Our streak ended on the 23rd. We made it 6 months without having to be admitted to the hospital! However, Tuesday around 330am we noticed Zoey felt hot. We took her temperature at home and it was 102 so we brought her to the local ER to be checked out. They were able to give her some antibiotics and get her temperature down. Unfortunately around 1pm her temp came back. This time they wanted us to be seen at the Children's ER. Zoey and I drove to the cities and shortly after arriving they told us she was going to be admitted.

After being admitted, Zoey had several days of high fevers nearing 105F, so the doctors were giving her IV Tylenol along with other meds. Her hemoglobin and ANC counts were getting lower and lower each day as they were still giving her the prescribed chemo doses that she has been taking for the past 10 days. They diagnosed her with rhinovirus which is the common cold. Basically her immune system was so wiped out by the chemo, that when she got the virus her body didn’t have the immune support to be able to fight it.

On Saturday they gave her an infusion called IVIG which pumps her full of healthy antibodies. This appeared to be very effective as her frequency of fevers spiked along with severity were reduced substantially. On Sunday her counts continued to lower again though, so they gave her a blood transfusion to raise her hemoglobin. She has been continuing to get better and better each day so we are hopeful to be able to be discharged on Monday morning.

As I’m writing this now, her temperature just rose for the first time since yesterday afternoon - so she was given oral Tylenol to help reduce it. Her last dose of the chemo med she has been taking is tonight, so we hope that her counts start improving in the next couple of days.

While we have been staying here Zoey has gotten visits by her Aunt Gretchen and Grandma Askew. Sadly when Zoey doesn’t feel well she doesn’t like to talk much at all, so they didn’t get the warmest welcome! She has been doing lots of painting, coloring, watching movies, playing games, and building legos.

Another quick note, today marks 6 months since Zoey was first diagnosed.  We have been told by others that this period is the hardest, and we hope that holds true!