Super TrooperWell, this time no news is not great news, but because I've been such a poor blogger the circle has completed and we are back in the business of being good!
Last Friday evening Gianni popped up with a fever and emesis (thats the "official" word for puke). We had just been told that she was neutrapenic so this meant an automatic admission and at least a 72 hour stay at the hospital. . . we had just got home from the hospital(!) (big bummer). We were caught a bit off guard so I bundled her up and drove to the emergency room while Tony corralled Bruno through dinner, bath, and bed.
Gianni and I went through the ER boogie - no fun, lots of pokes, prods, "pictures" (i.e. x-rays) - and settled down to wait for our room. Tony ran interference and called all the Packard decision makers to ensure that his girls were properly attended to.
We finally got a room around 2 am and settled in for our unplanned admission. We were "in" until the following Tuesday. The good news was we had the room to ourselves for 2 of the 4 nights. I'm not superstitious or I'd think that I had jinxed us - but we have spent every official and some "unofficial" (e.g., St. Patrick's Day) at LPCH . . . lets hope that missing St. Patty's Day gives us a credit against Easter!
She never did spike another fever or develop and infection but the "emesis" was pretty regular and her counts were slow in coming back up; thats why they made us stay the extra day and a half. Over the course of her stay she received two transfusions, two Easter bunnies, two re-insertions of the NG tube, and her new best friend - Sponge "Frank" Square Pants. Sponge Frank is a little stuffed spongebob toy named for the attendant who wheeled us (together in the same teeny tiny bed) from the ER to 2N.
Tony and I took Gianni to clinic yesterday (Thurs) - she got her chemo bump and we got the good news that her counts were high enough to forgo the nightly shot (what a relief!).
The next milestones are her MRI (next Tuesday) and then Cycle 5 starts April 2nd. Her doctors are confident that she will be strong thru the standard 6 cycles and even hopeful that we'll be able to get her thru all 8. Depending on the results of her hearing test next week they may cut out even more of the chemo which would make cycle 5 a bit easier on her.
Now that we are home, she is running amok, and we are looking forward to a quiet weekend.
We appreciate all your thought s and prayers!
