Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Back to the ugly treatments

We went down to Cooks on Monday to start the next phase of treatment, Interim Maintenance II. We left out of Seymour a little before 5:00 that morning and got to Ft. Worth about 5 minutes late. Briley is getting much better about getting her port accessed and blood drawn from her arms. She doesn't cry and throw the fits like she used to. As the nurses are preparing to stick her, she'll turn her head and say over and over again, "I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry......." And she doesn't (much)!
Her counts came back looking very good! So this time they decided to give her the two rounds of chemo before going down to the SPA (special procedure area) for her lumbar puncture with chemo. She got her nausea meds first, then the two rounds. They finished up pretty fast and down stairs we went. Of course she couldn't eat or drink anything the morning of the procedure, so it started turning into a long morning. Alicia and I agree that we won't eat or drink anything either until she can (except for my morning coffee that I have to have driving so early in the morning with 3 hours of sleep). She finally went back for the procedure around 11:45. All went well. She never once complained or cried. After the procedure, we were free to go, so we stopped in the new eating area at Cooks and grabbed some food for the trip home. Briley did not eat a bite. We should have known she was not feeling well because this was not normal. But we didn't, so we made a couple of stops and I had to bright idea to take a longer way home just so I could show Alicia a cool statue of Jesus by Poolville. About the time we pulled into Weatherford, Briley threw up. All over her, the car seat, the floor. Everywhere. Thankfully, I left Bryson's carseat in the car this time and she had an extra change of clothes. We cleaned her and everything else up the best we could, gave her some nausea medicine that helps her sleep, and drove on into Seymour. We got no more out of Weatherford and she fell asleep all the way to Seymour and slept another couple of hours at the house.
She was all better when she woke up and hungry! She made herself a peanut butter, jelly and ham sandwich! Actually 2 of them! Since then, she has been doing very good other than constipated from the vincristine. We were riding somewhat of a high after her counts came up and her hair coming back and the way she has been feeling so good. Only to come back down to reality. But we are still very thankful that she is doing as well as she is and able to move forward with treatment.
The other bit of bad news we got is the doctor will not release her or Bryson to daycare until about 3 months after maintenance chemo starts. Maintenance will start at the end of October, so that puts it into February when the kids can go back to daycare. At this point, I really don't know how we are going to manage work schedules. Last year mine and Alicia's moms were able to keep them. But my mom's work scheduled changed so she is not able to come in the mornings. That leaves Gloria driving from Munday to be here before Alicia has to get to work. I will be hard pressed to take on any extra shifts. Maybe we can find someone that is willing to watch the kids a couple days a week when I'm working primary. I can keep the kids on the days I'm on backup, but I have to have someone close who can come at the drop of a hat if we get called out. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

2 comments:

  1. Briley is SO big!!!! It makes me cry reading every time, because I know that I wouldn't be as strong!
    I will start racking my brain to think of a childcare helper.
    Stay strong, you've all traveled a LONG road.

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  2. I'd be willing to take them to Munday on my way to work in Knox City most any day....
    Just a thought.

    Jeanne' Snyder, down the highway from you.

    e-mail: jean1010@aol.com

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Thank you for your thoughts & prayers for Briley! God Bless!