. but they say the side effects won't start for a couple of days. but i pray hard for mild side effects and for Jesus to protect her vital organs. since the donor has said yes her blood still has to be tested for disease and since 6 months ago she donated her blood for abbi i am sure everything will be fine. the docs don't think their will be a problem. they just had to make a decision so her blasts wouldn't get worse. so usually they know the cells are good to go before they start chemo. we believe everything will go as planned and with Jesus all things are possible and miracles do happen! i will update again soon. (Mom Candice)

The Anonymous Donor Match Agrees to Help Abigail Once Again!

so the donor has agreed to go through with the stem cell collection. thank the lord! her blasts are increasing, they have increased her dose of hydroxyurea to 600mg from 300mg. they want her blasts to stay below 10,000. as of yesterday they were at 8500. they might have to admit her to start a different chemo to lower her blasts till they can figure out when she will get the stem cells. they want to time it just right, the donor has to have her blood checked for disease and that takes a couple days then collect the stem cells. 

i think the whole process i was told could take a couple weeks from the time she said yes till they collect the cells. so when they start this process it is 10 days of very intensive aml chemo then 24 to 48 hrs after chemo is done she will be moved to transplant to infuse the stem cells, then we pray they work their magic. in order to get graft vs host disease, which is what they want her to get, they will only give her a wimpy dose of one drug instead of all 3 to prevent it. transplant docs do not want to give you gvhd, this is a very sensitive situation, but i and we all know that abbi is VERY STRONG! we have only gotten through one victory, that being the donor aggreeing to this, now we have to get through chemo, stem cell infusion, gvhd and all the complications that come along with it. this is gonna be a very difficult road for her, please pray as you have been, pray for the donor cells to finally kill this dreadful disease, so our little girl can be a kid again!

Jan 15, 2012 11:50pm

Christmas 2011

 

A much younger Abigail 

from Abbi's Mom: 

"well things have taken a turn for the worst. abbi's myelodysplastic syndrome has progressed to acute myeloid lukemia. we found out last week and last night she was admitted to UCSF for a chemo called hydroxyurea to keep her blasts under control. the transplant team has a plan and are trying to contact the donor for stem cells. they will give her high dose chemo for about a week and then infuse the stem cells and still hopefully give her gvhd so the donor cells attack the lukemia cells. small chance of working but they said they wouldn't do it if they didn't think it would work. so this is our only curative option now. all we need is prayer right now. thank you to all and i will update as much as i can."

her Grandmom:

"All we can do now is watch and wait for the results of another experiment in Chemo therapy and Stem cell infusion.  We have had four more years with Abigail already because of the Doctors, Nurses, and staff at University College of San Francisco Teaching Hospital. We are grateful to them and awaiting the outcome of another procedure to save Abigael's life.  Faith in God, rather than mere hope is what will be her greatest ally."

This picture is of the Courtemanche family Christmas Card!

Abigail has a brother and his name is Blake. He has been her protector, her hero, and her younger 'big brother' for seven years now. He will be 8 on May 3rd of 2012. 

We all love him so much and yet it seems he has a single minded focus on his parents and sister and rarely wants to leave their side for any reason to visit with his extended family unless Abbi is visiting too. 

Christmas morning celebration!

Family Christmas Card with Abbi and Blake

Abigail after opening up her new net-book computer! 

 Abigail smiles BIG because she just opened a package containing her new cell phone!

 Daddy, Abigail, and Uncle Eric.

...and this is Blake who just opened his new X Box game player!  

...somehow Mommy escaped getting her picture taken because she was behind the camcorder!