7/18/05 - Hannah has been IMPROVING SLIGHTLY each day. Her pain is now under control with the morphine drip. She has not needed any increase. The sores in her mouth are starting to heal and she is able to eat the odd cracker and drinks small sips of water. Hannah has been sitting up more, talking more and has had longer wake periods watching TV. The swelling (water retention) in her face has decreased & her skin now has some colour. Hannah is bathed daily & her clothes & bedding also changed daily. Hannah has lost MOST of her hair from her last dose of chemotherapy. She has a few scattered strands left. Hannah's blood work has been about the same, no increases yet. She did receive a transfusion of plateletes yesterday and hemoglobin today. Hannah had her FIRST outside family contact since her bone marrow transplant on July 6th (other than mom & dad). Grandpa was able to visit on Friday & spend the day with Hannah (an exception made by the hospital). Karen & Stephen were able to go & spend a few hours with their other daughter Emily for her 1st birthday. Hannah enjoyed the time with Grandpa & even had a few SMILES & LAUGHS! Hopefully it won't be much longer till we can all see her and give her a GREAT BIG HUG & KISS!!!!

7/11/05 - Hannah is feeling SLIGHTY better today. She has thrown up less BUT her temperature has been ELEVATED all day. She has been receiving tylenol every few hours which brings her fever down for a short while, then it starts to rise again. It was going as high as 39.8 celcius. Her morphine drip was increased today due to the pain in her mouth, throat & stomach. She was crying +++ because of pain. She still has no interest in eating ANY food and drank about a 1/2 glass of water all day. BUT the good news is Hannah's weight remains the same at 13.3kg (29lbs 4oz) so the TPN is effective and there is NO CONCERN there. Hannah was sitting up in bed for short periods of time today playing barbies. She also had a bath & a hair wash, which she DID NOT enjoy. Hannah is having slight hair loss all over. She is up and talking during the day and only napped 1-2 hours today. Hopefully she will have a great night sleep tonight. There are still no results yet from the blood cultures taken yesterday. Because having a fever is VERY NORMAL no futher testing will be done unless the fever continues for more than 4 days. Right now it's taking things ONE DAY AT A TIME and hoping that each day is BETTER THAN THE ONE BEFORE.

7/10/05 - It has been 4 DAYS since Hannah's bone marrow transplant. Things have been going much as expected. Hannah has been sleeping on & off all day due to the morphine & gravol that she is getting. Hannah is on a morphine drip so it dispenses a small amout every hour to keep her pain under control. Hannah's sores that were in her throat have now travelled into her mouth. The doctors say they could go as far down as her esophagus and the top of her stomach. These are all NORMAL SIDE EFFECTS from the chemotherapy but have ELIMINATED Hannah's appetite. She remains on the TPN (nutritional supplement) but has not eaten any food since Tuesday. The combination of sores & extra mucous in her throat causes Hannnah to vomit +++, mostly blood & mucous. She is vomitting as much as 5 times a day & through the night. The doctors & nurses say that this is all VERY NORMAL for a child in Hannah's position BUT it is still very upsetting for Hannah. Hannah has been receiving blood transfusions (platelets) every other day. She spends all of her day in bed watching tv on & off between naps. She hasn't had much energy to do anything else. The medications keep her very DOPEY & DROWSY. This could go on anywhere from 1-3 weeks. Hannah's most recent blood work results for her White Blood Cells (WBC) is less than 0.1 which is GREAT. This means that the last dose of CHEMOTHERPAY was EFFECTIVE. Hannah did spike a FEVER today so she had to have blood drawn from both her lines & get a poke in her arm. She is already on 2 different antibiotics so until the cultures come back, NO CHANGES will be made. Hannah did have a POSITIVE & UPLIFTING part of her day today. Thanks to SICK KIDS hospital they have supplied Hannah with a VIDEO PHONE & one has been set up at Grandma's house where Hannah's sister Emily lives. Since Hannah is not allowed ANY visitors she is able to stay in contact with her sister (who will be 1 year old on Friday) and see her on the video phone whenever she wants. Hannah was able to use the phone this morning & had a GREAT time blowing kisses to Emily on the phone. Since her transplant, Hannah has been in a special ISOLATION room that only has the one bed & a chair. Parents are NOT ALLOWED to sleep while in the room. Karen & Stephen have been staying at a nearby hotel & rotating days & nights so that ONE of them is ALWAYS with Hannah. This will continue as long as Hannah is in this room. So far it has worked out well. Karen has been doing days at he hospital & sleeping at the hotel at nights and Steve has been doing nights at the hospital & sleeping at the hotel during the day. Hannah has been receiving the BEST OF CARE since being at Sick Kids. All the staff have been EXTREMELY ACCOMODATING & HELPFUL. Hannah is VERY LUCKY to have so many WONDERFUL people in her CORNER. Let's hope & pray that things start to get EASIER for her.

