Pictures

Here are some pictures of Makenzie before surgery and after her first treatment. She did great and she has not had any nausea so far. She is such an amazing little girl.

Starting Chemo

Makenzie has a short surgery this morning to have a portcath placed. It is sort of a permanent IV in her side where the doctors can take blood and give chemo drugs. Because of that she will not have to have a new IV every week. She also got her first chemo treatment today. So far, so good, only tiredness from lack of sleep and anasthesia. She'll get it once a week for 10 weeks and then go on a maintenance program where some weeks she receives a treatment and other weeks she doesn't. The total treatment should last about a year. Please, please continue to pray for her... that her shunt will keep working, that her tumor will be healed from the chemo drugs, and that she will have minimal side effects from the drugs. She has been blessed so much already as a result of prayers, having her name on the temple rolls, and from Priesthood blessings. We appreciate so much all the continuing prayers and support and help from everyone.

Kenzie is Doing Great!

Kenzie has been doing great the past couple of weeks. Her headaches have pretty much gone away... the odd one here or there but most days she does not get one now. They now seem to coinside with low-pressure storm systems which her neurosurgeon said is not uncommon. She has been going full days to school now. She went on a field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo on Friday and did lots of walking and having fun and did great. We had a little scare with the shunt earlier this week. She was building up fluid under her scalp around the shunt valve. We were worried this meant the shunt was blocked somewhere... but she had an MRI and everything was fine. The neurosurgeon said the hole around the catheter tube that leads through the brain down to the ventricle has not totally closed around the tube... probably because the high pressure she had in her head when first diagnosed enlarged the hole around the bubble reservoir tube she had inserted during her first surgery larger than the doctor would've liked... and he put the shunt tube in the same hole he originally made for the bubble reservoir. So some fluid did get out around the tube instead of through the tube and built up under her scalp. But the shunt was working fine and the fluid build up quickly went away. And the hole should eventually close around the tube completely. The MRI also showed that the tumor has not grown at all, despite no treatment so far. So that is great news and we are in no rush to start chemo yet since the goal of chemo is only to keep the tumor from growing to buy time so they don't have to use radiation until she is older to avoid or lessen the chance of developmental problems.