Julia had a great time at Hershey Park this weekend, even though the weather was a bit wet. She had a big surprise when our friends Tracy and Blake, with their daughters, Brooke and Kate, came to join the fun. When they came to our hotel room, Julia wasn’t sure what to think. When Tracy said they were going to join us at Hershey Park, Julia’s face lite up and she gave Tracy a big hug. For the rest of the weekend, Julia had to sit between either Brooke or Kate and alternate who she road with in the car. She had a blast!
Today was a full day at clinic and the start of the second round of chemo. We had placed the patch of Scopolamine behind Julia’s ear last night to start to offset any nausea that would come the next day. Julia had to have an IV placed first thing this morning. She very bravely sat as the nurse looked for the best vein to use. Julia then gave her instructions about how to “count to 3” and slowly put the “ouchie” in her arm. She did not flinch when the first vein collapsed and the nurse had to find a vein in a second area. Julia made it a point to mention how much braver she was then both of her brothers, John and James -especially John she said, he is “afraid of ouchies”.
Labs were drawn and the fluids began. Julia’s labs and exam went well. All her counts were good and her ANC was 3400. Julia was given a 24 hour dose of Zofran and the chemo began. First was Etoposide and monitoring of Julia’s blood pressure during the infusion. Then the Cytoxan was given and the three hours of IV fluids to follow. Adavant and Benedryl were also given during the chemo to help with nausea.
Julia played through most of the chemo, but by 2:00 PM, you could see the color start to leave her cheeks and she began to feel very tired. She fell asleep on the way home and had to be carried into the house. She woke up for a bit to take her Bactrim, but did not want any dinner. She did not like the smell of the plain pasta. Julia was too tired to walk up the stairs to go to bed, so Daddy had to carry her up to bed. This is both a combination of the chemo and the nausea medications she has been given.
The rest of the week brings 4 more treatments of the same drugs. It will be a long week.