Great day at clinic

Dear Madeline,

Our prayers were heard and answered yesterday. Your clinic appointment yielded terrific news all the way around. Thank God!

Neutropenia? Gone. Your absolute neutrophil count (ANC) roared back from 10 to its usual place in the 1500s. This meant that you could go ahead and receive your chemotherapy treatments of vincristine and doxorubicin as scheduled. What a relief to know that your infection risk was momentarily minimized, and it was nice to know that we wouldn't be making a trip back to clinic later in the week for a delayed chemo treatment. You'll head back in several days only for a quick check of your ANC to ensure that it doesn't bottom out again before your next treatment.

Your Echocardiogram and EKG results from last week were in. All normal. And why run those tests to begin with? The doxorubicin is known to have adverse impacts on the heart. At the dosages you've been receiving, no one was super-concerned to start with, but the tests are done to be sure you weren't being harmed.

The medical team also looked at your port site, specifically where you were burned last month, and thought it looked really good. So good, in fact, that they finally gave their approval to re-access the port. You received your chemotherapy through the secondary central line in your arm (the P.I.C.C.), and in the middle of your treatment, the nurse accessed your port. Holy cow, talk about cake walk!

We expected some difficulty with the port since it had been so long since it was last accessed, flushed, and heparin-locked. We thought that they would need to administer a medication to break up any gunk that accumulated in the port over the last several months. We wrong, and thank goodness! The nurse was able to get an immediate blood return, flushed the line, "hep-locked" it, then de-accessed the port. It worked like a charm! So well that we said goodbye to the P.I.C.C. moments later!

Tonight you enjoyed your first bath in the tub in weeks, and with your big sister no less. The smile on your face could not have been bigger. It was hard-earned, and I was so glad to see it. Now that you're feeding yourself with yummy table food and restyling your clothes and hair in the process, you're going to have many more bath time adventures.

Love,
   Daddy