Chemo Round 2

Today Ashlynn had her second Chemo treatment.  Today her treatment was very short, she only needed 1 of the chemo drugs, and it only takes 1 minute to inject.  We were at the clinic for about 3 hours this morning.  When we arrived we played in the playroom for a while.  Next she had her port accesses.  Nurse Eva was nice enough to take some pictures for us.  Ashlynn did an awesome job lying still was Kami did the port access.  Then they drew Ashlynn’s blood to test her counts.  Her blood counts were lower today than we would like.  Some of the chemo drugs cannot be given when her blood counts are lowered, but today’s drug does not lower blood counts so she was able to receive her scheduled treatment.  He treatment went perfectly, and this chemo drug doesn’t have any side effects! 

We will watch Ashlynn closely over the weekend keeping an eye on how she’s feeling.  We also have to watch for fever.  If she gets a fever she will have to be admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics.  Monday the visiting nurses will come to our house to draw Ashlynn’s blood again.  If her could have dropped anymore we will have to go back to the clinic for a blood transfusion.  We are hoping this won’t be needed, and her counts will be going up by Monday!

Ashlynn during her infusion.

7-27-2011 Special Delivery

July 27th at 1:07 pm my beautiful niece was born!  She weighed in at 6lbs 13 oz, and was 20.25 inches long.  She was born with a full head of black hair.  She spent her first 2 days as 'Baby' while Chris and Danica decided on the perfect name for her.  Finally last night a decision was made.  She was named Evianna Jo.  I think the name is fitting for this sweet little girl! I am so looking forward to spending time with her. It will be very fun for Ashlynn to have a cousin so close in age. Hopefully over the weekend we will have a chance to introduce Evianna and Ashlynn.  I have a feeling Ashlynn might be a little jealous of a new baby getting lots of attention.

Proud Nana!

Welcome to the world sweet girl!

Chemo Round 1

Ashlynn had her first Chemo treatment on Friday morning.  We stayed at camp on Thursday night because we had to be there at 8 am.   The first thing we did when we got there was learn about all of the different side effect there could be from the chemo.  Most of them do not happen very often, and young children typically handle the treatment better then older kids and Adults.  Luckily for us Ashlynn doesn’t realize that all this medicine  is ‘supposed’ to make her feel yucky, so there is no head games involved with how she is feeling.  After learning about all of the what ifs we moved on to treatment.  The first step in treatment was accessing her port.  This went perfectly.  We apply a cream to the area before we leave home, and by the time Nurse Eva accessed her port Ashlynn couldn’t feel it at all.  The hardest part was getting her to lie still for the needle.  After the port was accessed they started IV fluid, and anti nausea medicine.  We had to wait to start the chemo until Ashlynn’s  urine had a specific gravity of 110. This took a few hours and Ashlynn even took a little nap while we waited.  Ashlynn needs to be very well hydrated to receive one of they types of chemo because it irritates the bladder.  Around 11 we actually started the chemo.  2 of the 3 medications took about a minute each of infuse, and the other took about a hour.  Ashlynn had a good time in the playroom while she was getting her treatment.

Enjoying the playroom!

So happy.

Trying really hard to stand up!

Loving her Baby

Trying to chew through her IV

After she finished the chemo we moved up to the CHaD wing to spend the night.  4 hours and 8 hours after her treatment she needed to get a medication that helps with the bladder irritation.  Since this was her first treatment and it was going to be such a long day we decided it was best to spend the night.  During her treatment and through the night Ashlynn did great.  Her appetite was slightly reduced, and she was mildly cranky, but nothing too bad.  By this morning she was back to her normal happy, hungry self.  She enjoyed a nice big pancake for breakfast.  She was so happy we even stopped at camp for a quick swim on the way home!  We will count our blessings again- Thank goodness for an easygoing kid!

A Fun Weekend!

Well I'm a little behind on posting so I decided I would just to one entry for all of the fun things we did last weekend.  We did our best to have an awesome time because it was our last weekend without Chemo for quite some time.  We went up to Camp to have some fun playing in the water!  Ashlynn is certainly a water baby.  She will spend as much time in the lake as she can.  Usually Mommy is tired of swimming before she is.  After all of her swimming she had worked up and appetite so Grammy gave her a blueberry pancake, which she loved almost as much as she loved the lake!  We brought Remi up to camp with us so Garrett could teach him how to swim.  He caught on pretty quickly, and had a blast chasing the tennis ball in the water.

After the lake Ashlynn & Remi napped all the way home, then we went to Nana's house, and you'll never guess what we did over there.... Yep- more swimming!  Nana and Auntie Danica were nice enough to bring Ashlynn in the pool so I could have a little break! By the time we got home that evening we were both exhausted!  I think she slept a full 12 hours!

Sunday morning Ashlynn was not so excited about the yogurt that I offered her for breakfast.  I turned my back for 1 second and she decided to dump it on her head.....  So then it was bath time

And I can't forget- Our new kitten-  The kitten's name is Meow Kitty!  Her and the dogs have settled in quite nicely!

