Might be worth your consideration.....

http://okcslackers.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6590&sid=ab9ba22902bc932a85400daae5b7ef2d

Re: Might be worth your consideration.....

Jack Straw wrote:

http://okcslackers.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6590&sid=ab9ba22902bc932a85400daae5b7ef2d

Yes, please consider helping in some way. They have been at the hospital for a long time (roughly since April I think). Maria has suffered a few setbacks. After the garage sale Peter and Trish are packing up what's left and taking it to storage (as in no longer have a place to call "home") since they are basically living at the hospital these days. For those of you who haven't been keeping tabs on this or didn't know at all, here is the latest update from her mom (remember Maria is less than 2 years old):

Well it has been over a week since my last update on Maria. Since then not much has happened except my little girl is back to herself. She is laughing, smiling, and talking all of the time. I am enjoying everyday of that. I wish it was always like this. As you might of heard we have moved out of our home and are living out of the hospital. We will be staying with my parents once we are released from the hospital until we find a home. We talked with the transplant doctor yesterday. Here is the plan. Maria is going to have two central lines (one on each side of her chest)put in tomorrow and while she is in surgery for that they are going to check her bone marrow and spinal fluid for any Leukemia. They had concerns that the reason why Maria's immune system is taking so long to come up is that the bone marrow is filled with Leukmeia or that since she has had a bunch of chemo and that infection a few weeks back then that can make her immune system take longer to come up. Today Maria's immune system is a 33. A good immune system for her would be 500. If they go in tomorrow and find Leukemia then that is not a good sign. The doctor doesn't expect to see that. But please say a prayer that the doctor is right. Cause if there is Leukemia and there is over a certain amount then transplant probably won't happen. If the results turn out good tomorrow then she will probably start radiation twice a day for 4 days on this coming Monday. They will be giving her total body radiation. Then she will have 2 days of the chemo drug Cytoxin. This will be very high doses of this drug. Then finally she will have drug called ATG. She will have 2 days of this as well. This will help her body not reject the stem cells. Then she will probably have the transplant the following Monday. I felt alot bettter yesterday after talking to the doctor. I thought we would go in there and they would just be so negative about the whole thing. But it wasn't like that. We are all in this together striving after one goal. To give Maria the best chance and hopefully curing her. As next week is drawing nearer my heart gets a little weary, my mind a wreck, and the fear of not knowing what is going to happen is starting to get to me. I love seeing her smile and laugh and I don't want that to end. She is a fighter and she will make it. I have to have faith in that. Cause she has proven that to everyone so far. I am asking all of you to keep Maria Anna and our family in your prayers as we get ready to start down this journey. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.



Sincerely,

Trish Arvanitis

I can't even imagine this happening. Thoughts and prayers to all of them. Help any way you can!

**Update from Trish last night (6/12)**

Hey everybody,



Well this week is almost here and gone. Maria just finished her last radiation treatment this afternoon. She has done very well with them. She had radiation a total of 8 times. For the past two days she has been so hyper! I think some of what she got. lol Tomorrow she will have a chemo drug called cytoxin. It is going to be a very high dose. She has had a high dose of this med before but not as high. She has had 120 mg. of this drug before and for 2 days will be receiving 600mg of this chemo. It has me worried. The doctor doesn't seem to think that there will be any problems with this drug. But says she will probably get sick with the drug ATG on Sunday and Monday. I am hoping she won't get so sick with the drugs. So far so good. The transplant is going to take place on Wed., June 18th. This will be a special day. Not just b/c of the transplant, but this is also mine and Peter's 3rd year wedding anniversary on that day. We will never forget that date, that's for sure!! Saturday, I will be attending a funeral for a special friend of Maria's. Her name was Maria Jose. She was 2 1/2 yrs. old and lost her fight to Leukemia last night. Maria and my Maria would always play and wave to each other when one would pass each others room. My heart goes out to the family. This just hits so close to home. Needless to say it was very hard to sleep last night. Her room where she passed away was next to ours. I have never been around when someone has passed away like that. It was a very emotional night for everyone. It just makes you wanna hold your child and never let go. So please not only keep my Maria and family in your prayers, but keep Maria Jose's family in them as well. Please keep the prayers a coming. They are always appreciated and loved.

