Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Monthly Chemo done !

Today was Emily's monthly chemo and physical exam at the hospital. She gets her IV chemo every 4 weeks, so this is actually the second visit in the calendar month. I was thinking it was next week, and it wasn't until last night Tracy reminded me it was today. Since I am off of work I took Emily and gave Tracy a break from the pediatric oncology waiting room. It's not a super fun place.

Emily had to be peripherally accessed in a vein in her right hand. They were able to draw the CBC blood test through the peripheral stick. The Phleubotmist was really good and got her on the first try. Emily uses a Sinera (warm + numbing) patch, which helps with the needle stick, but she still has a lot of anxiety just before the poke, which she always apologizes for and all the nurses and we always tell her, it's ok to be scared, everyone is. The staff always tells us they wish all the kids could be as brave and as positive as Emily. I am happy she's so confident and positive, and comfortable in stressful situations, in fact I wish I were as tough as she is sometimes.

Her physical exam was quick and all positive. Everyone is on vacation so we saw a nurse practitioner who we haven't seen in a while, Erika. She was amazed at how well Emily was doing and how much she had progressed. Erika did a lot of the Lumbar (spinal injections) punctures on Emily in the Operating room, that's where we would usually see her. She cleared Emily for her IV Vinchristine. After that we went over today's lab results, which they had back in 25 minutes (WAY to go Stanford labs). Emily's levels look great. Her protocol calls for another week of %50 chemo, so we are staying on the same dose as last week, but her levels indictate that next week we will be going to %75. Then after 2 weeks at %75 she will be back on a full dose. This REALLY shows the impact of her getting a cold, she has to reduce her dosage, and that can't be good, so we really want to stress to everyone to stay away from us if you have a cold, yes just the common cold is horrible for her. We've been lax about it but are really going to step it up this cold season. This may lead to more home school days here and there, but it's her life that is at stake. I dont' mean to sound too dramatic, she looks great and these things happen, but want to do what I can.

Yesterday I had to go to the hospital pharmacy to pick up some chemo pills. When I was there I ran into Dr. Link. He was jamming out to leave on a ski vacation. He remembers that I am a ski fanatic, so he brought up skiing with me, which was nice that he was trying to relate to me. I told him I wanted to get Emily back on the slopes, and wanted to see what he thought. He said she absolutely can be skiing as long as her platelets are above 175K and today they were 534K so she's cleared to ski ! woo hoo. The very last thing Emily did before she was diagnosed was a ski trip, and I never thought in my wildest dreams back in March and April that we would make it to the slopes this year. Well I can say for sure we will be, and I am very excited about that. Emily can add skiing to another thing she did while on chemo. I love that Kaiser Permanente ad that says "I have cancer, but cancer doesn't have me." Emily lives that slogan %100, and in a way Tracy, Haley, and I do too.

2008, can't wait to say goodbye only 1 more day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It has been quite a year for all of you, especially for Emily. It has been amazing to have followed all of Emily's experiences and seen the strength Emily has shown and watched your entire family grow in such a positive way as you have journeyed through this bump in the road. Everyone who is following Emily's progress has learned valuable lessons from her. I wish you all the very best in 2009 and will continue to offer you encouragement and support whenever I can. I hope Emily makes it to the slopes very soon. What a victory that will be!
Mrs. Breit

mackb said...

Hello Pepper Family,

Glad to hear that skiing is in the forecast for you. Feel free to head on up this way as we have plenty of snow to go around.

With a very tough 2008 nearly behind you, I wish you all the best in 2009.

-b

Anonymous said...

Dear Chris -
Happy New Year to all the Pepper Family! I too will not be sad to see 2008 behind us. I remember very clearly that just one week before Emily was hospitalized March 9th, she was on a ski trip with family and friends. Also, I remember that just 2 weeks before March 9th she was running up and down our driveway playing with an airplane with her Grampa. It will be incredible for Emily to be skiing on the slopes again very soon. Hope she can drop by our house on the way back to play with airplanes again. See you soon.
Love, Grannie