It was another long day of treatment for Keira proven by the fact that we drove to and from the hospital in the dark!
Arriving at LPCH at 7am we thought the day was off to a good start, however, after many failed attempts at an IV, we were all starting to get a little frustrated. The FIFTH poke was successful but by this time it was 10am! As we have mentioned before, her treatment cycle is about 10 hours.... if you do the math that means we would not be done until 8pm! Luckily, they were able to administer the anti-nausea medication, before the Cytoxin, orally, (knocking off thirty minutes) which made our end at 7:30pm... still a very long day for a 19 month year old.
All things considered Keira was a rock star. Last month she could barely sit up on her own and was not mobile at all. For the past several weeks she has been on the go, non-stop, so I was a little concerned with how we were going to be able to keep her in a small hospital room, hooked up to an IV, for such a long time. It was tough at first as she definitely wanted to be off the bed and moving around, but after the first few hours she was content to sit with me on the bed. We watched a lot of Elmo (on TV and on the computer), we played with Bear, we colored, we ate - breakfast, lunch and dinner, we added her new Beads of Courage to her necklace... we pretty much did whatever we could to keep her entertained.
Once the IVIG and Cytoxin were completed we were allowed to take Keira out of the Oncology Clinic and walk around during the three hour hydration flush. It was interesting to see how much of the hospital K remembered from her time there at the beginning of October. We went up to the third floor and said hi to some of the nurses we met on our first few days in the hospital and Keira even scored a free balloon. :)
I have to say, we are extremely proud of our little girl - her sunny personality is an inspiration to us. Keira had a big smile on her face the entire day and made friends with every nurse on the floor. She was super cooperative even when things must have hurt and always told the nurses thank you - after failed IV attempts, vitals, and medication.
A big thank you to our family and friends for their support these past few months. We could not get through this without all of you. We so appreciate all the love, prayers, words of encouragement, generosity, positive thoughts and, of course, the food. I don't think we have ever eaten so well and it is nice to have one less thing to worry about at home.