With Love,

Trish



****Don't forget about the Garage Sale For Maria this weekend****

UPDATE 6/18
Please say an extra prayer for the Arvanitis family today!

Well as many of you know, today is Maria's bone marrow transplant. They are going to do it around 10 am. If you remember, please say a prayer for her, around that time, that this will work and ultimately cure her. The odds are against her but she has proven that she is a fighter. So please keep her and us in your prayers.

God Bless!

Trish

Lord, please bless this child Maria Arvanitis and her family!

I hope all goes well today and in the future for her and her parents.

Latest update:



Okay, Okay. Sorry it has taken me so long to post about Maria's transplant. Well Wednesday came to fast for me. I was excited about the day and then again I was scared out of my mind. Here is how the morning went... The transplant was suppose to take place around 10 am. About 9:45 am the nurse came in and said that it would probably be a little later cause the doctor needed to do a procedure first. We said no problem. Me and Peter decided to go down to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat while my parents sat with Maria. Cafeteria was closed so we chose to just get some snacks from the gift shop. We sat down in the lobby by the window soaking up the sun. When my sister came in a hurry saying that the doctor was ready and that they paged us over the intercom. We never heard it. We got up to the room and Dr. Rooms said before we start we have to ask you 2 questions. We were like okay?.. The first question was, "Is this Maria Anna Arvanitis?" I made a joke and said "No her name is Shanequia". Then she asked "Are you expecting her to get a stem cell transplant?" Of course we said "Yes". When you hear the wod transplant you think like surgery (well that's what I always thought) but this type of transplant is quite simple in a way. They bring in this IV bag with this Dark red blood. It was a lot bigger than the doctor had anticipated. But said that this was good cause it meant more cells. And that's a good thing in transplant world. They hung the bag and didn't have everything ready. The blood comes frozen. As soon as they thaw it out, they have 20 minutes to get all of the blood into her body or it is no good. But by time they started, they only had 10 minutes left of viable time. The blood was very thick. The doctor told me and Peter to get a bucket and some towels cause as soon as the stem cells start going in most kids start throwing up very bad. Then she warned us that sometimes kids have reactions to it and that she would smell like rancid cream corn once it started going in. The doctor started the IV and sucked up the blood from the line and push it back into the IV line to get into her body faster. As soon as the doctor started Maria started to scream. Then her body started changing all of these weird colors. She went to pale white like a sheet to pink and splotchy and then turned blue and her eyes started rolling in the back of her head. I started to panic a little. All I could think about was that she was gonna stop breathing on me. I kept trying to put a cold rag on her head and face but there was nothing that was gonna soothe her. She just kept crying, screaming and reaching out for me. I wanted to pick her up so bad. Now remember me talking about the cream corn smell. Yeah I will never go around cream corn again. The smell was just seeping from her pores all day and night. I was getting nauseated from it. The doctor got all the blood in the 10 mins. I know she had to be nervous. She had sweat rolling down her face. Shoot! I would be sweating too!! Maria never threw up and as soon as the transplant was over she stopped crying. They premedicated her so she slept all day long. Which was probably good for her body. Her skin color after the transplant was a weird color. It looked like a bad spray tan and her eyes looked like they had been beaten. But by nightime she looked alot better. She was up and playing that evening. Like nothing ever happened. Since then (Wed.) she has been doing good. She has no immune system once again and is showing signs of mucasitis-mouth sores that can spread throughout the GI tract. The mucasitis is a very common side effect after a transplant or chemo. It is very painful for the kiddos and they have already started her on morphine. Now we are in wait and see mode. She has stopped eating and drinking on her own. She is on nutritional support through her IV. She wants to constantly watch Barney and have us feed him her pacifier. That makes her laugh. She loves to sing and dance. So me and Peter and even Papa Leon will get in here and act crazy-singing and dancing. She just grins from ear to ear. Her smile has given me comfort. The doctors are expecting her to get very ill in the next few days to weeks. Please say a prayer that this won't happen. She will be in the hospital for at least 4 to 6 weeks. Then she will get to leave if no complications. I am ready for a new lease on life for her. I am ready to start living life and not always questioning it. Thank you so much to all of you who have kept Maria and our family in your prayers. Please keep saying the prayers, as this journey is just beginning. Thank you! Thank you!



