Long Day

First a quick update on Haley. Her ear infection is healing fine, she seems great. Nothing to worry about.

Today was a very long day. We were at Packard for a good 8 hours. It was the first time we've run into a scheduling snafu since we started Chemo. I can understand how it happens. We have to go to the Oncology Clinic, and Stem Cell and Oncology Therapy Lab, and then to the Day Hospital. You would think all three stops would use the same schedule, but you would be wrong. Each does their own schedule and there is no real coordination. So we were not scheduled for labs, but in order for Emily to get Chemo, they need to check her labs. To make a very long story a little shorter, we were supposed to start IV Chemo at 10:30am but it didn't really start until 2:30. A lot of waiting around, and for a little while we were worried we would have to go back on Thursday and our whole Chemo schedule would have changed and been effected. We were lucky that they got a cancellation in the day hospital and worked Emily in. I lost my temper at the Doctor about this, which I regret, but I didn't want a schedule mistake to impact Emily's care.

Besides the scheduling Snafu's things went well. Emily's liver panels are increased, which isn't good, but are not high enough to lower the dose of Chemo. They expect her liver to be working really hard during this phase, so high liver panels on Chemo are expected. Emily had a full exam, and from everything we can tell she is on track. The Dr.'s are great about asking and answering all our questions. On April 10th Emily is going to be getting a Medi-Port, which is a fairly permanent central line. It's a surgical procedure but a fairly standard one. After the port is put in, she will be able to take a bath without any concerns, and swim when it gets warm enough to want to swim. We also wont have to flush the lines daily. (I am so thankful that Tracy flushes PICC lines all the time in her job as a nurse, I would be so scared and to her it is second nature and I know it's being done correctly.) Friday will mark %50 of the way through Induction Phase of Chemo. After that they taper her off the medications, and then do a CAT scan to see what's happened to the tumors. They expect them to be gone after 5 weeks. The trick with Lymphoma is keeping them from coming back. They can tell just from her breathing that the airway to her left lung is much clearer, which probably means the mass is shrinking. She is also not showing signs of distress like what brought us into Urgent care in the first place, that is also a sign that the tumors are probably shrinking.

Emily is on a very high dose of Prednisone, which is a steroid. It makes her appetite increase, and I mean really increase. She asks for food almost all day long. She has lost her sweet tooth, and has an obsession with Taco Bell Nachos. We don't really want her eating a lot of fast food, cancer or no cancer, so we say no when she asks. The obsession is so bad she starts to cry and pulls a complete fit when we say no. For example last night she wouldn't look or talk to me because I said no. (And Emily's normal behavior is not at all like this) I am going to let her indulge tomorrow, in the afternoon I am going to take her to Taco Bell for some nachos.