4/5/05 - Thank you to everyone who came out on Saturday night and for those who gave donations. "Hope for Hannah" was a great success. Seeing all of you just shows how much Hannah is loved and how much support Karen, Steve and there families have. Thank you for your continued prayers. Hannah started her second round of chemo last night. Her blood levels were starting to rise on their own but the past couple days they began to drop again so the doctors decided not to wait any longer. Hannah has had a long recovery process since her first round of chemo more than a month ago. After these 5 days of chemo treatment it is possible that once her levels stabilize again she will need to have a spleenectomy (have her spleen removed) since it has grown 2-3" bigger than its normal size. In J.M.M.L. the cells tend to hide themselves in the spleen and therefore it becomes enlarged. No luck yet on the bone marrow donor. The Canadian bank has been searched but NO matches were found. They will now be searching worldwide. We continue to pray that a match is found soon. After Hannah's first dose of chemo last night her potassium level went way up and therefore she was put on a heart monitor. She was having blood drawn every few hours. As the day went on her potassium level steadily dropped but continues to be closely monitored. Hannah has not been able to leave her bed today being that she is connected to the monitor. She has had a pretty rough day and has been extremely moody & cranky (who can blame her). She has had a great appetite and has gained almost a full pound this week. Hannah still remains in isolation and it has been over 3 weeks since she has been allowed outside visitors. There is no news yet as to when the visiting will be open again. The hospital has made an exception and is allowing Grandma to go in one day a week to give mommy a much deserved break and allow her to spend time with Emily. Staff are concerned that without any other family contact (other than Karen and Stephen) Hannah may become more withdrawn. Unfortunately, Infectious Control are the ones that decide whether or not the situation is under control and with so many new cases of VRE on many different floors in the hospital it does not look like any visitors will be allowed anytime soon. This round of chemotherapy for Hannah will end on Friday.