IMKE IN NY: ‘Emotional and rough, but never give up…’

That is what Imke’s dad had to say all the way from New York, regarding the past few weeks of chemo Imke has been going through.

‘We have had a very busy and challenging few weeks after getting Imke’s results back from her scans two weeks ago… some days were very emotional and the days were rough.’ he said.

According to Darius, Imke was in a lot of intense pain during and after her immunotherapy treatment.

‘We have never seen Imke in so much pain. It stopped after day 10 but returned again on day 12, which was not normal. I emailed and notified Dr Modak immediately about her new symptoms. He was very concerned and acted quickly. He requested for urgent scans to be done. It is great to know the team working with Imke is so compassionate and caring about her and  in what they do.’

Darius said that the CT and MIBG results were negative in the rest of Imkes body except for a small little piece on her left side where there was previous tumor mass growth. After surgery in June they thought it was dead tissue or that is what it looked like. Maybe it was, but the soft tissue now picked up positive MIBG with the last scan and it also started to grow a little bit bigger from 2.4 to 4cm. According to him this is the reason why the intense tummy pain started again.

Imke was in remission and relapsed.

‘Therefore there was also an urgency in her change in plan and protocol. This was also a very emotional time for us.  We are grateful that it is an early detection. The doctor immediately stopped with the Immunotherapy treatment and said Imke must not continue at the moment with the second.’

The plan going forward: They immediately needs to start with a very high dose of chemotherapy. More scans will be done in two weeks and she is also already scheduled for surgery on December 1 to take out the remaining soft tissue/mass growth.

Last week Friday, Imke had another high dose of Chemotherapy for the week. She started to become very weak and was sick.

‘She vomited a lot and did not eat or drink for a few days. She was also given a back pack with fluids in to protect her liver and fluids to take home with her to prevent dehydration. The bag is also now sleeping with us in bed and we need to carry it wherever she goes with all the extra fluids. She’s been up a lot going to the toilet at night.’

Darius and the family are out patients and stay about 10 blocks from the Hospital.

‘We need to start walking early because her chemotherapy treatment starts early in the mornings and we leave at about 18:30 and then go back to our apartment. We were blessed with a city lite baby jogger stroller for Imke and what a blessing that was… Because some mornings I need to run when the rain and the weather gets freezing. But all in good spirits. We are so grateful for all our blessings and for the awesome people we are meeting- God sending our way. God is so good to us and is ever providing all our needs.’ Darius said.

The twins are doing very well and according to Darius, the nursing staff and doctors love them and take turns caring… sitting with them at reception, front desk or nursing desk and a big thank you goes out to them for all the help thus far.

Zielke just started crawling yesterday & Anebelle got 4 Xtra teeth over the last two weeks.

‘They are healthy and doing well and  looking into those cute faces makes it all so worthwhile.’

The doctors did a follow up appointment and Imke’s blood counts are very low. White blood count is  0.1 and the platelets a very low 8. (It was 60 last week).

According to Marius Imke is now getting platelets and  needs to be back tomorrow for another full blood count. She most probably will also have to get a blood transfusion.

‘Imke is looking stronger again today although her counts are very low. Please keep on praying with us for her to get stronger every day and for a quicker recovery of her immune system,’ he asked.

‘God is so faithful and we are thanking Him for this early detection and that He is strengthening her every day. The doctors are very positive and so professional, they acted very quickly and aggressively with her treatment and said with this type that she was diagnosed with they need to hit hard and very hard the 1st time, that is also making us very positive. We live by Faith and not by sight and we will not stop speaking Healing and life over our Angel face.

‘Never give up,’ Darius said.