It’s been a while since our last update, and we’ve certainly had our share of ups and downs. Right now we are at a low, and I know this is a long update so sorry about that... if you want to skip to our SOS just scroll to the bottom-it’s labeled! 

First exciting news- she received the first version of her prosthetic a few weeks ago and was able to take a few steps. It’s still quite painful, but it’s a huge step toward regaining some independence and mobility. She was pushing through and practicing at home, and was even brave enough to try one-wheeling and did a great job! The downside is now she can’t use it- which more on that in our SOS below. 

The round of chemotherapy I last wrote about ended up taking Allison nearly four full weeks to recover from due to severe mouth sores and low blood counts (twice as long as expected). Since then, she has completed three additional rounds of treatment. The first two went surprisingly well—she cleared the chemotherapy within 48 hours both times and was absolutely thrilled to get to go home early. Even better, she made it through those rounds without any mouth sores. 

Unfortunately, this most recent round of chemotherapy has been much harder. Her doctors reduced the dose this round in hopes that she’ll recover more quickly. Even with medication to stimulate blood production, it has already taken a significant toll on her blood counts. To complicate things further, she’s had a couple of falls. The most recent fall caused bleeding that wouldn’t stop. We were able to bring her to the infusion clinic for blood products right away and avoid an ER visit. There, she received two bags of platelets and two units of blood. Her platelet count was just 6 (it should be above 150), which explains the bleeding, and her hemoglobin had dropped to 6.6. We thought maybe she was in the clear for mouth sores but they just started to appear, which also seems to go hand in hand with her white cell count being low. Her ANC, the number we use to measure the strength of her immune system, is currently at 0. 

Her team does not believe anything was broken in the most recent fall, even though she landed directly on the surgical site on her right leg and split it open. They had us start with daily dressing changes as our only treatment, but over the last day Alli’s pain has become unbearable and the skin around the injury starting to become an angry red. Into the ER we went and they told us because her ANC number is so low, infections just present differently, since there’s not really a strong immune response with no immune system. They decided to admit her for IV antibiotics and pain management. In the ER they said that it might start to look better by tomorrow, but once we were admitted the Dr here made it sound like she may be here at least 48 hours. She needs to remain fever free and we have to wait until the redness improves before they will consider sending her home on oral antibiotics. 

Here’s our SOS: 

To compound an already difficult situation, Alli’s 15th birthday is tomorrow. (If you skipped to this point, she has an infection from an injury to her amputated leg and she is now admitted to the hospital). Her care team knows how much she has been through, and we had hoped she would have a few days to celebrate and simply get to be herself. While we were in the infusion clinic last week, they surprised her with a little birthday cake and sang to her. It was such a thoughtful gesture, and seeing her smile, get excited, and actually joke with her care team was a gift in itself.

Now she is understandably disappointed to be spending her birthday in the place she dislikes most: the hospital. On top of that, visitor restrictions limit most visitors to immediate family, and while we didn’t have big plans because she hasn’t been feeling well, it’s still heartbreaking that her golden birthday will be spent inpatient and without her friends.

We’re going to do our best to make the most of the day, regardless of where we are. If you’d like to help celebrate, we would love for you to send a card, picture, video, note of encouragement, wish for her future, or favorite memory. We’ll print everything out for her and pin it up on her wall.

You can email whatever you'd like to send to alliscancerjourney@gmail.com .  

If you would like to send a Venmo gift directly to her or have something else in mind, please text me or email me at the same address and I’ll do my best to check it frequently tonight and tomorrow.

As always, we are incredibly grateful for your prayers, encouragement, and support. Right now, we’re especially asking for prayers that the antibiotics work quickly, her pain can be controlled, her mouth sores do not worsen, she remains fever-free, and, most of all, that she can come home as soon as possible.