Go Pats!!

For the past 2 Fridays, everyone at the pediatric cancer center at the Yawkey Center has dressed in Patriots shirts in support of the home team. Our nurse Suzanne says that her shirt belongs to her son, that she doesn't own a Pats shirt, but we wonder about that since it fits her perfectly. Today we arrived at around 9 am, stopped briefly at the Cancer Resource Room for coffee and hot chocolate (available on Fridays), checked in and waited a few minutes for Kathy to take vitals, let Madeline pick a room (room 5 with a Disney theme is her favorite), and start our day there. Suzanne accessed her port (I am dismissed at this point and allowed back in when its done about 15 minutes later) , set her up with an IV saline that helps curb the effects of the methotextrate and started her on Zophran for nausea. Mary Jo came in to give her a quick physical to make sure the drugs aren't doing anything unwarranted, let us know the results of her blood draw and what we can expect in the coming weeks.

The drugs she will receive in this part of her protocol are based on her blood counts. They don't want her white cell count to go too low, so if her white count is really low, they'll give her less drugs, and if it's at a higher level, they will escalate the drugs. Madeline's white count was high enough to escalate the methotextrate amount.

Today Suzanne brought in from ConKerr Cancer a bunch of brightly colored pillowcases, donated to the cancer center so the kids here (and in other pediatric cancer hospitals) will have something other than white sheets on their beds. Madeline picked out a bright green one with pink highlights and an evergreen edge (it was my favorite too). She was visited by the acupuncturist who gave her a nausea acupressure point and later, a massage therapist who gave her a foot massage and whose son is in Julia's class at school. Since their introduction a few weeks ago, foot massages have been on both kids nightly venues.

Even on a day where there really isn't much to do, we didn't get home until 2:30. Juliet brought Buttercup back at 4, and I was able to get out for a walk/jog on this unexpectedly beautiful, sunny afternoon. Julia just called moments ago with the query "what are we having for dinner, because Sarah is having...." suffice to say, she chose Kim's home-made mac n' cheese to leftovers.

This last week was pretty tough and Madeline did not make it to school. When you feel nauseous and head-achy standing up, its really hard not to opt for a comfy couch at home. Hopefully, next week she will feel a little better. Have a great weekend. Love, Chris