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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Brooke Mulford Update


Day +6 from 2nd Stem Cell Transplant



Wed 8/26 (Day +5): Brooke was put on a PCA (continuous morphine) but not sure how much this is helping. She pretty much slept the entire day. Not much else to report for this day.



Thurs 8/27 (Day +6): Brooke woke up with the inside of her mouth bleeding and then was vomiting blood (both due to the Mucositis & her low platelet count (8,000). She got a platelet transfusion and immediately following a blood transfusion (7.9). Her ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) is back down to 0 (was 0.1 on 8/24 & 8/26).

Rob came up in the morning for a meeting we had with Dr. Grupp at 11:30. I asked my brother, John, to come as well & Grammy to watch Brooke while we were in the meeting. Dr. Grupp is the Director of Stem Cell Biology & the Translational Research Program at CHOP. He is also the national Chair for Stem Cell Transplant. Dr. Grupp is world renown for his work with stem cell transplants and Neuroblastoma & we were so happy to be able to have a meeting with him. This, from what we’ve been told, is his first week back to work as he has been battling the beast himself having been diagnosed with Lymphoma. Here is this great clinician and researcher in the fight against pediatric cancers and now he is fighting for his life as well against the same disease he has dedicated his life to helping save others…please pray for him too. The meeting was to discuss her upcoming treatments/therapies (radiation, antibodies, accutane, etc…). We still have such a long way to go but with NB having such a high chance of relapse it is so important that we do everything we can now.

Just prior to our meeting we had a wonderful surprise visit from Rev. Patterson! What a wonderful blessing he has been to our entire family and always seems to show up right when we need him! Thank you so much Rev. Patterson for once again making the trip up here to pray with us.

The rest of the day was a pretty quiet one with Brooke once again sleeping quite a bit. She did have a short OT session with Ryan but wasn’t feeling up to doing much and Miss Sarah (child life) spent some time with Brooke updating her Beads of Courage (she is up to 10 ½ feet of beads!) That is A LOT of courage!!!

God Bless,

Amy

4 comments:

Chimera said...

Thank you for the update-I know it ust be difficult with all thats going on.Will Brooke be able to go to school this fall?Her and her doctor are in my prayers.

Anonymous said...

I have followed Brooke's story. Prayers for peace and strength so you can stay focused on seeing her back to health.

dinosaur said...

The courage this little girl and her family has shown is inspiring. God bless all of them and her doctor too.

Anonymous said...

Your family is still in my prayers. Now I will add Dr. Grupp too. As prayer warriors, we are involved in your spiritual life. So thank you for the updates.

Continue to "lean on the everlasting arms".

Prayerfully
Another mom