Interim Maintenance Day 20: Try, Try Again

Wow! I am way behind in my posts. Some quick catch up first.

Earlier this month we took part in the Run Till You Snowdrop treadmill run for our wonderful Snowdrop Foundation. It was a a 24 hour treadmill run/relay. We were able to have so much support that we put together a 12 hour team with 2 virtual runners. We have to thank each of our participants. With all of the runners and donations, the Foundation was able to raise over $10,000 for Children’s hospital! In addition to that, we had A LOT of fun! It is so nice to have so much support from other “cancer” families. We truly love them and are so grateful to the Snowdrop family for inviting us in.

After Scarlett’s first admission, we planned to have a nice weekend together. It was our only weekend during the month of December to be together as a family of five. Unfortunately, Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from Brock saying that Scarlett had a fever of 102. That means automatic hospital admission. Her doctor was so sympathetic and said if her ANC was above 500, he would consider sending her home for the night. It was 320. So in to hospital we went. She only had the one documented fever, her cultures all came back negative and her ANC went up to 520 on Saturday. Dr. B was very supportive of our medical background and our understanding of the significance of an infection. But he also understood that she had been fighting a cold all week. So he let us take her home with the understanding that if she declined at all or her cultures showed any growth, we would have to rush her back. Luckily, she had no more fevers for the rest of the week.

She was scheduled for re admission on Wednesday but her counts were too low yet. So on Friday, she was finally ready to go back. She did not have an LP this week so she started with 6 hours of fluid hydration. The methotrexate is then run over 23 hours. Blood samples are taken at measured intervals following the infusion to make sure that her body is clearing the methotrexate and that her kidneys are not showing any signs of damage. This is followed by 72 hours of hydration to make sure it’s all gone with 4 more doses of chemo throughout. She did a great job clearing it and it didn’t seem to affect her quite so much this time. She still doesn’t eat much (actually nothing for two days now) but she will make up for it when she gets home. She has been eating so many cheese sandwiches that we went through an entire loaf of bread in one day!

Scarlett’s next admission is scheduled for January 1. I joked with Brock that we would probably have our deductible met the first day of the new year. I didn’t think I would actually be right! Oh, well. We will get that out of the way. She has been taking a little longer to recover between cycles so we will just try, try again.

Tonight, she was scheduled to be discharged at 6pm (as soon as the 72 hour hydration was done). Unfortunately, her hemoglobin came back low today so she had to have a blood transfusion before she could leave. That takes about three hours so she should leave around 10:30 now. While she stayed, some carolers came to sing to the children. She got a new hat from them and really enjoyed the songs. They asked for requests so Brock asked for “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas”. They didn’t know that song.

We are very blessed to have the possibility of having our little family together for Christmas. That is all I can hope for right now. We look forward to snuggling in our jammies, drinking hot cocoa, watching movies, and opening a few presents. And maybe holding a new baby!