Port and Chemo

Sierra had her port placed on Wednesday. It is a procedure to put a small disk under her skin on her chest, and run a catheter into one of the arteries in her heart so she can receive her chemo treatment. They also can use it for blood draws, Iv fluids, and transfusions. She did amazingly well before the procedure. She didn't go back to surgery until 3:15 in the afternoon, couldn't eat after midnight the night before, and had only had half of a banana popsicle and a tub of jello that morning. She was just playing happily, and being goofy in the little room we waited in before they took her back. The procedure only took just a little over an hour, and it was another 30min before she woke up from the anesthesia, so not too long. She was in quite a bit of pain right after so she had a few doses of morphine, and then she was very comfortable.
After some time in recovery, she was able to go up and be admitted to the pediatric oncology unit. She was excited to get to have a "sleepover" at the hospital. She loved playing with the toys in the playroom, and the Wii. We didn't know how long before chemo would start( I thought it would be Wed. night, but that didn't happen. Then I thought early Thursday afternoon, nope. It finally started running at 10:15 Thursday evening. First was the Cisplatin(C)- a red colored fluid, injected through her IV over 15 min. Then was the Doxarubicin(D) which was clear, and injected over a 4 hr period. During the D she had to use the bathroom every hr for 4 hrs so they could monitor her output. Having to wake up every hour overnight was very tiring, but she handled it really well. She would just get up, I would carry her to the bathroom, and back to bed, and she would go right back to sleep.

Playing with the music lady in the outpatient playroom, before having her port put in(3-29-12)

After Port surgery, playing in the inpatient playroom.

Dora pillowcase was made for her by a volunteer at the hospital.

Princess Sierra, being pulled around in her wagon, and eating grapes.

First dose of C is being administered.

First dose of D is being administered

When she woke up for the morning she complained a little bit off and on about her tummy bothering her, but she actually ate a bowl of Rice Krispies for breakfast. Her pain from the Port being placed was pretty strong, but she was given pain meds to help. She had to do some physical therapy to stretch out her leg, she has had it bent since the biopsy, and still wont bear and weight on it. she definitely cried during that, but towards the end was a real trooper, and walked herself to the bathroom, and down the hallway to play Wii with daddy. She ate some of my orange chicken at lunch time, and drank part of a chocolate milkshake. She started feeling sick again around 2pm, and ended up having to throw up(sadly,right before the nurse came in to give her some anti-nausea meds). She will do an identical dose of meds tonight, at the same times(24hrs after the first doses) and will hopefully be feeling well enough tomorrow to be able to come home. I am looking forward to having all of us in the same house again.

 Morning after first doses of Chemo, with the new Barbie she got from the hospital.