Ok, things aren't looking so bad today. She still has spinal meningitis but she is in good spirits and that helps much. I stayed over Saturday night and we had a fun time. She let me tickle her (first time in a month) and giggled away! Suzanne was able to spend some quality time with the kids and they all had breakfast with the grandparents and went to the community pool. Now to take care of some administrative work:  

First a big thank you to everyone, the support has been humbling and we are not surprised considering what awesome family, friends and neighbors we have. All five of our brothers came in from out of town/state in the early days to lend their emotional support at a critical time. The local family members have been great with their willingness to watch three kids - on short notice! And all our friends (some cancer survivors themselves) with the prayers, love and support you have given Malena has proven overwelming. This is never the kind of thing you can really imagine your family going through (it is always someone else, on like Oprah) and now that we are neck deep in it, I realize it would be impossible to manage without the support of the people we love (and who evidently love us)!

Malena is the right gender, the right race, the right age and has the right symptoms for this disease to get an optimistic prognosis for recovery. While it is true she has a mild fever that won't go away and she is the only Leukemia patient to get Meningitis that all of her oncologists have ever seen in their careers, she is tough, she is vibrant, she is lucky and she is blessed by God. We have the faith and love and support to get through this and there WILL be happier times ahead.

Pete

ps. A big thanks to Joe Cassidy for setting up Malena's website!      

 Sorry, I try to post the good stuff but it hasn't been so good. Malena had her last day of induction yesterday, which means no steroids for at least a week and then reduced chemo if her "numbers" look good. She got a spinal tap yesterday (thursday) and a bone marrow test and then they sent us home. 5 hours later our Oncologist Dr Fitzpatrick called and said she had bacteria in her spinal fluid and we had to come right in. They tried to access her Mediport to take some blood but after going through five needles they couldnt get it to flow. so they tapped her arm. Now, I know it is good for her in the long term to get her better - but all Malena knows is I hold her down so someone can continuously poke her with needles. I felt like garbage. 

I stayed overnight and today they put her under and did another spinal tap because the results of the Thursday tap were such a surprise. But todays tests confirmed she has, get this,  bacterial spinal meningitis! I mean everything a parent fears for their kids is all happening to Malena at once. Leukemia, Meningitis, I can only assume tomorrow they will tell us she is pregnant and wrecked my car.

So the Infectious Disease specialist, Dr. Ogra (no, he doesnt look like Shrek) came to see us, and said it's not the transmitable variety but they would "flood" Malena with antibiotics to try and prevent any damage and it could be days (or weeks). 

If you read this far I will help you out and give you some good news, the "no steroids" seems to have improved her personality considerably. She had mild fevers but still managed to joke with me, before and after the procedures. I did some lame magic tricks with coins but she played along, then when she woke up she said she had a birthday present in her diaper for me. As I changed her I said "that was specifically NOT what I asked for, for my birthday, and that I would have preferred a bike". We laughed a lot. When Suzanne arrived Malena made some goofy faces for us and then told Suzy that she "cried for her" and Suzanne said "I heard you Malena and that's why I came!".