5/31/98

Darien has had another round of tests recently and so far, everything looks fine. This past weekend, the Children's Miracle Network (CMN) held their annual nationwide telethon to raise money for the kids. The Brazos Valley has a local version and I would like to thank a few friends that helped me out by answering telephones from 11 pm to 1 am Saturday night: David and Sue Lancaster, Peter Bastian, and Dan Ragsdale.

5/12/98

I've added a few more links on the "Interesting Links" page recommended by TIME magazine. Several of these links have information on angiogenesis.

5/10/98

I've updated Darien's calendars.

3/22/98

I've added a new picture of Darien at the end of the "More About Me" section. Check it out!

2/26/98

Darien and Valerie got home today. Darien wound up running a fever a couple of times, delaying her discharge until today. Her counts are still very low and she has spurts of energy, but she does get tired very easy. We were all glad to see them and Darien was glad to come home (I imagine Valerie was too). If Darien doesn't run another fever, it will probably be a couple of weeks before her next chemo treatment.

2/22/98

Darien's blood transfusion in Temple on Wednesday went o.k. They were able to come home late Wednesday. Darien had another blood test in College Station on Friday and the results were the same as the last one - counts are still very low. Saturday evening, Darien began running a fever high enough that we felt we should take her to Temple. Valerie took her late Saturday and today, Sunday, she was given a unit of platelets and a unit of blood. She seems to be doing much better now, and may be able to come home in a day or two.

2/17/98

Darien had a blood test today and her counts are very low. Her doctors want to see her in Temple tomorrow for a blood transfusion. She's not feeling real great right now - very tired. She missed dance class tonight, so we know she's pretty low when she doesn't even want to go to dance class. Valerie will take her tomorrow, hopefully just for the day.

2/15/98

Darien began Chemo 12 on Monday and finished Friday morning. We got home just in time for her Valentines party at school. She spent most of the week making Valentines. The week went well; she didn't get too sick. She doesn't drink much when she's in the hospital, mainly because they keep her hydrated with lots of fluids via I.V. She ate o.k., though. Not a lot, but enough to keep me happy. They ran another CAT scan on Darien's chest area on Monday and didn't really find anything new. The "spot" they are monitoring is about the same size, maybe a little less. As long as it doesn't get any bigger, the doctors don't seem to be too worried about it. They also ran another AFP test and found that her AFP level is at 1. Remember that the normal AFP range is between 0 and 9. I asked if it could go any lower and they said not really; everybody has some amount of AFP. During the next couple of weeks, we will monitor her blood counts locally.

2/8/98

Darien's blood test on Friday turned out o.k. Her counts are high enough to begin chemo 12 on Monday. This treatment should be finished Friday morning. Our goal is to make it back to school in time for her Valentines party Friday afternoon. I don't know of any special tests this week, except for possibly another CAT scan.

2/4/98

Darien had a blood test on Monday and her counts looked o.k. She will get another test on Friday with the anticipation that they will be high enough to begin her next chemo treatment on Monday.

1/27/98

Darien has had 2 blood tests recently. Her white cells are rising nicely, hemoglobin is holding steady, and her platelets are still quit low, but beginning to rise. As usual, we are waiting for her platelets to increase enough to begin another treatment. I believe we won't get another blood test until next Monday. For those interested, I've written another update.

1/19/98

We got home today. Darien's fever went down; she had a sore throat and sores in her mouth. Everything seems to be o.k. for now. While we were there, they gave her a unit of platelets Friday night and another blood transfusion on Sunday. Darien made a couple of new friends this weekend in the hospital. They all played well together and this made the time go by quicker. All in all, it was a good weekend for us. Darien's white blood cells are still very low, her platelets are still somewhat elevated from the unit she got on Friday and her hemoglobin is adequate. Right now, we are waiting for both the white blood cells and platelets to get high enough for another chemo treatment. We'll get another blood test on Thursday. Hopefully she won't need any more blood. Oh, I almost forgot, while we were there, 6 players from the Texas Bullets came by to visit the kids in the hospital. That's right, the Texas Bullets. They are a football team. I think their home is in Waco (or near there). I don't know what league they play in. I'm not even sure whether they are professional or some type of semi-pro team or what. Any way, they were extremely nice, energetic, and good with all of the kids. I've never seen a group of professional athletes come around the hospital that were better than these guys. Darien got all of their autographs and a group picture with her wearing one of their helmets (that's how I know they are a football team). And of course, they sent along a camera crew filming the entire event. They were supposed to show a clip on the news Saturday night, but we missed it. We'll try to get a copy of the tape.

