Clinic and Procedure Day

Mimi got her port accessed, blood drawn, and monthly Vincristine administered. She got examined my a med student and Dr. L, other than this lingering junky cough and random knee pain (I think six year old random) she looks and sounds good.

Phone pic: Mimi and Bailey right before sleepy medicine...

Then we waited to be called down for the procedure, lumbar puncture with inrathecal chemotherapy. We waited quite a while before another little kiddo went before Mimi, she got a bit nervous (so did I.) No matter how many times you do this it is always scary when you think about it, your child laying asleep while a giant needle goes into their spine... She did go in around noon, poor thing was starving, everything went fine. She was awake ready to come home, yes with a stop for a dounut. Although she is so wiped out that she wants to cuddle and is sitting on the couch with her sisters looking at her long awaited treat... We will just chill out at home and take it easy today.

Counts:
WBC - 2.3
Hgb 10.9
ANC 1300

Please keep our friend's daughter in your prayers as she starts her battle with leukemia with a huge army behind her! Mimi made sure she had something purple with her today :)

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!

Clinic Day.

Due to the two hour snow delay we all got to sleep in today. That is always nice.

Iza went to school, Magi and I went to clinic with Mimi. Seemed like everyone had a late start, there were more people than usual in the waiting room. We didn't mind reading some books.

Her counts went down a bit her ANC was 1500 so down quite a bit from two weeks ago. No change in her medications this week. Mimi got her monthly Vincristine which made her feel "pukey" in her words, she asked to stay home and not to go back to school. It was nice to see her and Magi play nicely. They dressed up like squirrels by using blankets as tails, they drew nuts cut them out and spread them all over the house after that they were finding their nuts so they can store food for the winter. Mimi and Iza recently had lessons on hibernation, so Magi is now getting the lessons also.

Clinic Day.

Mimi needed a small pep talk on the way to clinic since she did not want her port accessed. She wasn't crying or anything I think she just thinks it is cool to get her finger pricked and watch as the blood drips to the tiny little tube, oh and the tube is purple which happens to be her favorite color. If you are thinking she is a bit odd liking to watch her blood her sisters are big fans of watching it also. She got weighed, measured and accessed while Magi and Iza watched and said "Ooooo Blood" as it went into the test tube. She also received her monthly Vincristine through her port and tonight she started the monthly five day steroid pulse. I have warned her teacher of steroid mood, although I am sure she will be on her best behavior during school hours.

Today one of the nurses showed the girls an actual port they thought it was really neat. They both saw it before Mimi had hers put in last August but neither of them remember. The fact that that is becoming a distant memory for them is a good feeling. Although Mimi still remembers the first nurse that took care of her and we have lots of Barbies named Kelly. So bad memories are fading but the good ones are staying.

Today's Counts:
WBC - 3.5
Hgb - 11.6
Platelets - 263
Neutrophil - 2000

Clinic Day.

It is a million degrees outside, okay so maybe just 103 according to my car, but it is HOT! So other than the clinic we will be staying home for the most part. Mimi got her port accessed, while getting her feet rubbed, got her chemo (Vincristine)and we waited for counts. Which were not so great, but we will continue all chemo and check counts next week to make sure they are going up. Which I really hope they do because she is very excited to go to Six Flags next Friday with everyone from clinic, thank you to Griffin's Friends! Next weekend we are planning to drive to Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine. So we need good counts! Today is also a start to a five day steroid pulse.

Today's Counts:
WBC - 1.26
Hgb - 11.2
Platelets - 173
Neutrophil - 580

Clinic Day.

Long day at the clinic, but with some friends who are also waiting time went by fast. On procedure days the youngest kiddos go first, since Mimi was the oldest today she went last. She was a little anxious about getting anaesthesia but between making pictures and getting a "spa" massage along with her friend A she didn't have much time to think about it.

All went well during the lumbar puncture although she got upset right before she fell asleep, the anaesthesiologist thought he could just get the meds in her IV without her noticing but she got pretty mad. Not to self: Let her know it is coming...

It took Mimi forever to wake up, I always get so worried, finally I just sat her up and we talked about food and that got her eyes to open up. We got home right before 2pm and she slept until about 6pm. When she woke up she was mellow and complained of back pain and nausea. It is 9:30pm right now and she is just hanging out in my bed, I suspect she will be sleeping shortly.

Today's Counts:
WBC - 2.02
Hgb - 11.9
Platelets - 192
Neutrophil - 960

Today started Round 2 of Maintenance therapy (84 day cycles.) Same meds just increased doses, I am hoping for no count crashing or fevers, hope with me!

I just found this on my camera. A couple of days ago is was taken by a couple of cute five year olds :)

Friday is Clinic Day.

And today was a good day! Plus a bonus : We were driving by a tag sale and bought a M&D Puppet show theather with puppets for $5! All three girls were super psyched.

Today was a first day that Mimi did not have to be fasting before clinic, so she was quite happy to get there with an egg & cheese croissant and hash browns from Dunkin Dounuts (Yes if you are wondering she at it all.) Since it was kind of a rushed morning we forgot to put the magic cream on, we both realized it when we walked into clinic. No worries though the awesome nurses were able to put some on before Mimi's port (central line) got accessed, she amazes me as she just watches and does not even flinch as a huge needle goes into her port. Today she just got Vincristine (chemo) through her port which took all of 5 minutes she colored a picture we got the CBC (complete blood count) back and we were on our way home!

Her blood counts were pretty good today (well... for her anyway)
Hgb 12.4
Hct 35.0
Platelets 127
Abs. Neut 1.5 (1500)

This site has the abbreviations explained http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cbc/test.html