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Update Wednesday 02-20-02: Savannah is back in the hospital. Yesterday morning all of a sudden she spiked a high temp so I had to take her to the hospital where they began antibiotics and took a blood culture. She was also taken for a chest x-ray about 4pm and by last night her temp had finally come down to the 99 range, lets hope it stays down. I have not seen the x-ray's yet but I do know that she didn't need any blood like we had thought she would. We don't know any more than this just yet, please keep her in your prayers!

Update Thursday 02-21-02: What we have found out is that her white blood count was down to .1 on Tuesday and by yesterday it had come up to .2 however that is still terribly low, her ANC's are also very low at 94. Savannah has also developed mouth sores although she was in much better spirits yesterday, she was very happy to see her brothers and sister. The chest x-ray didn't show anything and the blood culture hasn't grown anything so the doctor is thinking that it may be the mouth sores in combination with the low counts and so when the wind blew she got sick. The doctor did tell us that she probably won't need to stay very long as long as the culture stays negative. I did find out that Tuesday evening Savannah was trying to raise the roof on the hospital, for no reason she just wanted to test her lungs and was just shouting up a storm, she must have just been trying to get everyone's attention because she wasn't upset. Any time someone would come by she would quiet down a be real innocent but the moment they turned around she would pop out with a screech.

Update Friday 02-22-02: Suprise Savannah came home last night, the blood culture had still not grown any and her temp was normal so Dr. Lammers thought it would be better for Savannah to be at home with us. The blood work from yesterday was still lousy her WBC has maintained at .2 and her ANC has dropped to 56, basically she has almost no immune system right now. We continue to monitor her temp to make sure it dosn't come back and just love her and pray for her to get better. She will go back to the hospital for a clinic appointment on Wednesday to see how her counts are doing, until then we hope everything stays quiet.

Update Thursday 02-28-02: Yesterday we had to go into clinic early Savannah was running another temperature 101.8. As of last night there was no growth in her blood culture, she was given antibiotics and blood and I was told to watch her temp and check with the doctor today to see if we need to stop in for more antibiotics. She was low on her Hemoglobins, Red Blood Cells and HCT's this is why she had the fill up on blood. Her Platelets are doing good and her White Blood Cells have skyrocketed, last week she was down to .1 or 100 and this week she has climbed to 18.8 or 18,800 so no fear in her body being able to fight off infection right now. This much of a jump since last week explains why she has been uncomfortable sleeping at night, her bones must be hurting from all the work they have been doing producing white cells. We found out yesterday that Anja's parents are coming from Germany for a visit for a few months (they have never met Tyler or Savannah only seen pictures) all the kids are excited about them coming, I have to say I am relieved they will finally get to meet.
I mentioned awhile back about a program called Wish Upon a Star, the social workers at the hospital where trying to set up a wish for Savannah, well they declined our wish because she is not 3 years old and able to make the wish herself so she dosn't get a wish.

Update Saturday 03-09-02: Savannah is doing well she is in the hospital for chemo again, her blood counts have been good the only one jumping around has been her whites. Wednesday she was at 3.4, Thursday it had dropped to 3.1 and by yesterday it came up to 5.3, all of her other counts have remained steady and good. The last few days have been very worrysome for Anja her emotions have been a roller coaster. To top it off we asked about a friend of ours yesterday, a beautiful little girl named Amanda, we were told she had passed away unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago. This is the first time that we have had to encounter a death of one of the children at the hospital here, it was an awful feeling for all of us and which made matters worse for Anja she has been terrified about Savannah. Savannah should come home Sunday as long as everything goes well today and tommarrow. Please say a prayer for Amanda and her family that they may know peace and comfort in this time of loss. Please keep Savannah in your prayers as well.

Update Monday 03-11-02: Savannah is still in the hospital she will be done wiith her last med this morning about 9:30 so I will be bringing her home today. She did develope a minor ear infection so the Dr. put her on a antibiotic for that other than that she is doing well and I am glad to be bringing her home. I do want to say again how much we really appreciate all of the support everyone has given to us and the many prayers that go out for Savannah. Thank you and god bless you!

Update Saturday 03-16-02: Yesterday we went to the hospital for Savannah's clinic appointment. Her ear infection is clearing up, her blood counts are on the way down as we expected. She wasn't low enough to need a transfusion yet but they did give her a shot of a medicine that helps boost red cell production we will be able to see how its doing next week when we go back on Wednesday. Its been looking like she may start walking without help pretty soon, she is becoming more sure of herself and reaching for things a little further away than what she can actually reach.

Today has become a really bad day, my mom called to tell me that she is going to have to put her mother in a nursing home because her health care needs have become more serious and require nursing services.