1/16/98

Darien was typed and matched for blood on Wednesday and Valerie took her to Temple on Thursday for a transfusion. She felt a little better when she got home, but she is still tired and says that her mouth and throat hurt a lot. She didn't sleep much last night and began running a fever. This morning, she still had a fever, so we kept her home from school. So far, she has been sleeping. Around noon today, her temp was up to about 103F. So, as usual, when it gets that high, she needs to go to the hospital for antibiotics. That's where we are going and we will be there at least 2 days.

1/13/98

Darien has had two blood tests since she got out of the hospital; one on Saturday and one today. The one on Saturday was o.k., but the one today looked pretty bad. Her counts have definitely bottomed out, at least I hope they have bottomed out. I don't think they can get much lower (whit blood cells and platelets). In addition, her hemoglobin was low and her doctors are expecting that it could go a little lower. In preparation, we will get her blood typed and matched tomorrow her in College Station with the intent of going to Temple on Thursday for a transfusion. (I suppose there is a chance that it won't go any lower and she won't need a transfusion, but ever since Darien collapsed in July?, her doctors have been very cautious when it comes to monitoring her blood level. When her counts are this low, we've seen her hemoglobin drop very fast.) Not to be to concerned, Darien went to her Dance class today and will probably go to another one tomorrow along with piano. I think we'll skip basketball practice tomorrow though. Hate to overdo things too much when her counts are this low. So far, Darien is not running a fever, but she does have sores in her mouth. She says they are getting smaller, though. I think if we can get through the next 3 or 4 days, her counts will begin to rebound.

1/7/98

Darien and I got home today from another scheduled chemo treatment. We went to the hospital Friday (1/2) morning. This was her 11^th chemo treatment and the same chemicals as chemo 2, 5, and 8. She did not have any special tests this time, only an AFP check, which is still within normal range. Darien handled this chemo treatment very well. The first drug makes her very sick, but Saturday morning, they gave her an extra dose of anti-nausea medicine (a different kind and in addition to the stuff she usually gets), that put her to sleep for the rest of the day. Just as well, but I did had to watch football by myself. She woke up Saturday night feeling a little better and by Sunday, she was ready to roam the halls. It was kind of quiet this trip. There was only one of her friends in the hospital this time, plus some of her favorite nurses and kid counselors were on vacation.

12/29/97

Darien had a check up in Temple today mainly to have a CAT scan of her chest area. They are concerned about an area behind the sternum where they are seeing some "tissue" in an area where they don't normally see much. On the last CAT scan, they noticed the tissue in this area to be noticeably larger than the previous scan. Today's scan showed the area to be somewhat smaller than the last one. (2 cm x 2 cm vs. 3 cm x 3 cm) Although they are still concerned about this area, since it did not get any larger, they did not do a biopsy. They will do another CAT scan in about a month. Meanwhile, her counts are looking reasonably well, well enough to take another chemo treatment. We are scheduled to begin her next chemo treatment on Friday (chemo 11). This will be a long treatment lasting 5 or 6 days, depending on how soon they get started on Friday.

12/23/97

Darien had a blood test last Friday and today. Her counts are still looking o.k. She does not have another appointment until next Monday in Temple when they will run another CAT scan looking particularly at the area behind the sternum. We're not sure what they will do after Monday. If they still the questionable area behind the sternum, they may do a biopsy on Tuesday. If not, and if her counts are o.k., they may begin another chemo treatment. Darien is still feeling great and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas.

