Lauren is still in the hospital. Everybody expects her blood count to be above 500, which normally would allow her to go home. However, with her recently developed neurological issues, we'll have to wait to see if the steroids clears them up first. It is so heart-wrenching watching Lauren struggle to say something, or to just place a sticker on a piece of paper and there is nothing you can do to help her. A couple times I couldn't take it and had to help steady her hand so she could place a sticker, but the majority of the time she'll push my hand away because she wanted to do it herself. Yesterday in the playroom, watching her from across the table, I could barely contain my tears, but after kicking Hilary out of the way to sit next to my daughter...as long as I had a hand on Lauren's back, I was able to handle it. Of course, I could see Hilary on the other side of the table trying not to cry.

Dr. Finlay does not believe that her neurological issues are due to a change in the tumor. He believes it's related to some type of swelling and that the steroids will fix . Of course, there is no way to tell for certain unless they do another MRI. But by 6 pm last night, 5 hours after getting 2 mg of Decadron, Lauren's speech improved I'd say 50% and her hands were steady enough to cut pictures out of a magazine. So hopefully all she needed was to be put back on steroids. The doctors also said it can take up to 24 hours for the steroids for it to take full effect. We're going to start her on 1/2 mg of steroids a day. Before the nurse injected the IV with the steroids she said that the 2 mg is a lot. I said, that's nothing, CHOC started her on 12 mg. One of the differences between CHOC and CHLA style is, CHOC was over cautious in regard to medication, while CHLA tries to give the minimum amount of medication. I have no idea which style is better or which way I like better.

Interesting side note: Our nurse practioner said that right now is a scary time to be in the hospital. The fellowship began in July, so there is a bunch of new, young, inexperienced, eager doctors running around the hospital. She said to keep an eye on them and question everything. And if we have any concerns to bring them up with our nurse. She said it will take a little while for the nurses to train them.