Pray For Tay

AML Information

"AML Information" - AML (acute myeloid leukemia) is diagnosed in about 20% of children with leukemia and approximately 500 children are diagnosed in the U.S. each year.

Leukemia is cancer of the blood. It develops in the bone marrow, the spongy center of the long bones that produces the three major blood cells: white blood cells fight infection, red blood cells that carry oxygen and platelets that help blood clot and stop bleeding. When a child has leukemia, the bone marrow begins to make white blood cells that do not mature correctly, but continue to reproduce themselves. Normal, healthy cells only reproduce when there is enough space for them to fit. With leukemia, these cells do not respond to the signals to stop and they reproduce, regardless of space available. These abnormal cells reproduce quickly and when they begin to crowd out other healthy cells in the marrow, symptoms of leukemia are experienced.

Symptoms of leukemia usually occur over a short period of days to weeks. Some of the signs and symptoms for AML can be tiredness or no energy, shortness of breath during physical activity, pale skin, swollen gums, slow healing of cuts, pinhead-size red spots under the skin, prolonged bleeding from minor cuts, mild fever, aches in bones, black-and-blue marks (bruises) with no clear issue.

Patients with AML need to start chemotherapy immediately. There are two (2) parts of treatment; induction therapy and consolidation therapy. The aim of induction therapy is to kill as many AML cells as possible and get good blood cell counts back to normal. When the aim of induction therapy is achieved, it is called a remission. Induction therapy is done at the hospital and most patients are there for three to four weeks. Combining drug types can strengthen the effects of the drugs and two or more chemo's are usually used together to treat AML. Most chemo's are given through a catheter placed into a vein, usually in the persons upper chest area. The first round of chemo usually does not get rid of all AML cells and most require more treatment. Usually the same drugs are used for additional rounds of chemo. Consolidation therapy is needed because some AML cells remain that are not found by common blood or marrow tests. Consolidation therapy is also done in the hospital and as with induction therapy, patients may be in the hospital for three to four weeks at a time.

Friday, April 15, 2011

April 15th

As some of you may already know, we received some good news about Taylor a couple of weeks ago. We found out that she will not have to go back to the hospital for a 5th round of chemo! So, as soon as she gets out of the hospital for this 4th round she will be done for good! We were told she will be the first one in Atlanta with her treatment plan that will not be having it. On one side we are absolutely ecstatic about it, the other side of us is a little scared too. Just a little leary about being the "first" to try something new...kind of like being the person to test a shark suit, do you really want to be the first?!

We were optimistic that she would be home this past weekend, but even now it is looking like it could be the beginning or middle part of next week. Her white counts are still pretty low so they gave her medication a few days ago to try to help boost her cells. Her liver enzymes have been fairly high the past couple of weeks and they think that might have something to do with the counts...basically they think the white cells have been attacking whatever has been causing the liver enzymes to be high. She could have had some minor virus or something, which to us isn't that major but to her could be.

This time around Taylor isn't asking what her counts are everyday like she use to. That way if they are high one day and low the next, she won't get disappointed by it. Basically, she is just waiting for them to come in and say "ok, you can go home today!". So, now our new goal is to have her home by Easter!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Round #4 Underway

Taylor went back in on March 9th for her 4th round of chemo. This one consisted of her getting one medication (ARC), which she has received every round and she got that one this time every 12 hrs for 6 days, then another medication for days #3-6. She was a little sick for a couple of days and had a little bit of a hard time keeping food and drinks down, but after that it was game on...she definitely made up for the eating after they stopped the chemo! Here's a picture of her first night back in the hospital this round:

This time around she has been craving Atlanta Bread Company's Potato Soup bowl, pepperoni Hot Pockets and pizza rolls. As a result though, she had been getting pretty bad heart burn which has caused her to get a sore or ulcer in her esophagus and it hurts a little to eat. She had requested for me to bring her some mashed potatoes tonight, so we will see how that goes...hopefully softer foods won't be too bad. Here's a picture of me and the girls fooling around with the computer camera and one of Taylor and Ashley:

Apparently last night I jinxed her by saying she hasn't had any complications and things are going good, because I received a message from her mom saying she woke up with a fever of 104. They ran some cultures and put her on antibiotics and fluids right away and we hope it will break pretty soon. Michelle said she didn't eat much yesterday or eat anything today, but then Taylor sent a text requesting a Butterfinger haha. I had to do some negotiating and told her I would let her have one after she ate something with a little more substance! I'm a little more worried about her getting a fever this time because her counts are now starting to come down, where as last time her counts were up...I just hope it doesn't take too much out of her body trying to fight this one off.