12/17/97

Darien had a blood test on Monday and everything looks o.k. Her counts are still falling. She will have another test on Friday.

12/10/97

Darien and I got home this evening. Chemo 10 was a short one and Darien did fine. She got a little sick to her stomach this morning, but she seemed to have snapped out of it by this afternoon. I think she saw everyone decorating the hospital for Christmas and she got into helping them and forgot that she wasn't feeling too well. In addition to chemotherapy, this trip was packed with tests. Yesterday she had a complete CAT scan. Today she had an echo cardiogram and a hearing test. Tests aren't fun because there is always a possibility that they will reveal something bad. Well, Darien's CAT scan looked good for the most part, but there is one area behind her sternum that appears to be larger than it was on the last scan. At this point, they don't know what it is, but they will do another scan in a few weeks and check to see if it changes size again. If it does, they will do a biopsy to find out what it is. They also ran another AFP test and her AFP is still within the normal range.

12/8/97

Darien had a blood test today and her doctor's said that her counts are high enough to begin another chemo treatment. She and I will go to Temple tomorrow for some tests and then begin chemo tomorrow afternoon. This is a short one and we should be done Wednesday evening and home probably Thursday morning. (Possibly Wednesday evening, but I doubt it.)

12/2/97

Darien had another blood test today. Her white blood cells are up, hemoglobin is holding steady, and her platelets are low, but increased a bit. Platelets are still too low to begin the next chemo treatment. She will get another blood test next Monday.

11/29/97

Darien had a blood test yesterday and everything is still progressing as expected. Her white blood cells are beginning to increase, hemoglobin is o.k. and her platelets are still falling and are low. She will get another test on Tuesday.

11/25/97

Darien had a blood test yesterday and everything looks o.k., not great, just o.k. She seems to be holding her own after the transfusion on Friday and the platelets last week. Her white blood cells came up just a tad, but are still very low. Today she said that she feels a few sores in her mouth. I hope they don't turn into anything so that we can stay home for Thanksgiving. We are supposed to get another blood test on Friday and I think they would like to begin another chemo treatment sometime next week if her counts respond as they think. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

11/23/97

Darien got home Friday afternoon. She had another transfusion before she left, though. She was kind of draggy most of the weekend, but seemed to pick up a bit on Sunday. Her counts are still very low; we'll probably spend the next week or 2 just getting blood tests here in College Station.

11/20/97

Well, she didn't make it until Tuesday. I wound up taking her to Temple late Monday - she was running a 104 degree temp. She received platelets early Tuesday morning and a blood transfusion Tuesday afternoon. She began feeling better late Wednesday and they think she might be able to go home on Friday. Again, they never really found out what caused the fever.

11/17/97

Darien had a blood test this morning and her counts are low, especially white blood cells - I think we are at an all time low. She is running a fever right now and is very tired; she's been sleeping since she got home from school. I just hope she can make it until tomorrow morning without her fever getting too high.

11/16/97

Darien had 2 blood tests last week, one on Wednesday and one on Friday - everything if falling, especially white blood cells. She felt fine most of the week, but beginning Friday, she is getting run down very easy. It looked she was going to run a fever yesterday, but she was able to fight it off. She is still not running a fever today; we'll get a blood test tomorrow.

11/10/97

Darien did well during chemo 9, only getting sick once and I think that was because they gave her a laxative that didn't taste very good. It was pretty slow over the weekend. The playroom wasn't open very much and she didn't know anyone else in the hospital. We got home today around 11 a.m., Darien changed her clothes and I got her to school just in time for lunch. We don't anticipate any major tests during the next several weeks, but we will monitor her blood counts pretty close during the next couple of weeks. This is the chemo treatment that caused her to have 3 blood transfusions last time.

11/5/97

Well, it looks like the tests (kidney function test and bone marrow test) run on Darien on Monday turned out o.k. She and I will go to Temple tomorrow to begin chemo 9. I anticipate we will be through on Monday.

