I know this is getting very long, but this first week was a very long week. As soon as I get up to day, my posts won't be so long and picture-less. :)
The next morning, right after I finally fell asleep, of course, the nurse came in and told me that it was time to go down for Kayla's surgery. So, I let her know that we were going downstairs and that I was going, also. She refused to ride on the bed (they just rolled it right downstairs), I got to carry her the whole way.
When we got down to the surgery area, there was a little bit of waiting and watching Tangled, and talking to doctors, anesthetists, nurses and others. I got all suited up in booties, a paper body suit thing, a shower cap thing, and a mask and carried Kayla into the operating room. It was nice that I was able to go into the room with her, but it was so hard because I was the one who held her tight in my lap with they put the gas mask on her to put her out. She of course started screaming and kicking until she fell asleep. The doctors and nurses lifted her out of my arms and put her on the operating table. Then I had to leave and go wait in the surgery waiting room until they were done. I have to admit some tears fell during this time, too.
The surgery took about an hour. The doctor came in and told me that they were done and that they would come and get me when she started to wake up. I told her that I REALLY need to be seconds away from her so that when she woke up I could be there instantly. Well, when they came in to get me, she had already woken up and was freaking out again, so I was running down the hall to where she was. It took several minutes to calm her down and I just sat and held her until she relaxed and fell asleep again.
When it was time for us to go back upstairs, I carried her (because of course, she wouldn't ride in the bed) up to her room where Bryson, my mom, my sister, Kara, and Benson were there waiting for us. Kayla was a little tired still, but enjoyed seeing grandma and aunt Kara. They stayed for a while before going back home.
Meanwhile, we had a pretty slow afternoon of watching more movies and relaxing. The nurse came in to start her on some IV fluids later that afternoon. After an hour or two of fluids they gave her her first treatment of chemotherapy. It was really pretty easy. Since she had her port in from the surgery, they had the needle in it and tubes attached already, so all the nurse had to do was change some hoses and start some new bags of fluid. Kayla was eating dinner and we were watching more Tangled and other movies. She was very happy and energetic and it was so nice to see her that way!
Kayla is getting two drugs: vincristine and carboplatin. Vincristine takes about 5 minutes and carboplatin takes about an hour. Once they were done, they gave her more IV fluids. One of the drugs (I can't remember which right now) is hard on kidneys so they want to be sure she is very hydrating when they give them to her. Carboplatin causes nausea, so they gave her a dose of zofran before the treatment and then once it had been 6 hours, they gave her another dose.
They told me that she would probably have a suppressed appetite. But, Kayla was so hungry all night! She asked the nurse three times to bring her some toast and she was eating until 10:30 that night. We took walks and wagon rides all around the hallways for a long time. I was totally wiped out and ready for bed, but she was not. When she finally slowed down, about 11PM, she was out immediately. I think I got a little more sleep that night.
And that's Day 3.
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