September 5 - Day 16

It's been a quiet week over here as you may have noticed. We had a good weekend at home and everything went smooth - no hospital trips and Evelyn stayed healthy. We had to return on Monday and stay over for Evelyn to be checked over, pick up more medications and be discharged in the morning. Blood was also taken that morning - since she no longer has an IV blood is drawn by a quick finger poke. Now that we are discharged and considered 'outpatients' every chemo treatment or procedure she gets will be done in the clinic at the hospital. Tuesday morning we met with our clinic nurse and she showed us where and what will all be done every time Evelyn comes in for treatment.

Back in the hospital Monday night - Evelyn trying to administer her own meds :)

After that we were sent home until Thursday. On Wednesday Charlotte decided things weren't exciting enough - she pulled a bowl of hot water off the counter splashing onto her hand and stomach. So off to emerge we went. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing serious and she's back to normal today :). 

 

This morning we were up early and out the door by 7:00am to make it to the hospital by 8:00am. First on the agenda was blood work so we headed to the finger poke lab. Evelyn did really well and we were in and out in no time. Next we headed up to the clinic to hear results and wait our turn to get her lumbar puncture and chemo.

Getting comfortable in the clinic 

 Evelyn got her height and weight checked; her port needle inserted and IV hooked up. After her check up the doctor prescribed her another medication for thrush in her mouth - another one to add to the list :). There the nurses informed us Evelyn's platelets were low - if they are below 50 they can't do the procedure - Evelyn's were 48 - so she had to get platelets before going in for her lumbar puncture. Her 'neuts' were also very low - this tells us where her immune system is sitting - we need to be very careful taking Evelyn out in large crowds, public places or around sick people as she can very easily pick up germs and get sick. Within the hour they were ready for us and we walked over to the operating room. Evelyn got sedated and in 15 minutes Evelyn was finished and sleeping in recovery.

Waiting for her to wake up :)

Wide awake now

Evelyn received her chemo through her IV while she was still sleeping so when she woke up the nurse de-accessed her port needle and we were free to go home.

Evelyn seemed a little out of sorts on the way home but nothing too out of the ordinary. As soon as we walked in the door of our house Evelyn threw up causing her NG tube in her nose to come out. We called the hospital and they told us we had to come back to put the NG tube back in in order for her medications to stay on track. We packed a few bags and Evelyn back into the car and headed back to the hospital. 

Not feeling so good

NG tube put back in and ready for a nap. Evelyn was also given an anti-nausea medication so we hung around the hospital for about an hour just in case she started throwing up and the NG tube come out again. 

We finally got home around 4:00pm - it was a long day with a sick baby but the medication kicked in and Evelyn was back to her normal self by dinnertime. 

Over the course of the last day or so we have noticed Evelyn's hair falling out quite a bit; the nurses suggested cutting it shorter for now so its not so irritating to her - it's itchy falling out and can get caught in her mouth and hands. Here are a few pictures of the new (temporary) do :).

A keepsake :)

The plan is to be home for the next week then back to the clinic for another chemo treatment on Thursday. We hope the Lord continues to keep Evelyn in His care. Times like these can be full of anxiety - days of procedures and trying to keep her as healthy as possible at home. 

Lindsey and Stephen 

Psalm 94:19 "When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy."