October 17th - Week 31 . . . Delayed

So, we had a little bit of a crazy day today.  After Nathan and Lily were off to school and the rest of us were ready to go, I went to drop off Benson at a friend's house.  Unfortunately, that fell through.  I made a few calls to try to find someone last minute who could watch him, but was unsuccessful.  I figured I would just take him back home and have Bryson watch him until we got something else worked out (his mornings are sometimes flexible).  But, Bryson was in the middle of a phone call for work. I didn't know how long it might be and the clock was ticking (we were already running a bit late), so I just put Benson back in the car and we all headed off to the clinic.

I was a little bit worried about how long Benson would last (happily) at the clinic.  Plus, we had Sadie along with us, too.  And it was going to be one of the longer days (as far as the actual treatment goes).

Well, we got checked in, accessed Kayla's port, and talked to the doctor with no catastrophes.  Nothing major to talk about.  Just Kayla's lingering cough, again, and her MRI this Friday.

So, her fluids were started, and an hour later she got her zofran.  During this time, Kayla, Benson and I played the Fishing Game and Candyland, and Benson had some music time with Miss Stephanie (which he loved. . . it was so cute) while Kayla watched a movie (she's been funny about music time lately and hasn't wanted to do it).

Well, the nurse had just finished hanging the bag of vincristine and started the drip when she came back over and told us that Kayla's blood count results had taken forever to come back and that they didn't make it for today's chemo.  Her platelets need to be at 100 or better and hers were only at 49 this week.  So far, her platelets had always been really good, but they dropped quite a bit.  I had the printout of her counts from last week and her platelets were 92.  It may be that she is just fighting off this cold and it is taking a toll on her.  I always check her neutrifil level because that's the main part of her blood that, if too low, would stop her from getting her chemo treatment.  I didn't realize that the platelets might become a problem too.

I also didn't know that she was due for pentamadine this week.  So, we (the nurse and I) decided to go ahead and do the pentamadine (antibiotic to prevent pneumonia) since her blood counts didn't affect that and we wouldn't have to wait until next week and have a extra long day (the pentamadine takes an extra hour).

So, in the end, Kayla got an hour of fluids and an hour of pentamadine and after being at the clinic for 3 hours we got to go home.  I was kind of bummed that Kayla didn't make counts.  She has done so well so far that we just keep praying that her body will be strong enough to keep up with it all.  But, it also worked out very well to go home early, especially with having Benson there. . . he never would have made it for another 3 hours. :)

And that was our day (well, the clinic portion of it).  Kayla was kind of excited about of the fact that she didn't need to take a "pill" (zofran) once we got home.  It was cute to hear her explain to Lily about her blood being too small to get her medicine that makes her sick.

The afternoon was pretty hectic. After dinner, Bryson had to leave for a meeting, so I was on my own for bedtime. I'm proud to say: all of the kids were in bed by 8, and most (Sadie, Benson, and Kayla) were asleep before that. Nathan and Lily aren't quite as demanding at bedtime anymore, usually, so they read and turn lights out around 8:30.

Those few hours to myself at night is how I stay sane. :)