She also was calling on behalf of Aunt Sue to tell me that Uncle Bernie passed away this afternoon, he has been fighting his cancer for the past 3+ years. We all knew this was coming but it is still not easy to lose a loved one, we will miss you Uncle Bernie. I know in my heart he is in a better place and that his pain has ended. He wrote a letter for Savannah and sent her a picture so that she would grow up knowing what her Great Great Uncle would look like, we received it in yesterday's mail. I'm very happy to know that it is his wish to be Savannah's gardian angel, I know he is looking out for my baby and he always will. Thank you Uncle Bernie we couldn't ask for a better gardian angel! Aunt Sue I know that you have tried to prepare yourself for this, we never really can, it is love that lets us greive, it is love that gives us comfort, it is love that gives us the strength to go on and to heal. May god give you his love to help you through this.
Aunt Sue WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also found out when I called my brother Mark's house that Renae's mother has just been diagnosed with cancer again, this time it has shown up in her spine and her options are very limited. Renae we will keep your mother in our prayers.

Update Friday 03-22-02: Wednesday we did go for Savannah's appointment, I'm sorry I didn't post an update yesterday like I had planned. Savannahs white counts were through the roof again 22.9 and the rest of them have continued to be normal to marginal. I spoke with Dr. Lammers about her immunoglobines because we asked for them to be checked, they are doing good also, so at this time there is no need to give her anything to boost her immune system. Next week we go back and Savannah will check in for chemo again, until then we will be enjoying things with her at home. It seems she is becoming a bit of an expert on her own care just this past week she found her thermometer on the night stand, turned it on and put it up to her ear and when we were at clinic she was playing with a toy stethescope (I'm sure I got this spelling wrong) put them around her neck properly and kept putting the bell up to her chest. She really does amaze us with the things she does you wouldn't think that a child of her age would pick up on that much of what she goes through but she does.
We found out yesterday that Anja's mother will be arriving on April 15th 7pm in Fresno, it will be so nice to have her here and as soon as her father finishes his medical appointments he will come over as well.

Savannah received a package in the mail from my cousin Anne, what a surprise! Anne has forwarded an awful lot of very beautiful cards made by children from St. Adahlberts School (Anne's children attend this school). We read every one of them and Savannah loved them too, she would get on the table and try to give them a hug or lay down on them as if to say these are all for me? It has been a real treat and each and every child that made a card has our most sincere thanks. We will be keeping them all for her so that when she is old enough to understand all of this she may read for herself and see just how many people have been praying for her and standing by her when she needed support and encouragement. Thank you all!

Update Wednesday 03-27-02: Savannah had to be taken back to the hospital yesterday afternoon because she was running a temp of 101.9, I told the staff she was just anxious to see them again. I really don't think there was much of any problem she does have more teeth coming in which may account for the temp we gave her some tylenol and the fever has remained normal since yesterday. Today she started her chemo treatment right on time her counts are all fair WBC's @ 8.8 and the remainder are still marginal but OK. A chest x-ray was done today however that didn't look to good, Dr. Crouse spoke with me and said that the tumor in the top portion of her lung looks like it has gotten bigger, not the news we wanted to hear! Though we didn't have any good news today we still tried to have a nice day with all the kids. Savannah took a little nap on my shoulder with me (I fell asleep too for a bit) while Anja took the others for lunch. I know I ask this alot but please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Update Thursday 04-04-02: Savannah had her clinic appointment yesterday, her blood counts were low just as we had thought they would be. They started her on a transfusion but 51ml into the infusion she started acting very differant so Dr. Palmer said to stop the infusion he thought she might be having a negative reaction to the blood. We are going to see how she does today and return to the hospital on Friday and see where her counts are at and try another transfusion. From talking with Dr. Palmer we are at a point that they have tried all they can conventionally with no progress, we must now consider Phase II trial type medicines (experimental). Her tumor has continued to grow and is now displacing her esophagus which has most likely been the cause of her coughing and labored breathing although she is getting good air flow into her lung. I had noticed that she has been getting tired more easily also, when she is playing she will stop and come over and want me to pick her up so she can rest on my shoulder for a while. This has been good for me as I can really tell she loves and needs me but it breaks my heart to see her slowing down like this. Please keep her in your prayers.

Update Monday 04-08-02: Today Savannah is 16 months old. Today she has been placed into hospice care. I had to take her to the hospital today because of her breathing, she started turning blue this morning during a panic attack coughing spell and it scared us to death. A CT scan was done to see what was going on and to see if her airway was obstructed. The tumor has completely taken over the left side of her chest and has gone into her neck. Her airway is being crushed by the tumor and she is basically using one lung now. Dr. Lammers has told me it could be hours or days but we will lose our precious little girl. We fought this with everything we had but modern medicine and technology can do nothing to save my baby. Oxygen is now installed in the house to help make her more comfortable when she has an attack.Our preist came by this evening to confirm Savannah and administer the last rights for her. My heart is broken!

