Another ER Visit

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Friday night was spent as yet another visit to the Emergency Department at Children's Hospital. Thankfully, Grandma Kirsten (Mommy's mommy) was at our house already since she spent the day with us, so she could stay with the boys. Mommy and Daddy took Elizabeth in at around 8:30pm because Elizabeth was having big time tummyaches. It was so bad that our usual tough cookie was crying and moaning (even yelling and howling at times) in pain.

They did a full blood work-up (which was clear) and checked her liver enzymes (which were normal) to see if the pain was being caused by her tumors. She had an x-ray of her tummy area which showed lots and lots of poop filling her entire colon. So basically she just needs to go potty. Between the chemo and her digestive enzyme problem (um, she doesn't make any on her own without a pancreas), coupled with the fact that she hasn't felt like eating, she developed a blockage somewhere. Daddy was convinced it was something like that because of where Elizabeth said it hurt, but Mommy (who is always worried about the worst) was very scared that it might be cancer related. Unfortunately, no matter what the docs say, it is still in the back (well, really front) of Mommy's mind!

Needless to say, Elizabeth has been feeling pretty icky the last couple of days. It seemed to start going downhill ever since we came home from dance class on Thursday afternoon. She still laughs here and there, but has been rather sedentary lately--who could blame her?!! We're giving her tylenol for the pain and she has two prescriptions to help clear up the poop problem. Hopefully it won't be but another 2-3 days of her feeling like this.

Other than that, we're just hangin' in there. Dr. Marcio is working on getting her CT scan scheduled before her next round of chemo (scheduled to start May 5). We're hopeful that the AFP levels will continue to go down and would be ecstatic if her scan shows improvement in the areas effected by the cancer.

It hasn't been easy seeing Elizabeth in pain--this isn't your typical constipation tummyache--but it is a reminder that as bad as this seems, we need to be grateful that it isn't worse. She could be like most other kids and be puking from chemo on top of it. It starts to bring home the message to be grateful for what you have because someone somewhere is a lot worse off. Although it would be nice just to be cured and "normal" again!!

Thanks for your continued prayers! We believe in the power of prayer, and we are expecting a miracle.