Stronger every day!

Madeleine’s Blog

September 5, 2013

So do not fear, for I am with you

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God

I will strengthen you and help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

Isaiah 41:10

Receiving another encouraging gift

Madeleine had been feeling fairly poorly (fatigue and "bone aches" from the shots they give you that stimulate your bone marrow to start producing more white cells). But, last night and today there has been a huge improvement in her fatigue!   

She is no longer "neutropenic" (low white cell counts) so that makes a big difference in how she feels. She even went on a long walk last night and also today, where before that would have just been impossible a few days ago. This is a big step toward her getting ready to go home - she also needs to have stability in her other blood counts. They have been having to add platelets, so we are hoping those will also stabilize soon. If they do, then she may even be able to go home early.

We continue to be blessed by so many people's kindness... This time by a 14-year-old girl from Virginia who doesn't know Madeleine, but wanted to send a gift to encourage a young person battling cancer. She sent Madeleine a beautiful bag (pictured) filled with all different kinds of makeup and other fun items. Madeleine has already made good use of that. :)

Dart gun hits its mark!

Yesterday, Madeleine recovered enough that she was no longer needing to sleep as much of the day. As her Facebook post put it, "I'm awake enough to realize that I am bored out of my mind!"

Just at the right time, she received a boredom-busting gift from her cousins: a Justin Beiber poster and a couple of nerf dart guns to go with it . It didn't take them long to get the poster up - and the nerf guns loaded...!

If you look closely, you can see that one of the darts has found its mark. (Not sure if the marksmanship should be attributed to Madeleine, or to Deanne, but it looks like they had some fun with it.)

Thanks again, everyone, for your prayers, gifts, and encouragement!

Rest is a gift

Madeleine’s Blog

September 3, 2013

So do not fear, for I am with you

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God

I will strengthen you and help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

Isaiah 41:10

Doing what she does best right now - sleep!

A few days have passed since the IL-2 has finished, and Madeleine is slowly getting stronger. They have given her more red blood cells and platelets to help get her cell numbers up to a better level. She is still having lots of the expected fatigue (which goes along with having low blood counts from the chemotherapy). And she is continuing to experience some nausea, puffiness, and other symptoms from the IL-2. 

But the good news is that things are slowly getting better! You can tell that things are improving because she looks good enough that I can post a picture!! :) 

Madeleine's dad has now flown back home, and Deanne continues to stay by her side there at the hospital. It has been a long haul for all of them, but everyone has gotten a little better rest during the past day or so. A few hours of sleep makes a lot of difference! (Deanne adds that coffee is helping a lot too!)

The doctors have told them that Madeleine's TIL cells appear to be "reproducing" and looking good so far. This is good news - we want those cells to continue to be there to fight off any melanoma, now or in the future.

Thank you for the notes and cards of encouragement, and for all of your prayers on our behalf!

IL-2 - Check!

Madeleine’s Blog

August 31, 2013

So do not fear, for I am with you

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God

I will strengthen you and help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

Isaiah 41:10

So glad to be heading this direction!

Whew! Madeleine has now finished her last dose of IL-2 and is ready to work on her recovery! She made it through 5 doses, but her lungs were beginning to get fluid in them, so it was time to stop. She is short of breath when she tries to get up, and is still experiencing several of the side effects from the medications she's received.

Now it's time to recover and get stronger again. The doctors expect that her counts will start to come back up some time around Thursday, and that should also help with how she feels. Her general "puffiness" from the IL-2 should begin to go away, as well as the redness of her skin and other lingering side effects.

We are just glad that she has made it safely through the treatment! The doctors are very pleased with how she did. It be will nice to be able to come home again, but that is still a way off. She is not scheduled to be ready to travel home until September 12th, which will mean a long time of recovery in the hospital.

Please continue to pray that the TIL cells she received would go after every cell of the melanoma, and that she would be completely healed.

IL-2...and some blessings

Madeleine’s Blog

August 30, 2013

So do not fear, for I am with you

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God

I will strengthen you and help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

Isaiah 41:10

Madeleine is currently on her 4th dose of high dose IL-2, but we just got word that she will delay the next dose until morning so that she can get a good night's rest. Last night was very tough with lots of side effects, but today has been a better day so far.

We know that with IL-2 things can change with each dose, so she is being carefully monitored before each new dose is given.

Feeling better between doses

(The maximum number of doses to get to is 15 doses, but if there are complications it is not uncommon to need to stop earlier than that.)

As Madeleine began to feel a little better as the day went on, today's mail was delivered. Among the items was a box from Tiffany & Co. It was sent to her from the woman who had helped Madeleine at Tiffany's when she was trying on things during one of her off-treatment times here in Bethesda. The box contained some special hand-made headbands, some pretty catalogs to look at, and a very nice necklace. It also had a special note of encouragement.