PLEASE PRAY FOR SAVANNAH !!!

Update Thursday 04-11-02: I have wanted to do an update sooner but I havn't had the concentration to do so until tonight. Savannah is fadeing fast and all I can do is hold her. I do not know that she is in any pain but we give her Tylenol in case she is, she must be uncomfortable but she really dosn't show it except when she is having a coughing attack then all you can see is the terror in her eyes. She has a very hard time breathing , this thing is literaly choking her to death, as this tumor continues to grow her airway will get smaller and smaller. She spends most of the day in my arms or on my chest as she dosn't want me to put her down or let anyone else hold her. Savannah is daddy's little girl and she knows it, the only time she is not with me is when she wants to be in her crib or when we go someplace where she can be in her stroller. Savannah likes to go outside to see the flowers or to just maybe soak up the sunshine either way she is getting whatever she wants. The nurse from the hospice care (Elsie) is coming by every day to assess her condition, as of this afternoon her vital signs are still normal but she is developeing fluid in what is left of her left lung and she tires very easily.
Wednesday I took the whole family to the mall so that we could purchase a dress for Savannah to be buried in and a beautiful cross for her to wear. This was an especially hard day on all of us but I wanted Savannah to be able to see her dress and know that she likes it too. After an uneasy start with the Staff (I asked the sales clerk for white dresses for Savannah and she asked if it was for a christening) they regained composure rather quickly and helped us with everything we needed personally. They really handled the whole situation very professionally.
I also want to take this time to thank everyone for all the words of encouragement in the guestbook and the many e-mails I have received. I know I havn't responded to the e-mails but each and ever one of them has mean't a great deal to us and it is very comforting to know that so many people are praying for Savannah in her hour of need. Please continue to pray that she will be comfortable through all of this. I know it is difficult for her everytime she has a coughing attack and I see that look in her eyes saying daddy please help me.

Update Saturday 04-13-02: I want to back track just a little and let everyone know that Anja's mother arrived safely Friday evening from Germany, although one of her pieces of luggage (the one with her medications) didn't arrive until today. This was a mad rush to get her here earlier than anticipated and with the help of our friend Deanna doing alot of leg work with both governments they were able to accomplish a very difficult task to get the flight switched to Friday. Thank You Very Much Deanna!
We did find strength enough to start preparations, it's a terrible feeling to start these things when Savannah is still with us, I feel like a vulture even though I know it is much easier to handle the formalities ahead of time rather than at the last minute when your at the absolute lowest emotionally.
Savannah has still been having difficulty with her breathing, the attacks come on rather quickly getting more frequent and lasting longer and longer. This Morning she started about 3am with 4-5 attacks by 8:30-9:00am. Please continue to pray for Savnnah that she may be comfortable throughout this time.

Update Tuesday 04-16-02: I do appoligize for not getting this done sooner, every time I get to the computer something comes up. It has taken me 3 days now to read through all of the guest book entries and e-mails, they have been very heart felt and comforting, thank you all! We also received a second shipment of cards from the kids at St. Adahlberts they have really done a nice job on the cards and once again Savannah enjoyed them very much, Thank you all for thinking of our daughter.
Savannah continues to hang on, although her breathing attacks continue and last a bit longer I am beginning to think that she is not quite as terrified anymore. She is still scared and I can see it in her eyes, but she is somehow calmer also, it is as though she is aware of what is ahead. This sounds odd and I know it but that is the only way I can explain it. She continues to cling to me more than anyone else which is of great comfort to me but I also know how much it means to everyone else when they get the chance to hold and comfort her too. Today when she woke up from her nap I made sure that she was doing alright without her seeing me and then quietly got out of the house for just a few minutes so that Anja's mom could hold Savannah and rock her. This has really been the first time that she was able to do so for any length of time and she was so thrilled, it has made me feel good to know that she has finally gotten to hold her grand-daughter at last. I am also very thankful that my Mom and Sam have been able to be here with us throughout all of this as well they have been extremely helpful, Thanks a million to both of you, I love you!

Final Update 04-17-02: This morning at 1:37am Savannah passed away in my arms very peacefully with many of her loved ones all around her. I am thankful that the Lord has taken her home to join with the other Angels. In the last few days she has suffered alot but in the end she went with only Love, Comfort, & Peace. We will miss our little pumpkin with all our hearts and rejoice that she is at peace and with the Lord.. Savannah, you will have to live on in our hearts and watch over us from afar until it is our time to join you.
We will love you forever,
Daddy, Mommy, Lisa, Jimmy & Tyler