Ok...once again, I've been reminded that patience isn't my strong suit. Today seemed to drag foreeevvvvverrrr. Unlike Mike, I did not feel rested and ready to get on with things. I felt edgy and anxious and just wanted to get this over.
Lisa and I were accompanied by Maranda when we started our day at 10:00 at Motts. We went to clinic for bloodwork. Then we had to wait until 11:00 to see doc. After a bit of a wait, he came in and let us know that Lisa's counts looked good, we were just waiting on her ANC number to know if chemo was a go. Around 12:00, he came in to let us know the numbers were good and he just needed to get bed and have us talk with head doc. I told him bed already was secured...he said great...he'd be back. At 1ish he finally reappeared with other doc...we chatted and they said as soon as bed was ready we would be on our way. Hunh? Thought we had it...more waiting. About 1:45, he told us we could go wait in playroom...well that was a relief seeing as Maranda and Lisa had just about run out of things to do in the exam room..(including dropping food crumbs all over the floor and dumping water on the computer) We went to the playroom, Maranda and Lisa started an art project and 5 minutes later the doc was back saying we were all set. Well, why rush now....I just let them finish their project. So about 4 hours later at about 2:00, we finally checked into Motts.
Feeling frustrated, I was not happy to see we were in a double room (even though they'd moved out the second bed with the hopes of a slow week and letting us have the room to ourselves). Maranda and Lisa went off to play and I vented to the nurse....not that there was anything they could do....I was just in a mood. It didn't help that a fellow chemo kid we know had their clinic appt 2 hours after us and checked into Motts after us but ended up in a single room. I guess I just haven't figured out who to bribe yet. Anyway, we will make the best of this and all will be fine. With the second bed out of the room we were able to have a family dinner (tacos from the Enright family---yumm!) right in the room and watch Beauty and the Beast. The kids were thrilled, dinner and a show!
Oh, did I mention they didn't even start Lisa on any hydration or drugs until 6:00? What's up with that? Annnnndddd....thankfully I was on the ball when they did finally start the chemo drugs and asked if they'd given Lisa her anti-nausea meds....oops..they forgot!!! That could've been messy. They stopped the chemo and ran the anti-nausea.....hopefully she'll do fine tonight. It's new drugs and the doc said they are the "pukey" ones....shhhhh...no one tell Lisa!
Need another prayer....this time for Maranda. We just found out Friday at her 6th grade physical that she has scoliosis. Now normally that type of news would be very unsettling for me, and while it's upsetting, I can at least console myself with the fact that it's not life threatening.
Apparently scoliosis runs in the McMaster family and most have been mild cases that just needed to be monitored. Let's hope that holds true for Maranda; we're waiting for the x-rays to come back. Once she adjusted to the shock of the news, she took it like a trooper. We researched and talked about it and she decided that if ..."If I have to wear a brace, I hope it's the Boston one, that doesn't look too bad and I can hide it under my clothes. However, I'd rather wear the big ugly Milwaukee brace than have surgery". Wow...what a great kid. Heck, I read the book Deenie when I was her age and was traumatized just by the thought of possibly getting scoliosis! It breaks my heart to think of of her having to wear a brace...I know we'll do what we have to do, but really! She's already facing a big year with entering junior high and puberty on the horizon...it just doesn't seem fair that she have to deal with this. Please God, cut us some slack!!
Ok..that's it's for now.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Good Monday morning everyone! Mike here at the blog desk. After our week off we're all refreshed and ready to get on with this... (ok I am at least) Linda's at home right now I imagine whiping the kids into gear so that she can be at Mott's at 10 AM. Linda will most likely give a full account of the day later this evening so check back tonight or tomorrow morning. Today Lisa starts a new round of treatment with a new cocktail of chemo drugs. Say a few prayers that she handles them as well as the last two rounds please.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Hurry Up and Wait
This is Mike writing......With this week "off" because Lisa's platelets are low you'd think we'd be kicking back and relaxing a bit, but in fact the delay has me on edge. I think I loath the waiting more than anything. At least when Lisa is in for treatment I'm doing something, I'm actively fighting this thing. Grr. Our little princess seems to tire easily the past few days. She'll be running around like a nut (if nuts could run that is) and the next minute she'll realize she's tired and want to lie down, only to get up a few minutes later to tickle someone.
