Hey everyone, I know there’s been a bit of a lapse in posting something, but I have an excuse… I figure no one other than me is really reading this anyway. Okay, so I know that’s not exactly true, but I doubt the masses are flocking here to read.

The 22^nd of September has just rolled over to the 23^rd and I have some birthday announcements to make… first and foremost is Rachael’s… she turned 4 on the 20^th. Happy Birthday sweetie… Then there’s my Aunt Louie and we won’t mention how old she is, nor will we mention how old my Uncle Jerry is either and I do believe that my cousin Ryan just had a birthday too… late September is a busy month for birthing babies. Hmmm, let’s do the math here for a sec and see why that is… Stepping into the wayback machine we can see where nine months prior takes us… ahhhh… here we are smack dab around Christmas time somewhere… give or take a couple of weeks. Seems like Mr. and Mrs. Claus were more than wrapping packages…

Hmmm… seems to me there’s another joke or two in that last line, but I will leave that to you, the reader’s, imagination.

On a more serious note… the saga of Emmah continues. Last Monday the 18^th we went to Children’s Memorial (in the city) to meet with them and discuss the stem cell harvest. Part of the protocol that Emmah is on requires a harvesting of her own stem cells to be used later in her treatment to rescue her bone marrow after she receives the high dose chemotherapy. It’s become quite common in treating cancer patients, or so I’m told… perhaps it’s limited to certain types of cancer.

Moving on…

She (and I) will be staying the night at the Kohl’s house (affiliated with Children’s) a place for people like us (stem cell) to stay that’s close to the hospital… at any rate, we will be staying there Monday night as they want us bright and early Tuesday morning. Given that traffic would be a nightmare at that time we figured it best to “camp out” downtown.

To harvest the stem cells, they need an “in” and an “out” she will be hooked up to a machine to do the work. It’s much like a dialysis machine as I understand it, that is to say that it cycles/pumps her entire blood supply and somehow magically removes the stem cells. She was going to get a PICC line… a PICC is a long, flexible tube that is put into a vein in your arm and threaded up into a large vein just above your heart. It is used for giving fluids or drug treatment into your bloodstream. PICC stands for "Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter". Since she already has the port-a-cath she needs to have the “out”, or is it the “in”, inserted hence the PICC line.

After being told that she would be getting a PICC line, they since called and said that they’ve decided to go with an IJ line instead… so they will be accessing her via the jugular instead of her arm. They feel that this will give them the best chance at a good harvest… enough for them to do the two rescues that she’s going to need. We will be staying “in patient” Tuesday night and will be on the loose Wednesday evening… provided no complications. I’m sure I will be writing more about the rescue part of the stem cell transplant procedure as that time draws nearer.

Okay now… now that we’ve talked some shop so to speak… let’s talks a little about what Emmah’s been, and is going to be, doing… aside from the aforementioned harvest.

We’ve had a pretty decent run here as far as how she’s feeling and all that since getting out after her last go round of chemo. No fevers to speak of and her appetite is slow to come around, but the upshot is that she’s actually gained a pound or two this past week (after losing several the week prior) and we keep on “harping” on her to eat and get her calorie count above the 1000 mark. I said to her if you’re awake, you’re to be sippin’ and snackin’.

She will get to go on a school field trip on the 28^th… next Thursday… the day after the harvest is over. Her class is going to the Tut exhibit at the museum… I will be going with her and we will be getting a wheel chair for her.

Then (sadly) Friday the 29^th, we will be back at Hope for the next round of chemo. It’s a five day cycle, two hours a day, and I believe they will be taking another CT scan to check the (and I pray) progress of the necrosis of the tumor. Regrettably, with the next cycle of chemo following this one, her counts will be down at Halloween time and that means that she may not get to go trick-o-treating. Of course all of that will be a moot point if she gets any kind of fever and has to be readmitted, but we will cross that bridge when, and if, we have to.

A side note... I'm going to try and make a page dedicated to the progress of Emmah during her quest to be cancer free... it will be another linked page from the main page, but I don't know how soon (or how not soon) that may (or may not) be.

Geez… would ya look at the time?

No wonder I’m sleepy… though some might say I’m dopey.

KUIYP