Another discharge complete! We got to come home yesterday evening. Her 5^th day of around the clock chemotherapy ended at 3:15 p.m. She was due for another lumbar puncture, and instead of having to go back today to do that, Bridget opted to do it AGAIN without the general anesthesia yesterday morning. It was not as smooth as the first time, as they had to do the puncture twice (the first time the fluid was coming out too slowly) and she seemed to feel a bit more pain, but she did really well. She had another good time on the Versed and we got some videos this time around. She sang some songs, told some jokes, discussed FRIENDS with the nurses (again), and then told us a very creative story about Mickey Mouse and his friend Donald TRUMP (not Duck, she couldn’t remember who Donald Duck was) shopping for clothes at the beach from an evil storeowner named Samsung (name derived from the t.v. in the treatment room).

After the chemo ended, we had to stick around for a few hours because she needed a blood transfusion. Her hemoglobin yesterday morning was only 7.3, which shocked us all. She should’ve been low energy but she was wound up the night before- singing and dancing for her night nurses. She had a busy day on Monday too…. she enjoyed a visit with four of her dance friends. They came in time to enjoy the great room with her where they had a slime making party (the hospital has the BEST slime making materials), played giant connect four, and then did nail-polish marbling on some wood pieces. Then they went to the teen room and played three different board games. It was so heartwarming to see her just hanging out with her friends and giggling and laughing! I had to hold back some happy, happy tears! Thank you to Leah and Maddie for making this happen (and for visiting twice in one week)! The day flew by and then Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jeff came to visit that evening! Uncle Chuck came earlier in the week as did her friend, Maci, and Uncle Kert, Aunt Cathy, and Cousins Kim and Alannah. Bridget loved having so many visitors. Even more importantly, we all loved that she felt well enough to entertain visitors.

Bridget was lucky and didn’t get the high fevers that can happen with the Cytarabine (Ara-C) chemotherapy. She did end up with some skin issues. Some redness and peeling mainly between her thumbs and pointer finger that hurt for a few days. There were also small areas on her feet/toes. Lastly, the day before discharge she developed a sore on her lip. The doctors aren’t sure if it is from the chemotherapy or if it is a cold sore. A culture came back negative, but given her dropping blood counts, the nurse called in a prescription today for an anti-viral med in case it is a cold sore. Since Bridget has never had a cold sore before and we don’t have a family history of cold sores, they think it is more than likely a skin reaction to the chemo, but thought it better to start the med just in case! Thus our collection of pill bottles increased again. We now have 21 different prescriptions in our arsenal.

G.I.-wise Bridget is doing well! She’s had a few bouts of nausea and she has a few mouth sores, but all to be expected and nothing severe.

So far (knock on wood- I don’t want to jinx it!), she is tolerating this regimen better than the first one. The plan is to go back on Friday for labs and a visit with the doctor. The team has warned us that she may need her first platelet transfusion on Friday as her platelets were already down to 83 yesterday morning and are still dropping. We shall see! A platelet transfusion is supposed to go quickly, unlike the two hours needed for red blood cells. Bridget’s nose is bleeding pretty regularly today, a sign of low platelets. I did give Bridget another injection this evening, to help her blood counts recover faster. Thank goodness I will only need to do that once more- after her next (FINAL!) cycle.

Right now, the plan is for Cycle 4 to start on Friday, August 30^th. This is a bit of a stretch goal though, as it is only 16 days after her last cycle started. The cycles should be 21 days apart, but evidence shows that there is a benefit to starting sooner, as soon as blood counts have recovered. Thus far we’ve started every cycle earlier than 21 days, even with the emergency admissions after each one, but we’ve never started as early as Day 16. The problem is that it is Labor Day weekend. They are trying to start her before the weekend, rather than afterwards. If she can’t make counts next Friday, I believe she’ll be delayed until the following Tuesday as they won’t admit her for chemo during a holiday weekend.

So, so far so good for Cycle 3. Let’s hope we finally get an uneventful recovery period! The nurses all told Bridget they’d see her for her next cycle and the little stinker joked, “I’m sure I’ll come visit through the ER in a few days.” We’ve really grown to love our nurses. They like to fight over who is Bridget’s favorite. They ask her to make them crafts and one nurse even made her a craft- a beautiful origami flower arrangement! Bridget continues to feel the love, both from within the hospital walls and outside of them, from right in our community to across the country!