Sunday, May 8, 2011

Day One (and two)

Yesterday was Annabelle's first day of chemo. She took it like a champ. She has not been nauseous at all and hasn't complained about any side effects. Today she will get 1 more dose of Doxorubicin, which she had yesterday as well, so we're not expecting any side effects, and then she is done until next Saturday. We also changed her morphine a bit and she did quite well with it. With one of the chemo drugs (Cytoxan) she is required to get up and pee every 2 hours because it can have negative effects on the bladder. I was really worried we would have a super long night because the past few days every time she gets up she starts hurting and then it takes several extra pushes of pain meds to get her comfortable again. But last night she didn't need any extra! Huge relief. In fact she was quite annoyed that she had to get up so often and couldn't wait to crawl back in bed and go to sleep. They mix Benadryl with an anti-nausea med to counteract some of it's side effects so I'm sure that helped keep her sleepy.


In fact, a few times she was so mad it was hilarious. She'd scream and insist that she go all by herself which is kinda tough when you're all hooked up to stuff and you're only 4 years old and you're too short to reach the toilet paper on your own. She wanted me to get behind the shower curtain and close it completely shut so she wailed on about that for a few minutes. Then she got back in bed and was still so mad and she is so stubborn (definitley gets that from her dad, right!?!) that she climbed back out on her own and went back to the bathroom to reinact it ALL BY HERSELF. Another time she layed back down in bed and yelled at the nurse while she was doing the delightful job of measuring and dumping her business, "Hey NURSE! I went poop in there!" I guess I need those moments to assure me that she is quite alright and she is feeling comfortable.


Thankfully Jessica came to visit just as they were starting her chemo. I really didn't expect it to get to me but as they pushed that first med into her CL I lost it. At that moment it became very real. My beautiful first born daughter was getting chemo. She really has cancer. I had a few tears and Annabelle saw me cry for the first time since her diagnosis. She was worried about me and kept asking why I was sad. Luckily she was distracted quickly with SpongeBob and Jessica and I had some Dr Pepper!


The only bad thing that happened yesterday was she had a slight fever. CLABSI, central line associated blood stream infection, can be very serious so at any sight of a fever they draw blood cultures and start antiobiotics, just to be safe. It was probably just her response to the chemo but they are extra cautious. Thankfully she just started treatment yesterday so her white blood counts aren't low yet so she should be fine.


Today is going to be a great day. My sweet little Layla Jane is coming down to visit. I haven't seen her since Tuesday and I miss her like crazy! Josh went back to MT yesterday but Layla is staying at Grandma and Grandpa Yates' in Tremonton. When Annabelle is not in the hospital we will be back there with her but it will be several weeks before we are all back together again. I can't wait to kiss her sweet cheeks and play with her!

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