Lauren was up at CHLA yesterday for a scheduled appointment to draw labs and make sure her blood is okay. Test indicated that her hemoglobin came down slightly (9.2 to 8.7). The doctors weren't happy about the results but they weren't too concerned. They said this issue could take weeks to correct. We may have to keep fiddling with her steroids. A lot of her other levels in her blood were also down (like her oxygen level, to many to list), but since she has another appointment on Wednesday, they'll see what her counts look like then and decide what to do.

One of our concerns prior to this appointment was that Lauren has been complaining that her legs hurt and she was having dizzy spells. Once again the doctors weren't too concerned since it's expected with the low oxygen level she has been receiving, and her body, specifically her bone marrow, has been working overtime trying to make hemoglobin, which can cause her joints and bones to ache. This was a relief to hear.

Since Lauren (and Marissa) haven't been going to school, since it would be dangerous for her to catch the flu (regular or swine), Lauren's teacher Mrs. Little came by the house on Friday to give Lauren some homework and to test her on her past three weeks' homework. Mrs. Little was even going to drive up to CHLA last Wednesday to test Lauren (so that she can get credit while she is out of school). The only reason she didn't was because we told her not to since it was raining hard. It was the first rain of the year and since Southern Californians don't know how to drive in the rain, it would have taken her 3 hours to drive up there from Corona. Have I mentioned how awesome and how lucky (and blessed) we are that Lauren has such an awesome teacher? Thank you for everything Mrs. Little! It's probably a good thing Lauren hasn't been going to school, apparently there is some type of bug going around the kindergarten classes right now.

Other stuff:

Auntie Say had her stem cell transplant/rescue last week. Other than having to be admitted over the weekend with a fever (she is home now), everything is going good. One chemo treatment down, and two to go (even though she says she only doing one more).


One more thing on the witch, just kidding. Enough is enough. Sorry if I got carried away last week. Obviously I was really irritated with her.