Welcome to the journal of love and hope for Valerie Lopez-Robinson. This website chronicles Valerie's journey in healing.
Valerie was diagnosed with Grade 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme. Her Mom, Bernice, explains how this diagnosis was reached below:
Valerie was having headaches that started as one a day. We thought they were stress induced or part of her shoulder problem that she was getting therapy for.
The headaches started to get worse and was thought by her pediatrician to be sinus's and she was started on a sinus medication. She advised to try that for
one week and if that did not work we would get a CT done. Fri. 01-27-06 was the end of the week and her headaches were not being prevented by the sinus medication,
in fact, they were getting worse. They were lasting all day with no relief. We tried to get through the weekend to go back to her Dr. However she started vomiting
and having pain in her neck. It then sounded like meningitis, so I took her to Childrens Hospital on Sun. 01-29-06. When we got to the ER she was thought to have
migraines by the triage nurse and we waited for 2 1/2 hours in the waiting room. Then she got a CT done in the ER and it was clear, so they did a spinal tap that
revealed that she had too much spinal fluid in her head that was causing her headaches. They said sometimes this happens, so they removed the extra fluid and thought
this would take her headaches away and she would be fine. When her headaches did not go away they admitted her to the neuro floor of Childrens. For the next few days
they were running all kinds of tests, trying to find out what was the cause of the spinal fluid building up. Every day they were ruling out all kinds of stuff and as
time went by we were facing more and more serious problems. Her MRI's showed some abnormal areas in the brain and spine, she under went a biopsy of one of the spots
in the lower spine on Fri. 02-03-06. This told us right away it was cancer, however they could not tell us what type of cancer it was. They said it would take a few
days for the final diagnosis. During this time Valerie was given pain medication and a drainage tube for the spinal fluid along with some other medications for infection,
diuretic (water pill) and steroids for inflammation. We got her final diagnosis on 02-07-06 The drainage tube was taken out and she was discharged from the hospital on 02-08-06
Valerie is feeling much better now, she does not have any headache's. She has been going back to school. She will start chemo and radiation next week and then will be
home schooled. Her spirits are very high and she said she is going to fight this!! So let us all pray she win's her battle.
Thank you to everyone for the love and support and most of all their prayers.
Bernice
10-05-06 Update
Hello everyone,
7 1/2 hours later she was done her blood transfusion. Her color is much better and she is not as tired as she has been. That is great. She is feeling a lot better, however she still has nausea and vomiting. This is from the Chemo I would suspect, since we have fixed all the other issues. Well this is the first chemo that Valerie has been on that has given her any side effects. However that is ok since it seems to be slowing the growth down. Looking back at the speed it was growing and how fast it was taking away mobility before this chemo. She has not had much more deterioration of her hands or any major problems with her breathing. So I guess the nausea and vomiting is a small price to pay for more precious moments. The doctors have given us another medication to try and help with her vomiting. They gave her marinol. They said she will most likely need a blood transfusion once a month while on this chemo. We will be checking her blood work bi-weekly.
Well that's all for now. Thanks for your concern,
Bernice
7 Comments:
Dear Valerie,
I hope you got my message from me and Daniel.Daniel wants to spend time with you. Maybe next weekend or this if your feeling up to it.Daniel said he would like to watch a couple of movies and play some card games.Oh he also said he would love to cook for you!
Valerie,I will talk to your mom to see if that is okay.Oh, I also bought you something.You'll love it.So take it easy and we'll see you soon:)
Love,
Rhonda & Daniel
Hey Val!
So glad to hear your doing better. Hope to hear back soon. Love you!
Niki M.
hey valerie,
I dont know you too well but i went to your school last year. I wanted to tell you that you are in my prayers and in my heart. Be strong for all of your loved ones. I told you once before in school that you amaze me and that you have to be the girl with the most guts in our whole school. I'm glad that your feeling better. But i just wanted to tell you that.
~Krystle Rineaman
Hey babe, glad to hear your doing a bit better, kepp it up. I love you. And i cant wait to hear from you again.
love,
Jessy N.
Hey Val.
I am glad to here that the tranfusion went well and that you are feeling better. I will still pray for you and hope that you can stay healthy. I really care about you, and hope you know that you are a strong girl and nothing can stop you. I wish I could see you, but I don't know. I really miss you, and your pretty smile.
Well I miss you and will continue to keep you in my mind.
Stay strong
Chesna
hey val. its heather.
glad to know you're doing better. i would really like to come visit you sometime. you're fun to talk to...besides who else would i turn to about tom lol.
well call me sometime. in case you lost my number, here it is:
24-320-4952.
love you babe! cant wait to talk to you again!
<33
Heather
I am so glad Valerie is feeling a little bit better. I put her on the prayer list to a website I am a member of. There are a lot of people praying for Valerie and for you to Bernice. I hope God continues to give you the strength you need to get through this storm. Someone on the website wanted me to make sure you knew about http://braintumor.org/ There is a lot of information there. Tell Valerie that Sarah says hello and that she is praying for her too.
Shelly Cronk
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