Tonight Erin's starts her first round of chemotherapy for her treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. There aren't even words to express our feelings for what we are being thrown into. Mostly we are aprehensive about the chemotherapy.
The ICS (Immunocompromised Servies Unit) ward that we are in is full of children with different types of cancer. It's uplifting and depressing to see all these little bald kids, as young as a 12 month old (he is a cute little bald baby and he was being pulled around the unit in a Little Tikes Wagon when we first saw him). The patients here walk the halls and play with toys in the toyroom. Once on chemotherapy they aren't allowed outside.
It is really something to pass a parent in the unit. Everyone here knows what we are going through because they have all been there. We are all in different stages and it's so comforting to talk to the other parents and hear their stories and hear their words of encouragment.
The doctors have given us a lot of information on the chemo drugs she will be given. This first round will last 10 days. She will take ARAC for 10 days, 2 times a day. She will take Daunorubicin on days 1,3 & 5. She will take Etoposide (VP-16) on days 1-5. These drugs will kill the cancer cells in her blood. She has a list of other drugs for nausea, eye drops, pneumonia (she'll take this for a year to prevent getting pneumonia), pain killers, and a fever reducer.
After the 10 days of chemotherapy we will be here for 3 weeks while her immune system slowly recovers. She will be very suseptible to illness, so please don't visit if you are sick or if you have been around someone who is sick. Even the smallest cough or runny nose could be very bad on our little Erin.
We will be on a 10:00 pm Chemotherapy session. That means that every day Erin has chemotherapy she'll be receiving it at 10:00 pm. This is good because she'll be sleeping through the administration of the drugs (through her central line that was surgically put in place in her heart) and hopefully she'll be able to sleep through the worst nausea. Some of the chemotherapy will take up to 6 hours to administer.
Tags: "Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia" "AML" "Leukemia" "M7" "Acute Megakaryocytic Leukemia"
John and Jill please know that you and your family are in our prayers. Let your mom know that your kids can come for play dates any time. If there is anything that Brett (your home teacher :) or I can do please do not hesitate to ask.
ReplyDeleteLove, Brett and Amy McAllister
I just heard about your blog and these unfortunate circumstances.
ReplyDeleteBlogging can therapeutic and it also helps keep concerned people informed. I started a blog for my mom so people would stop calling her to see how she was, especially when the phone kept ringing while she was waiting for the Oncologist to call.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you, and we look forward to updates as they come.