It continues to amaze us to be the recipients of so many people's kindness. Early on in this phase of treatment, we had someone volunteer to cover the cost for the dry ice needed for Madeleine's Penguin caps (not an insignificant amount) - and this was from a person who had never even met Madeleine personally!

There have also been people who have brought meals to our home to help keep some "normalcy" there while we have been here attending to Madeleine... People who have sent cards and notes of vital encouragement... People who are praying - some of whom we have never met, but who are helping us in a way that is unseen, but so necessary in this fight...People who have given to help practically and financially...wow!

So many have reached out to us with such a generosity of heart that it has amazed us (and at times brought tears to our eyes). In some of our most difficult hours, we have been blessed by this outpouring of support. Thank you.

TIL cells? Check!!!

Madeleine’s Blog

August 29, 2013

So do not fear, for I am with you

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God

I will strengthen you and help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

Isaiah 41:10

 

Ready for TIL cells

Today has been a very monumental day. It is the day we have aimed for, and hoped for all these many weeks.

Madeleine has been through so much to get here - flights, multiple scans, consultations, major surgery and recovery, more scans - that it was an emotional moment when the nurses brought in the precious bag of her TIL cells. 

101 billion TIL cells, that is!

This bag of cells only took about 20 minutes to be infused. But the potential contained in that little bag is amazing. Each of those 101,000,000,000 cells are now working their way through Madeleine's body - hunting down the melanoma cells on a "seek and destroy" mission.

TIL cells going in!

A few hours after these tumor fighting cells went in, Madeleine received her first infusion of high dose IL-2. This can cause some intense side effects, but so far things have been manageable and we are so thankful for that.

She will receive another dose of IL-2 every 8 hours as long as the doctors believe that her body is handling it well. The IL-2 is what the cells are grown in, and having it present in the bloodstream helps the little cells survive and fuels them for their mission.

So tonight, we are so grateful to have the TIL cells on board and doing their work. We know that Madeleine still has a lot ahead of her during the next days of IL-2 treatments, and then the additional days of recovery in the hospital.

Thank you for continuing to stand with us - for your concern and encouragement, and for your prayers.

A little break...and some encouragement!

Madeleine’s Blog

August 27, 2013

So do not fear, for I am with you

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God

I will strengthen you and help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

Isaiah 41:10

Madeleine has made it through the first two chemo's, and is now in the "pause phase" while the doctors wait for her white cell counts to drop in preparation for her TIL cell infusion on Thursday. She feels a lot better right now, and was actually released to go on a brief visit outside the hospital today. It will be a while before she can do that again, so she took advantage of it!

She and her mom and dad went out to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, and spent some time at the mall. In the past week, there have been many days that included very little sleep for everyone. But now they all have had some better rest and refreshment. Here are some pictures from today's trip to the mall:

Madeleine with pictures & cards from home

When Madeleine got back to her hospital room, there was mail that had arrived for her. She set right to work decorating the wall in her room with the pictures and cards that had come.

Among them were pictures of her family, brother Max, "adopted parents" Dave and Cindy, friend Kaila, and finally, her fellow melanoma warrior, Amanda Vaughan Salyer. (Amanda and Madeleine met while they were both doing Biochemo for melanoma down in Riverside. She was always one of Madeleine's biggest cheerleaders, and I imagine she is still cheering for her, now from heaven!). It is such an encouragement to look at this wall and feel all the support and love from family and friends.

There was also a little note from a very special nurse who has been a real encouragement to Madeleine at NIH. Her note reminds Madeleine that (as she looks ahead to the coming treatment) her attitude should be, "I can do this!!"

I know this wall of encouragement will continue to grow and expand each day as even more letters from home arrive. Thank you for all of your encouragement and prayers.

Doing a little better :)

Madeleine’s Blog

August 25, 2013

So do not fear, for I am with you

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God

I will strengthen you and help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

Isaiah 41:10

Madeleine has made it through the first "storm" of chemo side effects (which included all kinds of fun stuff that I won't elaborate on!).

Today, she was able to sit up, drink some lemonade, and even have a few bites to eat. Although the acute symptoms are much better, her underlying nausea is still present, as well as the fatigue and general malaise.

As expected, they gave her two bags of blood today to help bring up her low red blood cell counts. (The chemo takes down all her counts, but the doctors only need her white cells to be down for the TIL therapy. So, the red cells and platelets get replaced as needed.)

Blood in disguise ;)

We are really grateful for Madeleine's wonderful chemo-nurse, who is used to patients who feel uncomfortable about having to see all the blood.

The nurse made a real effort to camouflage the tube to Madeleine's port using the hospital's colorful self-adhesive wrap! She also camouflaged the bag of blood with a pillow case! :)

Madeleine is still receiving one of the chemo drugs through Monday. Then she will have two "pause days" for her white counts to go all the way down to where they want them.

Thursday will be the big day, when the TIL cells go in, and the high dose IL-2 begins.

Madeleine's parents are both there with her now, so that one can rest while the other is with Madeleine. Thank you for your prayers for Madeleine, and for her family.