Thursday

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,

for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”

~Philippians 1:3-5~

Adrianna Cavanagh

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 10:59 PM, CDT

**September is Childhood Awareness month!

Day 2  Pre-Transplant:
Just laid down with Adrianna to try to get her to sleep, but it didn’t work.  Now she’s still tossing and turning, but I wanted to write a little tonight before I turn in.  I can’t believe she’s still up, given all the meds they have given her.
We’ve been adjusting pretty well, and so far Adrianna has not even missed a beat!  I know, unfortunately, that tomorrow or the next day will bring side effects, but we were happy to have several days to ease into this process, anyway.

Here are some of the rules of the transplant:
Adults must keep gloves and masks on at all times,  no using the restroom inside Adrianna’s room- must use public one at end of hall, no eating or drinking in room (except for Adrianna), nothing comes inside the room that has not been wiped down or sterilized, Adrianna’s food comes in wrapped up in a bag, all food or drinks must be opened inside the room for her, parents must eat in waiting room area or outside, no visitors except her mommy, daddy, and Nana
Meds:  swab her nose, ears, belly button, & behind with cream & powder under arms and in groin area-  this happens at 9 am, 1pm, 5 pm, and 9 pm, and then continues the next day.  Meds are given round the clock as always, but there are a little more meds this time around.
Luckily, Adrianna has been a champ at taking her meds by mouth.  However, when her mouth starts getting the sores (and we pray they don’t come, but they always do!), we are not sure if she’ll continue to take all these medicines like she has been.  They may have to put an N-G tube up her nose and down her throat to insert the meds and food if this happens…..
Before bed, Adrianna is given a sterile bath on the bed, then we clean her dressing where the central line is placed, and then we wrap her back up with a bandage that goes around her chest.  The central line area is still tender, so she screams when we have to clean it.
All in all, though, she’s really taken all of this quite well.  Her appetite is still great- she just finished her 2nd dinner- spaghetti-O’s- and then asked for some Goldfish!  This is a good sign.  As long as those mouth sores stay away….
She is on a continuous dose of chemo through Saturday, which is different b/c normally she has a break at night or during the day.  So it’s 4 days of chemo, then they give her 3 days of rest.
After the 3 days of rest, they will begin transplanting the stem cells!
It will be like she is being born again- all new cells running through her body.  They call it her “2nd birthday”.  She will be like a very fragile newborn baby all over again, only more fragile, and her immune system will be down for a long time.
I just learned that this is diff’t than her ANC number, which is what we were always worried about before, during regular chemo.
Now it will take her way longer to get her immune system up, regardless of the ANC.  The ANC is just a factor of her immune system.  It will take about 6 months to a year for her immune system to be high enough to go out in public.
She’ll only be allowed at the Hope Lodge (where they have air purifying system throughout), the hospital, and our home.
Her daddy came to stay last night and played with her all day.  She really enjoyed the Playdough Octopus set that one of my students had given her.  They played with that all day long.  I brought quite a few “new” things that she had not opened yet so they’d be more fun for her.  Along with lots of arts n crafts.  However, the nurses said in a few days, she will mostly be sleeping. They keep her on the Benadryl and other “sleepy meds” so that she won’t be so miserable when her counts are at 0.  Counts will take about 10 days before they start climbing above 0 again.  It’s gonna be a LONG, LONG 10 days, but we think we’re pretty prepared.  At least we know what to expect, and it’s not out of the ordinary!
Hope this helped.  I know a lot of people have been asking what transplant was going to be like, so wanted to clarify some things.
Cute story before I go:  Adrianna was asking who the King was in The Lion King movie and why Scar (the bad guy) wanted to be King.  I told her Simba and his dad were the kings.  Then she thought and said, “What is a king?”  I tried to explain that a king is kinda like a daddy, and he is in charge and tells everyone what to do, kinda like a boss.  She thought for a second and shouted, “No….Mommy’s the boss!!”  🙂
Gotta love ’em!
Thanks for your prayers & for all you cancer moms out there, thanks for all the advice as well!  Love to all!

P.S.  Please pray for Kylen Terron who is from Hammond, LA.  He is about 9 mths old and is in PICU, after having his transplant not long ago.  They think it may be a bacteria or infection, and are awaiting results.  He was doing a little better today- thank God!  Please pray for healing & strength for his parents. They are very nice people- my heart goes out to them!

Today, let’s focus our prayers on Adrianna and her family.  If you would like to read more and see pictures, please go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/adriannacavanagh.

God bless you in all you do today.

Anna Lee