She did it! She is totally done with Carboplatin and Doxorubicin!!!!!!
Before I talk much about yesterday, I have to start with this gift: This is our daughter this morning (yes, about 14 hours after she finished chemotherapy, and about 10 minutes after she threw up)
Yesterday started off with it snowing. I had been complaining about how for every first day of each round it was either icy or snowing, and then my coworker Rich said something that was pretty neat. He said that Snow, like all precipitation, but especially snow, is cleansing. It pulls the impurities out of the air, and is a brilliant symbol of cleaning away and getting a fresh start. Seems fitting for getting our little girl cured :-) Now, this doesn't mean that I was excited for driving in DC during the snow... this crazy thing happens in maryland where precipitation seems to make the dear people here to entirely forget what all these controls in front of them (brake, gas, steering wheel, blinkers, etc) do, and go careening off everywhere. BUT we made it there just fine. We did have a rather ridiculous experience at Dunkin Donuts as we were attempting to get us breakfast (which we threw out most of) and the Nurses some bagels and donuts (because, quite frankly, they're incredible) but I won't go into details because I'm in a great mood at the moment!
First we got her port accessed, and we got to talk with her oncologists about the "what's next" plan. As we are planning on this being the last round of treatment, we will wait 26 days to do her MRI and MIBG scans. Assuming those come back as desired, we'll be getting Cambria's port out 1-2 weeks after. At that point we'll go in every 3 months for MRI's for the first year, and then modify it to every 6 months and then just be done! We'll be able to do some lifting of the quarantine after her counts recover from this round of treatment, and she'll be able to play with other kiddos and be totally normal once her port is removed. So we're planning on having some sort of shindig celebrating return to normal kid life when we get that port out of her (no more cyborg baby!)
Her ANC had dropped quite a bit from last week, but it was still *great*! Her hemoglobin and platelets were low, but totally passable, so we were off to the pods for her last long day of chemo!
Thankfully, we got all set up in the pod not long before Cambria's first nap time (oh! That's one glorious development of the last few weeks - Cambria is on a consistent schedule! There are certain times where we know she will be tired and hungry - WIN!!!!) So while we waited for the chemo to be made Cambria was passed OUT (and a rocking a little Freddie Mercury style)
Then Gaye and I switched so Cambria napped on her Maz for awhile while Derek and I played cards.
Finally the Carboplatin was all ready for her, so I snatched up our little girl and we got started! She napped through that first hour, but around the start of the Etoposide little girl woke up and was ready for a bottle and some playtime :-)
Thankfully, once it was time for the doxorubicin (the nasty stuff) it was time for another nap. She slept right on through, and woke up during the 2 hours of fluids that follows. We were out of there by 3:30! That's the earliest we've been done on one of the long days throughout this process!
Then it was time to face the ride home (which the last 2 times was where she started to feel sick from the chemo, so we were nervous) She started crying when we got into the neighborhood and gagging a little, but we got this lightup mirror thing for Christmas, and it totally distracted her enough to be happy when we got home. (As an aside, this has saved us from quite a few meltdowns - Magic Mirror)
She made it until 6:15, which was pretty good... but she did get sick a few times. When she first woke up though, she was a super happy kiddo:
We call this one chemo schmemo
The rest of the evening was a bit rough, as she had to keep laying back to keep from being sick, but she was really tired of being held, and she wanted to go play... so the night consisted of us holding up a variety of her toys and letting her play while she was laying down - thing is she got sick of each of them very quickly as this was *way* less fun than just letting her play on her own.
Finally it was bed time. She was really fighting sleep, but she was so very tired. She didn't eat any of her bottle, so she was hungry but too nauseous to want any. It took a good 30 minutes, but Derek was able to get her to fall asleep, and then sleeping in her room, on her mattress, by herself. So Mommy and Daddy got to sleep in our own bed that night. Unfortunately Derek didn't sleep well... but Cambria slept the whole night through, from 8:30 until 5:30. WAHOOO!!!!! And she woke up SO happy this morning! She smiled and did full body wiggles when I came into her room to get her. She got her medicine and a diaper change, and actually cried for more after her first 4 ounces this morning... then after she drank the next 2 she was so happy, I decided to take a picture:
thing is, while I was checking to see if the picture came out, little girl projectile vomited a good 3 ounces of her breakfast back at me. :-/
But even then, she was in a really good mood! It was right after this that I took the video at the start of this entry. She is only now starting to get hungry again, so we'll see how much she keeps down. Then this afternoon we're off to day 2 - but thankfully that's only the Etoposide (which she usually isn't sick after)
The only thing is that the Doxo effected her for a few days last time (especially in the car) so please pray that she can keep her food down and stay hydrated!
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