Naomi is severly neutropenic

Hello friends,

Naomi's got the flu, but is on anti-biotics to fight it. Her blood count is down to a dangerously low 10, yes TEN, at the moment (see this previous blog for details on ANC: http://naomiheal.blogspot.com/2007/02/naomi-update.html and this wiki on Neutropenia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutropenia). It essentially means that her body has no ability to fight off infections. Please continue to pray for her, specifically that her ANC rises above 500 so that her chemotherapy treatments can resume. 500 is the minimum for her to receive chemotherapy. 2,000 is normal.

Although Naomi appears to be healthy (she's eating decently, has good energy, and isn't coughing or sneezing much), the fact is that exposure to the slightest infection could be serious. Please refrain from any visiting at this time. She can not be exposed to any type of infectious droplets from other people.

Thank you and bless you all!

Victoria

Real Life Fitness Test

I recently had an opportunity to test my level of fitness in a real life context. On Monday, March 12, Naomi was scheduled to have a chemotherapy session. Since I had the day off, I decided to accompany Naomi and her mother (my sister) Nina to the appointment. I needed to be on campus anyway to take care of some business on the other side of the campus. After Naomi was admitted, I left to take care of my business. I walked about a mile to the other side of the campus (at least I think it was a mile...it took about 20 minutes walking at a brisk pace), had my appointment, and then walked back to the hospital. While I was returning, Nina called me and asked me to meet them in front of Neiman Marcus at the Stanford Mall so we could go find breakfast. Naomi's IV had been inserted, and we had time to burn while waiting for the blood tests that would confirm if she was healthy enough to receive chemotherapy that day. Once I met up with them, I noticed that Naomi's hand was covered with blood. Apparently, something was wrong with how her IV had been inserted and blood was leaking. Nina decided that we needed to rush Naomi back to the hospital, which was about 1/4 mile away. Unfortunately, I'd been suffering from the flu, and absolutely didn't want to expose my germs to Naomi (I'd been wearing a mask around her). So, in order to get Naomi back to the hospital as quickly as possible, I decided to hand my purse and jacket to Nina, slung Naomi onto my back and sprinted as quickly as I could back to the hospital just in case the bleeding was as bad as it looked.

I held onto Naomi's legs and instructed her to use the non-injured arm to wrap my neck so she could hold on and off we went. I can honestly say that despite the compromised respiratory system (cough & sinus infection), having already walked around 2 miles, running with a 35 lb child on my back, (and oh, did I mention that I hadn't eaten anything at all that morning?), I arrived at the clinic without being winded at all! I was covered, and I mean covered, in sweat, but my breathing was not excessively heavy, and I was able to talk to the nurses as they addressed the bleeding (it looked much worse than it was). Thanks to Mani, Steven and Maya at Ice Chamber Athletic Performance Training for pushing me to my limit every week. At least I know now that if needed, I can rise to the occasion!

Naomi had her chemotherapy and has been healthy enough to attend preschool and play with some friends! Hallelujah! : >

Naomi's aunt,

Victoria