If things go as they should, she should hopefully be home in the next couple of weeks. Taylor is usually home about 2 weeks before she goes back in again, but the next round is the last one!! They are planning to give her the ARC medication again, but will triple the dosage she has been getting and she will receive that for 2 days. As long as she doesn't get any fevers those 2 days they will send her home for a week...then she goes back in again for the same 2 day treatment along with receiving some shots in her legs (which she is DEFINITELY not looking forward to!). They will wait for her counts to go down and then come back up where they should be....and then she is done for good! I know her sister Jenna will be so excited for her to be home, she certainly has missed her these past few months.

She has signed up to go to Camp Sunshine the end of June for a week, which is a camp for teens that have similiar illnesses and are going though or have gone through the same things. She leaves 2 days after her 16th bday and ithis will be a good way for her to celebrate it! She was a little iffy about going until she found out her favorite nurses would be the cabin counselors and she would be bunking in one of their cabins. I think it will be an awesome experience for her and I hope she takes a lot from it. Considering how good she is with kids, I can see her volunteering there in future years :-)

Monday, February 14, 2011

February 14, 2011 - Happy Valentine's Day!

Well Taylor was supposed to go home by today, but experienced a little bit of a setback the end of last week. The doctor came in Thursday morning and said that her counts were going up, and as long as she didn't get any fevers or infections she would be home possibly over the weekend or today at the latest. On Friday morning I get a text from Michelle (Taylor's mom) saying that she had been running a fever of 104 since late Thurs night and all morning Friday. They quickly put her on benadryl and tylenol to try to knock out the fever and began running tests to find out why she had the fever in the first place.

Apparently she caught the strep bug...she didn't have strep throat, just the bug that causes it. They said it was possible that somehow it got into her central line in her chest, who knows how that happened. I stayed with her Friday night and she didn't have a fever all weekend and is still good as of today. Unfortunately with her getting the bug, it cut her white blood cell counts in half so we still have to wait for them to come up before she is able to come home again. She was fortunate to be able to get rid of the bug and fever as quickly as she did because it could have been a whole lot worse than it was. There are many kids that I've heard that get infections and it could take weeks or months to get rid of them...so I guess all the prayers we asked for are definitely working in her favor!

I know she was looking forward to being out, especially by today of all days...but I think her boyfriend Justin is going to go visit her this afternoon, so that will give her something to look forward to for Valentines Day!

Here are some pictures of the notes and cards from Taylor's stay the first round. She truly has some wonderful friends and family looking out for her!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

February 2, 2011

Taylor has completed Round 3 of chemo, although she will remain in the hospital for a couple more weeks until her blood counts come back up. She had got sick pretty quickly after they started this round since they were doubling her dosage, but the past couple days she has been feeling a lot better. She is back to requesting fried cabbage and homemade mashed potatoes, so that is a plus haha!

She got to be "Queen for the Day" last week. Some of the local pageant winners came to the hospital and gave the girls crowns and sashes, kind of made them feel like beauty queens for the day. It's great to see all of the people that take the time out of their days to come and visit all of these kids. Taylor is blessed to have someone there with her everyday, but I know some of these kids family's don't have the ability or means to do that...so someone making an extra effort to brighten their days is really a special thing for some of them.

These are some pictures from when Taylor was home after her last round:

Taylor and Justin over at her Aunt Tam's house celebrating Nana's birthday:

These are at her Nana & Papa's with Jenna and her bestfriend, Katie, riding her Papa's Polaris

The benefit for Taylor this past weekend was pretty successful. We had a good turnout for the yardsale and a pretty decent one for the dance. Since the yard sale was indoors and we still have a good amount of stuff leftover, we are probably going to do another one outdoors when the weather gets nicer. We will keep everyone updated on it. Thank you to everyone who donated items and came out in support of Taylor. We are honored to have family and friends like you in our lives! Please continue to keep Taylor in your thoughts and prayers!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

January 27, 2011 - Bring on Round 3!

