Lia's night after her first chemo treatment............

As you know, Lia's first chemo treatment was 5 August 2009. Lia arrived at Arnold Palmer hospital in Orlando and began her first course of treatment which began at 8 A.M. with her taking fluids to keep her from becoming dehydrated. After that Lia began the treatment with Vincrisitn and Carboplatin. After hours on that treatment, she took even more fluids. It was a long day and soon after Lia arrived home she began spitting up. Dr. Guisti warned us that it could happen, and poor Lia had a hard time keeping anything down for several hours. She was very fussy of course, and after she finally went to sleep she did well through the night. She seemed very chipper this morning, and ate her breakfast with no problems! She has not even spit up today! We hope the side effects will remain mild, but are watching for anything unusual.

BABY LIA STARTS CHEMO TREAMTMENT TODAY

We've spent the last 4 days sanitizing the whole house and steam cleaning all the carpets. Cassie, Ed, and I are sore and tired from moving furniture, scrubbing all walls and surfaces, and steam cleaning all the rugs.....those machines are heavy! It smells like a hospital in here now, but that will air out a little bit as time goes by. We have a regular cleaning schedule in place using the anti-germicidal solution, and will do a "deep sanitizing" with the "turbo-cleaner" we special ordered once a month to make sure Lia is not exposed to anything that would cause her to become sick during the chemo treatments.

Lia's immune system will be compromised due to the 2 chemo drugs- they attack both good and bad cells, so the danger of a fatal case of pneumonia is always present. She is on a preventative dose of antibiotics already.

Lia' first chemo treatment is underway as I type this update, and it looks like it will take about 7 hours this time. It's a very long day for them all, on top of 114 mile round trip. This will happen once a week. There are 2 chemo drugs - carboplatin and vincristine. So while one therapy will last about 10 weeks, then Lia gets about a 2 week break from that drug, the other drug will still follow it's own course, then break from that for about 2 weeks. So there will be about 14 months of treatments with the combination of drugs.

Keep Lia in your thoughts and prayers, please.

NEW GRAPHICS & FLYERS

Good Morning.

Lia has a short break until she begins the chemo treatment next week, so we are sanitizing the house, preparing to move Lia's Aunt Jessie into her dorm at Stetson University, and re-arrange the house for Lia's comfort. Lia's Uncle Cody has an exploratory surgery scheduled for the day before Lia's chemo, and Aunt Jess has to be moved into her dorm on the same day! Things are always so busy around here.

In spite of all that is going on, I did get to work on some new graphics for Lia's benefit. These can be used on fliers, t-shirts, website, etc. I will upload the new fliers too. Keeping things fresh might help to keep people interested in Lia's cause. Not to mention it is kind of therapeutic for me!

If you'd like to use any of these graphics, you can copy them from here, or you can e-mail me at LiaWarrensford@hughes.net and I will send them as an attachment.

I have also made three new flyers using the new graphics above, and another fyer that is in a layout to allow it to be wrapped around a donation can. Here are links to those:

Flyer # 3 - Click Here

Flyer # 4 - Click Here

Flyer # 5 - Click Here

Donation Can Flyer # 1 - Click Here

NOTE: These are Word files, and they should auto-open in the Word program, so it may take a few minutes to download. Please be patient.

This is a design I am working on for buttons.

I found a supplier that makes just about any size and does not charge a set-up fee! Yippeee!

Lia is going to the eye specialist today....

Today Lia will be visiting a pediatric opthamologist to get more information on what condition her eyes are in now, and what can be expected later. That will also depend greatly on the effects of the chemotherapy. The smaller the tumor is, the less strain on the optic nerves. We hope for good news of course! We will post what the doctor has to say later today.

We want to thank the extremely kind and generous members of all the goat breeder's associations and clubs who have come forward with donations to help defray the expenses of Lia's treatment and travel. You are truly wonderful people, many of the same names I have seen donating to other funds and benefits throughout the years. Your kindness will not be forgotten, and you are a shining example to others. Our deepest gratitude goes out to all for your prayers and well wishes!

It is important to us to thank the following folks as many times as possible!

Thomas Burke & Becky Ehoff and Terri Burke (Backlash LaManchas & Cen*Cal Toggenburgs)
Kelley Hines (Here Be Goats LaManchas)
Linda Shuls (Timber*Cove LaManchas)
April & Mike Hitch (Shady Lawn Farm)
Richard Grossman (Antiquity Alpines)
Khimaira Web Hosting (Khimaira)
MaryJo (WebNanny Designs)
Luanne Scott
Anna M. Varone
Bobbie Potopowitz (Alpenglow Dairy Goats)

Hello everyone;

We just spent the entire day at Arnold Palmer Hospital meeting with Dr. Vincent Guisti, the oncologist, and some of his team from the Children's Oncology Group. Lia also had more blood work done which was a LITTLE easier because they can draw it through the chemo port implanted in her side. The chemo drugs (Carboplatin & Vincristine) will be infused through the chemo port. Lia's chemo course will last a little over 1 year this time. She will take larger doses for the first course, then have a break of about 2 weeks, and then start the next course. The side effects are considerable. Low blood counts, nausea/vomiting, abnormal liver function, diarrhea, metallic taste, kidney damage, hair loss, allergic reations, rashes, hearing loss, numbness in fingers & toes, constipation, stomach pain, muscle weakness, irritation of nerves, drooping eyelids, bluured or double vision, jaw pain, seizures, to name a few. Not all of these side effects happen to every child, and we certainly hope Lia has only a few.

