Long Haul

Yesterday was a bit better for Sierra. She is wanting to be awake more often, watching TV and playing her Ds. Her attitude is much better now that the steroids are circulating out of her system, her doc said we are going to try taking them out on her next round and see how she does without them. The bad news of the morning yesterday was that Sierra has C-diff, which is a tummy virus, so she is on contact precautions. Basically, that means that she cant leave her room and all doctors and nurses have to wear gowns and gloves when they enter her room. So far being quarantined hasn't been an issue since she hasn't felt well enough to leave her room anyway, but now that she is feeling a bit better it may get a little more frustrating for her.
With Sierra feeling so badly, her mucositis is really bad, the doctors are predicting that she will be staying in the hospital this time until her counts have dropped and recovered, which is usually 7-10 days after chemo. Generally we would've been able to go home the day after her chemo was done, but since she is needing so many antibiotics and still needing IV pain meds, they said to just plan to be here until her counts go back up. They are giving her a daily med called Neupogen that helps
to recover her white cell counts more quickly so hopefully she wont feel too bad for too long.
With the pain from her mucositis, getting her to eat anything is nearly impossible. Her lips are swollen and scabby, so I can only imagine how her mouth and throat must feel. I was able to convince her to drink a few ounces of pediasure, carnation instant breakfast, and mama milk  yesterday, but she is definitely starting to lose some weight. When I talked to the doc about what their plans for intervention would be, he said around day 4 of not eating that they would put her on IV nutrition and that they wouldn't put in an ng tube at this point because her throat is so raw, they wouldn't want to risk opening up any little areas for infection when inserting a tube.
Yesterday her ANC was at 2000 and with giving her the Neupogen it jumped to 9000 this morning so we are hoping that will help her mucositis to heal more quickly so we can get her eating again.
One blessing in this whole situation is that Sierra likes being at the hospital, she never complains that she would rather be at home. They do a great job here to keep the kids happy and entertained and Sierra loves all of the attention she gets. She often presses her nurses call button and will ask for her favorite things all on her own, a warm blanket and fresh ice water. The nurses say her voice is so cute over the intercom. So atleast for now, she isn't feeling to upset about having to be here, mommy on the other hand is ready to sleep in her own bed tonight and let daddy have a turn on the hard hospital bench.

Benadryl Saves The Day

Adding Benadryl to Sierra's anti-nausea meds worked wonders last night. She was able to sleep, and didn't have any episodes of sickness at all. Hopefully next time she gets this chemo protocol we will be able to avoid any vomiting at all. She is still unwilling to eat much of anything, I convinced her to take a bite or 2 of some cereal, but that was it for the day. She has dropped half a kilo since being admitted this go around, not exactly sure what that converts to, but I think it is about a pound. Not good news since she is already so tiny, and we want to avoid having to do a feeding tube if at all possible, but it may be unavoidable. Her attitude was a bit better today than yesterday, she is still irritable, but not being as mean as she was last night, though she did kick me out of her room when I wouldn't stop asking her if she needed anything:)
She has done a lot of sleeping today, but did manage to play a little bit. She got a visit from a clown earlier who showed her some fun tricks and gave her some bubbles, sadly I wasn't here and daddy didnt have his camera so no pics, but Sierra was cheered up for a while afterward. Not sure when we will be able to go home yet, the doctors will want her to be eating and not needing IV meds for pain, Iguess we will see what tomorrow brings.

I want to also say a big thank you to everyone for their love and support. We are so blessed to have such great friends and family around us. Thankyou for the meals, the help with the kiddos, the cards, and phone calls. And thank you for all of the prayers being given in our behalf, we know that we are being bouyed up, and strengthened by them.

At This Moment

Round 2, Night 2

Sierra had her second dose of Doxorubicin and Cisplatin this afternoon. The plan was for daddy to stay with her so mommy could get some much needed rest. I went home and a few hours later was headed back to the hospital, the steroids that Sierra gets to help with nausea make her really emotional and she needed her mom. Atleast I got to run a load of laundry, take a shower, and, most importantly, spend a few hours with Reece and Evy.
Tonight we are going to try something a little bit different meds wise. She is still getting the same anti-nausea meds as last night, but we are also going to keep her steadily on Benadryl to see if we can let her sleep through the roughest part. I am thinking if we can get her through the next 8-12 hrs with no vomitting, we will be mostly in the clear.
Sierra got to take a bath today which David said she really enjoyed. And she has been playing video games, warching TV and napping off and on. Her attitude is pretty crummy, mainly from the steroids, she has some crazy mood swings that can actually be pretty amusing(not to her, of course). Hopefully we will be home on Saturday and able to stay out of the hospital for about 3 weeks before her next treatment.

At This Moment

Cisplat, Dox Take 2

Well, so much for my intentions of blogging every night now that I can do it from my tablet.
Yesterday started out very routine, we came to the clinic for Sierra to be accessed, have labs drawn, and wait to talk wih the doctor. This process takes several hours, but Sierra is generally happy to be able to spend that time singing and playing in the playroom. When we were finally able to see the doc, he said everything was a go for chemo to start(great news, we want to avoid as many delays as possible).
This treatment is the same as her very first round of chemo, Doxorubicin and Cisplatin given over 2 days. This was the treatment that caused her so much nausea and vomitting, we were hopeful that we could avoid that this time around, her doctor changed her antinausea meds around. We were lucky to be doing the treatment during waking hours because of the hourly required bathroom breaks, so much better than doing them at night.
About 9:30 the puking started and she threw up for almost 2 hours straight. I felt so bad for her. It seemed like she started out sick from the meds and then had so much phlem that she was gagging on it and unable to clear it. She was frustrated because she wanted to go to sleep, but couldn't because every time she layed down she would start gagging again. They finally gave her a suctioning tool to use, which she really likes, and she was able to get sme of the stubborn phlem out and finally get some rest.
She slept fairly well besides having to wake up for bathroom breaks several times, and had a little trouble getting back to sleep afterward, mostly from being frustrated, I think. Her lips are looking pretty swollen today, and we have been trying to keep them slathered with vaseline to avoid anymore tearing, the puking lastnight was so violent at times that her lips were cracking and bleeding, she even gave herself a small nose bleed. I am praying she will have a better night tonight, we may need to change the  antinausea meds again, it would be nice for them to actually keep her from getting nauseas.
We are expecting a few visitors today, hopefully she will feel well enough. She definitely wants to spend some time playing Wii, that was the first thing she asked for this morning before falling back to sleep. I will post picture updates on the days that I am home. Thanks for praying for us.

At This Moment