Monday, February 25, 2008

Oh My! What a Day.

We left our house at 7am this morning, arrived at Fletcher Allen by 9:15 and didn't leave the hospital again until 4:30 this afternoon. We found out all sorts of information today, including the fact that a research facility that has been testing Katie's early marrow and blood samples has found what they believe are monoblasts, a symptom of AMoL, not ALL. This new information has changed how Katie's chemotherapy will be handled in the future. She will now be receiving a combination of drugs and treatments designed to kill off both ALL and AML.

Today was the first day of this new attack on Katie's leukemia. She received no fewer than 4 different forms of chemotherapy drugs today. She received 1 via a lumbar puncture and 3 via her new port. The port worked like a charm even though Katie screamed like a banshee as they prepared to access her port. She screamed as they wiped the site with alcohol, and continued screaming as they accessed the port but the screaming never intensified as the needle went in. I don't think she felt a thing, she just didn't want anyone near her "boo boo".

Everything just seemed to take forever as we waited for one fluid or another to drain from the IV bag into her little body. We are currently visiting with Grandpa Art and Grandma Kathy, preparing for our trip home. I don't think I'll have a hard time falling asleep tonight.

I'll give a longer update when we get home.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi:My heart aches that sweet Katie has to go through so much--but then we have to remember that this is all life-saving, which makes it a bit easier to handle(except for Katie-she can't understand that). I continue to think positive thought and send my love to you all, Suzanne.