Eid Mubarak!

Salaamu Alaikum [Peace and blessings to All]

Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating Eid ul Adha.  This turned out to be a great Eid for us.  Zaynab was in the hospital for almost three weeks.  She went in for her last dose of chemo for that phase of treatment and they ended up admitting her because she was running a fever.  After courses of antibiotics, anti-virals and all sorts of other medicines to everyone's surprise she was still running a fever.  We thought we were going to have to spend Eid in the hospital.  Thankfully we barely made it out one day before Eid. 

She is home now and doing well, Alhamduillah.

I want to thank everyone who donated for our Light the Night Walk.  We raised $9400 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  A special thanks to everyone who showed up at the walk, it was great to see everyone!  Zaynab herself wasn't able to attend because she was still in the hospital, but we're hopeful she can make it next year. 

Thanks
Musaab and Eyman

Delayed intensification

Salaamu alaikum

Alhamdulilah, Zaynab is doing well.  We started 'Delayed Intensification' phase about 5 weeks ago and this is one of the tougher phases.  The types of medicines and the frequency are higher then the last few phases.  They full expect her blood counts to dip quite a bit.  She is already neutropenic but luckily her hemoglobin is still high enough where she hasn't needed a transfusion.  However, there are still a few more weeks to go and there doesn't seem to be a break in the chemo she has to take.  Pelease keep us in your prayers.

Despite all the treatments etc, Zaynab is doing well.  She has a teacher that comes to the house every school day and spends an hour or so with her teaching her the lessons she's missed in school. We don't know when she will be cleared to go back to school, but most likely that won't be until January or February.  In her extra time, Zaynab has been able to read quite a few books and these days she is reading a set by Lemony Snicket called, 'A Series of Unfortunate Events.'

For those who can make it we are also getting close to the Leukemia and Lymphoma's 'Light the Night Walk.'  It will be on October 20th and Discovery Meadow at 180 Woz Way.  Visit here for details:

http://www.lightthenight.org/sj/

Also if you would like to support Team Zaynab you can donate here:

http://bit.ly/yZwbt7

Thats it for now ... thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Musaab

Ramadan and Chemo

Salaamu alaikum

We are really sorry for the delay in posting an update.  The past couple of months have actually gone well alhamdulilah.  Zaynab is almost done with Interim Maintenance I.  We have had to spend 4-5 days in the hospital every two weeks.  We are currently in our last hospital stay of Interim Maintenance.

All in all it hasn't been too bad.  Her body has had time to recover in between hospital stays and so her blood counts didn't really get low enough where we had to be concerned.

Zaynab has also been really busy because her cousins came to visit from Saudia Arabia.  This has been a great break for Zaynab as well.  They are having a lot of fun and I think it has really helped take her mind off of the treatments.

Thanks for all your prayers.  She will start the next phase of treatment in two weeks Insha Allah.  That phase is expected to be pretty tough.  Its called Delayed Intensification and it uses pretty strong chemo medicines.

Thanks and we will try and keep the blog updated more regularly!

Salam
Musaab

Back to Chemo

Salamu Alaikum

It has been a crazy couple of weeks!  Alhamdulilah mostly good.  After coming home from the hospital, Zaynab spent time recovering and was doing well.  Her blood counts recovered and she was almost ready to start the next phase of chemo.

However, about 10 days ago, she got a lump under her chin that had us all scared.  We were worried that it was cancerous since it looked to be in the lymph nodes.  Alhamdulilah, after they biopsied it, they determined that it was an infection and they treated it with antibiotics.  Since then it has all but disappeared.

This last Thursday, Zaynab had a planned surgery to insert a "port" into her chest.  A port is a central catheter that is inserted under skin (in the chest) that is accessed when they need to administer chemo.  Prior to the port they were using a PICC line in her arm.  Zaynab opted to get the port since it will allow her to shower without having to cover and tape the PICC line.  She is also hoping to go swimming this summer if she can!

After getting the port, she started her next phase of chemo on Saturday.  This phase is called Interim Maintenance 1and lasts for two months.  The tough thing about this phase is every two weeks she has to be admitted into the hospital to take a high dose of Methotrexate.  They keep her in the hospital for about 4 days to make sure that the medicine has cleared out of her body.

One nice thing about starting Interim Maintenance is that she will be about halfway through the intense part of treatment and two years from the end of her treatment God willing.  Basically the doctors start counting the two years only when you start Interim Maintenance.  All the delays after this point do not affect the duration of the treatment.

Thats all for now!

Salam
Eyman

Back at home

Salaamu Alaikum


Alhamdulilah we were discharged from the hospital this weekend. Zaynab's blood counts are still low but since her fevers had stopped and the blood counts had started coming back up the doctors felt it was ok to leave.

After two weeks in the hospital it was the best feeling in the world to be home!

Zaynab is scheduled to start her chemo in one more week ... That's dependent upon her meeting her blood count numbers.

That's all for now we will hopefully update you soon when you know when her next treatment will be. Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Salam

Still in the hospital

Salam

Unfortunately we are still in the hospital.  Zaynab's fevers increased initially after coming to the hospital. Thankfully they are now only a few times a day as opposed to around the clock like they were before.

Its hard to say what has actually made her sick.  She came in with fevers, they got worse, then after a few days she started getting stomach pain and vomiting.  And most recently her energy levels have gotten lower.  The doctors think that it is more than one thing her body is trying to fight and they have given her a range of antibiotics as well as anti-fungal medicines.  Most recently they think her fatigue is due to mono ... the test results haven't come back yet.

Zaynab is still doing relatively well, but her eating has diminished altogether.  We usually have to talk her into a few spoons of soup at one sitting.

While her fevers have lessened, her white blood cell counts are still *very* low.  We have asked everyone even all the nurses and staff to come in wearing masks so as to avoid her contracting anything else.

Please keep us in your prayers.  We are praying her counts come back up so she can fight this infection and get back to what we used to call normal.  :)

Salam
Musaab

Back in the hospital

Salam

Well, it seemed too good to be true. Zaynab was running a fever last night and we had to take her in to the hospital. Her white blood cell count has been very low this last week and it seemed like only a matter of time before she caught an infection. She is doing well but anytime she has a fever she has to be admitted.

She was pretty disappointed at having to be checked in but she did have a great weekend before that though ... She played with friends and even had a quiet showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. So all in all not too bad.

We are hoping it will only be a couple of days here but it all depends on how fast she can get over the infection and have her WBCs go back up to a reasonable number.

That's all for now.

Musaab