Long Days

Monday morning Mike took Brooklyn to get her labs drawn while I took the older two kids to Summer Blast at church. Then Kelsey and I met up with Mike and Brooklyn and had her appointment with the Oncologist. We got our schedule for the next few weeks and even made a date to switch her broviak to a port, so that is great! Her blood counts were actually better than they were last week, so we were good to go for the long one today. After her appointment, we went over to the hospital to see if they had a monitor that the cardiologist wanted Kayla to wear. They had it, but she had to be there to get all hooked up, so Kelsey and Brooklyn and I left and went to pick up Braden and Kayla from camp, then went to Kayla's swim lesson. My parents met us there and picked up the kids when it was over and took them home so just Kayla and I went back to the hospital. I think my car could get there on auto-pilot now! They showed us how to use the monitor for the next couple weeks in order to record what her heart is doing when she says it hurts. We got home around 5:00 and then Mike and I went to a dinner last night that supported a friend of ours who also has cancer. It seems like everywhere you turn someone has cancer these days. It is hard to see so many families suffering because of this disease. This morning, Brooklyn and I got to the hospital at 8:00 and she had her spinal tap at 9:00. We had to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy and then headed over to the infusion lab at 10:30. We got her all hooked up and learned that it wasn't actually the chemo that took so long, it is the hydration. The chemo today was pretty strong, I guess, so she had to have a couple hours of fluids before they could give her the medication and then 4 hours of IV fluids afterward. She started out watching a movie for a little while, but then got a little hyper and wanted to walk all around the lab. She eventually started using her IV pole as a skateboard. I would hold the top and she pushed off with one foot while the other foot rode on the base of the rolling pole. It was pretty funny and it was so nice to see her having fun in a place where she always is getting medicine. Once she got her anti-nausea medicine, it slowed her down and she fell asleep. She napped for quite awhile but would wake up every so often to tell me she wanted to go get "tench ties and chocolate milt." :) I sat in the chair next to her and got some stuff done that I haven't been able to do at home because I am never sitting still for that long! We finally left a little after 5:00 and we were both pretty exhausted. It is weird because I basically just sat all day, but it was still really tiring for some reason. For the next two weeks, we have to give Brooklyn a pill every night, which is our favorite thing to do. We crushed it up with juice again tonight, but we usually will let her have a treat or drink some milk after she takes her medicine and with this kind she can't drink milk or have any food for an hour before or after. Fun fun. Our home nurse is going to come to the house the next three days to give Brooklyn chemo, which will save us a lot of driving. Overall, it was a really good day, even though it was a long one. Brooklyn and I had a good time together reading and coloring and playing, but it is also great that it is over. We can check it off the calendar! Thank you for all of the prayers, they really helped us get through the day. The french fries on our way home helped make us happy too. :)