Good morning, friends & family.

Well, we've been in a holding pattern so to speak for about a week now waiting for Lia's appointment with the oncologist at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. I have to say, that is one excellent facility. The staff is amazing, and they were wonderful to us while Lia was there. Lia goes back to see her doctor tomorrow, and we will know more about the type of chemo drugs that will be used, time frame, side effects, and results hoped for.

Lia is having some sleep issues from time to time but nothing we didn't expect as a result of the type of tumor and placement. She gets sore and cranky from the port in her side...it's placement makes in nearly impossible not to bump or touch it when we hold her in daily activities.

Lia had an appointment with an eye specialist later in the week as well, but we got a call from the office saying they take our type of insurance, but not our particular group plan. Nice. So now we have located another specialist, but have to go through getting a new referral before we can get an appointment. That is scary because Lia's chances of blindness from this tumor increase the longer it takes to start chemo to shrink the tumor.

On top of that, we've been told that for each and every treatment, we'll have to go to the Florida Health Care (our insurance carrier) office and get a new referral. It can't be mailed or faxed. So chemo appointments will need to be scheduled to allow time to go pick THAT up every time.

The icing on the cake was finding out that there is a possibility that Florida Health Care doesn't cover the chemo drugs. So we have NO idea what that is going to cost out of pocket. We are waiting for Florida Health Care to call us back with more details about that issue.

We'll apparently have to have a special chemical cleaning in the house to make sure Lia doesn't get any germs during her treatment. No word as to whether or not that is covered, or if they will suggest we do any renovations to bathroom facilities or if they detect any mold from hurricanes and tropical storms that might effect Lia, or anything like that.

We have 11 people here in the house- and Papaw Norman is working pretty hard to keep us all under one roof and fed right now. He's in stage 4 kidney failure himself, so we've got 9 doctors between everyone now. It's become a challenge to keep all the doctors and appointments straight.

That said, we have to thank some people that have REALLY stepped up to help us in a bad time.


First, Carlton & Lindsey Dobbins. This couple took it upon themselves to go through their home and provide clothes and all kinds of baby food for Lia to help us. On top of that, the have organized a bake sale fundraiser - a really nice catalog of baked items. We are going to try to get more copies of that to pass out. THEN they went to the store and stocked up on every possible thing Lindsey could think of that Lia might need to keep her comfortable and occupied. They are currently working on two other larger fundraising projects! When these fundraisers come together I will post them on Lia's blog and website along with all the details and directions. Carlton, Lindsey and their beautiful children have been GREAT, and we can't thank them enough for standing by our family. Old friends are the best friends!

To the Warrensford Family - Bill, Soo, Amanda & Penny: As family, we Perry's thank you for all you have done for Cassie, Ed, Zoe, & Lia over the last few years. We know from experience that it isn't easy! You've been wonderful to us, and terrific to Zoe & Lia. If anyone has to go through something like this, it is a blessing to have family like you to stand side by side with. Our families will get through this trying time together. There are many other Warrensfords to thank for their well wishes and prayers...and we do. From our hearts - Thank You.

A huge THANK YOU to Jim, Linda, Jennifer Davis of JLD Farm (LaMancha Dairy Goats). Even though times are hard- especially on farmers, they have gone above and beyond to donate to Lia's Cancer Fund. You three are terrific and we love you very much! THANK YOU! Anyone looking for excellent quality milking goats in the Osteen / New Smyrna, Florida area should contact Linda & Jim at winandeffie@embarqmail.com

Luanne Scott, we thank you so much for your extremely generous contribution to Lia's fund. I have never been so amazed (but not surprised- goat breeders are incredibly caring people!) as when the first people to donate to help Lia turned out to be members of the goat breeders community. Our heartfelt and sincere thanks.

MaryJo, or WebNanny Designs: You are so deeply appreciated for your kind heart and fast response. There must have been smoke coming off your keyboard! Your kind heart and concern for Lia and our family will never be forgotten. I must recommend MaryJo's fine service to anyone needing a quality website design - and I am not too proud to plug her skills here in this forum! Visit WebNanny Designs here: http://webnanny.net/WEBNANNY/hosting/. Remember - if MaryJo gets too busy, you can call on me for web designs! HA HA! Thanks again!

Regions Bank, especially Eric....THANK YOU for helping us get an account set up for Lia's fund. You made getting the account set up fast and easy, AND you have a great sense of humor and a kind heart. We wish you, your wife, and daughter all the very best!


Check back tomorrow afternoon for an update of the oncologists appointment. Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon, spend time with your wives and husbands, and hug those little ones tight.

- Coni Perry