Daley Ponderings

The MRI went smoothly. The anesthesiologist listened to Jon and adjusted some things, and it seemed to be good. There is not a glioma on her eye. Her plexiform neurofibroma is about the same as it was last time. (They were concerned about some abnormal tissue in her right cheek, but that's... (More)

Some pretty good appointments yesterday, and the snow (9 inches?!) wasn't too bad at all driving up to Dartmouth (one car sped by our line of traffic and a couple minutes later was spun off the road in the median, but she was already out of the car and on the phone, so presumably was fine, but... (More)

Short version of the post - all good results!  You can read the longer version below. We are very happy and it has been a weight off of us.  Until a couple days ago, it was seeming like it was quite likely going to be a bad answer, as we've been praying and thinking over... (More)

Jon was reading through Grace's test results and saw that the most recent bone marrow report mentioned the JAK3 mutation. He contacted her doctors because we thought that one was gone following the transplant. Dartmouth doctors can't see her Boston results to compare  so they contacted... (More)

We had our appointment with the NF1/oncology doctor yesterday. It turns out the neurofibroma is even bigger than we thought. In addition to what we already knew, which is that it goes from her external ear where we can see into her middle ear, it also extends down under her ear into her parotid... (More)

Grace had several appointments at Dartmouth today: audiology, ENT, oncology/nf1, lab draw This is my memory's summary of Jon's report to me: A lot of time for not a lot of progress.  Education/information, but no decisions. The ENT was not experienced, so they want her to see the adult... (More)

As previously mentioned, Heather noticed a spot in Grace's ear last summer, and when the NF1 doctors heard about it, they were concerned that it might be a plexiform neurofibroma , and so scheduled an MRI for today to take a closer look. While it has shrunk on the surface, it is still there... (More)

Sorry we left you hanging about Grace's recent appointments. Here are some things to be thankful for about Grace. She did really well during her audiology appointment. It took a long time, but she followed all the directions and was cooperative as usual. She does still have some hearing loss in... (More)

We went back to the clinic in the late morning after Grace threw up her NG tube.  She did manage to take her meds by mouth that morning, but she doesn't really like it.  They had tested her stool when she had so much diarrhea at her appointment the day before and it did come back... (More)

Grace had a great day today, despite staying up until after midnight (I went to sleep, but I asked the nurse in the morning, and she stayed up reading her new book and trying to not let the nurses check her oxygen levels since that would involve taking away her light...) She came to rounds in... (More)

The last several days have been back and forth. I’ve started several posts in my head, and then they end up changing. The weekend doctors cancelled the stool studies, then the attending on Monday re-ordered them. Jon had some very frustrating conversations with the doctor, but an... (More)

Grace had a great day today. She went out for a walk, wasn't even too upset when Heather left for Hillsboro, waved at everyone as we walked down the hallway.  (She was especially adorable today because she brought a toy vacuum cleaner instead of her normal shopping cart, which is useful for... (More)

Faith steadily improved throughout the day as she slept through most of it and has now transferred to our Boston apartment. She got a present (mailed to Grace at the hospital) so that was fun. Grace's diaper rash did not get worse overnight, and without oral meds, she ate well and did not... (More)

The last long update ended February 3 in the evening. In the wee hours of February 4 (Sunday) she got a blood transfusion for her hemoglobin level, which was expected. (They’re killing off her bone marrow, so her own body is not making as much blood.) Sunday morning, she got a dressing... (More)

The last post left you with Jon and Grace down in ultrasound. That procedure took two hours. They took hundreds of pictures - exploring all her internal organs. She does have vessel constriction in her liver, wgich is not unexpected with JMML. So since then, she has gotten another prophylactic... (More)