11/3/97

Darien had some tests run in Temple today. They'll wait for the results of the tests before starting chemo 9.

11/2/97

Darien had a blood test on Friday. Her platelets are up a bit, but her white blood cells have fallen. She is still scheduled to go to Temple tomorrow to begin a test on her kidney function. Then, the plan is to begin chemo 9 on Tuesday. Darien was able to attend her dance workshop in Houston. About 20 to 30 girls from the school where she takes dance lessons went. They figure there were a total of 200 to 300 girls in attendance. She had a blast; she said that they danced a lot. Not much time to do anything else. She left Saturday morning at 5:30 am and got home today (Sunday) at 7:00 pm. She should sleep good tonight.

10/23/97

I have written a brief update to provide additional information on alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and I've included Darien's AFP chart. This information can be found in the Darien Updates Section - Update 8.

10/16/97

Finally, Darien's blood is beginning to rebound. Her white cells are good and platelets are still low, but higher than they were, and more importantly, high enough to play soccer today. Darien played well, but the team lost. Oh well, they all had a good time; it was a good day to play. Nothing really scheduled that I know of except possibly a blood test next week. Now we are waiting for her platelets to get high enough to begin another chemo treatment.

10/15/97

Darien had a blood test this past Monday and her counts are still pretty low. She feels good, runs during P.E. at school and wants to play in a soccer game tomorrow. We told her that her platelets had to be high enough to play, so she wants a blood test tomorrow morning to check and see.

10/7/97

We just got home this evening. Valerie and I switched out on Sunday; she is to present a paper at the annual SPE meeting this week. When I arrived on Sunday, Darien had just begun to not run a fever. They want her to be fever-free for 48 hours before they will release her. One of her throat cultures came back positive indicating that she has strep-throat. In addition, she was givie 1 unit of blood today. Other than not being able to eat much due to sores in her mouth and a sore throat, Darien is feeling good. Her white blood cells and platelets are still in the cellar; they should begin to rise this weekend.

10/4/97

Just talked with Valerie. She said that Darien was resting comfortably (sleeping). Her whit blood cells and platelets are very low (almost the lowest they have ever been), but that she does not need any blood yet. She is still running a fever and will be in the hospital for at least 3 days.

10/4/97

Darien began feeling tired yesterday evening and didn't eat much last night. This morning, she had a fever and continued to act run down. Valerie just took her to the hospital in Temple. I'm waiting to hear how she's doing. Today is the CMN (Children's Miracle Network) annual oncology picnic at Temple. We had planned on attending. Darien's doctor, who was at the picnic when we talked to him on the phone about coming in today, said he would bring Valerie a plate of bar-b-que. The doctor's and staff in Temple are good people.

10/1/97

Had a blood test today and a new bandage put on Darien's hand. The blood test went o.k. White blood cells are low although acceptable, but platelets are low and falling pretty fast. Darien's mouth is getting swollen, a side effect of this chemo, which causes her to bite the inside of her cheeks. With low platelets, the inside of her mouth doesn't look good. Darien's hand is look good. We should be able to take the bandage off Friday or so.

9/29/97

Completely unrelated to cancer, Darien had a normal-type kid emergency last night. She inadvertently put her right hand on top of a hot stove burner. It took about 30 seconds for it to really start hurting, but once Darien realized she was in pain, every one in the house knew it (as well as the neighborhood I suppose). It took me a couple of minutes to read about how to treat burns, so once we got her hand in some cold water, she was fine - as long as it remained submersed. Well, as the night drug on, we began to realize that she was not going to be able to take her hand out of the water without pain. We called our pediatrician, who prescribed pain medicine, which we were able to pick up at the pharmacy after they had closed only because the pediatrician begged them to stay open. We gave the pain pill to Darien, gave it about a half-hour to take effect, watched her fall asleep, then tried to bandage her hand without waking her up. It didn't take her long to realize that her hand was not in the water any more. We finished dressing her hand and convinced her to lay down in our bed and try to go to sleep. Valerie laid down with her and every time Darien would kick her legs or swing her arms, she would apologize. She was in pain, but she was still polite. Once she fell asleep, everything was much better. We took her to the doctor this morning and they re-dressed her hand. It didn't look too bad and it didn't hurt any more either. Darien still has a bandage on her right hand and I'm sure it hurts if someone touches it, but she swears she can't hold a pencil and write. Oh well, she should know better than anyone else. Chemo?, side effects?, low blood counts?, no time to think about things like that. We'll take a blood test on Wednesday and .......

