Sunday, July 3, 2011

Our Life with Cancer

Just FYI - I can't get blogger to work right for me tonight, so please ignore the random highlighting!
Our life since Annabelle was diagnosed with cancer has been so unpredictable. We are still really new to the scene (only about 2 months into treatment) but I have already learned that it is so unpredictable. It is near impossible to plan anything because I never know what Annabelle's counts are going to do or when she might fever and end up in the hospital. You gotta go with the flow, and I'm usually more of a planner, but we are adjusting. You have to expect the unexpected. Two months ago I imagined Annabelle being absolutely miserable and vomiting all the time with treatments and spending all day and all night in bed with me by her side trying to keep Layla entertained at the same time all while getting little sleep. You know, I figured the worst case scenario was the norm. I was pleasantly surprised when Annabelle started chemo and did so well with it! For weeks at a time she would be energetic and play, and without her bald little head you wouldn't know she had cancer. Then there is the other side of the coin too... We came in for this treatment and she started off feeling great and I expected to breeze right through, and then this morning hit.

She was feeling great and for the first time wanted to go to church here at the hospital. In fact, she was so excited she keep asking, "Is it time for church to start yet?" When the time finally came we headed down to the 3rd floor and things started off fine. Then right in the middle of the Sacrament she threw up. Keep in mind we are sitting front and center, as I was asked to give the opening prayer! All I could do was try to catch it with my hand until some sweet girl rushed to my aid with a box of Kleenex. Oh, and did I mention her feed tube came half way out!?! Imagine being in the hospital with your child recovering from a minor surgery, let's say an appendectomy or something like that, and thinking "I'll go to church, I'm sure that will be a good opportunity to feel the Spirit and bring some comfort." And then right in the middle seeing a sweet, bald little girl nearly puke her NG tube! I didn't get a chance to see anyone's reaction, I just wrapped up all the puke-y Kleenex in her blanket she also puked on and out the door we went! I'm sure that was a first for most in attendance though.

As soon as we got back to the room Annabelle wanted to lay down and fell right to sleep. 2 hours later she woke up with a fever. We're talking over 103 F. She also started complaining that her head hurt. We did the normal blood cultures and they gave her a dose of Rocephin (an antibiotic) and also some Tylenol. The Tylenol did nothing for it so the NP reluctantly agreed to a dose of Motrin. They don't normally give Motrin to cancer patients because it can mess with their platelets, but Annabelle's platelets are great right now so they allowed it. Five seconds later she puked it all up. Nice. The nurse was able to get it re-ordered though and she took it nice and slowly, 1 ml at a time. Thankfully she was able to keep that down and back to sleep she went with a cold washcloth on her head. When she woke up her fever had finally broke. Yay! Unfortunately it is climbing back up again. She just got more Tylenol but I'm not too optimistic about it helping. So we'll see what the night brings. All in all she took 3 naps today and is already in bed for the night. I sure hope she can sleep!

They also decided to test her for C-diff again. She never had a re-check before coming back in and her poop looks and smells awfully suspicious. Of course she hadn't pooped since Wednesday so it could have been leftovers sitting in there, but I'm interested to see what the result is. We should be getting it back within the next hour or so.

2 comments:

Trapper said...

We're thinking of you guys and hope you have a good fourth of July - even if you do have to be in the hospital. Stay strong!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for continuing to keep us updated with the ups and downs. The pictures of Annabelle are wonderful. It's great to see her big smile.
I'm sure it's not the first time a child has gotten sick in the hospital church. Hope the C-diff gets cleared up.
Lots of love and positive thoughts from Milwaukee!
Cousin Jodi