Well as I'm sitting her reading my own most recent post, I realize I really left ya guys hangin! Sorry about that! So, to make a long story short: Bela's home! Ok, that's all. Bye.
I would love to leave the post at that, but I guess someone might want some more details.
Since the last post on Nov. 28th, a whole lot has happened.
She finally did end up getting her IV placed and she went in for her CT without being sedated. When we arrived in the CT room she was asleep, but as soon as we put her on the table she started crying. I tried and tried to comfort her, for about 30 min., but she didn't stop crying. The nurse and I both looked at each other and said, "As soon as we get upstairs, she'll stop crying." But she proved us wrong! She didn't stop crying for 5 hours! I know she was hating that IV and if it wasn't hurting her, it was definately uncomfortable. It was in her hand and since she loves to put things in her mouth, we had to wrap about 5 feet of gauze around it so she wouldn't pull it out. She sure did try to get that gauze off too! She's not one to give up easily. The nurse eventually ended up giving her morphine and taking her off of Adivan since the Adivan just made her more nervous, and jumpy. For about the following 24 hours she was on continous morphine until the IV was taken out.
The following day, the 29th, she had to be sedated for the CT. As soon as that was done the IV was taken out. the Results?: NO TEFLITIS (inflamation of the bowels, what she had the first round). Her ultrasound, CT, and abdominal X-ray all tested negative for it but the doctors were still convinced that that's what she had based on the symptoms, so they still treated her for that: NPO, or no food, only IV vitamins and minerals and lipids. She recovered quickly.
The other problem I mentioned was that of her heart. Her last chemo med has a side effect of rapid heart rate which makes her breathing faster too, all very scary. An EKG came back abnormal, or was it the "ECHO" ? Anyways, the cardiologist never ended up coming and nothing more was said about her heart!
The rest of her third round was pretty uneventful. She recovered quicker than expected and before we knew it we were able to walk her around the hall and into the play room everyday from about 10am-4pm when she wasn't getting any meds so she wasn't hooked up to her "pole". Yes, that's what they call it.
So she finished about 5 days earlier than I expected based on her second round.
We also had an awesome turnout and wonderful event on Dec. 8th, Bela's Ball. As most of you know Beto and I are running a half marathon on Jan. 20 with Team in Training. TNT requires each participant to raise a minimum of $2200 for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society (LLS). At the Ball we had 35 items up for silent auction, about 10 more door prizes for which we sold tickets, hand writing analysis, live screenprinting, a photo booth, and music by Cazz. We got to hear great speakers like Bela's own Dr. Z talk about the what, how, and who of Leukemia and why fundraising for research is so important. We heard from Steve Rivero, one of our team mates and cancer survivor. It was a fun night and we raised nearly $4,000 for LLS. So far Beto and I together have raised almost $10,000! We are still fundraising until Jan. 8.
Thank you all for all your prayers! We are so blessed by God and realize now what a gift a healthy baby is. We sure don't complain about being awake all night with her. This experience has given us a new perspective. We hope you all have a great holiday. RElax. Pray. Read the Word. Enjoy one another.
I would love to leave the post at that, but I guess someone might want some more details.
Since the last post on Nov. 28th, a whole lot has happened.
She finally did end up getting her IV placed and she went in for her CT without being sedated. When we arrived in the CT room she was asleep, but as soon as we put her on the table she started crying. I tried and tried to comfort her, for about 30 min., but she didn't stop crying. The nurse and I both looked at each other and said, "As soon as we get upstairs, she'll stop crying." But she proved us wrong! She didn't stop crying for 5 hours! I know she was hating that IV and if it wasn't hurting her, it was definately uncomfortable. It was in her hand and since she loves to put things in her mouth, we had to wrap about 5 feet of gauze around it so she wouldn't pull it out. She sure did try to get that gauze off too! She's not one to give up easily. The nurse eventually ended up giving her morphine and taking her off of Adivan since the Adivan just made her more nervous, and jumpy. For about the following 24 hours she was on continous morphine until the IV was taken out.
The following day, the 29th, she had to be sedated for the CT. As soon as that was done the IV was taken out. the Results?: NO TEFLITIS (inflamation of the bowels, what she had the first round). Her ultrasound, CT, and abdominal X-ray all tested negative for it but the doctors were still convinced that that's what she had based on the symptoms, so they still treated her for that: NPO, or no food, only IV vitamins and minerals and lipids. She recovered quickly.
The other problem I mentioned was that of her heart. Her last chemo med has a side effect of rapid heart rate which makes her breathing faster too, all very scary. An EKG came back abnormal, or was it the "ECHO" ? Anyways, the cardiologist never ended up coming and nothing more was said about her heart!
The rest of her third round was pretty uneventful. She recovered quicker than expected and before we knew it we were able to walk her around the hall and into the play room everyday from about 10am-4pm when she wasn't getting any meds so she wasn't hooked up to her "pole". Yes, that's what they call it.
So she finished about 5 days earlier than I expected based on her second round.
We also had an awesome turnout and wonderful event on Dec. 8th, Bela's Ball. As most of you know Beto and I are running a half marathon on Jan. 20 with Team in Training. TNT requires each participant to raise a minimum of $2200 for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society (LLS). At the Ball we had 35 items up for silent auction, about 10 more door prizes for which we sold tickets, hand writing analysis, live screenprinting, a photo booth, and music by Cazz. We got to hear great speakers like Bela's own Dr. Z talk about the what, how, and who of Leukemia and why fundraising for research is so important. We heard from Steve Rivero, one of our team mates and cancer survivor. It was a fun night and we raised nearly $4,000 for LLS. So far Beto and I together have raised almost $10,000! We are still fundraising until Jan. 8.
Thank you all for all your prayers! We are so blessed by God and realize now what a gift a healthy baby is. We sure don't complain about being awake all night with her. This experience has given us a new perspective. We hope you all have a great holiday. RElax. Pray. Read the Word. Enjoy one another.