9/27/97

Darien finished chemo this morning and was checked out of the hospital by about 9:30 a.m. Valerie and Darien got home just in time for Darien's soccer game at 11:30. I took Darien's uniform to the fields and she changed in the van. She wanted to play, so I let her play about a half. She did very well. Darien seems to be feeling good right now and is back to eating and drinking regularly. Now all she has to do is catch up after missing a week of school, but I don't think that will take very long. Overall, everything seemed to go very well this past week during chemo. Next, Darien is scheduled for a blood test in College Station on Wednesday.

9/25/97

I just got back from the hospital this evening; Valerie relieved me. Darien has been on chemo since Monday. She should be done Saturday morning and home Saturday afternoon. Darien felt low on Tuesday, but since, she has felt pretty good. She's only gotten sick twice, so far. Darien has hardly eaten or drank anything since Monday. Yesterday and today, Darien has been entertaining quit a crowd of nurses, social workers, and other patients and their parents with her friendship bracelet making skills. Perhaps all of the attention in the hospital has been keeping her going so strong even though she's not eating. Me, I try to fade away in a corner and watch her. She's amazing. Oh, I almost forgot. Since the evenings have been so nice, she's been going out on the deck (a restricted area for patients) and hoo-la- hooping (sp?). It's not as easy as it would be without an IV pole, but she does alright. One more thing, Darien has made name signs to put on the doors of all of the patients. Most patients are babies right now, but a few older kids started checking in as I was leaving.

9/18/97

While we were in Temple on Tuesday, they ran another test to measure the AFP (alpha fetal protein) level in Darien's blood. Again, this is the tumor marker they have been monitoring, which indicates certain tumor activity. As you recall, it has been declining since sometime back in March after reaching a high of about 950,000 (units?). The normal level of AFP is between 1 and 9. Well, Darien's AFP level is now 9! We have been waiting for this test result since January; it seemed like an insurmountable task back then. (Please note that I have added a couple of more links to other sites. I will continue to add links as I find something interesting.)

9/16/97

Guess what? We're hooooome! We drove over to temple prepared to stay for a while, took a blood sample, ate lunch, got an echo cardiogram, then found out that her platelets are still too low. Oh well. We'll try again next Monday in Temple.

9/13/97

Well, the doctors are predicting that her counts will be ready next week. They want to see her in Temple on Tuesday with plans to do the echo cardiogram and begin chemo. If they begin on Tuesday, she should be able to come home on Sunday.

9/11/97

Darien had another blood test in C.S. today. Her platelets are climbing, but they are still too low to begin chemotherapy. Her white blood counts have also fallen. I suppose we will get another test on Monday and see where we are at. Till then, no complaints from Darien. She's doing great in school and extra curricular activities - dance, piano, and soccer.

9/8/97

Well, predicting Darien's blood counts is about like predicting the weather in Texas - very difficult. Darien had another blood test this morning anticipating that she would be going to Temple to begin her next chemotherapy treatment, but her platelets are still too low. We will get another blood test on Thursday.

9/2/97

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! At least I am. Darien's blood counts must have bottomed out over the weekend, because her counts today were higher than last Friday. Her white blood cells and platelets never got very low (for Darien) and they seem to be on their way up. Her next chemo treatment is scheduled for next Monday, provided her platelets continue to increase. We will get another blood test in C.S. Monday morning and if everything looks o.k., we will go to Temple. Prior to this series of drugs, Darien is required to have an echo cardiogram; they'll do that in Temple on Monday. In addition, this chemo treatment will last about 5 days. So, as long as Darien is feeling o.k., we won't need to do anything else until next Monday. She's excited.