TRANSPLANT DAY

7/6/05 - HANNAH HAS COMPLETED HER BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT. Hannah's transfusion began about 12pm today and finished about 5pm. Hannah did REMARKABLY WELL!! She had NO ADVERSE REACTIONS OR SIDE EFFECTS. She did have a slightly low heartrate throughout the procedure due to all of her premeds but that corrected itself. Hannah has been given some demerol for the pain in her throat. She does have some sores which are a result of the chemotherapy. This has been affecting her appetite. But Hannah has been restarted on the TPN (nutritonal supplement) and has had good results with an increase in weight to 13.3kg (just over 29lbs). Hannah will most likely be put onto a morphine drip tomorrow to control any pain from side effects. She has no activity restrictions but is put on a LOW BACTRIAL DIET to reduce the chance of developing any infections due to ill prepared food. These next few days will be CRUTIAL to Hannah's recovery as she has a VERY HIGH chance of developing infections. Hannah has special precautions that are in place while in the isolation room. She can only take in toys/items that are washable, but NO STUFFED ANIMALS. Her laundry must be done in a very specific way to prevent any contamination. Hannah slept through the majority of the bone marrow transplant. She did receive a lot of premeds that kept her drowsy. She became fully awake about 8 o'clock this evening and is up talking. She has not had anything to eat yet but has had some sips to drink. NOW IS THE WAITING GAME. It will take approximately 1 - 3 weeks to know if the bone marrow has taken. Hannah will be closely monitored for infections and have routine blood work. In total Hannah received 381cc (ml) of fresh bone marrow. All we know about the donor is that it is OUTSIDE OF CANADA. The bone marrow was extracted from the donor this morning. MANY, MANY THANKS AGAIN, to this wonderful angel who has selflessly given of themself to provide Hannah with a fighting chance of beating this disease!! MAY GOD BLESS YOU WITH LIFE'S RICHEST BLESSINGS! For Hannah, MAY GOD WATCH OVER YOU AND KEEP YOU PROTECTED IN HIS LOVING ARMS! And for each of you who keep updated on Hannah's conditon and keep her in your prayers, THANK YOU.

7/5/05 - TOMORROW IS HANNAH'S BIG DAY!!! We all are praying for you Hannah and hope that tomorrow goes well. Hannah has had a very EXHAUSTING WEEK!! She had a tough round of chemotherapy that has completely wiped out all of her own bone marrow and her immune system. Hannah had some adverse side effects from the chemo. Her heart rate and blood pressure were EXTREMELY HIGH at times and caused some concern. She also had not eaten for a few days and was vomitting & feverish. BUT ALL IS NOW WELL. Hannah finished her last dose of chemo late last night and today had a day of rest in preparation for tomorrows bone marrow transplant. Tomorrow morning Hannah will be moved to an isolation room where she will be monitored very closely. Tomorrow morning the bone marrow will be extracted from the donor (wherever in the world that is) and flown to Pearson International Airport. It will then be transported by ambulance or air ambulance depending on the timing to Sick Kids. Bone marrow only has a short life span once extracted and must get to Hannah A.S.A.P. Shortly after noon Hannah should be ready for the transplant. The fresh bone marrow will infuse into Hannah's body via her central line. The whole process could take up to several hours. During this time Hannah will be very closely monitored. Once the transfusion has taken place Hannah will have blood work done several times a day & may require multiple blood transfusions daily over the course of her recovery. She will be living SOLEY on donor blood as she will not be producing any of her own. It may take several days before they are able to determine whether the transplant was successful. Hannah will then have a bone marrow biopsy done to determine if the cells of the new bone marrow have taken or if any of the bad cells remain. HANNAH, WE LOVE YOU AND ONLY WISH THE BEST FOR YOU. You have been so brave & strong throughout all these months and tomorrow will be the FIRST DAY OF YOUR RECOVERY. It may be a long and exhausting time for you. And at times very scary. But remember that there are SO MANY people from all over the world praying for you and your safe recovery. Keep smiling and we will all smile with you. GOOD LUCK TOMORROW & GOD BLESS YOU!!