5APR2014 Update

Doctor's are few and far between here on a Saturday. The chemo side effects are starting to kick in. Whitney was pretty tired all day and really didn't want to interact with people, or do much. No change from yesterday on the fine motor skill issue. We did get some feedback on the MRI with nothing remarkable found. They do want to follow up on something around her sinuses. Probably won't know much more until Monday as everything seems to be in maintenance mode during the weekend.

Nice talk with the nurse on what to expect for the rest of this treatment cycle. She thought that Whitney was entering a rough part of the treatment process and the next 7 days will be the worse with gradual improvement after that.

Most of Whitney's day was spent napping and seeing visitors. We did have a few visitors today as we tried to finish our taxes and get caught up on some laundry. No mail was delivered today.

Visitors today:
Mike and Alice Henning
Dick and Ann Ailor
Terry and Donna Maple
Charlie Copeland
Michael Ort
Pat Bartlett and Valerie Hoffsett

4APR2014 Update

Overall today was a pretty good day for Whitney. We really think the whole blood transfusion yesterday helped quite a bit. She also received smaller platelet transfusions overnight and again this afternoon. She received the last dose of one of the chemotherapy drugs and the other will continue for 4 more days. Her immune system will continue dropping until around the 16th of April. The team with then perform another bone marrow biopsy to see if the first round of chemotherapy was effective.

We met with the neurologist separately and they are really digging into her case. They are performing quite a bit of research and had a couple of suggestions that the treatment team agreed to. They also had a MRI completed today to take a look at her brain. I am glad we got them on board as we think there is a little improvement already with the fine motor skill issue. Whitney is still vomiting and has a lack of appetite, but those are well documented side effects of chemotherapy.

My parents, Dennis and Carla, made the trip today and spent some quality time with Whitney.
Lacey and Danielle Yordy made the trip from Riley County to visit Whitney today.
Whitney received several cards in the mail today.

Bonnie Visits Whitney

As a family we have always followed KU men's basketball as most people around Lawrence seem to. Quite a few years ago Whitney decided that she wanted to start attending KU women's basketball games. She talked Grandpa Dick into taking her to a couple of games and she ended up meeting Bonnie Henrickson in person.

Whitney and Bonnie quickly became friends and Whitney just had to attend every KU Women's Basketball function that she could. She bought season tickets to the games, she attended Hawk Talk, she joined the Hardwood Club, helped with basketball camps, she couldn't get enough of KU women's basketball.

We did everything we could to support this passion, even joining the Hardwood Club ourselves and supporting many functions with Whitney. The move to Riley County this year made things a little difficult, but we figured out a way, we shuttled her back and forth to Lawrence and attended road games in Manhattan and Aimes, IA.

When Whitney was diagnosed we knew that Bonnie would want to know and planned on getting a hold of her when we had time. I was also trying to keep quite a few friends and family members apprised of the quickly developing situation, so I concentrated my efforts to posting on facebook while we were taking care of Whitney's initial needs. As it turned out we didn't have to reach out to her, she found out and reached out to us.

Bonnie took the time to stop by between recruiting trips to make sure that Whitney knew that she was concerned about her. This speaks volumes about her character. I have always admired Bonnie for the way she makes Whitney feels special, but it's so much more than that. Bonnie is a wonderful, caring, compassionate woman and I am proud to call her a friend.

The Haircut

After we received confirmation of the diagnosis and knew that Whitney was going to get heavy doses of chemotherapy we decided to get Whitney a preliminary haircut to help keep hair out of her face during the rough times of the treatment.

1APR2014

This is a repost with a little added material at the bottom.

Lisa Schmitt gave Whitney Van Dyke some artificial cherry blossoms to remind her of spring in DC.

Still waiting on the treatments to start. We had a blood clot issue that needed to be resolved before starting. It sounds like they will be using two chemo drugs at a time for one week to start off with.

We had a few visitors today, including the Chief Medical Officer of the hospital who stopped by at the request of General Taffanelli. Thanks Lee

Grandma and Grandpa Ailor spent the afternoon with Whitney too.

We are getting quite a few fire departments that have visited Whitney,
Riley County
KCK
Lawrence
McLouth
Emporia
Ozawkie

Hopefully we will see some more progress tomorrow as it is getting hard to watch Whitney getting weaker and weaker.

2APR2014

This is a re-post from April 2nd with a little added content at the bottom. I am trying to consolidate everything on this site.

Whitney Van Dyke begins her chemotherapy treatment.

Still fighting blood clotting issues that will require a change in the pic line tomorrow. We didn't want to postpone treatment any longer, so we started treatment this evening with the current set up.

Another long day with very little changing in Whitney's overall condition. Hopefully things will stabilize soon and we start to see some improvement.

We had a few visitors, more mail and presents today all of which helped to bring a little joy to Whitney's day. I will post more pictures later tonight and may write more depending on how I feel.

Right now I feel that a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders by getting the treatment phase started.

God bless everyone reading this for your prayers and support.

*** NEW - Visitor pictures from April 2nd. I also added a gif at the bottom of her opening her presents from Joy.

 

3APR2014

The day started pretty good with Whitney getting the issue with the pic line resolved fairly early in the day. We met with the treatment team and expressed our concerns about the fine motor skill issues that Whitney is having and urged the lead doctor to include a neurologist on the team. After a little discussion and some observation, the team agreed to that. Later in the day we had a meeting with the neurologist and they agreed to review current meds and provide their expertise to the discussion.

Day 2 of chemo went pretty good, her blood counts dropped below minimums and they had to perform her first blood transfusion after lunch. Her condition seemed to improve by later in the afternoon, and by the time our visitors got here she was doing the best she had since we got here on Friday. Keeping food down is still a major hurdle right now along with the fine motor skill issue, but she showed improvement.

Overall, today was a good day.

Thanks you Keith, Marie and Jessica for visiting Whitney today.