Well, It has been an eventful week - to say the least. In our last posting Natalie was beginning to run a fever but swift prayers took it away very quickly. Unfortunately, the next day she had one again. We had to make the decision on our own to go directly to Dominican, because it came on quick. We blew passed the warning temperature 100.3 and quickly shot up to the "go to the hospital" 101.3 degree mark.

We called Stanford right away and were not able to get in touch with any of the "on call" doctors. It's imperative to get a hold of a Stanford Dr. so that they're able to guide Dominican doctors in the exact treatment path. It was a very stressful for both Dana and I. I was constantly on the phone (an essential tool) with the after hours Stanford operator working every angle to connect Dominican with Stanford. It was a full hour at Dominican before we got things rolling. I don't know what was going on!

Time is so important since, when we made our first initial call within 15 min Natalie's temp shot up to 102 degrees (almost a full degree higher than ER emergency temperature levels). This means that if she had an infection, it was that much closer to causing severe (and perhaps irrevocable)damage to our little girl.

Since the securing of Natalie's medical treatments needs to be so specific, both Dana and I had to do everything in our power to really make sure the ER staff were doing everything correctly. Stanford has educated us well. The depth of our knowledge is pretty solid. However, the agony of waiting seemed to stretch on for eternity, as Natalie's fever kept climbing and any treatment hadn't begun yet.

Well in the end all worked out well and we were able to go home. It was only a few days later that we witnessed (what we think to be) Natalie experiencing a minor Seizure at the breakfast table. Her eyes crossed and she became limp. I was freaking out inside. This was seemingly caused by a reaction to some of the Spinal Chemo injections that are in full swing now. Praise God she had high platelet's levels which calmed nerves about any possibility of her brain bleeding and not being able to clot as a result.

I know it sounds weird but the truth is Natalie is outwardly doing great! We are keeping a very close eye on her as her counts begin to fall (which is expected). We are heading up to Stanford for a checkup today, just to dig a little deeper into the seizure event and cover our bases.

I was thinking to myself the other day and I really feel that since so many of you have become an active part in Natalie's lives, it's as if she has a whole bunch of parents. How powerful of a thought to know that we are all fighting this together. And together we stand with open arms, asking for Gods grace and mercy. We miss all of you. -- Dominick and Dana

Natalie Orlando

You Followin'?