March 17, 1997

Since my last update (Thursday 2/27), Darien has shown remarkable improvement in her spirits and energy. She is eating well (for her condition) and is bouncing around the house almost normal. She's been going to school till 1:00 p.m. most days, although she went all day on the Friday before spring break. In addition, she used to love to do cartwheels and she was wondering if she could still do them, so she did. In fact, she did several cartwheels before spring break and even rode her bike a little. Darien is pretty bald on top of her head and thinning on the sides. Her hair stopped falling out, but the rest will probably fall out after her second chemo treatment. She ordered a wig, it came in, and she has tried it on. She's not ready to wear it yet, though.

On Monday (3/3) Darien began to run a fever and we had to take to back to Temple. After taking a lot of blood and running many tests, they concluded she had a viral infection and did not giver her any medication for it. Her blood counts looked good and they felt like she could fight this on her own. They let us go home on Tuesday (3/4). This is actually the day that she really began to feel better. Her energy began to increase and she actually was hungry on her own.

We went to Temple on Tuesday (3/11) for her 2nd scheduled chemo treatment. This treatment consisted of one of the same drugs used during the first chemo treatment plus a second, different drug. The first drug takes about 6 hours to be administered and the second drug was administered during the next 4 days. Through out our entire stay in the hospital, Darien tolerated the drugs remarkable well. She only got sick a couple of times and these weren't very bad episodes at all. While the drugs are being administered, she is able to roam around the hospital; there is a playroom that she can visit with lots of crafty type things to do. She at pretty well, although, her appetite was not quite what it was before we went into the hospital. She didn't loose any weight this time. She is up to a whopping 53 pounds (still probably 7 or 8 pounds her normal). Darien's chemo was done at noon on Sunday (3/16) and she was immediately released.

I stayed with Darien from Tuesday to Friday and Valerie (and Vincent) stayed with her from Fri to Sun. It was pretty much an uneventful week. We played games, wateched movies, read books, and just talked.

She was in a good mood the entire week. She's not near as tired as she was in the past. In fact, she rarely took naps.

On Friday, Darien's grandparents brought Valerie, Vincent, Karis up for a visit. When it was time to go, Vincent asked if he could stay. We thought it was o.k. and as it turned out, I think it was good for both of Vincent and Darien. Vincent can't sit still, so he kept her occupied, plus it gave him a chance to see what really goes on while she is in the hospital.

This morning, (Monday 3/17) Darien got up, dressed, ate breakfast, and went to school - just like she had a normal spring break. She will try to attend school all day, but I will go eat lunch with her to make sure she is doing o.k.

On Tuesday (3/11) prior to beginning chemo, she had a CAT scan of her chest and the upper part of the abdomen. This is really the first good CAT scan since her surgery. (She had one other, but there was lots of fluid in her tummy, and it was kind of hard to interpret small details. It's like looking at seismic - you're looking for changes in density.) Prior to her initial surgery, they observed 2 small spots on her lungs. At that time, they weren't sure if these were additional tumors or blood vessels. With the latest CAT scan, they are convinced on of the spots is a vessel, but they still aren't sure about the other one. It is their opinion, though, that it is a tumor, and until they are proven otherwise, they will regard it as such. The spot is in a prime area for a metastatic liver tumor. The good news is that this spot is exactly the same size (4 mm) as it was in January. From the CAT scan, they also observed 2 additional "shadows" on her remaining liver. Right now, this is all they are calling them, but they are concerned about them being new tumor growth in her liver. The spot on her lung and the shadows on her liver will be things they can monitor in the next few months to determine the effectiveness of the chemo treatments.

Some good news, the tumor marker (something that can be measured in her blood) that they thought they could use to monitor her progress, decreased about 8 times from the last time they measured it (right before her first chemo). Although it is still extremely high, it takes time for this marker to "clear" the system.