I thought I'd share a couple photos of Lisa from this past week. One was in "Lisa's Boat" at the lake. With her fondness of boats I think she's either going to work on a cruise ship or be a tug boat captain when she grows up! We need to thank our neighbors Scott and Terri McMillian for letting us borrow their home at the lake on Saturday. We all had a great time relaxing by the water and the kids had a great ride on the new tube.
The next picture is of course Princess Lisa about to munch on a cookie, complements of Frank and Mary Grozenski (sp?) Mmm, cookie...
Monday, August 4, 2008
And...we're back out of Motts
Ok...someone up there has a funny sense of humor. We finally get into a private room, I'm able to get a cot, I get all the furniture moved around and unpack for the week, all systems go. Around 2:00 today, I found out all systems are not go, but Lisa is...figures...we get a good room and only have to spend one night in it.
Blood draw today revealed that her platelets were low...low platelets, no chemo. So we get to pack everything back up and head home for another week...ARRRGHHH!
On a good note, they did get her broviach back in this morning. This required anesthesia which, now that I'm starting to get the hang of things, went quite well. There were no pokes and no extra meds, just a "big ole elephant mask" for her to put on and off she went. (Does anyone else out there feel a bit of panic when their kid is "put under"? It makes me feel very uneasy to watch her go from crying and fussing to slurring and stillness and then blankess and sleep...thank God the monitors are still beeping to indicate life.) Her return from sleepy land is always a pain. She is just angry and grummmppppy and generally starts saying "shut-up" and "I hate you" to anyone who tries to touch her.
She continued to fuss and yell at me for a good 1/2 hour once we returned to our room. She stopped long enough to shovel in pancakes, sausage and pears. She started fussing again until Maranda, Ms. Lisa, Ms. Anne and Lauren showed up. She was happy to see them and started alternating between happy and grumpy. They all hung out to help us pack up and Lisa was playing pretty well by the time we left. One last check of her bandages got her howling again, but Mom was ready to bust out of the joint. So with 4 helpers and one whiny child we left.
But we will return...apparently next Monday if her blood counts are good.
Blood draw today revealed that her platelets were low...low platelets, no chemo. So we get to pack everything back up and head home for another week...ARRRGHHH!
On a good note, they did get her broviach back in this morning. This required anesthesia which, now that I'm starting to get the hang of things, went quite well. There were no pokes and no extra meds, just a "big ole elephant mask" for her to put on and off she went. (Does anyone else out there feel a bit of panic when their kid is "put under"? It makes me feel very uneasy to watch her go from crying and fussing to slurring and stillness and then blankess and sleep...thank God the monitors are still beeping to indicate life.) Her return from sleepy land is always a pain. She is just angry and grummmppppy and generally starts saying "shut-up" and "I hate you" to anyone who tries to touch her.
She continued to fuss and yell at me for a good 1/2 hour once we returned to our room. She stopped long enough to shovel in pancakes, sausage and pears. She started fussing again until Maranda, Ms. Lisa, Ms. Anne and Lauren showed up. She was happy to see them and started alternating between happy and grumpy. They all hung out to help us pack up and Lisa was playing pretty well by the time we left. One last check of her bandages got her howling again, but Mom was ready to bust out of the joint. So with 4 helpers and one whiny child we left.
But we will return...apparently next Monday if her blood counts are good.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
We're checked back in
We're back and getting ready for chemo. Checked in around 8:30 tonight. Got the isolation room...it's small, but it's private. I'm sure there are some bigger private rooms on the floor, but it seems like we have to put our time in to get them...each stay seems a step up.
