At The Hospital

We are at the hospital tonight. Mom, Rebekah and Sarah headed down to the hospital early this morning for radiation and stopped to pick up friend Pat on our way. We were done at radiation by about 7:15am. Our appointment at Clinic wasn't until 9:30, so we had some time to spend. We walked over to the hospital and sat down in the Atrium for a little breakfast. Rebekah and Sarah ate some snacks and then Pat took Rebekah over to the little cafe to see what she might want to eat. She wanted a cinnamon roll, so Pat bought one for her. She ate part of it and we kept the rest for later. We still had some extra time, so we strolled over to see Grandma C for a few minutes.

Once up at Clinic, blood was drawn and we played for a little while in the play room. Then Doc had our results back and counts were high enough to start chemo. He was a little concerned about the sores on her lips, so he took a swab to have them tested. He didn't see any other sores in her mouth or her throat. They could be from the Radiation or Herpes or some other infectious disease. If the swab comes back negative for herpes (which they can test for and treat) then he'll probably have the infectious disease doctor come take a look - just to rule out anything else. Since any infection can be serious for her, we need to be proactive. In fact, doc started her on an antibiotic which would treat it if it is herpes. We'll know more in the next few days. Please pray that it is nothing serious and that they heal.

We started IV fluids at clinic and then headed over to our room. We were assigned a room in the Infant/Toddler wing. Generally, they try to put us on the Schoolage wing because the rooms are singles and they try to keep chemo patients without roommates. The Infant/Toddler rooms are all doubles. Right now, we do not have a roommate, but that can change. It isn't crowded now, but who knows what will happen later in the week. They only had one small room available on Schoolage and no nurses who could take Rebekah. Please pray that she doesn't get a roomie. The rooms can be awfully crowded with a second patient (and their family).

Once we knew we were going to be admitted, I tried to call dad to let him know and my cell phone wasn't working. At the same time, he had been trying to get a hold of me and was getting a message that my phone had been disconnected. Pat's husband was trying to call my cell phone as well. Scott called Clinic to track me down. I had to call Verizon to figure out what the deal was. They were able to get it fixed. Just one more hassle that we don't need.

Pat's husband met us in the room and they helped us get settled and tried to get Rebekah to take a nap, picked up a lunch for me and then headed out. They were a great help! Thanks so much!

Rebekah finally fell asleep. Her lunch had come, but she didn't have any interest in it. About a half hour after falling asleep, she woke up coughing and sounding like she was about to throw up. I called for the nurse and asked if we could start the anti-nausea medicine now. She said that was fine and brought it in. Rebekah never went back to sleep. She ate more of her cinnamon roll and some goldfish, but wouldn't drink much.

She's not eating very well. Her weight was up a little from last week, but at the 10% loss mark. Doc is pushing for the feeding tube. We will have to see what we decide. Please pray for the "right" decision.

Dad was finally able to make it down mid afternoon. The inspector wasn't able to make it out in the morning, so that was frustrating. Grandma A came late afternoon and is spending the night with Rebekah tonight.

With heavy duty fluids, we were able to get her chemo started about 6:15pm. For five days, she will have 1 drug that runs for an hour and then another drug that runs for an hour along with a bladder protectant drug that runs for 10 hours and fluids that run the remainder of the time (to keep the chemicals from sitting in her bladder causing problems). In the past, they have started them an hour or two earlier each day. After the last drug runs on day five, we need another 24 hours of fluids before we can head home.

We need to be up early tomorrow, to take Rebekah over to Radiation. The anesthesiologist said he would meet us at her room and help get her down to radiation. We will see how it all goes. We'll put her in the stroller and probably need to take her IV pole with us. We'll make it work. Hopefully Sarah will stay asleep and help out.

Please keep up the prayers. Without them we wouldn't be able to make it through. We expect this to be a tough week and we're already pretty tired (or should I say exhausted).