Admission for Round 3 of Immunotherapy / Christmas Joy

Caroline was admitted today for Round 3 of Immunotherapy.  Starting tomorrow morning, she will receive a 20-hour per day infusion of Unituxin Antibody, as well as a Dilaudid PCA for pain management during the entire treatment, which is scheduled to end on Monday.  Once again, we expect significant side effects, including: high fever, low oxygen levels, extreme nerve pain, nausea, diarrhea, rash and low blood pressure.  Watching her go through this part of treatment is not easy for us, but we hope it's all working to destroy the remaining Neuroblastoma tumor in her abdomen, as well as any free-floating cancer cells.

Like many folks this time of year, Caroline is fighting off some kind of virus, with a particularly bad-sounding cough.  Being immuno-suppressed makes it more difficult for her to fight any type of virus, so the medical team will be keeping an extra eye on her cough/congestion this week.

Caroline is on her last day of the antibiotic she's been taking 4x/day for the last 3 weeks for her C-Diff infection; she will be retested for C-Diff again later this week.

Last year we spent Christmas in the hospital, and this year we were fortunate enough to be able to spend it quietly at home.  Huge shout-out to our friend, Farrah and her "Friends of Caroline," who helped us coordinate gifting Christmas cash to all 19 Pediatric Oncology families that spent Christmas Day in the hospital.  We are very grateful for their generous hearts, and we know first-hand that many of the families were overcome with joy when those cards and blessings were delivered to their hospital rooms on Christmas day!  We hope we can build on this as one of the ways we give back, and make it an annual tradition.

Thank you for all the prayers and Christmas wishes sent our way; we truly appreciate each and every one of you!

The Lantz Family
#carolinestrong
#ftgf

PS: As you can see in the pics below, Caroline had a fun Christmas week of play dates with her friends and family!