The Day Before Infusion

Things went well for Katie today. She slept a little bit better last night with fewer coughing fits and she was able to get up at a reasonable hour this morning. She lounged and played all morning and then snuck in a quick two hour nap just before we got home from school. When we arrived, she was primed and ready to go. She played hard for the rest of the night - dancing, singing, running, climbing and bouncing. She eventually bounced into bed and finally fell asleep a little later than we would like, but much earlier than she had been going to bed for the last few days. An earlier bed time is a very good thing for her since tomorrow morning she and Amy are heading back down to Fletcher Allen for infusion.

She gets Cytarabine and a check-up tomorrow and gets to bring home three needles for shots at home over the following three days. I don't recall whether or not we mentioned this last week, but the Cytarabine is administered in four consecutive doses, twenty-four hours apart. So instead of traveling to the emergency room on Sunday to get the fourth shot, we give the shot at home. If we have to give one shot, why not save a few more trips and give all three shots? That is exactly what we did last week and will be doing again this week. The shots at home are relatively easy when compared with driving to the doctor's office, seeing the nurse, calming Katie down, seeing the doctor, calming Katie down, seeing the nurse again and finally getting the shot and calming Katie down. At home, the whole process is over in less than two minutes. She is not a big fan of the shots, but she doesn't cry any more at home than she does in the doctor's office.

Happily, her blood cell counts still appear to be OK so we are hoping that she won't need a transfusion tomorrow. We don't know what her counts are for sure because her blood wasn't tested this week, but she isn't displaying any of the symptoms of low blood counts. Her skin looks good, her energy is good and all other symptoms are absent. With luck, Amy and Katie will be home again before it gets dark tomorrow evening.