Taylor went back in the hospital yesterday to start round 3 of chemo. We originally thought she would be on different medicines than the last 2 times, but found out she will still have 2 of the 3 she had been receiving. Instead of them lasting over 10 days, they are giving it to her twice a day for 5 days. The plus side is she won't have to be plugged up to monitors for so long, but the downside is she will experience flu like symptoms...which have already started as of today. She feels alright, just not much of an appetite for food and her energy level is low (not sure if that the effects of chemo or just normal 15 yr old behavior haha).

Her bone marrow and spinal tap results from last week came back good again...still in remission which is the best news we could ask for! Her blood levels have been staying pretty high, no fevers, no infections.We are almost halfway there!

Some of you may or may not know, but we are having a benefit for Taylor this weekend. It will be located at 4568 Cumming Hwy in Canton (the old Buffington Elementary Gymnasium on GA-20). We are having a community yard sale from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m., we have just about anything and everything! If you have items you would like to donate to the cause, you can drop them off after 4 p.m. tomorrow afternoon and someone will probably be there at least until 8 p.m. or so. Then from 7p.m. - 11:30 p.m. we are having a teen dance. It will be a $10 donation entry and all proceeds go to Taylor's medical fund. There will be a DJ and concessions provided...and it will be heavily chaperoned! Hope to see you all there!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

January 16, 2010

Sorry it has been a couple of weeks since the last update! Hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday and safe New Years!

Unfortunately Taylor had to stay in the hospital for both Christmas and New Year's, but on the plus side she was able to come home in time for her sisters 12th birthday. Her and I rang in the New Year together and we are both optimistic that this year is going to bring some good things for her! As long as things keep going like they are, she will be over and done with all her chemo in time for her 16th birthday, giving us more than one reason to celebrate it!

She came home on January 3rd and is still home as of now. She was supposed to go this past Weds for another bone marrow test and spinal tap, but with all this snow and ice we got, she wasn't able to make the appt. She has it re-scheduled for this Weds, so more than likely she will go back in the hospital for her 3rd round of chemo by the weekend or early next week. It's been nice because the last time she was out for 2 weeks, one whole week of which she spent feeling horrible from the marrow test and spinal tap. At least this time she will have a couple of good weeks home before having to go through all of that. She is a little nervous though because her first two rounds of chemo were the same medications, this next one will be different and she doesn't know how she will react to it. Hopefully things will go as smooth with this next one as the last one.

We were able to spend time today with her, Jenna and Justin (Taylor's boyfriend) for my mom's birthday. She was able to come and see all of her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents all at once which has been a rarity for the past couple months. It was good to get to see her relax a little bit and have a moment to not have to worry and dwell on everything that is going on. Well, that is all we have for now. We will keep everyone posted on when she goes back in and how things are going. Please keep her in your prayers, and thank you to everyone for everything you have done for her and our family!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

December 29, 2010

I know it has been awhile since the last post...I apologize, the holidays have been crazy the past couple of weeks! Taylor is doing great and should hopefully be coming home next week sometime. This time around has been a lot easier on her than the last, no fevers, no getting sick and her spirits seems to be a lot higher. She's been making it a point to go to the teen meetings that have during the week and taking the younger kids to the playroom when she gets a chance to...she is great with kids, so I think that is something good for her to be doing.

It is unfortunate that she had to spend Christmas in the hospital this year, but we made a point to try to make it as enjoyable for her as possible. We set up a little Christmas tree and what decorations we could put up. Ashley and I went down Christmas Eve and brought her gifts down there to her and a lot of my family came down to see her...my brothers & sisters, nieces and brother/sister-in-laws. She got to spend Christmas day with her mom, so it was a busy weekend for her I guess. I appreciate everyone taking the time to make her day a little bit brighter! Hopefully she will be out in time for Jenna's birthday, I know Jenna would love to have her sister home to help celebrate it!

The picture is of Taylor with her cousins Savannah and Jessica. We have some more we took and will put them up as soon as we get them downloaded. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and enjoys their New Year this weekend!