The good the bad and the ugly.

Today's been a worrisome one. So far as parents when the doctors at our local hospital had been unsure about a problem, the final diagnosis was less than desirable. So you can imagine that we were a little bit distressed with the unknowns on this one. When cancer came back last time it was painful lumps in her arm so we didn't rule out that it could also present itself as painful blisters on her skin. Stacie and I both had the same worries that it might be linked to cancer but were afraid to bring it up to each other.

After waiting for a couple of hours in the ER here we were suddenly bombarded with the dermatologist doctors, Infectious disease team of docs, oncology doctor, nurses, iv teams and nurse practitioners in our room almost all at the same time. And just then Jeff arrived from DC with Kinsey and Ben ( who graciously picked him up at the airport) to make sure we were ok. Thanks for coming guys, we sure appreciate everyones concern. We didn't get to visit much but Chloe smiled for the first time in days wen she heard Kinsey and Ben's good news. Jeff looked dashing in his business casual, probably just closed a huge deal in Washington cause thats how he plays the game. In the last hour she has had 6 or 7 blister samples taken, 2 or 3 iv attempts, a CT scan, exams by 5 or 7 doctors with their teams in tow, photos taken, and a spinal tap - or lumbar puncture as it were. And suddenly we have some answers.

Apparently she has something in the same viral family as shingles. It's called the Zoster virus, but whatever you do don't count on that spelling as accurate. She has had chicken pox before, but as most of you reading this are aware she had a bone marrow transplant, which kinda makes it like she hasn't had chicken pox. So once you've had the chicken pox, you generally don't get them again but you can get shingles - in the Zoster family - and the zoster virus can be dormant in your body. So here is the theory: Chloe has had chicken pox so her body had he zoster virus dormant. Since she has had a bone marrow transplant her body also thinks she hasn't had chicken pox - cause she has an unvaccinated baby's chord blood as a transplant. So when the Zoster virus presented itself, they think the body reacted with chicken pox as well. Yeah, she has both. Zoster and chicken pox.

It's pretty rare to have both at the same time and she has some other side effects they were concerned about. They did the lumbar puncture to make sure there were no signs of meningitis and a CT scan I think to check for the same and internal swelling around her neck and brain because she was complaining about pain and her face is quite swollen right now. Everything was clean on both tests.

Blood tests came back looking great so we're very thankful this is not related to cancer returning.

Protocol is to keep her here for a few days or 7 so they can give her intravenous meds which work better, and let it run it's course. And since she has such an odd case and circumstances each team of docs want to keep an eye on her.

Consider yourself updated and thank you all for your concern.