***Our LAST ROUND has begun***
5 months 11 days ago our world changed.
Words cannot express the joy we feel knowing that this is Erin's last round of chemotherapy!
The end is near.
On Thursday my mom took Erin to Primary Children's Medical Center. Dr. Michelle Bennett did a biospy on the Cellulitis sore in her diaper area. She took two 3mm circles from the Cellulitis and sent one to Pathology and one to the Microbiology Lab. So far, all of the results have come up negative for a bacterial infection, leukemia cells, or a fungal infection. That said, the results really won't be in until Friday or Saturday since it usually takes 48 hours for the cultures to start growing. We anxiously are awaiting the results. Erin is doing really well! She had morphine and oxycodone shortly after the biopsy because her pain seemed pretty bad. Today though, she has only had oxycodone and she is so happy! The Cellulitis is looking a lot better too. Her CRP (inflammation in her blood) came back at 0.6. Normal is 0.8 so we are extremely HAPPY!
Erin and I played "peek a boo" a thousand times while we waited to start chemo.
Our nurse Amy and another nurse Cathy brought in the ARA-C (chemo). Erin was ready to show off as you can see by her silly position in this picture. She is so excited to be almost done!
Nurse Amy posing with the ARA-C.
The ARA-C going in.
She gets 120 ml in each dose and it runs for 3 hours. It's a huge amount! She will get 4 doses of ARA-C. On Saturday at 8:00 am she will get a PEG shot (Asparaginase, chemotherapy) in her thigh. We are not looking forward to the PEG shot. Then they will send us home for 5 days. Her counts will start dropping while we are home. Next Thursday she will be admitted for the rest of her chemo and she'll stay for roughly 3 weeks. Then, we will be done.
All hooked up.
Happy to be starting the last round!
Erin is in room 4409. We are counting our blessings that we are here and going forward with this last round. We are so thankful for everyone's support! As I entered the hospital today it almost felt like home. I passed so many parents, doctors, nurses, and techs that we now know so well. Within a few hours of being here we had gotten a text from a friend doing her treatment in the Oncology Clinic and a visit from Marie Steele who also has a daughter with AML. We are thankful for our support group here in the hospital.
Well . . . here's to a great start!
Oh, such emotions! So happy for the last round to begin...so many prayers coming your way. I got your message today. I will try to call you in the next day or two.
ReplyDeleteIm so glad that this is her LAST round, how exciting! Im also so happy to hear that the results have come back negative so far and pray that they wont grow anything. You guys are in the room we just left on Sunday,thats cool :) We will be up on the floor tomorrow so maybe we will see you. Give Erin hugs from me and Skyler!
ReplyDeleteCrystal
So glad thats it's almost over! Your always in our prayer! I keep forgetting to ask you if you know cami carver? She is about erin's age and got diagnosed about the same time. Her dad pat and my older sister hayley are friends.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! Won't that be the best christmas present ever?!
ReplyDeleteHooray! I was wondering about you guys yesterday. We are SO happy to hear that the cellulitis seems to be going down a little. Here's hoping everything goes well! Keep us updated.
ReplyDeleteYea!!! Cheers to the last round of chemo too! We are very excited the end is close! Best of luck for you!
ReplyDeleteYay for her last round of chemo! She is such a precious little doll!! I hope it all goes perfectly and she'll be home soon!
ReplyDeleteWe were planing to visit you guys, but it ended up being a long day and Cami was throwing up as we walked out of clinic. I figured we better get her home. We have to go back to clinic for Cami's PEG shots, will you guys still be there? I will text you to see if its an OK time. Cami has a surprise and a picture for Erin, she has been looking forward to seeing her again! Take care of yourselves.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you are on your last round of chemo. I hope that all goes well. I think that your family is absolutely amazing. I appreciate how you have shared your lives through your blog. It has really helped to strengthen my own testimony and has helped me to put things in perspective. Love you guys!!
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