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On June 1, 2010 our two year old, "Little Air Bear," was diagnosed with Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Type M7. After enduring 146 days at Primary Children's Hospital, Erin is now in remission and living a full life at home with our family. Her strong will and constant happy smile is an inspiration to us all. Through our difficult circumstances we found great strength and peace in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for checking in on us.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Good News

Erin's blood work:
White Blood Count = 0.7 (normal 6.0-17.0)
Platelets = 38 (normal 400)
ANC = 0
Neutrophils = 1 (normal 15-35)
Lymphocytes = 85 (normal 44-74)
Monocytes = 14
Bands = 0

Erin's counts are slowly creeping up and she is showing signs of improvement, however small they may be.  We are so grateful that her counts are FINALLY coming up.  Her ANC is still zero and has been zero for 25 days now.  It looks like she will be coming home on Wednesday.  We are so excited to get her home and enjoy the holidays together as a family. 

Her ANC (immune system) will probably be zero when she comes home, I know this is odd that they would consider sending her home without any immune system, but with all her other counts coming up it just means that her ANC will shoot up really really soon.  So, we are going to ask that no visitors come until her ANC is at least 1000 (a normal ANC is 1500 - 8500).  And then, if you are showing signs of sickness, or if you have been around sick people please stay away from us.  We really would like to keep Erin as healthy as possible while her immune system is so compromised..  Our home health nurse will be coming to our house and drawing her blood for her lab work on Mondays and Thursdays.  I will keep this blog updated with her ANC so that you can check and see if she is able to have visitors.  It will take 3-6 months for her body to fully recover.

I feel so blessed to have a beautiful strong daughter.  Erin has been so brave and strong through all of this awfulness.  She is one special little girl.  Her body is so much stronger than it was back on June 1st when she was diagnosed.  She is taller and finally weighs more than 20 pounds.  She is a whopping 22 pounds at 2 1/2 years old!!!  This is so much better than when our pediatrician diagnosed her with "failure to thrive" back in February.  I am so thankful that we found out what was wrong with our little air bear.  I am thankful that I was listening to the spirit one day as I rocked her to sleep.  I could see how strong and beautiful her spirit was, but her body jut seemed so frail and sick, her skin beyond pale, and covered in over 20 bruises.  I acted on that prompting to get a blood test done.  I am so thankful that we have been able to be treated by the wonderful Oncology team here at Primary Children's.  I am thankful that she alive and with us for this Christmas and hopefully many more to come.

5 comments:

  1. I'm so excited that Erin's numbers are coming up and that she gets to go home soon!! Go, Erin, go!!! :)

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  2. Yeah! I am so happy Erin will be home for Christmas! I am amazed how well she has gotten through this. I can't imagine Ben being able to. She looks so good! Ben only weighs around 24 lbs and 2 1/2, so she is awesome. I admire your faith and courage. Congratulations and Merry Christmas!

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  3. Hooray!!! I'm glad to hear you have a date for her to come home!! We've been praying hard for you guys to be able to be home as a family for Christmas!

    I bet it certainly isn't the road you thought would lead to a healthier Erin! Cancer treatments! :) I'm glad she's doing better - she really does have the sweetest, most special spirit!

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  4. Thank you for sharing your journey with everyone. There is a boy at the jr high where I work who has just relapsed with AML (his name is Brooks). I thought about how well Erin is doing and what a great blessing it is for her to be home for the holiday and on a great path to recovery. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

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  5. I am so happy to hear that things are going well and that she will get to be home for christmas! She is so adorable! :)

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