Is there a Patron Saint of white blood cells?

Keira's  absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is still zero. She has had medicine for the past two days to help boost it but so far no luck. Apparently it can take days or weeks to rise so now we just wait. Keira is feeling great so we're just hanging out, reading books, watching movies and playing a lot. One of her new friends was admitted yesterday so if she is feeling up to it they will play today.

Good Morning

Keira is having a good day, her levels are still at zero so we can't go home today. This may be for the best since dad is home with some kind of nasty virus.

Renting a room at the hotel California.......

Keira's white blood counts went down to zero yesterday, this means she has no ability to fight off infection. She will need to stay in the hospital until they rise significantly. There is a slight chance that she can go home this weekend. With a lot of cancers chemo gets postponed when counts are down but with leukemia they really can't skip a treatment so Keira will get chemo today as scheduled. Despite being in the hospital she is feeling great. She has a ton of energy and has found ways to entertain herself such as hiding random things, turning her I.V. tubes into a jump rope, inventing new dance moves and using her hospital bed as a sliding board. Of course, several of the things Keira has hidden belonged to her nurses and twirling tubes causes the I.V. machine to beep like mad so she is getting a lot of attention. The only thing that bums Kiki out is not being able to see her brother. Due to the flu, no one under 18 is allowed to visit. They talk on the phone which is hysterical to listen to because they are always having two different conversations and when we finally get home there will be a ton of playing to catch up on. We're hoping the chemo doesn't cause any pain or fever this time.

Feeling much better

After two really tough days at the hospital Keira is feeling much better. The doctors believe she had a.virus and that it has passed. Her fever is gone, the doctors want to see her white blood count come back up so they can discharge her soon, maybe even tomorrow.

Another 3 A.M. E.R. visit and this time we get to stay.

Keira woke up a little before 3 AM Sunday morning in terrible pain and running a fever. The pain is a side effect from Chemo and the fever may be as well but her doctors don't know for sure. Unfortunately this time her white blood counts were also low. She still has a fever so it is unlikely that we will get to come home tomorrow. It is very difficult to see our little angel in pain, we're glad we have great nurses and doctors to take care of her and hope she gets to come home soon.

The only fever around here is dance fever!

Keira is doing great, she has not had a fever since Saturday. She gets to take a break from one of the medications that we suspect was causing the fevers so hopefully she'll stay that way. We were having a dance party this morning and I took this video of Keira dancing to her "favorite song". She really is an absolutely incredible little girl, just seeing her smile and play makes all of this so much easier.

Moving.......into St. Chris'

Keira continues to have fevers almost everyday. We've had to go to the clinic for antibiotics everyday except Wednesday and then an E.R. visit Friday night at 3 A.M. Tomorrow we have to go back to the E.R. at 7 A.M. because the oncology clinic isn't open and she needs another dose. Hopefully the fevers are just from the chemo but I'm starting to think that might not be the case and we might be dealing with an infection in her central line. We should know something more soon. Luckily she continues to be in great spirits, has a lot of energy and is doing very well overall. We know for sure that she doesn't have the flu. We're hoping we can keep it that way even with all of these E.R. visits.