August 23, 8:30 a.m.

August 23, 2011
David here.

We received the results from the remaining bone marrow and spinal fluid tests---good news on all of them.   The tests will be repeated in about 11 weeks. 

Grant and Claire are enjoying school.  They love their teachers and seem to be making friends in their classes.

That's about all for now. 


Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

August 16 3:20 pm

August 16, 2011
David again.

Grant went in yesterday for his scheduled bone marrow and spinal tests.  The first bone marrow result, the test that was false positive last time, was negative, which was great news. Now, we wait for spinal results and the other bone marrow results.  It should be late this week or early next week.  The waiting is always excruciating. 

Grant and Claire start school tomorrow. Its unbelievable that the summer is gone and that Claire will be in 1st grade.  Grant will be in pre-k 4.  G...
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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

July 11 2011

July 11, 2011
David here.

Grant had a great birthday weekend. My sister and her family came in from Dallas and my parents came in from Waco.  The party was on Saturday at Kids N Action in Kingwood.  Grant had a blast playing with his friends and cousins.  He was also very happy to get so many nice presents.

After the party we went to the swimming pool where Grant spent the day playing with Claire, Melanie's dad and my nephews from Dallas. 

On Sunday we had the family-only birthday party at home.  We then wen...
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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 
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About Me


Melanie McTaggart I am the proud mom and Claire and Grant. I am so blessed to have them in my life!

April 26

April 26, 2011
David here

Grant went to clinic yesterday for counts and chemotherapy.   All of his counts were good and he received chemo as scheduled.  Dr. Dreyer was pleased and she ordered all meds to be restarted at full dosage.

He will go back for counts next Monday and get his next bone marrow study and spinal in about a month.

Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Wednesday April 20

April 20, 2011

David here.

Grant's counts came up yesterday.  His ANC was over 810; platelets 140; hemoblogin 11.2.  There are no restricitons on his activities right now.

Thanks to everyone for the prayers and emails of support.




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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Saturday April 16, 1pm

April 16, 2011
David here  again, just a few hours after the last update.

The GCS-F wore off.   His ANC was 370 today.  The rest of the numbers were essentially the same.  I spoke to Dr. Dreyer who says she is not worried.  She said its not uncommon at all to have the  ANC go back down after the GCS-F wears off. I think she is absolutely telling me the truth, but we cant help but be very worried.  We are holding the Gleevec for now, as that can make it harder for  recovering bone marrow to produce new cells....
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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Saturday April 16

April 16, 2011
David here.

Apologies for not updating sooner.  Grant was released from the hospital on Tuesday night. The doctors decided to give him a drug called GCS-F which is designed to help jump start his bone marrow to produce more infection fighting white cells. Grant received that and a similar drug several times during the hospital portion of his chemo.  The drug seemed to work and his ANC  rose to 250 The doctors felt comfortable letting him go because all indications were the ANC was still on the...
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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Saturday April 9

April 10, 2011
David here.  

Tough week.  Grant's fever has been gone since Tuesday and his blood cultures were all negative for bacterial and fungal infections.  But, his ANC has not come up, in fact its still dropping.  This morning is was 20; this evening it was 10.  ANC stands for absolute neutrophyl count and it represents how strong his immune system is.  Normal is 2,000-3,000.  Below 500 is a severely compromised immune system. 

Several things can cause ANC to drop, including viruses like the one he ...
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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 - 9:23 a.m.

April 5, 2011

Okay. We have a diagnosis. Grant has parainfluenza. This is NOT the flu. It is the virus that causes bronchitis.

At 2:30 a.m., the doctor came in to tell me that the viral study came back with this result. I was elated to know it was a virus. They are still treating him as if he had a bacteria though because he spiked a fever of 103 last night. They just have to be so careful. His ANC (ability to fight infection) dropped even further. His ANC is now 130. It looks like we will be in here a whil...


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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Monday, April 4, 2011 - 9:00 p.m.

April 5, 2011

Hey guys,
Well, after having a wonderful week and celebrating Claire turning 6 (which I still can't believe) Grant ended up spiking a fever and has been admitted to the hospital. Why is it that I only post the bad news these days? I need to find some time to tell you about all the progress he has made. Grant's walking has gotten even better and he is almost running now. He got to go to the Shell Houston Open and even hit a few balls on Saturday while Claire had 15+ girls over for a Garden Tea...


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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Monday March 14 2011

March 14, 2011
David here.

Grant's liver function tests came back much improved so we started back on the Gleeved last Tuesday.  He goes in again tomorrow to get his counts checked and to do physical(or as Grant calls it, fical) therapy.

Claire and Grant are on spring break this week and they are really excited about it.  Claire is very puzzled about why mommies and daddies dont get spring break. She had been thinking that I would be home with them all week.  Melanie is going to take them to the rodeo (again)...
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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Friday March 4 2011

March 4, 2011

David here

We attended the rodeo last night courtesy of  Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Before it started,Grant, along with many other kids,  was able to go down on the rodeo floor and do some roping and horseback riding with one of the cowboys.  He  had an absolute blast with his new cowboy pal, Michael.  Melanie and I had to fight back tears watching Grant have so much fun and feeling like a regular kid.

We stayed for the entire rodeo and for some of the Sugarland performance which was great. Gra...


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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 

Sunday, Feb. 27 , 2011 - 1:25 p.m.

February 27, 2011
Check out this video! David and I are honored that we were able to be at this amazing dinner.
Bob Schieffer on "Face the Nation" talking about TCH Cancer Center and Grant's doctor, Zoanne Dreyer
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7357896n&tag=related;photovideo

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Posted by Melanie McTaggart.

 
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