Valerie Lopez-Robinson: February 2006

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

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Update 2-23-06

Hello everyone. Again Thank you for your interest in how Valerie is doing. Today was her second radiation treatment. It was much better for her today. It was in and out 20 min. She is starting to have some side effects with the Radiation. It started last night and got worse after today's treatment. Part of her ear, below the ear drum has some swelling and is red ( on the inside). So it is causing her quite a bit of pain. They said that she seems to be sensitive to the radiation but that her body should get use to it soon and the pain will go away. Now let's hope the cancer is sensitive to the radiation too and dies!

We did another urine test Clean catch this time and it does not show any infection. So this means that the tumor in her spine is pressing on a nerve that control's her bladder and this is why she is having problems urinating. They raised her steroid dose to help this while waiting for the radiation to make the tumor smaller. As for her sleeping problem they want us to try tylenol night time and see if that helps.

We also went to the clinic at Children's today for her weekly blood draw and she received her first Iv medication to prevent pneumonia. She gets that once a month. Her blood draw, checks her red and white blood cell count and a few other things in her blood. They have to watch these due to the chemo drugs. They can lower them and cause lots of problems. They came back normal for today. :-) Between the two appointment, it was another all day run around.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers
Bernice

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Update 2-22-06

Valerie had her first radiation treatment today. This one was hard for her because she had to get a CT done while she was strapped down in the position for the treatment. This was to make sure they were not going to hit any vital organs when pointing the location of the radiation beam. It lasted 2 hours. The good thing is that the rest of the treatments will only be 15 min. now that they have all the proper measurements.

Valerie also has a bladder infection caused by the catheter placed in her bladder while she was in the hospital. So she is having problems urinating. This started last night. We will get an antibiotic tomorrow when we go for her clinic visit at children's. She is also having problems sleeping and we will get something for that also tomorrow.

At this point the biggest change for Valerie is that she is now starting to get very weak in her legs. They gave out on her last night while trying to go to the bathroom. The Dr said it could be one of two things causing this. One, that when they decreased the steroid for swelling from 3 times a day to 2 times, her swelling could have increased or that the tumor in her spine has got bigger. Either one of these these things could be putting pressure on nerves that control her leg muscles. :-(

The good thing is, the Dr. said she should notice the leg weakness get better after a few treatments.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers
Bernice

Friday, February 17, 2006

Update 2-17-06

Valerie attended her first oncology weekly visit at Children's Hospital Thursday, 2-16 where she was given her prescription, Temodar, for chemotherapy. The worst side affect they are expecting is nasea and she has been given a medication to be given a half hour before taking the Temodar to prevent that side effect. Once a month she will be given an IV medication to prevent phenumonia which is a high possiblity with the particular chemotheraphy treatment she is receiving. The IV medication treatment will start next Thursday and continue every month from then on. She went to her first set up appointment for radiation today at NIH in Bethesda, MD. There was no treatment at today's appointment, purely set up, measurements and fitted devices. She will start going to NIH daily for radiation possibly starting next Wednesday. In my opinion, CVS has made it very difficult for us to get Valerie's prescriptions in a timely fashion, therefore forcing us to use other more efficient pharmacies. Eckerds has been great so far.
Bernice

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Valerie is Home!

After spending over a week at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC, Valerie came home in style in a big white stretch limo courtesy of her Grandfather on Wednesday, February 8, 2006! She was feeling great and very happy to be home. (That's her best friend Kirstyn with her)

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Prayer Service for Valerie

As an active member of Trinity Baptist Church in Waldorf, MD, a prayer service was held on Wednesday, February 8th, 2006 for Valerie. Many people from her church as well as many friends and fellow students from her high school attended.

Check out the room!

Well, you sure can tell Valerie has a lot of friends and is very loved by looking at her hospital room. There were so many stuffed animals, cards and flowers. She and her mom gathered up their collection of Beanie Babies at home and gave them to other children in the hospital.

Valerie Lopez-Robinson