Riley's port proved to be difficult once more, today. I'm beginning to think our clinic visits have been jinxed. The Leukemia nurse, Ramone, tried and tried...and then the expert port-a-cath nurse, Pat, tried and tried. Nothing. They were able to get a little bit of return at first, but not near enough what they would need to be able to give her chemo. We went down to Diagnostic Imaging and had a flouroscopy done...this is where they flush contrast dye into her port and they are able to watch the dye's path through x-ray equipment. Everything looked great, and the radiologist was even able to miraculously obtain a blood return without even having to work for it. Kind of like when you take your car to be checked for that mysterious rattle that has been bugging you for weeks...and what do you know, they find no rattle. Magic. For the rest of the afternoon Riley's button performed up to par, and I informed the flouro team that we would be doing our clinic visits in their office from now on...they said they would love to have us. Finally, around 3pm, Riley was able to begin her scheduled medicines. First she received Zofran, which is a pre-med for nausea, and then she was given her Vincristine and Doxorubicin. In the midst of the medicine extravaganza, Riley began to try to spike a fever. So, that added some extra wait time on while we watched just how high her fever would go. It finally leveled out around 100 and we were able to break free around 5:45...after being instructed to return in the case of another rise in temperature. Luckily, that has not yet occurred.
Once again Riley continues to amaze me with her courage and patience in all that is handed to her. During all of the drama with not having blood return, it was decided that Riley should get an IV to have her labs drawn. She did not even squirm, much less cry, when they were inserting the IV into her hand. This used to be the most traumatic part of our visits when our journey was just beginning, but now it doesn't even phase her. I am so proud of her, but in a way it makes me a little sad because she is having to grow up way too fast during all of this. Which reminds me, her labs came out so-so. Her ANC was 560, down from last week's 1250. Her platelets have also dropped to 54, down from last week's 73. It could be worse, but it could be much better. We were given an order to have her counts checked again locally on Wednesday, in the case we were to need a transfusion prior to the holiday weekend. Monday, we will return for what we hope to be a quick visit to receive meds only...but we know better than to hold our breath on that one. The following week will be lab counts only, then we begin the next month of multiple heavy medicines. After that we will look forward to the less stressful days of maintenance...or so we hope.
Steroids have remained to be fun filled. Her mood swings are the most fun, but nothing we can't handle. The only thing she wants to eat is chips with a spoon, crushed up in a bowl...lucky for us she will eat the baked chips. She is also enjoying rice, and not much else. 1 week down...2 to go.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!
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