Medical Update

Last week we spent 2 days at DHMC with Ashlynn.  On Tuesday she had her Chemo Port installed.  This port allows the vein access without  having to have an IV.  The install for the port went well!  Ashlynn had to go under anesthesia again, but woke up very happy this time.  The port is located on left side of her chest, and is a little smaller than a bottle cap.  While we at Ashlynn's appointment we were able to meet with Dr. Chaffee to discuss Ashlynn's treatment plan.  We learned that before the removal of the tumor she would have been at Stage 3.  During the surgery they were able to remove all of her tumor with a large enough negative margin (area around the tumor with no cancer) and her Lymph nodes had no cancer. this moves her from Stage 3 to Low Risk!

On Friday we went back to DHMC for some more testing to make sure there is no other cancer in Ashlynn.  she had a CT, Bone Scan, and had some Bone Marrow taken.  While she was under anesthesia they drained some more Lymph Fluid from the incisions where her tumor was removed.  Dr. Latchaw only drain 15cc this time, and is hoping we will not have to drain the incision again. When we left DHMC on Friday we already had received the results of her CT and Bone Scan.  Both of those tests showed no signs of cancer.  Monday afternoon we got a call from Dr. Chaffee saying there was no cancer in her bone Marrow! 

Ashlynn is cancer free, and we will start her 46 week chemo treatment on Friday.  Chemo will be done as well to help decrease the chances of other tumors.  The treatments are every week for the first 13 weeks, and then we will have breaks mixed in every few weeks.  The 1, 4, 7, & 10th treatments will be the most difficult treatments because she will have all 3 of the chemo drugs infused on those treatments.  We will be staying overnight this week to see how she does with the first treatment.  We are hoping the side effects are mild.  I'm sure with Ashlynn's great attitude she will deal with everything well, she is such a good sport! 

Overall it's going to be a long year, with time out of work, and LOTS of driving, but all worth it to have a healthy Ashlynn!

Surgery Day

Wednesday around 10:30 we headed over to DHMC for Ashlynn’s surgery.  We knew it was going to be a long day, so we asked Grammy and Nana to come with us.  They helped us stay busy through out the day so we didn’t go crazy.  Ashlynn’s surgery got started 2 hours late because the surgery before her ran late.  She was a trooper considering she wasn’t allowed to have anything to eat or drink all day.   We played in the playroom while we were waiting for her surgery.  Ashlynn had fun playing with all of the wooden food, and she especially like playing with the dolls.  This is a new interest for her.  Ashlynn also got to go for a ride in a wagon to keep her from getting bored, she thought this was just great, and was saying “Hi” to every person we walked by.  Finally it was time to get surgery started.  I brought her back to the OR and got to hold her while she was put under Anastasia, then I had to leave.  She did such a good job, and didn’t even act scared.  Surgery took about 4 and a half hours.  (Way too long for a nervous Momma!!).  Everything went really well!  Ashlynn had an amazing recovery.  When we arrived in her recovery room in the CHaD wing we were greeted with a special pillow and a cat stuffed animal for Ashlynn.  We decided we should name the cat Chad after our new friends at the hospital.  They really know how to make the kids comfortable there.  Nana also got Ashlynn a doll from the gift shop, she had her Hippo from Uncle Jordan and Jess, and our friends Abby, Matt, and Brody sent Ashlynn a Monkey- I guess she’s a little spoiled-But as Daddy says, anything for his Ashlynn.  Even right after surgery Ashlynn was doing remarkably well.  She sat with me and had a bottle, and then went to bed.   I stayed over night with her, and Garrett went back to David’s House to get some rest.  The team at CHaD was beyond amazing!  Her stay in the hospital was less than 24 hours.  We are so thankful that her team at CHaD was able to remove Ashlynn’s tumor, and will be following her with preventative treatment going forward.  It is worth the 2 hour drive and then some to have a medical team that knows how to treat children!

   

Chad the Cat!

Ashlynn in the ultimate baby jail.

Uncle Chris and his family came up to visit!

David's House

We arrived at David’s House on Monday July 4^th.  David’s House is located right next to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH.  It is a large house that families that have children undergoing treatments at the hospital can stay at so they can be close by and not have to spend a fortune on hotel stay. We are very grateful for David’s House, and all that they did to make our stay more comfortable, and especially everything they did for Ashlynn.  When we arrived at David’s house we were shown to our room- the CAT room. When they say CAT room, they really mean a room full of CATS.  Garrett doesn’t like cats all that much so I knew we were in for an Interesting week.  There were more cat items in that room than I have seen the rest of my life. 

Tuesday morning we went to DHMC for Ashlynn’s MRI.  We were there for most of the morning, and then spent the afternoon playing on the playground and relaxing.  Ashlynn’s surgery was planned for the next day and we knew we would be need lots of rest to get through it.   Ashlynn had lots of fun playing in the Cozy Coupe on the playground.  She was trying to eat all of the mulch that was on the ground, so we moved over to the grassy area.  That didn’t really help anything, she just tried to eat the grass and flowers instead…