The plan was that they would put an IV in tonight and draw some blood and get Lisa on some precautionary antibiotics. Nurse and doctor were both warned that Lisa was not an easy "poke" and I let them both know that I had made a promise to Lisa when she got her broviach that anyone who tries to poke her will get a punch in the nose from me. I told them I understand that she needs to get a "pic" line for tomorrow, but they need to sedate her somehow to do it. They can give her gas, a pill, knock her over the head with a brick...but she's not to know she's getting poked. They listened an ordered some Lorazepam that would help mellow her out. Considering she was sleeping we figured we were good. The tech came in and Lisa started wailing....so much for being mellow. The tech looked up and down both arms and after careful scrutiny determined she couldn't find a vein that she'd be able to poke....so that was that.
It's 11:40 pm now and Lisa is wide awake....apparently we need to get her stronger meds!! The plan is if the next shift gets here and has a tech who thinks they can get the line in, they'll give it a try. Otherwise they will wait until morning when she goes to the O.R. for her new broviach. Makes sense to me...they can sedate her and then poke her. I think the concern is she needs some lab work done first. The doctor doing rounds said he gave orders not to do anything after 12:00 tonight...so we will see.
I've had a few requests to set up a visit schedule so I will do that again. Because we are going to be here round the clock, I will just put Morning and Afternoon on the schedule and if you want to visit, you can just fill in the day and time that is convenient for you. There aren't many restrictions here...just that you be healthy (kids are welcome).
This round of chemo is going to be different drugs...so say an extra prayer that Lisa handles this one as well as she did the first two rounds.
Good night all.
The plan was that they would put an IV in tonight and draw some blood and get Lisa on some precautionary antibiotics. Nurse and doctor were both warned that Lisa was not an easy "poke" and I let them both know that I had made a promise to Lisa when she got her broviach that anyone who tries to poke her will get a punch in the nose from me. I told them I understand that she needs to get a "pic" line for tomorrow, but they need to sedate her somehow to do it. They can give her gas, a pill, knock her over the head with a brick...but she's not to know she's getting poked. They listened an ordered some Lorazepam that would help mellow her out. Considering she was sleeping we figured we were good. The tech came in and Lisa started wailing....so much for being mellow. The tech looked up and down both arms and after careful scrutiny determined she couldn't find a vein that she'd be able to poke....so that was that.
It's 11:40 pm now and Lisa is wide awake....apparently we need to get her stronger meds!! The plan is if the next shift gets here and has a tech who thinks they can get the line in, they'll give it a try. Otherwise they will wait until morning when she goes to the O.R. for her new broviach. Makes sense to me...they can sedate her and then poke her. I think the concern is she needs some lab work done first. The doctor doing rounds said he gave orders not to do anything after 12:00 tonight...so we will see.
I've had a few requests to set up a visit schedule so I will do that again. Because we are going to be here round the clock, I will just put Morning and Afternoon on the schedule and if you want to visit, you can just fill in the day and time that is convenient for you. There aren't many restrictions here...just that you be healthy (kids are welcome).
This round of chemo is going to be different drugs...so say an extra prayer that Lisa handles this one as well as she did the first two rounds.
Good night all.
Some new pics
The Yesh Girls---Short on hair,
Big on love.
All hair donated to "Children with Hairloss"
We had a great time celebrating my brother Mark's 50th birthday on Sunday.
The kids--including Lisa---got to swim.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Saturday 8/1
Mike here... Just a quick note to update everyone. I took Lisa to Mott's today so that Linda could spend a little quality time at the water park with the other kids. At Mott's they agreed that the line (Broviach) needed to be replaced after viewing the x-rays and seeing for themselves just how far out it had been displaced. (About 6cm) So the nurse removed the line and bandaged Lisa up for the weekend. We're not allowed to get the bandage wet for 24 hours but after that, no restrictions. Woohoo! Linda will take her in on Sunday evening where they'll prep her so that she can get a new line in place first thing Monday morning and start her chemo on time. Thanks everyone! Have a great weekend...
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