8/29/97

Again, Darien's blood test in College Station went well today. Her counts are still good, but continuing to decline. She is scheduled for another blood test next Tuesday.

8/26/97

Darien's blood test in College Station today went well. Her counts are still very good (for her), but they are on there way down. She is still feeling well and has another blood test in C.S. this Friday.

8/22/97

Darien had a blood test in College Station today and her counts are still looking good. Apparently, they haven't fallen very far yet, but her platelets are definitely on their way down. Darien will have another blood test in College Station next Tuesday.

8/19/97

Darien just finished chemo 7 and is at home. The drug combination used in Chemo 7 has historically made Darien the most nauseous and this trip was no different. She got sick a couple of times at the hospital and so far, once at home. She feels tired and doesn't want to eat anything, but otherwise, she seems to be doing fine. The tumor marker we have been using to monitor new tumor growth continues to decline and is approaching the normal range. In addition, we got some good news as a result of yesterday's CAT scan. It seems that they don't see the 2 spots on her lungs any more. One of the spots they had already concluded was a vessel, but the other spot continued to show on all CAT scans. This time, however, it did not. They said that it could be so small that they missed it on the slices they are looking at, but the slices are 2 mm apart, so if they missed it, it must be pretty small. Right? In addition, this CAT scan also saw the liver again and they are now concluding that there is nothing on her liver to be concerned about. The shadows they were seeing previously were apparently artifacts of her surgery and have now heeled. Previously, the doctors have been very cautious about telling us good news, but this time they did not hesitate telling us that there was nothing on her lungs or liver that they were concerned about. (They will keep looking, though, to see if something reappears.)

8/18/97

Darien has a check up in Temple today. She will have a CAT scan and blood tests. If everything looks o.k., they will begin her seventh chemo treatment. Chemo 7 is the same as chemo 1 and 4. It only takes about 24 hours to administer.

8/11/97

On Friday, 8/8, they did another CAT scan specifically looking at the intestines to see if they were getting back to normal; her tummy had already started to return to its normal size. The CAT scan showed that part of her intestines had returned to normal, but there was still some swelling. This is another reason she didn't start chemo on Friday (8/8). They want to make sure everything gets back to normal before they begin. Darien has an appointment on Monday (8/18) for a CAT scan of her chest and hopefully to begin her seventh chemo.

8/8/97

Darien had an appointment in Temple today to see if she was ready to begin her seventh chemo treatment. She's not. Her platelets and white blood cells haven't improved much from the last blood test. Since school starts next week (Thursday), Darien will go back to Temple after school next Friday, likely to begin the next chemo. This delay should give her blood counts a chance to improve a bit more.

8/5/97

Well, another blood test in C.S. this morning. Darien's platelets are surprisingly high, although not quite high enough to begin chemo 7. But, as somewhat expected, her white blood cells are low, probably too low. Again, we are waiting for her platelets and white blood cells to get a little higher. We'll probably get another blood test on Friday or next Monday. In the mean time, Darien is feeling great! She is really not restricted from doing most anything she wants, except possibly to be careful with sun exposure; i.e., lots of sun screen.

8/1/97

Darien had a blood test in C.S. this morning. She is finally starting to make her own red blood cells and does not need another transfusion. Also, her platelets have increased out of the danger zone, but still too low to begin chemo. Her white blood cells are low, as expected. So, now we are waiting on her platelets to increase enough to begin chemo and hopefully, when her platelets are high, so will her white blood cells.

7/30/97

Darien was released from the hospital this afternoon. Yesterday, she received a blood transfusion, had an x-ray, and a CAT scan. Today she had a sonogram. All of these tests are designed to try to figure out why she is needing blood so often. No answers yet. Darien feels fine and we are scheduled for another blood test in C.S. on Friday. Darien's platelets are still very low; therefore, we are still on hold for the next chemo treatment.

