September 1, 2008 

Hi Everyone, 

Malena is off chemo for the moment because her counts are too low.  We went into the ER last Sunday evening because what was a little red spot when she fell turned into a massive purple bruise, which is a sure sign that her platelets are low.  Well they kept us there from 10:30pm until 8:30am and ran 2 blood tests on her just to make sure that she was ok to send home.  Her platelets were at 22,000 (not low enough for a transfusion but pretty close) and her hemoglobin was at 7.8 which also wasn't low enough.  So 3 blood tests later we were back in the hospital Friday and she was getting some hemoglobin.  Now we wait until tomorrow for another test and see if she needs platelets.  Hopefully she will get back on the chemo this week too! 

After the transfusion on Friday we took the kids over to Roswell Park (a cancer hospital in Buffalo) and watched Narnia with Ryan Miller (the Sabres goalie).  The kids had a great time and we were able to visit with parents who have been going through the same things we are.  The organization is called Carly’s Club and Ryan Miller is a big supporter of it.  He lost a cousin to Leukemia last October so he has experienced a lot of the things that we are going through. 

Yesterday we took the kids to African Lion Safari and the Toronto Zoo.  They loved both!  Especially the monkeys climbing all over the car at ALS.  We received the tickets through the Give Kids the World organization.  That is the place we stayed when we went on Malena’s Make A Wish trip.   

Malena starts school on Thursday!  I can’t believe it!!!!  She can’t wait!  I am going to be a puddle!   

I’ll let you know how she does tomorrow.  I’ll just add a ps to the end of this update. 

Thanks for checking in! 

Love, Suzanne

PS Malenas Platelets are going up slowly.  She will have another blood test on Friday.  She is beginning to look like a pin cushion!