Home Sign Our Guestbook View Madison's Pictures View Madison's Journal Archives Contact Us
Madison Smith's Website - Viewing Journal - Wednesday, November 26, 2003 9:00 PM
Thank you for taking time to inquire about Madison and how she is doing. Madison was diagnosed with high risk T-cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia on September 24, 2003 at Duke Hospital in North Carolina. She had just turned three at that time. Leukemia is a blood cancer that is not believed by medical professionals to be inherited at this time. She presented with a mass in her chest that encompassed the majority of the upper half of her chest area. The mass was related to the leukemia. It collapsed her left lung and a portion of her right lung and was shutting off the blood flow from her heart to the rest of her body. She was in the pediatric intensive care unit for almost two weeks on a ventilator. We weren't sure then if we would ever have a chance to fight the leukemia. Madi is a true fighter and pulled through! After getting off the vent, Madison was able to achieve remission by the 28th day of treatment. She underwent two and half years of aggressive chemotherapy (protocol 1961) and radiation for the mass. On Christmas Eve 2005, a little over two years after her diagnosis Madison had a chest CT done that revealed that the mass was finally gone! Madison finished her treatment in January 2006. Children that have cancer are not considered "cured" until they have been off treatment with no-reoccurrence for five years. Duke has followed Madison throughout her treatment. She will continue to be followed by Duke. In April 2008 Duke uncovered that Madison has an obstruction in 3 of her veins. The veins involved are the Left innominate vein, the left (lower) internal jugular vein, and her sub-clavian vein. These veins are responsible for carrying her blood back to her heart and hers are 100% occluded. What is going on with her right now is likely a result of the mass she had in 2003. There aren't really any easy fixes for what is going on with her and no real cases that it can be compared to. We are working with Duke in an effort to resolve this issue. In February 2011, Madi moved from in-remission to "CURED" from her disease We've come this far for a reason! Please continue to lift all of us up. The care and concern that we have felt from all of you continues to be an encouragement to us. Thank you...
 
- Allison

Update - Wednesday, November 26, 2003 9:00 PM


Madison was re-admitted to Duke University Hospital on Wednesday, November 26th. She is currently neutropenic which means that her 'ANC' (absolute neutrophil counts) are below what is considered safe. Her counts being below the magic number means that she doesn't have the ability to fight infection. At any time throughout her treatment if she has a fever of 101 and above and is neutropenic she must be admitted. Her temperature reached 101 yesterday, so she was admitted.

She is doing well, has been getting antibiotics and fluid by IV. So far, her blood tests have not revealed any bacteria. If her final culture concurs with zero bacteria found she will be able to come home around Friday or Saturday. If they do find bacteria, she will have to have antibiotics for roughly two weeks though an IV and will have to be admitted during that time.

Madi has been complaining of headaches, back and neck aches and eye pain over the last few days. This is more than likely related to the numerous spinal taps she has had over the last few weeks. As a precautionary measure, her doctors ordered a CT scan of her head to make sure everything is as it should be. We do not have the results of this yet but her doctors do not anticipate a problem.

Madison had her normal outpatient treatment on Monday. Another spinal tap was done and the results revealed zero leukemia cells present in her spinal fluid. She has continued to have vomiting even up to a week after Chemo. Some weeks she has been fine all week then out of nowhere the vomiting occurs six or seven days after treatment. Madi's doctors are puzzled by this stating that 'it isn't necessarily normal' and are watching it very closely. Madison is not scheduled for another bone marrow test for a few months. Presently, her doctors have not had any indication or reason to believe that the Leukemia is back. If oddities of her condition remain present or new things occur they may order another bone marrow test earlier.

A CT scan of her chest was taken on Monday in which they found the mass in her chest to be 30% smaller than what it was a month ago. It is now not blocking her airway in any fashion. Her doctors are considering taking a biopsy of it in a few weeks.

We are still waiting to hear from St. Jude's. We have had contact with them this week inquiring as to when we could expect feedback. The contact for St. Jude's seemed to think that it was abnormal for us to have not received their feedback yet and is checking into the situation. Perhaps we will hear something by the first of the week.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours. Please keep all of the prayers coming!!!

Thank you for taking the time to check our site, please sign our guestbook.