What's been going on with Millie

December 16 Millie woke up with a high fever. Fevers with cancer are never good. You automatically have to go to the hospital. I was grateful that this time it was during the day and we avoided the ER. They told me when we were still home to go ahead and give her Tylenol and to bring her in. When we got to clinic her temp was still 102.7. We never could get it lower then 101.

They checked all her vitals and gave her an antibiotic push. Her blood counts had dropped quite a bit since the last time she was in, but they decided to keep her on her chemo for now.

Once we got home and finally got to bed Millie took her normal Thursday night dose of chemo. She can pop all those babies at once, a trait I never thought she'd have. She also likes to take her meds without water, but I refuse to let her. I could just see her choking on them or something. It's a strange thing to watch your child take so many pills at one time and know that she is putting poison into her own body.

Day 2, Friday December 17, Also known as D DAY. I had posted a prewritten blog early in the morning about Millie's D Day on the 17th, but we didn't get to celebrate the way be were hoping.

Instead Millie's fever came back and we were once again at the hospital. YUCK! It was a very long day of tests and decision making. Dr. Lemon suggested a few different options for Millie. 1st they gave her Tylenol to get her temperature down, 2nd he started her on another dose of antibiotic, that took about a half hour to push. 3rd, they took her off all chemo.

After waiting for the drugs to kick in they retested her temp and it was still way up and her Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) once again dropped. It was now 500. NOT GOOD! If it continued to drop and Millie's fever hung around we would definitely be in the hospital for Christmas.

Now what, well Dr Lemon suggested we give Millie a shot that would up her white blood cell count and help her fight off whatever was going on in her little body. This was a really hard decision for me to make because I have heard mixed things from the other cancer moms about the shot. Some feel that it artificially ups the counts and then they tend to drop even lower once it wears off.

Dr. Lemon also wanted to swab her nose to see if we could figure out what was causing her fevers. Again, I have heard mixed reviews about doing this. In the end we decided we would do everything possible to keep Millie out of the hospital for Christmas and go with what Dr. Lemon was recommending since he was pretty insistent about it.

I was very grateful that two of our Cancer Fighting Cuties moms where there and were able to help me with my decision. Sometimes it's hard to know what's best to do, especially when these little ones are going through so much already. I never want to make Amelia get an extra something done if it isn't absolutely necessary.

Our Cancer Cutie Friends

Chelsea and Cami (Millie and Cami had on the same cute outfit from Matilda Jane, we love them)

Since Millie was sick she wasn't able to see her friends, but I was so grateful for their support. Love you guys.

Chase and Dani ( They live in St. George and have to make a 5 hour drive every time they come get chemo, YUCK.)

Millie trying her very best to hold still while her nose got swabbed. She is so good at doing what the nurses and doctors say. I am so proud of my brave baby girl.

Her daddy got there just in time for her shot. She sat on his lap and wrapped her little legs around him. I was so glad he was there to support her. She was begging for her daddy.

She had a few tears, but was happy playing again in no time. Love her!

I have to admit that I was feeling a little sorry for myself that the day wasn't going the way it was suppose to. We were all disappointment we weren't able to take Millie out to celebrate her year diagnosis but we got an AWESOME surprise that made the day!

C.R. from The HopeKids Foundation found out about Millie being in the hospital and he made arrangements for us to get FREE take out from THE OLIVE GARDEN. Our day had been saved. We are so thankful for HopeKids and everything they do for our family. We are also grateful to the downtown Olive Garden for making Miss Millie's day special. She would seriously eat there every day and she couldn't have been happier. She even made our house look like a restaurant and we drank out of "fancy" glasses. She did cheers throughout our whole dinner. It was so sweet! Cheers to HopeKids, Cheers to kids with cancer, Cheers to Olive Garden, Cheers to herself, and Cheers to C.R.

On a side note: Millie's test came back and she had the flu, which is annoying since she got the flu shot. They put her on Tami Flu and her fever did not come back, Phew. Her counts were retested and they were still low so they continued to keep her off chemo for the next week. She ended up being off for 10 days. They finally upped her to a 1/2 dose last Monday and she will get checked again Thursday when she goes in for her monthly chemo.