Laura’s Story

Site created on March 16, 2021

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Brianna Herme

Hi everyone! 
 
 Laura got the all clear to be discharged from the hospital today & she’s officially HOME!! 
 
 Yesterday they put Laura to sleep so they could do another spinal tap. During this spinal tap, they injected chemotherapy to her brain as a precautionary measure due to the leukemia blasts being sneaky and going undetected. Laura had a headache last night as it can happen from the spinal tap. Laura last got a blood transfusion 2 days ago as her hemoglobin has been staying steady in the 11’s (12-15 in normal). Laura got a massage 2 days ago as well because her back has been bothering her between the spinal taps and the bone marrow biopsy. Laura started on a diuretic this week to help remove excess fluids she was retaining and she lost 20 pounds in 3 days. The water weight was no joke. Laura is still experiencing nausea and fatigue but that will continue to happen while she is on the chemotherapy. Kinsley had her first checkup yesterday with her pediatrician and her blood results came back with no Leukemia! She will continue to be checked monthly for the next couple of years. 
 
 With Laura being home, she has to go to the clinic in the cities twice a week. On Tuesday’s she will go to get her labs checked with a possible blood transfusion & on Friday’s she will go for chemotherapy. She will do this until April 9th. On April 9th they will be doing another bone marrow biopsy to see if the chemotherapy is working. If it is doing what it is supposed to be doing, Laura will move onto phase 2 of treatment which will follow the current plan for another 3 months. If the chemotherapy isn’t working, then more options will be discussed at that time. We are hoping for great news and the ability to move onto phase 2, 3 and 4! Phase 3 will be 4 days inpatient with one week at home alternating for 3 months. Phase 4 is maintenance chemotherapy with 1-2 clinic visits a month which will last 2.5 years. If Laura spikes a fever at all during any of these phases, she will end up in the hospital again. The hospital supplies her with all her daily medications that they will restock every couple of weeks at her appointments. 
 
 We are beyond happy that Laura can be back home with her family and hopefully able to get some more rest. Laura is unable to be alone with baby at this time for long periods so she will be spending a great deal of time at her mom’s house when Jordan goes back to work during the week as she works from home. We continue to be amazed at the community of people who love us and care about us. Thank you to everyone for the continued prayers, thoughts, drop offs, donations, and kind words. God is working & god is healing!"
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