July 28, 2015

Update from Joe:

Sooooo, a long few days. Ella started vomiting and complaining of headaches on Saturday and then all day Sunday. We were admitted yesterday for hydration and observation. The doctors ran a few tests to try and see why she was suddenly vomiting. The CT of her head didn’t show hydrocephalus (no extra fluid in her head, thank God) and she doesn’t need a shunt. They did a chest X-ray because she had a dry cough last week and it was normal (yeah!). Her nasal swab was also normal, so no viral infection (also good).

Best explanation so far is tumor placement. It seems as if one or many tumors may have hit the wrong spot and gave her headaches and vomiting. The fix? Chemo. Hopefully. Ella did well overnight, her labs are great and she’s eating a bit of food! So, Ella will start chemo today. It’s a three day regimen of high-dose chemo. Ella could get very sick, is at risk for mucositis (sores in her mouth and throat), and prolonged neutropenia (no immune system – a side effect of all chemo). By knocking out her immune system, she’s at risk of infections, so our bubble goes up again and we will do our best to isolate her. Talks are that this is one of our last options to fight this cancer. Ella’s cancer progressed through our last regimen, so all of our eggs are in this basket. Please, please, please pray that this works. Much love!

   

    
 

July 21, 2015

We got the results back from the MRI Ella had yesterday, and unfortunately it is not the news we were hoping for. The tumors on Ella’s spine have stabilized (no growth or shrinking). It also showed new growth in Ella’s brain. This means that the chemo regimen will change to something called ICE. Ella received a similar treatment before, but this one will be ramped up and a higher dosage. 

Ella will be at high-risk of infection on this new regimen, so she’ll need to return to being pretty isolated. After two rounds of ICE, she will have another MRI. And if the chemo does its job, radiation could start after her second round is complete. Ella needs to show little to no tumor in order to begin radiation. 

Please continue to send your thoughts and prayers to Ella and co. And special thanks to little Connor Nicol who has taken fundraising for Ella into his own hands with his lemonade stand. You rock, Connor!

   
    
    
   

July 14, 2014

Ella had clinic today. Her counts are pretty good and she didn’t need blood or platelets. ANC is 690!

She’s definitely a handful these days, though. Hello terrible twos! And her new favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz, which she has been known to watch FOUR times in one day. (Those terrifying monkeys apparently have zero effect on her. She really is a tough little lady). 

The initial report from St. Louis, where Ella will have radiation, is that they want Ella to be older to start. This means that Ella will likely have two more rounds of chemo and start radiation in October. They have clinic again on Friday and the MRI on Monday. GO ELLA GO!

And Ella, along with her pals Joe and Malina, will have their names on this year’s shirt for the American Childhood Cancer Organization. (You can see a photo of last year’s shirt below). More about the organization here. 

   
    
 
   
    
 
   
   

July 5, 2015

Ella was admitted for chemo on Thursday, and she did great. (She also packed her backpack full of books and jewelry for the hospital stay). She and the family were discharged as scheduled on Saturday. She even got to go to the park for the 4th of July.

Ella and co. dressed in all blue last week, as you can see in most of the photos. They did this in honor of their pal, Noah, who passed away last week. Noah was a fellow patient at Children’s Mercy and you can read more about his story here. Noah founded the Band-Aid Project so hospitalized kids could have fun, cool band-aids. Check out their site and how you can show your support here. Many thoughts and prayers go out to Noah’s family. We are so sorry for your loss, and wish you love, comfort, and strength in the days ahead.

Ella will have clinic visits the next two weeks, and she is scheduled for an MRI on July 20th to see how she is progressing. Until then, we’re hoping for an easy time and home and no fevers! Go Ella Go!