7/28/97

Darien had a blood test in College Station today. The analysis shows that her white blood counts are up and looking good; however, her platelets are still low and haven't shown any signs of recovering yet. In addition, she needs another transfusion. It's not critical yet; we will go to Temple tomorrow.

7/25/97

Darien and I got home late tonight. Her blood was pretty low when we got to Temple yesterday night, but after a transfusion, she began to feel fine today. Her white blood counts are on the rise, but her platelets are still very low. We won't be starting chemo next week, however, we are scheduled for another blood test in C.S. on Monday.

7/24/97

6:00 p.m. - Darien is not feeling well. Valerie took her to the doctor in C.S. and they said that she needs another blood transfusion. We have to do that in Temple.

7/22/97

Valerie took Darien to have her blood tested this morning in College Station. She is bruising pretty easy and seems to be able to cut her lip and the inside of her mouth pretty easy; Valerie thought her platelets might be too low. The results indicate that her counts (white cells and platelets) are very low, but there is nothing we can do right now. For the most part, Darien is feeling fine, although, she gets tired quickly. We are scheduled for another blood test in C.S. on Friday.

7/20/97

As expected, sort of, Darien's nurse called from camp Thursday (7/17) at about 11:00 p.m. and said that she was running a fever and they were instructed to take her to the hospital at Temple (it was only about a 30 minute drive). I also drove to Temple to stay with Darien and got there at about 1:30 a.m. It was a typical stay in the hospital for Darien with fever; they took a chest x-ray and ran a bunch of cultures, but everything came up negative. Valerie and Karis drove in on Friday afternoon and we went to the camp to pick up Vincent and visit the counselors (Darien had to stay in the hospital). It was a beautiful place; everyone seemed to have had a good time. This camp was for chronically ill children and their siblings from the Bryan/College Station area. Valerie stayed with Darien over the weekend and I took Vincent and Karis to a baseball tournament Vincent was playing in near Fort Worth. Darien's blood counts stayed pretty low, and on Sunday (7/20) they gave her a blood transfusion and let her go home. Valerie and Darien got home about 6 p.m. Sunday evening. Her counts are still pretty low, but she seems to be feeling good right now.

7/17/97

Darien's nurse at camp called yesterday and said everyone was having a good time. They've been horseback riding, swimming, etc. Darien had a blood test yesterday and her blood counts are getting really low, especially the white blood counts. Hopefully she will last the remainder of the camp without getting sick.

7/16/97

Still no word. Darien is scheduled for a blood test today at camp.

7/15/97

No word from Vincent or Darien. They must be doing o.k. at camp.

7/14/97

Darien and Vincent are at the Peaceable Kingdom camp sponsored by Scott & White. They will be there all week.

7/11/97

Darien finished chemo 6 yesterday and was released from the hospital today. She did not have any trouble with chemo 6, did not get nauseous, and maintained her appetite. It looks like she will get to go to her camp next week with Vincent. They leave on Monday and we will pick them up on Friday.

 7/7/97

Darien had another blood test today in College Station. Her blood counts are now acceptable to begin chemotherapy. She will go to Temple today, check in to the hospital and begin chemo 6 (the same as chemo 3) this evening. If everything goes o.k., she should be through Friday (7/11). Although Darien will miss the rest of swimming lessons this week and her dance camp, she is anxious to go and get this one over with. She and Vincent are scheduled to go to camp next week sponsored by Scott & White hospital.

7/3/97

Darien had another blood test today. Everything looks fine except her white blood count is pretty low - too low to begin chemotherapy, which will only reduce her white blood counts even further. We will get another blood test on Monday July 7.

7/1/97

Darien is feeling great. She is at home waiting for her blood counts to get high enough to begin her 6^th chemotherapy treatment. She is taking swimming lessons this week and hopefully will be able to attend a dance camp next week. Darien is scheduled for a blood test in College Station on Wednesday (7/2). The blood test she had on Monday showed that her platelets were o.k., but that her white blood count was too low to begin chemotherapy. Darien was originally scheduled to begin chemo 6 on Thursday (6/19), but her counts were too low.