 | 2/11-12 —Champions Superstars perform at a competition at Mayde Creek
High School. Jeri is having trouble with some of the routines due to pain in
her leg. It’s been going on a couple of weeks and rest and ice aren’t
helping. It’s time to have it checked, even it the diagnosis is more rest
and ice. |
| 2/15—Jeri’s been having pain in her left leg. Virg takes her to the
doctor to see if she’s hurt something while dancing. The doctor thinks it’s
probably a sports related injury and refers her to the orthopedic sports
medicine guys next door. Lucky break in these times of HMO’s and
reluctance to refer. |
| 2/17 —Dr. Davino orders an x-ray and the results would change our lives.
Jeri is immediately referred to a pediatric oncologist and scheduled for
tests. She is put on crutches and told that she mustn’t put any weight on
the left leg. More good news, We found it before the leg broke and created
complications. Virg calls Brit in Bartlesville, OK to deliver the news.
2/18 —Tests begin. It becomes not “if” but which kind and how bad. At
this point, we are hoping that it hasn’t spread. The chest x-ray looks
clean. That’s a good sign. The lungs are usually the first place it
spreads. |
| 2/21 — Jeri checks in to Texas Children’s Hospital where Dr. Davino
does a biopsy and another Dr. installs a central line. A central line is the
plumbing, which allows the administration of drugs or taking of blood
samples without using an IV. I guess it’s sort of a permanent IV. Now we
wait for the results. |
| 2/23 — Virg and Jeri spend the day at the hospital getting more tests.
They do a heart echocardiogram (sp?) and a bone scan. |
| 2/24 — We meet with Dr.
Mural Chintagumpalai. Everyone calls him Dr. Murali
since it appears that no one can pronounce his last name. He gives us
the results of the biopsy and discusses a treatment plan. The bad news is
that it’s osteosarcoma. The good news is that it hasn’t spread. Now the
race is on to begin treatments. It will be about 10 weeks of chemotherapy, 2
weeks to recover, bone reconstruction and more chemotherapy. Dr. Murali
suggests that Jeri being treatment after all the tests are completed on
Friday (tomorrow) if a room is open at the hospital. There is an urgency to
begin treatment but a low enough priority to work on a space available at
the hospital for the first treatment. He assures us that scheduling will
never be a problem again once the process begins. We also discuss what Jeri
will have to do about school. The parental units aren’t so worried about
school but Jeri is. Looks like it will be home schooling with an occasional
visit to the class room if the white blood cell and platelet counts hold up.
We’ll post the treatment road map once I get it back from Virg. PS. This
was the day that Jeri was scheduled to get the braces removed from her
teeth. That was good. They would have had to come off anyway. It’s nice to
get something right. |
| 2/25 — Brit takes Jeri for the days tests. We have some sort of kidney
test and a hearing test. It takes most of the day. No rooms open up at the
hospital. Jeri is relieved. She wants to go to the Champions Superstar
competition that evening to see some of her friends. Virginia takes her |
| 2/26 — The hospital called and now the real work begins. Jeri checked in
about 6pm this afternoon. It’s room 684 in Texas Children's Hospital. She’ll
be there for about three days. It was late checking in so we think it will
be Tuesday before she gets out. |
| 2/27 — Just got back from the hospital. Virg is taking the night shift.
Jeri started out the day fine but began to have problems with nausea in the
afternoon. She’s not eating. The say all is normal and that they’ll be
adjusting the nausea medicine. The orthopedic oncologist, Dr. Johnson, came
by to discuss the situation. He reiterated that this was a life threatening
situation but that they had had good results with the treatment. I’ve
almost assumed the treatment of the cancer and been concerned about Jeri’s
rehab and getting back to the things she loves. I need to keep my priorities
in line. He also talked about reconstruction and the results they’ve had
with using replacement bone versus prosthetics. He’s favoring a new knee.
He told Jeri about some dancers he had treated the same way that were back
dancing with their teams. That gives her something to work for. I’m sure
we’ll talk some more on that subject. Jeri’s friend Leslie is spending
the night to be with her. It’s good to have friends. |
| 2/29 — Jeri felt better this afternoon. She was holding her water down
and ate a Popsicle. We thought she would be coming home today but it didn’t
happen. We had seen the doctors and were starting to pack when she had a
nausea attack. Oooops. Looks like it will be tomorrow. I can’t tell you
how good it was to see her smiling again. One the medical front, the
hospital has arranged to have the home health care folks take the blood for
the twice weekly counts. Saves a drive to TCH. They also said it would be
about 6 or 7 days before we see her blood counts drop. Finally, it will be
about two weeks from Thursday before the next planned hospital stay and
chemo treatment. |
