A Brooke Mulford Update

The Mulford’s are back and Brooke is HOME! Brooke arrived home to Salisbury Tuesday night July 14th around 8PM after being at CHOP for 26 days. Of course we were only home for around an hour and 20 minutes before we were back in the ER at PRMC. Brooke was sitting at the kitchen table eating a snack before bed and slipped out of the chair and landed directly on her head. Since she had low platelet counts we had to go right to the ER. She had a very big bump and had to have a CT scan and blood work done. This was to make sure of no internal bleeding or a fracture. We arrived back at home around 3:30AM. Everything came out negative and after being already drained we would try to get some sleep and Thank God that she was ok and that she could come home.

I must apologize to everyone for no updates for such a long time, but with Mulford good fortunes there was a mishap right before Brooke’s Transplant. I came home Wednesday night before I was to leave early Thursday morning June 25th the day before Brooke’s Transplant to find our living room ceiling laying on the floor. Our HVAC unit’s drip pan in the attic had overflowed, the same unit that was installed the end of January of this year. Mind you that Brooke was due to come home in a couple of weeks to a sterile house, let alone now one that had to have a lot of work done to it and totally cleaned. After leaving late Thursday night and making it on time to Transplant and spending a couple of days I came come and spent the next 16 days working on the house most nights till 2 or 3AM. There was no time to sit down in front of a computer. All the while not telling Amy what had happened so she would not worry and take care of the most important job of all, taking care of Brooke. I think this about sums up the past few weeks. There are many people to thank on this matter, but I will do another entry for that. The most important thing is that Brooke was not at home on the couch when this occurred and it happened at a time when there was still time to fix things.

The most thankful of all Brooke is again home with us. During this stay Brooke received her 7th Round of Chemo for 6 days and her Stem Cell Transplant. She then had another 14 days of recovery which were very rough. She basically had zero counts across the board, was on an IV protein diet and developed Mucositis. Mucositis is very painful and causes severe mouth sores and sores inside the digestive track and causes a lot of mucus and blood to be thrown up. Brooke also developed a severe rash to one of the medications she was taking and wanted to scratch herself raw. It took awhile to narrow down what she was allergic to. For the most part Brooke did well and the doctors are happy. We have to take many precautions between now and the next Transplant which Brooke will have to be back at CHOP on August 13th to basically do the same thing again. The only thing different will be the Chemo drugs she receives for the 8th round, they will be even stronger than the Chemo drugs she received this time. Then there will be strict precautions all the way to next April. It will take Brooke’s immune system a very long time to recover. Along the way she will also receive Radiation Treatment and Antibody treatments. We will be very scared every time we have to leave the house, especially for our once a week trips to CHOP. This will especially be nerve racking during the Winter months with cold and flu season. For those of you who do not know by killing off her bone marrow and having it re-grow itself with the new Stem Cells all the vaccinations she had are now nil and void. That is why outside contact is so strict and almost prohibited with other children and absolutely no contact with any children under 3 years of age.

There is so much to still go over, but it is again late and I need to be up early to return to Salisbury from Amy’s Moms house in New Jersey. I will thru the course of the week enter entries to give results of tests and things that transpired during her 26 days. There is a big Fund Raiser at Market Street tomorrow for Chuck Campbell to help with a Double Lung Transplant. So many people have been there for Brooke and our family and life still goes on and if Market Street Inn can help people; then that is what I now feel why God has blessed us with the success of Market Street. I always said, “I wanted a restaurant that was deeply rooted in the community that I was a part of.” Before I wanted a restaurant now I want that restaurant to help! We all truly believe that the prayers and support from everyone in the world has been just as important as any procedures or medicines Brooke has received in her course of treatment. You have to have hope, believe in miracles and trust your faith in order to concur the most obscure things thrown at you in the path we call life. With all of that combined and the power of prayer anything is truly possible. Brooke has come a long way and there still is a long way to go, so take nothing for granted and continue to pray for her as hard as you ever have.

PS. Brooke would like to say Congratulations to her Aunt Alisyn and her new Uncle Anthony “Nino” on their Wedding Day and is so happy Mommy could be there to be a part of it!