Hello Everyone!
I just wanted to post the latest news on little Malia ~ it sounds as though things are going very well ~
THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008 10:10 PM, CDT
Okay, well the day has come. They are starting the treatment tonight (well, actually they are doing the prep hydration now and the actual chemo will start at midnight). It was definately a little overwhelming today when I met with the Nurse Clinician and the Social Worker so they could explain all the meds and possible side effects to me. It just reinforces that this is real! So Malia will receive one med through IV for 4 hours at midnight and fluids and three different anti nausea meds every 4 - 6 hours through her IV and then on the 3rd day she'll receive two extra med pushes (syringe) through the port. She'll also receive a shot of meds that will help combat low blood cell counts (which I'll have to give her at home) every day until her cell count is satisfactory. So if all goes well and she's doing everything she's supposed to (eating, drinking, potty, etc.) we'll hopefully be able to go home on Sunday.Once we are discharged from the hospital we'll have to come to the outpatient clinic 1 - 2 times a week for blood cell count monitoring. We are definitely anxious to get her home because she is beyond frustrated here. But for a 3 year old who is painfully shy to begin with, she is doing very well with only a handful of maniacal tantrums...which are always fun!
Once again, thank you to everyone who has sent their thoughts, prayers, notes and love our way. It truly has made a huge difference and we are praying that we will only have positive updates from here on out.
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008 09:09 PM, CDT
We’re still officially in day one of chemo and all seems to be going well with the exception of an inconvenience early this morning. Somehow, Malia seemed to have knocked her needle in the IV so that it shifted and it was no longer administering the meds into the vein. Luckily, we think we know exactly when it happened and right at the same time the pump finished its cycle and hadn’t been reset yet so very little if any chemo went into the tissue. The fun part about all that is that they had to pull the needle out of the port and re-access it with a larger needle without using any of the numbing cream – obviously Malia was not pleased! L Now considering the tantrum that she threw the other day when they changed the needle, this one wasn’t so bad. It was at 4:30 in the morning however, so needless to say, the day didn’t start out on a high note. One positive thing is that the anti nausea meds seem to be working so far. Malia had the best eating day since we’ve been in the hospital today. Hopefully she’ll keep that up.
Our Oncologist came in to see me today. It’s the first time I’ve met him as we’ve been working with the “On Call” Oncologist this whole time. The doctor who will be overseeing Malia’s case is the solid tumor specialist and the official diagnosis came in while he was out which is why we’re just meeting him now. Anyway, he’s a very nice man and we’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about him from the other families on the floor. He explained to me that he viewed the scans himself and said that there was a definite margin around the tumors so they knew that there was no cancer left behind. Because of this she is actually considered stage 1 instead of stage 2 which only reinforces that we caught this as early as we could have J. He went over the plan again and the only thing that is different from what we thought is that she will have 4 rounds instead of 3. He said that over 92% of patients diagnosed at stage 1 who received 4 rounds of chemo, went on to become clinically cured. So this is great news!
If all goes well, we will get to go home on Sunday but will have to come into clinic regularly in between inpatient chemo which will be every 3 weeks. Will write more updates soon.
I just wanted to post the latest news on little Malia ~ it sounds as though things are going very well ~
THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008 10:10 PM, CDT
Okay, well the day has come. They are starting the treatment tonight (well, actually they are doing the prep hydration now and the actual chemo will start at midnight). It was definately a little overwhelming today when I met with the Nurse Clinician and the Social Worker so they could explain all the meds and possible side effects to me. It just reinforces that this is real! So Malia will receive one med through IV for 4 hours at midnight and fluids and three different anti nausea meds every 4 - 6 hours through her IV and then on the 3rd day she'll receive two extra med pushes (syringe) through the port. She'll also receive a shot of meds that will help combat low blood cell counts (which I'll have to give her at home) every day until her cell count is satisfactory. So if all goes well and she's doing everything she's supposed to (eating, drinking, potty, etc.) we'll hopefully be able to go home on Sunday.Once we are discharged from the hospital we'll have to come to the outpatient clinic 1 - 2 times a week for blood cell count monitoring. We are definitely anxious to get her home because she is beyond frustrated here. But for a 3 year old who is painfully shy to begin with, she is doing very well with only a handful of maniacal tantrums...which are always fun!
Once again, thank you to everyone who has sent their thoughts, prayers, notes and love our way. It truly has made a huge difference and we are praying that we will only have positive updates from here on out.
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008 09:09 PM, CDT
We’re still officially in day one of chemo and all seems to be going well with the exception of an inconvenience early this morning. Somehow, Malia seemed to have knocked her needle in the IV so that it shifted and it was no longer administering the meds into the vein. Luckily, we think we know exactly when it happened and right at the same time the pump finished its cycle and hadn’t been reset yet so very little if any chemo went into the tissue. The fun part about all that is that they had to pull the needle out of the port and re-access it with a larger needle without using any of the numbing cream – obviously Malia was not pleased! L Now considering the tantrum that she threw the other day when they changed the needle, this one wasn’t so bad. It was at 4:30 in the morning however, so needless to say, the day didn’t start out on a high note. One positive thing is that the anti nausea meds seem to be working so far. Malia had the best eating day since we’ve been in the hospital today. Hopefully she’ll keep that up.
Our Oncologist came in to see me today. It’s the first time I’ve met him as we’ve been working with the “On Call” Oncologist this whole time. The doctor who will be overseeing Malia’s case is the solid tumor specialist and the official diagnosis came in while he was out which is why we’re just meeting him now. Anyway, he’s a very nice man and we’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about him from the other families on the floor. He explained to me that he viewed the scans himself and said that there was a definite margin around the tumors so they knew that there was no cancer left behind. Because of this she is actually considered stage 1 instead of stage 2 which only reinforces that we caught this as early as we could have J. He went over the plan again and the only thing that is different from what we thought is that she will have 4 rounds instead of 3. He said that over 92% of patients diagnosed at stage 1 who received 4 rounds of chemo, went on to become clinically cured. So this is great news!
If all goes well, we will get to go home on Sunday but will have to come into clinic regularly in between inpatient chemo which will be every 3 weeks. Will write more updates soon.
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