Just a quick update to let everyone know that Brianne handled all of her medications well yesterday. We were in the POTC for 7.5 hours for everything. Before leaving Bri was having stool races with the nurses in the hallways :)

Brianne also updated her Beads of Courage while we were in the POTC yesterday.

I woke Bri up at 10:00 p.m. to take her oral chemo (it has to be on an empty stomach). She threw up 5 minutes later. We got her back to sleep and I woke her up again at midnight to try the chemo again. The second time was a charm.

Her home health nurse came today to give Brianne her chemo injection. She is very nice and Brianne seemed to be really comfortable around her. She will be here tomorrow morning and Monday. 

Other than the stomach issue last night, she has felt pretty good. I will give her Zofran before she goes to sleep tonight to hopefully avoid the same situation we had last night. 

Brianne's counts were a little too low for her to start the second part of Delayed Intensification on Tuesday. Her ANC was 580, and it needed to be above 750. Today her ANC was up to 950, so she will start this phase tomorrow. I expect tomorrow to be a very long day. We will be in the POTC at 7:00 a.m. She will have to be put to sleep for her IT methotrexate. From what I hear, the new medication, cyclophosphamide, is very hard on the bladder and requires a lot of hydration to get it out of her system quickly. I am expecting one hour of hydration before chemo and four hours of hydration afterward. She will also be getting her first dose of Ara-C tomorrow. She needs this medication for four days in a row through injections, so we will be having home health come to our house to administer the chemo. She will have a small break and then have four more days of Ara-C. Lastly, she will be starting a new oral chemo, 6TG, that she will be taking every night for four weeks. 

If you lost count...that is 4 different types of chemo tomorrow. The next month should be the most challenging on Brianne's body, but we are praying that she will sail through this round as well as she has the previous.

Happy Friday everyone.  Brianne had a rough start to her week, but is ending it on a good note.  We spent most of last weekend laying around.  Finally on Monday she started to regain some energy.  She also woke up Monday with a small bald spot on top of her head.  Since then she has lost a good portion of her hair again and it is still falling out.  

Brianne's bald spot :)

Tuesday morning we went to the clinic for her count check.  Brianne's counts stayed pretty much the same as they were the week before.  Her ANC was 620, hemoglobin 13.4, and platelets 122,000.  Because steroids can falsely elevate ANC levels we are treating Brianne as if she is neutropenic.  Tuesday evening Brianne was in complete agony complaining of groin pain.  After the pain medication did not help for a half an hour we called the doctor and they suggested that we bring her to the ER.  Four hours and an x-ray later we were told that she was constipated and that can cause shooting pain down her legs.  Constipation is one of the number one side effects of the chemotherapy Vincristine that she has been having weekly.  

Wednesday Brianne woke up with horrible knee pain.  Unfortunately, many kids develop a lot of pain once they stop taking steroids.  Brianne's energy was gone the rest of the day on Wednesday.

Thursday Brianne woke up feeling much better.  We went to The Disney Store in the morning to pick out a gift for her friend Grace's Make a Wish Princess Tea Party.  As soon as the manager found out what we were shopping for she let Brianne pick out a special doll for herself and Grace along with reusable bags to help make their day more special.  We went to the princess party in the afternoon where Brianne was able to have her face painted, get several balloon animals, and have a tea party with the princesses.  She can't wait to hear how Grace's trip to Disneyland goes.  

Brianne and her friend Grace with their dolls that the manager gave them from The Disney Store

Today we ran some errands and started working on Brianne's Halloween costume.  She wants to be Taylor Swift this year.  I just got a call from Bridget from Hope Kids to let me know that a boutique owner saw Brianne at the last Hope Kids event and would like to design a dress for her.  Brianne is so excited.  Please pray that she feels well enough to go to the event on October 13th to show off the dress.  

We will be back in the clinic on Monday morning to clear Brianne for the next round of treatment.  She needs an ANC of 750 and platelets of 75,000 to clear.  

We hope everyone has a great weekend :)