Numbers

Today is all about numbers. Our attending GP was quite chuffed about Eleanor's hormone levels from her last test. She handed me a piece of paper with all the numbers from all the tests since being admitted and while it may just look like a bunch of numbers, it brings me incredible joy. Basically, her levels are lower than ever (yay!) and therefore closer to normal baby hormones. While the levels dropped dramatically since removing the tumor, there is a clear rise between rounds two and three. This is not good, but it shows that the chemo supressed the cancer initially and it pinpoints the moment the chemotherapy stopped working. It also means that the cancer growing in her lungs is still acting like the original tumor, and is secreting hormones like her adrenal gland. That kind of blows my mind. Is it weird that I find the nature of my daughter's cancer fascinating?

Another number we are focused on today is her temperature. After 36 hours of discomfort, she spiked a fever. It's the first time she has ever had one, cancer or no cancer. They drew some blood for cultures and put her on antibiotics right away. She also got some Tylenol paired with her morphine, and I am told that this is a very effective pain-reliever. Now we just wait and see if anything else develops. Poor little bear. She is definitely struggling, but according to her previous numbers, her white blood cells should start coming up in 3 or 4 days and she will start feeling better. Fingers crossed that she doesn't have an infection!