Where are we?

I know many people have been wondering about Izzy, her health, and her pain. I am not sure what exactly to say though. She is in a better place than she was two weeks ago when I updated last. We were able to start the extended release morphine, which is controlling her chest pains and even stomach pain better. We are still giving PRN (extra) doses of morphine almost daily for breakthrough pain, but life is somewhat more manageable.

Izzy even returned to school for a couple hours each day last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And Saturday was fantastic. It was Izzy's Ice Cream Social. Izzy had so much fun with everyone.  She did have pain and got very tired, but she confirmed it was all worth it.

Sunday, she woke with leg pains and overall lethargy. The leg pains are not new. We tried all our tricks--leg massage, warm baths, resting, pain meds--nothing worked. We hoped sleep Sunday night would help, but she woke with the leg pain Monday. I tried to get her to go to school since distraction is my best tool to combat pain, but that didn't work. She didn't go to school again today because of the pain. She describes it as squeezing, similar to her chest pains and stomach pains. It moves. She does have prominent veins in those areas these days and the best guess is decreased perfusion (blood flow). The pain has kept her restless and unable to sleep well. Yesterday, she even took a two hour nap. Today, was just a grump day. That is, it was a grump day until the end when her pain lessened. We don't know exactly why, except perhaps more continuous rest. She was happy and able to walk without limping. She went to bed on time with a smile, dreaming about pocket watches.

We don't know if this will last even through the night, but we take each smile straight to heart. Izzy is still easily fatigued. She got breathless reading a story to me this evening. She gets bad chest pains when she takes of her oxygen, but she is eating like an Izzy again. And she smiles.

Thanks for checking in on our girl.

Mel