Thursday, July 3rd:
July 3rd, 2008 Posted in Daily News PostWe are hoping for a firecracker release tomorrow. No promises of course, but if she does okay tonight they will try and spring her.
Not that today was a piece of cake for sure. She is still pushing around a low-grade fever, some pain and some nausea. And if she goes home it will be with her feeding tube and pain meds.
About 10 A.M. Dr. Olsen came in to give Dana and me the news of a possible release. The tests taken yesterday have shown clear fluids in her spine and at the incision site. Still lots of white blood cells but nothing surprising. She also needs to get her red cells up after so many blood draws. She had 10cc of fluid buildup in the surgical cavity, which may be part of her problems. They were able to drain that okay yesterday.
Her pain level floated around from all the activity yesterday and we really didn’t see much of Chloe today… or rather, she didn’t see much of us, because her eyes were closed most of the morning. If nothing else she slept well, both last night, through the thunderstorm and this morning, through the nurses.
Dr. Olsen also took us to look at the MRIs. It’s amazing how much of the tumor they were able to take out; however, as I’ve stated before, the area of the remaining tumor is of the most concern. That is an area that can cause all of her symptoms and is also an area that can’t be tampered with, without the possibility of some serious consequences.
What it looks like at this point is we will go home ASAP and bring her back in three months for another MRI. The tumor needs to show its hand. If it just hangs out and doesn’t grow we may have a long-term monitor situation. If it decides to get aggressive on us then we will have to get aggressive with it in the form of, further surgery, Chemo or Radiation. The latter is the last choice as it can cause more tumors.
Before the doctor got here Dana was able to get Chloe into the shower. It’s been a few days and you know what they say, after three days fish and little girls stink. Of course, we’d never say anything like that about Chloe…. She’d get us back!
Sarah (I’m not sure of her title but she’s a social worker type) came in to talk to Chloe about her Journey Beads. It seems last night Dana asked her what she needed. Chloe decided on a whole handful of beads that represent Brave. She asked for 5 that represented the number of times she was angry. And ONE for the number of times she was scared… just before surgery. Pretty impressive I’d say. She asked Sarah for a handful of beads that represented A Bad Day. She has a pretty nice necklace going with these beads and may have to do two to use all the beads she has now.
After noon the dreaded PT and OT ladies arrived. Chloe tried to fake her way out of that visit but it didn’t work. She did very well with it even though it’s not her favorite time of day.
After PT and OT, Diane, the Child Life Angel, showed up to bring Chloe to the kitchen area. They were going to make cupcakes. Chloe did most of the work exhibiting a very interesting method of cracking eggs. Not sure I’ve ever seen it done quite like that. It involved a butter knife and some very scary angles of attack. Dave and Ramona showed up just before the cakes went into the oven. By then Chloe was looking pretty pasty. So Dave and Ramona took her back to the room and Dana and I watched the cakes. They came out Great! But that wasn’t a surprise with lil’ miss Chloe Rea doin’ da cookin’.
Back in her room she came back to good color and started getting into her evening pick-me-up. The one thing she left behind tonight was her fever! Yea for that. Let’s keep it there Girl!
I left the hospital about 8 P.M., shortly after Dave and Ramona, and the girls were going to watch “Hopkins” tonight. You’d think they had enough of hospitals.
So the prayers for tonight are to have everything stay in an acceptable range so we can get Chloe home where she belongs. That’s when the help will be more than welcomed so keep the emails of suggestions coming. Dana will be swamped with taking complete care of Chloe, so, along with going back to work, she will be fixing meals, cleaning the house, taking care of Colin, taking care of the yard, answering the phone, are all going to be challenges and some will be pushed aside. These are the areas I’ll be helping in and are areas I’m sure she will welcome help.
Blessings to all of you. Ron
49 Responses to “Thursday, July 3rd:”
By Daddy on Jul 4, 2008
Ramona and I had a great visit with Chloe yesterday. Although she had little energy, she was up and making those delicious cupcakes when we got there (Ramona ate 2, I ate 1 and Chloe had a nibble and two bites!). We brought Chloe pictures of her bearded dragon, Firebolt, as she has been missing him and the oncologists tell us she can’t hold him for a while. The BIG Chloe smile was alive and well when she saw his pictures! After she rested up in her room for a while, she wanted to talk to Grandma – so we called her. They had a great conversation, especially when they were talking about Grandma coming out next week and staying for a couple weeks…they are going to “pig out” while she’s here. The evening ended great, she was gaining her spunk back for the night, she looked good and is hoping to come home as soon as possible. Keeping our fingers crossed.
By Grandma Lee on Jul 4, 2008
It was so good to hear your voice last night. Don’t worry sweetie, I will be there soon and we will work on getting you well together. Tell mom that Grandma will take care of the house and the kids and she can go back to work and do a little gardening so she can get her feet back under her. I can’t wait to get there. Don’t forget to tell the nurses if you still have the feeding tube, I want chocolate. See you soon I love you