Brooke Mulford Update

Sorry for no updates since we’ve been home. First couple of weeks were tough. She didn’t have any energy at all and her taste buds were shot, so while she was very motivated to eat nothing tasted right to her and it became very frustrating. Last Wed, the 23rd, Brooke had an appt at Univ. of Penn to get set up for her radiation and to get her tattoos (6 small dots about the size of a freckle). I found out that the plans have changed for her radiation. They (about a dozen radiation oncologists) have decided that her entire skull needs to have radiation so the planning has become more complex and her radiation start date has been postponed (was supposed to start on Mon the 28th) and will now start on Thurs October 1st (9:30am appt with an arrival time of 7:25). It is scary enough that she is getting radiation but the fact that her whole skull is being radiated is terrifying. They assured me that they will do everything they can to spare as much as her brain as possible but some will get through. Please, if you will, pray for her brain to be spared as much as possible if not totally. She will also be getting radiation to the surrounding areas from where her initial tumor was (the Right adrenal gland) and also both of her femurs. She will be getting her radiation treatments daily for 12 business days (starting tomorrow morning).

The past week has been much better. She was finally feeling up to a playdate on Thurs and asked her buddy Greyson to come over. They had so much fun riding around in the Barbie Jeep and chasing bubbles in the front yard with Bailey. A photographer also came over that day to take some pictures of Brooke for an article that is supposed to be going into USA Today (sometime mid October). We’ll keep you posted on that! Brooke had a wonderful visit Friday with her teacher, Mrs. Katzaman, who brought her the activities that the other kids have been doing in her class. Brooke had a great time and was so happy to meet her teacher. God bless you Mrs. Katzaman that was so thoughtful of you! Brooke and I drove up to NJ for the night Sat for the Parkway Run/Walk in Philly on Sunday which raised money for pediatric cancer research at CHOP (Brooke stayed with Grammy at her house). In spite of the rainy weather it was a wonderful event…Go Team Brooke! Thanks to all the members of our team (We wound up with 56 people on our team-not bad for our first year)! The event raised over $550,000!

We headed back up to NJ today. We will be staying at Grammy’s while Brooke is getting her radiation treatments as an outpatient. Brooke had a clinic appt this afternoon. Her Red Blood Cells were low for radiation (9.2 and they’re supposed to be 10) but it was too late to get a blood transfusion (takes about 3 hours) so they told us to come back tomorrow as soon as she is done with radiation. They didn’t think that it should cause a delay in radiation since she will get the transfusion right after (please pray that it all goes well). Also, please pray for Rob tomorrow morning as he will be leaving our house at 4am to get here in time to go with us. Today was Rob’s birthday but as most special occasions this year for us we didn’t get a chance to celebrate it. Brooke wants to give him his presents in the hospital tomorrow and maybe eventually we’ll even get to give him a birthday cake! I think we can all guess what his birthday wish will be when he blows out the candles! Well, I’m probably missing a lot of info but I really need to try to get some sleep tonight for the big day tomorrow but wanted to keep everyone posted.

God Bless,

Amy