Presley: Day 8

We have hit the first big milestone... Day 8. We are living day to day these days! I don't know the day or date, but I DO know that the first 8 days of treatment are over! Today we went to clinic for treatment. The clinic is much like a doctors office. We played and colored in the waiting room and got to pick our first hat from the "hat tree". Thankful for my hobby and talent of making hats, so that I can pay it forward soon. We picked out the pink hat, of course!

The hat tree

Having a little tea party in the waiting room!

Our appointment was not until 11 am at the clinic and 1pm at RTU (Rapid Treatment Unit) for her Lumbar Puncture (LP). Over the next 2.5 years Presley will have over 20 LP's! The purpose for the LP is to inject chemo in to the spinal fluid to protect the brain from the leukemia cells, a place that it likes to hang out. This process has really changed the course of treatment in the past 20 years for the good success with the Leukimia not coming back and showing up in the brain. The chemo that is injected in the IV does not pass the brain barrier and this was not understood for the longest time. So although it is a very hard task to tell a 3 year old that she cant have eggs and french toast for breakfast, to prepare for the surgery, we know the importance. I think Presley asked for eggs about 15 times and was so hungry! I was so thankful for Paul being with me today to help. Eventually, we just got in the car and drove around. We cheated a little and got a "clear popsicle", that helped for about 5 min. Presley finally fell asleep in the car.

We applied the EMLA cream to her port site, and were to the clinic by 11. Her port got accessed for the first time. Thank heavens for the EMLA cream to numb the feeling of being poked. The hardest part for Presley is when the doctors want to lift up her shirt to clean and access the port. So we just pull her neck of her shirt down as far as we can.

She got Vincristine (chemo) today in the IV, and a CBC for blood counts. We then went downstairs for the LP or back poke. She's getting to be a pro at the blood pressure, and pulse ox and can put them on and off herself! The hardest part for me is seeing her being put out for surgery, and having to hold her until she is out. It goes quick, but again, I was so thankful for Paul to hold my hand, while I was holding a scared baby. The procedure rooms always look so scary to me. The back poke is a quick procedure. We waited until she was waking up, and then Paul went back to be with her. She did great coming out, no crying just super sleepy. We had a plate of scrambled eggs for her waiting, she was REALLY happy about that!

Later that day we went and got ice cream with daddy. Can you see those smiling eyes behind that ice cream? She was dying to go to the park so we went, and pushed her in the swing, but it only lasted for about 5 min. She has such a desire to play, but not much energy.