I'm pretty sure I'm biased,

But I still think I have the most beautiful bald headed little girl ever! Today we took the big step after her chemo treatment and shaved her hair. It was bald is so many different spots and falling out so much that it just made sense. We let her use to scissors to cut her hair and then Dustin buzzed the rest of it off. I don't think Dustin ever thought he'd be shaving his daughters hair, but honestly who ever thinks their child is going to get cancer anyways, right?




Today at her clinic appointment everything went well. She only had to get one of the chemotherapy's today and it's administered through a syringe and only take a minute compared to when she does the double dose and she actually has to be hooked up to the machine. The doctors said she is doing pretty good. Her red blood count is low and they want us to watch out and see if she gets any headaches or is really tired. Her ANC is back up, which is great. It's crazy to me how much that number fluctuates. Next week we have the double dose count dependent chemo and then will also do some x-rays and scans to make sure the treatment is doing what it is suppose to do.





One of my best friends Danielle, who lives in Texas has created a button on her blog that says "Praying for Izzy". She is a brillant blogger and has given me the HTML because I had a couple people ask if they could put the button on their blog. Anyhow, if you're interested you'll need to email me and then I can pass along the code, for some reason when I put in the post it just comes up with the button. You can check it out below, when you click on it, it goes to the blog. Love you Dan!



Lastly, I've had some really touching experiences this past week where 2 people have told me that Izzy's blog inspires them. It means so much to me that people actually take the time to comment, stop me at church, or send me a message. My little girl is definitely inspiring, in fact there are days when I look back at the pictures from the hospital and I can hardly believe that we've come this far. Don't get me wrong I know we're not done fighting, but she's a strong girl and it amazes me how much she has already been through. I swear when she gets to be a teenager and is struggling with the typical teenage things, I'm going to bring all these pictures out and tell her if you got through cancer, you can get through ANYTHING! So thank you to all of you who have shown your love and support, on my low days it helps to have these words of encouragement from everyone to look at to help me feel better. Because to be completely honest with everyone...sometimes I pretend.

Much Love,

Jennie

Fever schmever

On Wednesday Miss Sassy Pants got a fever, so I stayed home with Tommy and Dustin took her up to the clinic.  Monday I took Izzy to chemo by myself and Dustin stayed home so I didn't put up much of a fight, but I was anxiously waiting by the phone to hear what the doctors said.  It's so much better if she gets a fever during the day because we can just take her to the clinic.  Otherwise we have to go to the ER and pay a $100 co-pay and we have to explain everything to the ER docs, which are great, but then they have to consult with her oncologist to make sure they're doing what they would want them to do.  It's just easier to deal directly with the docs who are treating her.  Does that make sense?  Unfortunately, with my kids it seems like they get fevers at night and I don't know why.

The doctors said Izzy's counts have dropped dramatically, so we've got to keep her away from people so she doesn't get sick.  They were talking about admitting her because of her counts and so they could keep an eye on her, but she was doing good besides that so they let her go home.  They told Dustin if she got another fever we'd have to bring her back and get admitted.  Luckily she's been doing pretty good and hasn't got a fever since they left.  *Fingers Crossed*

Much Love as always,

Jennie

Chemo Round 8

I'm again attempting to blog from my phone so be patient with me, I'm still learning. I have these great pics from my phone, but it makes it difficult to put them on the blog without them being super small. She looks like a total bug eye with my sunglasses on, but the sun was driving her nuts so I hooked her up.

Round 8 went well. Izzy had fun playing with the polly pockets and play dough at clinic on Monday. I'd say we are almost half way through with treatment, which is pretty exciting! Her counts were a little low, but her red blood count is up. It was nice to have her counts up so well last week, we took advantage of it and went to the Living Plant Aquarium and Tracy Aviary, it was super fun! More pics to come.

Much Love,

Jennie

Last weeks chemo visit round 7

These two crack me up sometimes. Mr. T is off track, but because of RSV season he isn't allowed to come with us to clinic, so he went and hung out with Shyanne and her kids. Thanks Shy! But before we left I wanted to get a couple pictures of these goofballs together. Silly kids. That last one if of Izzy trying to give him a kiss.




This picture below is of Izzy getting measured. She has to have her weight, height, temp, and blood pressure done at each visit. She obviously isn't standing straight, but she is a tall little girl. In her preschool class she was on of the tallest kids. She sure misses her preschool class. The doctors tell us it's best to keep her home from preschool and dance until her treatment is complete.

This visit was a long one. She got her double dose of chemo. It was also a busy day at clinic because is was closed the day before for Martin Luther King Jr. day.

