A Rather Lengthy Update.

We have been quite busy with fun summer happenings, work, plus our computer at home is being invaded by viruses so it has been hard to get around to update.

Since the last update Mimi was having a lot of stomach issues with every meal, so mid June she started Famotidine (acid reducer) daily and it seemed to help significantly. She is able to finish meals rather than before she would take a bite or two and not be able to eat complaining of stomach pain. She is also still staying away from milk and using Lactose free products.

June 22 Clinic Day. Counts came back pretty good and there were no issues to report or changes made to does of chemo.

July 1st Mimi helped out Dr. G with teaching new residents. She was "modeling" for a "fake" spinal tap (her words.) On a hospital bed and was positioned and prepped for a Spinal puncture, minus the needle and the anesthesia, after Dr. G did his part of explaining, each resident felt Mimi's spine and prepped for the procedure. The were all very nice and thanked her for letting them move her around. She really enjoyed it and later told me she though it was neat that now she knows what happens while she is sleeping.

July 6th Clinic Day. Counts were good, she received her Vincristine through the port and that night started the steroid pulse. It was a rough couple of days, she was very moody, there was a lot of book reading in separate corners but we made it.

July 12th Unscheduled Clinic Visit... Over the weekend Mimi was compaining of stomach pain, which usually comes with steroids but on Monday night through Tuesday morning she did not sleep and was getting progressively worse, around 7am I called the clinic. Never any fever at that point. In the morning I took her and her sisters to clinic to get her checked out, she was miserable. She was sleeping and not amused by anyone which is NOT like her, I knew she was not well. Dr. R thought 1-appendicitis 2-constipation 3-UTI. We stayed at clinic for about 3 hours she got fluids and we waited for blood and urine results, I was so proud of Iza and Magi they were so good sitting and quietly entertaining themselves while Mimi slept. At noon we went over to the main hospital for an ultrasound to check out the appendix, at that point Dan came and took the girls to get them a snack in the cafeteria. Mimi slept through most of the ultrasound which was reasuring that the pain went away and her appendix was just fine. Later we got a script for 10 days of Ciprofloxacin and and her symptoms went away within 24 hours. She was well enough on Friday to be a dare devil with Iza at Six Flags!

Respiratory Therapy.

May 1st, while inpatient, Mimi got her first Pentamidine isethionate, it is used to prevent and treat Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a very serious type of pneumonia. This medication is inhaled through a special breathing unit called a nebulizer, which helps the drug travel deep into the lungs.This is something she will do monthly instead of Bactrim, Dapsone or Mepron since she seemed to have side effects/sensitivities to all of these antibiotics.

Today (6/10) Mimi stayed home in the morning and we met with a respiratory therapist RN . Mimi was a bit anxious and not looking forward to her treatment but all that anxiety pretty much dissapeared about five minutes after she met Respitory Rick, she was chatting up the storm asking a million questions. We went through all the necessary paperwork, her vitals were checked. He explained to her what he will do she listened to instructions and followed them like a pro! First she used the albuterol inhaler, it works by relaxing and opening the air passages to the lungs. Then an oxymeter was hooked up to her earlobe to check her oxygen level and pulse, Pentamidine can drop oxygen stats. She used the nebulizer to breathe in the Pentamidine for about 25 minutes. Since the medicine is a mist she is breathing in and it is also going into the air in the house we wore mask but Magi spent some time upstairs so she was not exposed to the medicine. Her treatment went smooth we said bye to our new friend until next month and back to school she went!

Here is Mimi with her glowing ear, the white mist is the medicine. She is sitting next to the window with the fan blowing out so most of the medicine goes outside instead of the house. She sat very patiently for almost a half hour, just listening to stories since she couldn't talk.