Hannah’s Journey

I always mean to take less time between postings, but time seems to just get away. Hannah and I (mom) went down to Sloan for her second round of antibodies today. We had to spend the entire day in the city because of all the bloodwork that needed to be done at certain times of the day. It should get better from here on out, with the treatments taking less time. The infusion went well and we took a walk to Central Park with Nathan (who has shaved his hair very short again) in between bloodtests. The weather was beautiful and we ate lunch in the park.

We have discovered some side effects from the antibodies. For several days after the first treatment, Hannah experienced fairly significant pain in the areas where she has or previously had tumors. The pain lasted for about 4 days and then disappeared. The hope is that this is a good sign, meaning the immune system that is being introduced is attacking the cancer cells. She also experienced a loss of appetite and fatigue for several days. However, her hair is in the beginning stages of growing back, which is very exciting.

The other positive news is that Hannah has returned to school! She’s been back about a week and a half, and though she misses days because of treatments, it is going well. We are all settling back into a routine now with school and work. Of course, our day still starts with Dixie, our very fast growing puppy, waking us up each morning. I’m working on teaching her the days of the week, so that she lets us sleep in on the weekends.