Saturday 25 February 2012

Kidney Stone

About a month ago I had just come home from a funeral and I took one look at Millie and knew something was off. This girl does not stop playing unless she feels pretty awful and she actually asked for the neighbor kids to go home, not a good sign. While I was trying to find every one's shoes and socks Amelia started screaming like I have never heard in my life. It still gives me nightmares. I flew to Primary Children's and after much demanding on my part that there was more to this pain then a little constipation we found out Amelia had a kidney stone over the size of a centimeter. This would be large for an adult, let alone my 6 year old. She had passed it from her kidney through the ureter and it was stuck above the bladder. They couldn't get Millie in for surgery for a month so they had us stay over night, placed a stint the next morning, and sent us on our way.

CT scan in the ER to see what was going on.

Millie and Austin enjoying the ride from recovery.

Amelia had the stint for about a full day when she started screaming again. I called the hospital and after hearing her over the phone the surgeon changed the date for the next morning. I was so relieved. What happened was when they placed the stint they pushed the stone back to her kidney so she passed it through the Ureter again! Poor thing. It was still stuck above the bladder so they had to go in and blast it.

Before surgery.


After surgery.


She was not feeling well and yes I know she just had surgery, but I could tell something was off. Usually she recovers pretty well and even days later she was feeling horrible. After her procedure she just wasn't herself. She had high fevers, a lot of pain, and something was wrong. We called the on-call doc and they had us bring her in. Her crit (red blood count) had dropped from 36 to 17 in a 4 day period. It was dangerously low and Amelia needed an immediate blood transfusion. We had actually been in the ER the night before for her fever and pain, but they sent us home. Someone missed the fact that my daughter who has a blood cancer had very low blood counts. She should have been admitted that night. Thankfully I called the next morning to check in and see what the docs were thinking since she was still fevering. It was at this point that they noticed she needed a transfusion. They ended up not only giving her blood, but admitting us because she had lost so much, and they had no idea why.

After the transfusion they sent us home a couple days later. It took another week to realize she had a ton of fluid around her kidney and she also had either an abscess or urine leak. They couldn't decide which. I was just grateful they figured out what was going on. They sent Millie home on IV antibiotics for the week and that was that. Her body finally recovered and she seemed to be feeling better. It was a horrible month, but we were past it now and looking forward to her finishing her chemo treatments after 2 years.

She finished her last dose of antibiotics the day before our final IV chemo which was Thursday. Amelia was to have her last clinic appointment, last lumbar puncture, and last Vincristine dose. We had been waiting for so long to reach this day.

These are all pictures from the Kidney Stone ordeal...

Fevering and in a lot of pain after surgery, so we're back at Primary.

Still having fevers so we are back again...

Poor girl had her stint pulled and an IV placed on the same day. She was one unhappy girl.
Amelia had a GIANT red mustache from drinking the contrast fluid for yet another CT scan to figure out what the heck was going on. This was when they finally found the fluid around her kidney after 2 weeks of torture.


They sent her home with IV antibiotics that Brady and I had to give her through her port every 8 hours. After a few days Millie finally started to feel better and once again there was an end in sight, at least that's what we thought.

Thursday Feb 2 came and because Amelia had been having so many issues her doc decided to do a bone marrow aspiration. This is not normal after A.L.L treatments. I thank my Heaven Father every day that we decided to go ahead with it. If we hadn't who knows what would have happened.

Feb 6. 2012 our life's were once again flipped upside down as we were informed Amelia had relapsed. 80% of her bone marrow was filled with Leukemia. Amelia continues the fight for her life.

12 comments:

Ashley said...

I don't know if I have commented before but I have followed your blog for some months now. My sister was diagnosed with AML at age 9 (she is 17 almost 18 now, and clear) but I still remember clear as day how painful that time was. So when I reached the end of this post my heart was filled with so much pain and empathy for your family and your sweet little girl. I cannot express how sorry I am that she has relapsed when you were getting so close to the end of her treatments. My prayers and thoughts are with all of you, and please give Millie an extra hug for me.

Brenda said...

Your sweet little Amelia. I will keep her and your family in my prayers. It breaks my heart that she has relapsed when you should have been celebrating the end of her chemo.

Kristina said...

This is all so unfair. I ask everyone I know to pray for Millie and consider registering to be a bone marrow donor. Paul and I are keeping Millie and the rest of your family in our prayers and send our love.

Briana said...

You guys have been through so much in such a short period of time (after you'd already been through SO much!). It's unbelievable. Thanks for taking time to write this newest chapter of the story out. We love hearing the updates, your thoughts, etc. because you guys are never far away from our thoughts.

I also know a lot of people who have FINALLY joined the bone marrow registry after hearing about Millie. My years of prodding and asking and cajoling didn't work, but Milie's story did. :) She is impacting the world for good and making a huge difference.

Love and prayers to you guys!

Shawna Wilson said...

It still is a huge shock to me that this happened. I'm sure you can't even wrap your head around it all... like so many others have said, you should be celebrating the END of all this instead of starting a new hard chapter. I hate stupid cancer!! Millie is so blessed to have a wonderful family. Even through all the hardships she's had, you can still see a sweet sparkle in her eye. I pray everyday that she will get through this and be and continue to be an inspiration to so many with her story. You guys are the best neighbors ;) and I hope she gets to head home for a break SOON! xoxoxoxo

Eisha said...

I am blogging about Millie right now!I just checked your blog for some stats and saw these two new posts. I feel sick!I am so very sorry amanda... she needs to win!

Kat said...

I am so sorry, we have followed your blog since the start of your battle... Your family is in our prayers.

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