With So Much Gratitude,

Trish and Family

What a waste of medical treatment. I say put her out of her misery.

TheHockeyFarter wrote:

What a waste of medical treatment. I say put her out of her misery.

You've crossed the line here. It's one thing to be a complete douche bag and try to stir it up a little, but to go there is EXTREMELY uncalled for.

TheHockeyFarter wrote:

What a waste of medical treatment. I say put her out of her misery.

You come pay me a visit the next time you see me.

Taos wrote:

TheHockeyFarter wrote: What a waste of medical treatment. I say put her out of her misery. You come pay me a visit the next time you see me.

WAIT IN LINE!

Taos wrote:

TheHockeyFarter wrote: What a waste of medical treatment. I say put her out of her misery. You come pay me a visit the next time you see me.

You are a big puss so I know you will just run off.

TheHockeyFarter wrote:

What a waste of medical treatment. I say put her out of her misery.

I realize that I am no Roger Staubach or anything like that. I like to talk trash and bust balls as much as the next guy, but HF you have really crossed the line here. UNCOOL!!!

THF I dont know who you are, but with the ignorance you have display'd on the board, now is the time for our moderator to shut you down before some one finds out your identity and has a party for the fans to show you our gratitude and disdain.
Keep talking as things will come your way. ALL BAD.

Here is an update from 7/3:

Hello to everybody. So sorry it has taken me so long to post a update. Well... Maria has been doing good. Really no major problems. If you were to see her you would be shocked. She has been playing and just being Maria! I am so thankful for that. Yesterday she started having problems with platelettes. She had to be transfused 3 times in less than 24 hours. Platelettes is the stuff in your blood that helps your blood to clot so that you don't bleed out. Usually Maria has to have platelettes transfused every 2 days or so. The doctor was worried that she had built up an immunity to the platelettes. We found out this afternoon that she had not. So that was good to hear. She has to get shots in the legs every evening to help her immune system to come up. She was up at 4am this morning and when I went to change her diaper I noticed this HUGE bruise/bump on her leg where they had given the shot. I immediately told the nurse and she came in and said it was a hemotoma. It is very common with kids and the shots. I had to ice her leg for a couple of hours. I was surprised that she kept the ice on her thigh. This evening she started to have a little amount of blood coming out of her nose. We have to keep an eye on that in case she needs to have platelettes again. The transplant doctor has been stunned everyday she comes in to see Maria. She said that this is not normal that she has done so well. There is 2 other kiddos that just had a transplant and they have been so ill. One of them even sent to the ICU. But I seem to think she has done so well for me. I was so overwhelmed with anxiety before the transplant cause of the fear of the unknown. I didn't know how her body would handle the transplant. All we kept hearing was all of the negative and that she might not even survive. That gets to you after awhile. But my daughter has that spirit about her that is contagious. She is not ready to give up and neither am I. She is already starting to show signs that her immune system is trying to come up. Which that means the stem cells engrafted. They are thinking that she will engraft earlier than expected since she has done so well. That is nice to hear. I am so ready to leave the hospital. We have been in here for nearly 10 weeks. The plan after she gets cleared to leave we are going to be living with my parents until we find a home. It has been hard finding time to look for a house. Then Maria will be high risk for at least a year. She will be very succeptible to infections during that time. Me and Peter are hanging in there as much as we can. Everyday is a new day. I was telling Pete the other day that hopefully one day we can live a normal life and he said" what's that?" I chuckled as that was what I was thinking. Please continue to pray for Maria and our family. Have a safe Fourth of July!!!

Would you mind if I pm you cherry ?

Kermie wrote:

Would you mind if I pm you cherry ?

Sure, no problem.

Cherrypicker wrote:

Kermie wrote: Would you mind if I pm you cherry ? Sure, no problem.

I don't approve of this conduct.