Crazy day

I am currently sitting in front of the computer in the lounge of the hospital eating a cold hamburger. Not what I planned to be doing at 11:30! Today started out wonderfully. We got to the hospital around 9:30 and got the IV started and blood drawn. Then we waited for her counts to see if she needed platelettes...which she did. But the good news was that her WBC's came down to 50! So good. So thankful. No vincristine...again! The doctor is hopeful that the meds are really working and she will just keep taking them. We also signed for permission to do another bone marrow biopsy since she would already be sedated.

We sat through the platelettes (1 hour) and by the end she was getting pretty crabby since she hadn't eaten since 8am. Finally we took her over to the same day unit (surgery and going home on the same day unit). By this time she was pretty upset and hungry and tired. We did everything we could think of to keep her happy. Then they came in with the happy medicine that is supposed to calm her and make it easier to hand her off to go to the OR. Well she was calm and sedate and silly for about 20 min at the most. And it took way longer than that to get everything ready for the OR. So she was pretty upset when we handed her off. I could hear her crying as we walked away. We went and had lunch (worst lunch ever...all I could think of was her and how she wasn't getting to eat). Then James and Dad went to pick up her perscription and I went to wait in the waiting area. They got back and we all sat around and talked till the call came that she was out of surgery (thanks for visiting with us Dr. Booker...always nice to see a friendly face...makes me laugh to call you Dr. Booker).

I got a bottle and went right down to see her. She was really upset and just wanted me to hold her. She was really flushed (almost bright red) and hot to the touch. But when they took her temp it was only slightly elevated and went down to normal pretty quickly. Her pulse oxygen level wasn't good, she was breathing quickly and her heart rate was really high. So they watched her for a while in recovery and then decided to take her down to the same day recovery area. That way we had our own nurse and constant care. We got there around 4:30 and by 7:00 her stats hadn't gotten much better unless she was on oxygen so they decided to admit us to watch her over night. They think that she didn't react well to the kind of anesthesia that they gave and that some of her smaller airways (bronchials) might have collapsed. The doctor (not our regular oncologist) said that she thought that it would clear up overnight with continued oxygen and if not they will give her a diaretic tomorrow to clear out any fluid. (I just stopped typing for a moment and realized how crazy it is that I'm even saying these things about my little girl...what happened to our lives?)

She has the oxygen tubes in her nose...which she hates and keeps trying to take out, so they taped it to her face. Right now James is holding her and she is sleeping. Its going to be a long long night. Thankfully its already part way over. Don't think I'll get much sleep.

The port looks...fine, I guess. It is a large bump in the middle of her chest. One of the residents asked me what that bump was....okay seriously did you read the chart before you came into our room? But it will make it much easier on her little veins and so that will be good...once we get her back to breathing right. Definetly not what I expected from today...but then its not what I expected from my life either. Guess that's why we shouldn't have expectations.

Thanks to...
...Angie for the meal. The boys (James and Dad) loved the sausages. Might need you tomorrow after all...in a different capacity. I'll call.
...my Dad for being with Alivia and I every step of the way today.
...James for driving back and forth twice and working when he would much rather have been with us.


Better get back to my girl and my husband.