We are home now from the hospital, we got home last night. It was SO nice to spend the night in our own house, with no-one walking into our room in the middle of the night for vitals. Hannah had a good nights sleep, and slept until 11am this morning! We believe the radiation fatigue is now kicking in, like they told us it would, and that it will most likely last 10-14 days. She appears very tired during the day. Last night she had two helpings of noodles for dinner, but today she ate very little, even ice cream!
We expect that her blood levels are currently on their way down. Hannah was receiving Etoposide and Cisplatinum for this round of her chemotherapy. Cisplatinum is a very hard drug for your body to withstand, albeit a very good drug for killing the cancer cells. With this drug, her blood counts are expected to begin their fall at day 10 after the last dosage and nadir occurs (blood level lowest points) between day 14 and 23 following chemo. What that means is that her counts (her white blood cells, her hemoglobin, her hematocrit, her neutrophils (which you need to fight infection) and her platelets are all on their way down. We will go into the clinic on Friday for a blood check and appointment with our oncologist. We are hoping that Hannah's levels are good enough so that she can participate in her first communion on Saturday. We have her dress altered, her flowers ordered and we're all set, just awaiting those blood levels. Everyone keep your fingers crossed.
It is so nice to be home and hear her squealing while playing Wii with her sister. The neuropathy she was experiencing while in the hospital is nearly gone, she is almost back to what she was pre-chemo. She can walk by herself again-both inside and out (still shaky on uneven surfaces), go to the bathroom by herself and dress herself (although she doesn't want to). She is not stable enough to run, and her left hand remains shaky, more so than pre-chemo.
We want to thank everyone for the wonderful dinners we have been receiving. Do you people eat like this all the time? We are really being spoiled. It is such a tremendous help to have dinners ready for us, as we continue to work through this maze we're in. Thank you so much!
xoxo
Kim
5 comments:
Hi Hannie: Boy, the best phone call we could have gotten from you is that you were going to go home on Tuesday!!!! It must have been great sleeping in your own bed with all of your stuffed animal friends and nobody bothering you. I guess it was pretty great since you slept until 11:00 the next morning.
Glad to hear you are feeling better.
We miss you---LOTS!!!!
Love you,
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Grampa and Gramma
Hi Hannah! I'm so glad to hear you're home! Best of luck to you on your first communion, I will be thinking of you lots and lots!
Have a great day and try and at least eat some ice cream today....this will be the only time in your life that your mommy wants you to eat as much ice cream as you can! ; )
Love you lots and lots!
Angela from Illinois
Hi Hannah, We are glad you home. The Yankees need some help. We have to cheer them on. We hope you have a nice communion. We are glad you guys are getting some nice dinners. You live in a great community. We are praying for you everyday,
Love Sue and Tom
hi Hannah!
I am SO proud of you for riding that horse !! Must have been fun. I started riding when I was about your age. If I could figure out how to post a picture in the blog I would send you pics of my horses.
I hope you are feeling better - you are much braver than I could ever be !!!! love, Wendy a FOAL
Dear Hannah,
I hope you are feeling strong. You are a very brave little girl. Neuropathy really stinks. It is no fun at all. I am glad you are feeling better. Hopefully they will get you just the right chemo and you can breeze through the rest of the treatments.
Fondly,
Mrs. Imbriano
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