In the Hospital and Lots of Visits

I'm sitting here in the hospital. The internet connection in the room is working just fine, which always helps me feel connected to the outside world. Rebekah is finally sleeping. She wouldn't take a nap and was starting to look a little droopy by 6 this evening.

Rebekah's counts were good for allowing chemo, so we were admitted. We had some trouble getting a good urine sample to test early today, due to several poopy diapers and then diapers with little urine in them. So it wasn't until about 3:30 this afternoon that we were able to start chemo (after getting her started on fluids and getting her "lunch" nutrition). So, I expect it will be late afternoon tomorrow before we can head for home. It is still nice to only have one night in the hospital.

Speaking of her nutrition, I'll fill you in on how she is doing with that. Since she wasn't tolerating the bolus feeds, I have been running her food through the pump at a fast rate (200-300 ml per hour) to get her somewhere between 200 and 300 ml (8 ounces is approximately 240 ml) of nutrition at a time. She has been doing pretty well with that. I figure that is a more natural way of doing it. After all, who would want to guzzle 8 ounces of milkshake within 5 minutes (like the bolus feeds would do).

So at lunch and dinner, she gets larger amounts and then if she's napping or at bed time we make up the difference. I'm working to get her to tolerate more at a time, but the pump I have at home won't go any faster than 300 ml per hour, so more volume means more time. She does have vomitting sessions, but they don't seem to always empty her stomach and they are not an every day occurance. In general, her weight is staying stable.

It has been a day of socializing. Rebekah is never a fan of sitting in her room and today was no different.

We saw Gage and his family while we were in clinic. It was good to see them again. They have spent the last 3 months in Boston getting a different type of Radiation. It is never "great" to see anyone in the hospital, but if we have to go through this, it is nice to have some friends who we can commiserate with. They are getting another round of chemo, so they were admitted today, too.

We found out this morning that Kennedy was moved out of ICU and onto the regular pediatric ward, so we got a chance to say "hi" to her and her family, too. She is doing better, but still needs a lot of prayer.

Josh was here with a day full of procedures and exams. We were able to catch up with them and visit for a little while.

Jill and her son Will stopped by for a visit. Will had a procedure done here and when they heard we were in decided to try and stop in. It was good to see them. Will hadn't eaten anything for many hours, due to his procedure, so he was eating while we visited. Rebekah kept throwing her sippy cup on the floor for Will to pick up. Poor Will, who had a sore back from the procedure, kept bending over to get Rebekah's cup. We didn't let that go on too long.

Grandma C stopped by and brought Mommy lunch and then took Rebekah out for a wagon ride. Then there were visits from Child Life and Art Therapy and making paper in the Star Lounge with Child Life. And, it was movie night, so we had to go down and check out the munchies. Rebekah decided that she wanted to stay and watch the movie. I think she had more fun playing with Gage and one of the other kids, but she was enjoying herself. That was until she started to melt down. At that point, we had to leave and get ready for bed.

She wasn't happy about going to bed and was working herself up. I was concerned that she was going to start throwing up, but she didn't. It took some benadryl and morphine and about a half hour, but she did settle down. Nurse Katie couldn't get a good set of vitals while she was all worked up, so she came in about 9:30 to do them. That seemed to wake her up and then she was screaming in pain. Mommy laid with her and sang to her and Nurse Katie got her some Tylenol and she seems to be doing better. Settling down, again, but it is now after 10 pm. Another day, nearing its end. Hopefully, Rebekah will sleep well and Mommy can get some sleep.