Thanks for all the comments on the last post. We love to read what comments people are leaving it really helps us to feel the love and support.

*If you love her outfit like we do, you should check out http://simplysewsassy.blogspot.com/. My friend Becky, who is also my little sister Jessi's sister-in-law makes the cutest stuff from her signature skirts, to her darling aprons.

Much Love,

Jennie

It's only hair, right?!

Miss Sassy Pants hair has been falling out over the last couple weeks. It hasn't all come out yet, but I know it's only a matter of time. In fact she has had to wear hats the last little bit because there are so many bald spots. It's weird how it affects everyone differently. I had a lot of people tell me that their hair fell out all in one day, but hers hair has been more gradual. It seems to happen the night after chemo, she wakes up and her bed is literally covered in hair. She really didn't have a lot in the first place so I'm surprised so much of it is still there. We've talked about it a lot with Izzy, and she seems okay with it. She understands it will come back and today was talking about getting a wig like Taylor Swift. LOL! I don't think we will go the wig route though, I can't really imagine her wearing it all that much and I've heard they're itchy.

I had a visit from a friend that use to be in my ward and it was perfect timing with what was going on with Izzy starting to loose her hair. She brought us a book that is called "Introducing Hairetta Hairison The One, The Only Me", it is seriously the perfect book. It's about a girl who looses her hair, but she is much to busy to care. Please check it out, it's for anyone young or old who is going or has gone through hair lose. It is truly inspirational and I have to give Carly a huge shout out for thinking of us. Carly has a fabulous blog you should all check out it's called http://livingthescream.com/. You can purchase "Introducint Hairetta Hairison The One, The Only Me" by going to http://www.jozybooks.com/. It means so much to have such incredible people write books like these that help children and families who are going through stuff like we are.

Do you have a book you know of that we might like? Let me know! I have started a little sidebar that has some fun books we've enjoyed and have helped us and we would love to know of more. Sometimes there is nothing better than a great book to help you understand things a little more and at least make you feel like you aren't the only one going through the hard spots in life.

Hey and please don't feel shy leaving comments, I've made it so anyone can comment and Izzy loves to have me read what people are saying and thinks it fun when I tell her who they are and if they have kids she might know. It means a lot to know that family, friends, and anyone else out there are reading the blog and keeping up on how she's doing on her fight against cancer.

I will do an update on her chemo appointment she had today soon. I've had major computer problems, but thanks to my Uncle Randy and cousin Matt we are up and running again.

Much Love,

Jennie

Miss Sassy Pants vs the broken tooth....

The other night we found out that Izzy broke one of her back molars. We first thought it was decaying and because I'd worked in dental for 8 years I started to feel responsible. I had brushed her teeth that morning and hadn't noticed anything, she does have more sensitive gums and when she was diagnose her Oncologist told us to get a soft bristle tooth brush so it wouldn't bother her gums so much. Once I was able to get a good look at her tooth it turned out it was a popcorn kernel and when we finally got all the pieces out 1/4 of her tooth is gone. I was worried about infection, but her doctors told us she on enough antibiotics that she should be good. They want us to get into a dentist and have them check it out and see if it is necessary to do now or if it can wait until she finished with chemo. Apparently when you are going through chemo a side effect can be weakening of the tooth enamel, but they don't see it very often. I think it was probably a combination of weak enamel and biting down on a popcorn kernel. If Miss Sassy Pants has to get the tooth taken care of she will need to have an antibiotic through her IV before and after the dental treatment. Here's hoping the tooth will be okay and can wait until she finished with treatment and that is won't cause her any pain.

This picture is the day after Izzy got home from the hospital after the diagnosis and surgery. Even though it was December she was dying to wear a sun dress and wanted a picture with her dog Rogue.


BTW- I put some links on the side bar of some great resources. I love SuperSibs,it was started by someone that had a sibling going through cancer they have fun stuff that they do for the siblings because we all know they're going through a lot too. Please share any links you think would be beneficial for a family going through cancer.

Much Love,

Jennie

Round 6 of chemo

(Miss Sassy Pants and Trooper Tom. This picture was taken a few weeks ago, but I thought it was cute and had to post it)

Today Izzy had her 6Th round of chemo. Things went pretty well apart from when the nurse had to change the dressing on her PICC line. Normally the home health nurse has done it and Izzy really dislikes it, that area is sensitive and sore because of the location and the surgery. Most kids don't like having band aids removed and she especially disliked it before all of this. When they remove the dressing it pulls on her skin and hurts her she also has to stay still and let the nurse scrub it with alcohol really well. The line goes directly to her heart so everything has to be sterile and I have to wear a mask. The Life Specialist came in and was trying to keep her mind off of it by blowing bubbles, it seemed to help.

