Not the Best of Days

(Brighting the place up, Christi painted this on her window at CHOP - Thanks, Colleen for lending us your paints!)

I had hoped that Christi would have joined Shayla and I at school sometime today, but her headache persisted as did her eye pain. She also has a very sore throat and mouth from nasty mouth sores due to the high dose chemo. Shayne gave her some dilaudid (narcotic for pain) today.

She's been very tired; we also assumed she was needing a transfusion or two so Shayne took her to the hospital this afternoon to get her blood drawn. Sure enough, she needed both blood and platelets. Boy was that chemo harsh! Tomorrow morning, I will take her to the hospital to get her blood products which were ordered tonight. I hope it makes her feel better and perks her up some. The blood is to run for 4 1/2 hours and the platelets should take about an hour. I've packed lots of things to do and I pray she'll feel up to it.

Finding out that Mrs. Smith would postpone the class valentine exchange until a later date was the sweetest thing! (Thanks, Caroline!!) She is a Saint realizing how important this valentine party is to Christi.

The most stressful part of the evening was when Christi learned she had to start getting nightly shots again. She told Shayne, "No, remember I'm getting transfusions tomorrow." Shayne explained that was for her low hemigloban and platelets, not for her very low white count (1.9 white / ANC of a mere 200 - yikes!! The ability to fight infection is nill!) The little inquisitive mind said, "I just don't get it. Why didn't scientists figure out how to do white blood transfusions first? That is the most dangerous, not blood or platelets!" Things have changed now that we're trying to rationalize cancer care with an 8 1/2 year old, instead of the little 5 year old she used to be!!

She asked Shayne if it was okay to scream when he gave her the shot and he assured her it was. Well, she screamed a blood curling scream during the entire injection. (The shots are HUGE.) Later, Christi sobbed into my shoulder, "I'd rather have ten small ones instead of five larger ones." (Not realizing it wasn't an option and that actually ten (large) shots were ordered for her by the doc, but due to the cost and hoping she doesn't need them, we just got five and we'll pray we only need five to get her ANC back up!)

Thanks to the wonderful blessing of family, Shayla's 7th birthday party is all planned for Sunday - her real birth date too! (She does like to say, "Abraham Lincoln was born on my birthday. hee hee!) I am a bit worried about Christi's ANC and other issues, but they know we may cancel at the last minute. Meanwhile, we'll pray!