April 12, 2006

The last few days have been the same old routine at the hospital. Leah has definitely been struck with cabin fever. I don't blame her. She feels pretty good, I think, so being hooked up to a machine during this beautiful weather is a big bummer.

Sunday was rather boring for her, but on Monday we did do a few more things and even went upstairs and sat on their roof area and watched helicopters fly in. She enjoyed that and it was beautiful out. My sister, Suz, visted Monday as did our friend, Lis. Yesterday we had massages, went to music therapy, the library and the roof again. Another highlight was the new Dora DVD that was dropped off for her. She had been waiting for it to come out. Although she is only four she is well aware of the release dates of different videos and books she is interested in. On Sunday when I was taking a shower I left her on the computer. Later that day I noticed she had put 11 items into my cart on the Gap.com. She even asked how to check out, but I think I better keep that a secret. The more we are out of the room, the faster the day goes. Her chemo. started on Monday/Tuesday night at 1 AM, so it will be done Wednesday/Thursday at 1 AM. This is a new chemo. drug- doxorubicin with carboplatin and we hope it really knocks her AFP for a loop. The faster it can do this, the better, before her cancer gets "smart" and is resistant to this chemo. drug.

Last night Chris came down with our friend, Andy. Chris stayed overnight with her and will leave today for Sioux City where he has Continuing Ed. on Thursday and Friday. Andy and I drove back quite late since he got a tour of the hospital and we had Leah out walking around for quite a while.

Thursday could prove to be quite interesting for me. We can get discharged in the morning. However, she has a CT scan scheduled for 2 PM. ARGH! At first they wanted us to come back on Friday for this, but I asked if they could please, please do it before then since we have been there so long. This is pretty much a baseline CT so they know what things look like post-surgery. One of the doctors did tell me that we should not be alarmed if they see something they have to go back in and get. I don't think that happens frequently, but it can happen. So, please pray for a clean scan with no surprises. While she is sedated they need to do another echocardiogram. We tried one on Monday but she never really could settle down. Dr. Loew was ready to send her back for another go at it yesterday when I explained to him that part of test involves them pressing directly on her incision where her zyphoid process is. He agreed not to try again, but I suggested if they really needed it that she could have it done while she was in CT. And, just to make it a bigger party, we are also paging surgery so they can cut her stitches for her chest tube then. I will be happy to have these things done, but am not looking forward to recovery time for her. She does not mix well with anesthesia, so this could be a fun end to our day. Considering Chris will be in Sioux City I will get to deal with this alone.

We are definitely looking forward to spending Easter at home. It hardly seems like Lent right now to us since we have been cooped up so long. Again, we ask for your continued prayers- for a clean CT scan, for her chemotherapy's effectiveness and for a dramatic, dramatic drop in her AFP.