Her counts are pretty good still and we are very pleased with that. Next week Izzy will have her double dose of chemo and it is also count dependent so we hope that they stay up. We found out that she quite possibly will need to also have a blood transfusion next week because she is anemic. They doctor assured us that it is typical for patients going through chemotherapy to need blood transfusions from time to time. It may explain why she was having a headache last week. Fortunately they should be able to do the blood transfusion at her next week appointment along with her double chemo unless between then and now she gets worse. It will make for a long day at the clinic, but probably better than having to make a whole other trip to the hospital.

Oh and in case anyone was wondering, she did get the Dora swimsuit for Christmas and was very excited about it. Although I still can't figure out why she wanted a Dora swimsuit she's much more into iCarley and Big Time Rush.



Thanks as always for the love and support. I can't tell you how much it means to us to have our family, friends, and even people we don't even know who have sent messages or words of encouragement.

Much Love,

Jennie

Funny story...

Izzy says some funny stuff like when Tommy asked in a very concerned voice at dinner one night "How long is Izzy going to be sick" and Izzy hits Tommy in the chest and says "Tommy I'm NOT sick!"

Then the other night when we had to go to the ER for her fever Tommy said something to be about going to the hospital and she said "Tommy you don't know this hospital you've only been to the one that puts staples in your head".

And yesterday while I was sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal with Izzy she said "I gotta go to the bathroom" and only seconds later she says "Oh man Mom! I'm squirting poop again!" I don't know if it's the chemo or the antibiotics and actually it's probably both, but she does tend to have squirting poop on occasion.

Stay tuned for some pictures and a post about the Zumba fundraiser I went to this morning put on by my SIL Vanessa.

Much Love!

Jennie

ER visit

So apparently I spoke too soon. Last night we had to take Izzy into the ER because her temperature was too high. I'm so blessed to have parents who are there for me in a moments notice. I called my Mom and she was there to pick up Tommy within 20 minutes. He loves going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We were at the hospital for a few hours, basically long enough for the ER docs to take her labs, give her some Tylenol and antibiotics through her PICC line and make sure her temperature has gone down. They don't want us giving her Tylenol when she gets a fever because it masks the temperature and they want to see what is causing the fever. The only thing we worry is that now that they've taken her off her antibiotics we've been giving to her through her PICC line and perhaps the antibiotics we are giving her orally aren't as effective. We left the ER at about 10:30 and I went into work. Today she's has been warm, but hasn't thankfully got a temperature high enough that we would need to take her in yet.

Round 5 of chemo

Yesterday we had Izzy's 5th round of chemo. When we left the clinic her counts were great, higher than I've seen them since we started treatment. With that being said visitors are welcome as long as they aren't sick of course.

So a little bit about ANC (Absolute neutrophil count), the normal range for the ANC = 1,500 to 8,000/mm3. Neutrophils are key components in the system of defense against infection, so if her ANC is below 700 we need to be cautious and keep her out of crowds and obviously sick people, now if her counts are 500 or lower they won't even give her chemo and she shouldn't be around anyone especially little kids because when children are most contagious they usually don't have any symptoms.

Her wound where they removed her PORT has be healing up really well. We still have to change the dressing daily and add some medicine to it 2 times a day. She is now on 2 different oral antibiotics that she takes twice a day. Since we left the hospital on Christmas Eve we have been doing very strong antibiotics 4 times a day that run through her PICC line for 30-40 minutes. She is relieved to be done with those because she was not happy when she would have to get hooked up and couldn't move around liked she would like.

My best friend Heather passed along this blog she came about because she thought I might be able to relate just a little. Our family has been so blessed with the support and love and I am asking that everyone keep the Schmitt family in your prayers. They are going through so much right now. If you'd like to check out their blog click on the link here. They even have some great ways to send a donation on the side bar.

If you are free on Saturday and looking for a great work out my SIL Vanessa is putting on a fundraiser for Miss Sassy Pants at 10:30. Vanessa is an incredible Zumba instructor and has been so sweet to put this together. Below is the information and you can also click on the facebook link here.

Time: Saturday, January 8 · 10:30am - 12:00pm
Location: Cottonwood Sports Center
4888 S Highland Dr (2000 E) across the street from Macy's
Salt Lake City, UT
The MC will be 1 Hr 1/2 long. Tickets: $10 (CASH ONLY) and all the proceeds will go to Izzy and her family.

This comment Vanessa made brought tears to my eyes "We love you Izzy... there are a lot of people working on this and supporting you and your family with this event! All of our love, prayers and energy will be with you this saturday under one roof!:)"

Much Love,

Jennie