Clinic

We are still recovering from Clinic this week. It was a rough one on all of us! It was supposed to be the "easy" week. Just Chemo and a check-up from the Doc's (no bone marrow aspiration or spinal tap), but we ended up staying all day. Cami's red blood count was low, so we had to stay and do a blood transfusion. It takes them 2 hours just to order the blood and get it ready, then once it came she had to get benidryl and tylenol because she had an allergic reaction the first time. Before they even started the transfusion she had a temperature so they were worried about infection and debated doing a antibiotic drip or possibly keeping us over night. They started her drip slow because of her previous reaction, we waited about an hour and when she showed no signs of a reaction they turned up the drip. About 10 minutes later Cam broke out in hives and got really uncomfortable. They had to give her hydroxycodone and turn the drip back down. All in all it made for a nine hour day at the hospital and a VERY grumpy, exhausted Cami.

Getting her Vincristine (Chemo). I have a love/hate relationship with chemo. When Cam gets it, the RN comes all dressed in "protective" gear and every inch of skin is covered. They are very careful with this highly poisonous stuff and we even have to be careful with Cam's sweat and bodily fluids for 48 hours after treatment as it can contain chemo. It is crazy that it can be so dangerous, yet we have to put it directly into our daughters blood.

I love that its killing her Cancer, but I hate what its doing to her.

see?... love/hate.

Killing time while we wait for her blood.

My Grandpa was over at the U, so we walked over to visit him.

Cami is so sweet and has great compassion for him right now. All she wants to do at home is color pictures for "Ba-Ba". She knows what its like to be stuck in a hospital bed. She knows it can be scary. She is learning compassion and I know she really feels his pain.

She told Grandpa she knew he'd be brave when they took his "pokes" out!

Back to the clinic for some crafting and more waiting for that darn blood.

She got to order whatever she wanted for lunch. Of course she loved that!

She was not happy near the end. Who would be after 9 hours?

I have to say I have never appreciated those who give blood enough, but it is worth more than gold to us parents when we see those low numbers on her chart.

She finally has some energy and color in her face, thanks to the transfusion!

The Dexamethasone (or steroids) are REALLY changing our little Cam. Its really quite a serious little drug.

Some of the side affects are...

Difficulty sleeping; feeling of a whirling motion; increased appetite; increased sweating; indigestion; mood changes; nervousness; depression; dizziness; exaggerated sense of well-being; fever; general body discomfort; headache; increased pressure in the eye; joint or muscle pain; mood swings; muscle weakness; personality changes; prolonged sore throat, cold, or fever; puffing of the face; severe nausea or vomiting; swelling of feet or legs; unusual weight gain; weakness.

She has gained 9 pounds in 2 weeks. It is pretty crazy to see such a drastic change in this little girl. She wants to eat all the time, its the only thing that makes her happy. Its all she can think about. The Doctors tell us this will almost reverse once she goes off the steroids, the chemo makes her not want to eat and she'll be nauseous. They expect her to lose all she has gained and more, so its almost good that she is getting a head start. We think she looks so cute with the extra padding :)

Clinic stats this week 7/29:

Weight: 19.7 kg. (43 lbs)

Height: 106.5

Clinic stats on our first clinic visit 7/16:

Weight: 15.5 kg. (34 lbs)

Height: 106

*(at this point she had already been on the steroids for a week.

Im not sure what she weighed before we started.)