Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Day 52 - First Day of Clinic

Ava will be going to clinic 4 days this week. Today she was seen by the "GI guru" doctor. Although technically, Ava's GVHD is considered a grade 4, the fact that she has responded rather well/quickly to steroids is very positive. In the hospital, Ava was initially started on steroids which she responded to. Then when the GVHD seem to worsen, her steroid dose increased. Again, she responded. However, at this higher steroid dose, Ava also began experiencing other things as a result: high blood pressure, CMV virus levels also increasing, and of course a variety of other side effects of steroids. The high blood pressure and increased CMV resulted in Ava being put on more medication to address those issues, so the doctor would like to taper Ava's steroid dose more quickly (back to her original dose). The goal is for Ava's GVHD to still be controlled at this lower steroid dose, while eliminating the need for extra medication to treat the other side effects. This would be great! Thanks for praying for successful tapering and managing of GVHD.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), Ava will have a platelet transfusion, and on Wednesday she will have a lumbar puncture with chemo. Thursday, she'll be in clinic for several hours to draw antiviral levels. Gwen will also be seeing a specialist or two this week, and Mike & Esther got to see a 3D ultrasound of Baby Boy Lee today. The word is that he looks like Ava & Gwen did around the same time. :)

Ava has been doing/feeling much better. Thank you for your continued prayers for her encouragement! AND... this girl has gotten her first email address! She would love to receive messages from her friends, family and supporters. We don't know if she'll be able to respond to your emails, so thanks in advance for understanding if you don't hear back, but please know that your message brings cheer to her soul. If you'd like to send her a greeting, send an email to: avabrightlee (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks!

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