CYCLE #4 Done!

     It is absolutely unbelievable to be able to say that Our Little Hazelnut has completed the 4th round of Immunotherapy and we are looking to only ONE MORE TREATMENT!!!  When we were facing that very first round of chemotherapy last April, it somehow seemed impossible for us to believe we would reach this point, let alone even think about it.  And now we are here and the toughest (Lord willing) is behind us!!  The first week of Round #4 went extremely well for Hazel and with very little side effects. I however was suffering from one of the worst head colds that I have had in a very long time and truly relied on the support of the nursing staff that week.  Thankfully by Sunday, I felt much better and was ready to brave the second week of this round.  It was such a blessing that I recovered because it was an immensely difficult week for Hazel.  She suffered through terrible hives accompanied with itchiness, coughing spells that required three separate breathing treatments, fevers, swelling, discomfort and restlessness.  Her creatinine levels began to rise, yet again, signaling possible loss in kidney function.  But your prayers got her through and her body was able to balance back out again and we did not have to stop the infusion because of this issue like we did last time!  Unfortunately, on Thursday (the day before she was supposed to complete the treatment),just as we thought we were in the clear and were going to finish every last drop of the medications, she developed an infection in her line and required us to stop the infusion!  The doctors were even concerned that her line would have to come out.  This would be unfortunate because she is so close to the end of treatment and will have the line surgically removed when she is done, but if it has to come out now, then she has to have this one surgically removed, a new one surgically put in place, only to be surgically removed again at the end of treatment.  So they sent us home on Saturday (not Friday as planned), on an antibiotic that must be infused into her line every 8 hours.  When completed, they will check her line again in the hopes that the infection has been eradicated and her line can stay in place.  So please pray for good results!!

     Once the infusion was stopped, Hazel began to feel a great deal better and even had a couple of wonderful visitors stop by and cheer her up! 

Taylor Swift!

Princess Elsa, from "Frozen"!

     Now we have been home for almost a week and Hazel continues to feel well.  We spent last weekend preparing our new home and getting it cleaned because we are finally moving in this coming weekend!!  So we have been very busy trying to prepare, but we could not be more excited!

Friday in the hospital, she felt so much better!