Day -4 (Round 1)

Day -4  Finished! What a relief.

 I woke up early and started having a little anxiety. It was so hard being here at the Target House and not able to be in the room with Kayla. I know that she is in excellent hands. That's not the problem. It's not seeing with my own two eyes what is happening to her.  I called Denny and we were able to skype each other. Kayla was up! She was only on IV fluids (hooked up to her buddies). She was alert and fine... she just had to pee often. As to be expected!  Denny tried a few different spots in her room to set the computer up at and he finally found the perfect spot! Just at the foot of her bed in the little nook under her TV. And there is an outlet so the computer can stay charged! I spent my morning skyping in with them and it was heaven!!! It made me feel like I was right there with them which was so awesome. Before we knew it, the nurses came in to get her set up for her first round of Cisplatin, amifostine, and vincristine. I decided this was a good time to at least take pictures of my screen so I could share this with you who love her and follow her story so closely (and we THANK YOU for that!)

Starting off with a routine blood pressure check

Here they are getting the Cisplatin ready. Kayla was watching and asking all of her normal questions. I was watching wide eyed. SO glad I thought to grab my camera to at least have these pictures.

The nurses had Kayla lay flat for an hour to help with the medicine. She also received Benadryl, Adavan and Zofran. You can see that the medicine is covered by a black bag. This is to keep the sunlight off of it.

Daddy was reading a story to Kayla to help pass the time

Other then her having to pee a lot, it took a while before we saw the medicine start to take effect.  It didn't take too long for that to happen!  She was really tired and zoned out.  She was wobbly when walking and was hallucinating a lot. I shouldn't say was, because she still is! She saw Denny's  ear phone cords that go to his phone while we were talking and thought they were snakes! She said, be careful because they will bite you. She yells at Anthony and tells him to stop playing on Dad's phone (Anthony isn't there!) As funny as it is, we can't wait for this to go away. She hasn't really eaten much at all today and when she did, it came right back up. There were times she was just dry heaving. We are still working on finding the perfect combo to help her stomach settle down.

It was so wonderful skyping this morning. I called it mommy medicine! It was powerful and fulfilling. Anthony and I drove down and Denny and I swapped. He was able to have a nice lunch in the cafeteria with his boy. :)  Kayla and I had a few trips to the bathroom. She has to go at least once an hour.

Kayla and I walked down the hall to the front to meed Dad and AJ at the "fishbowl" so they could chat. Well, there were no walkie-talkies! The woman at the nurses station said sometimes they are there and sometimes they aren't. We were going to try and just use the phone at the front desk, but the smell of the mask was making Kayla go a little crazy. She couldn't handle it. Back to her room we went. She was able to call out to the fishbowl from her room phone though! that was good. They had a lovely chat about nothing really. We kept it short and sweet so she could try and get some rest.

For the most part, Kayla did good today. She was able to get up a little. We were SO happy when the time was up and they were able to end this cycle. We just hope and pray tomorrow is a little easier. I pray she can keep something down. Even if it's just broth!

Not to any ones surprise, but Denny proved once again to be such a rockstar dad! The nurses love him. He is on top of everything and hanging in there. I keep offering help or to swap and he won't have it. He swears he is doing great. I know I would be able to tell if he wasn't and he really seems to be... honestly! :)

I took this picture right before I left. She was so much more lucid.  Once I left the loopy Kayla kicked into high gear. Some of her funny Kayla-isms:
" Dad, be QUIET! Even dogs can hear you"
"Get off your phone AJ"
"I'm gonna let Anthony get a puppy, it's ok..........."
"OMG! Did you see that?" what? "I just saw Bigfoot!!!"

Tonight,  I hope and pray that Denny and Kayla get a little rest.  My brain is on overload.  It's all a lot to take in. She is doing good though! She isn't having any abnormal reactions. That is a blessing to be thankful for! 

Keep up the prayers our prayer warriors..... so far they are helping!!!!