Happy Birthday Hannah

3/28/05 - Happy 3rd Birthday Hannah!! Well Hannah has had a very busy week. Early last week she had a CT scan to determine why she was developing a fever. She then had a bone marrow test to try to determine why her blood level counts have not been rising on their own. The first test brought about more questions and a second bone marrow test was done the next day. The doctors were trying to determine if the J.M.M.L. had somehow mutated into another form of leukemia (A.M.L.), which has not yet been ruled out, but would be much harder to treat. The preliminary results of the cultures showed that 30% of Hannah's bone marrow was defective. 15% of that were J.M.M.L. cells and the other 15% was still unsure and needed further growing. A few days later half of those cells were determined to be J.M.M.L. The last portion of the culture was still growing for further examination. No results yet. Hannah's spleen had also enlarged further. The good news is that since early last week Hannah has not had a fever and has not required any blood transfusions for almost a week. During all this Hannah's blood counts have been slowly rising on their own and are starting to stabilize. Her platelets in the 70's, her hemoglobin in the 90's and her white blood cells >1.5 . Hannah will be starting her next round of chemo within a day or two. It has been 2 weeks now and Hannah remains in isolation and is still not alllowed ANY visitors. BUT today being Hannah's 3rd birthday the hospital made an exception for 2 hours ONLY and allowed Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Ken and Aunty Mel to throw her a little party in her room (Dora being the theme of course). A few of Hannah's nurses and care team were able to join in. Hannah took a bit to absorb all the attention but by the end of the party was full of life and laughter. It was great to see her smile. It lit up the room. Hannah really needed the interaction with family and thrived on the positive energy. Although she has lost weight in the past few weeks Hannah enjoyed her homecooked birthday lunch. Near the end of the party Hannah was up walking around on her own with her IV pole, kicking and throwing the ball with excitement. It was a great time for all.