Week 3 of Delayed Intensification

We finished Day 16 - hooray! Catherine went in yesterday for her last doses of Vincristine and Doxorubicin. Daddy made the trip this time with a very detailed list of questions for the doctors. Apparently, Dr. Joe was very amused by the list and asked Dave if he should check things off so that I know everything was covered...everyone's a comedian! The visit went as expected - her counts are still in a normal range, but they are much lower than last week, and according to Dr. Joe, they will continue to go down, especially when she comes off the steroids this Sunday. As I said, steroids drive your counts up VERY high, so for them to be at the range they are now solidifies for me just how strong the Doxorubicin is (Vincristine doesn't suppress counts). But of course, that just means the medicine is working.

In the last week, Catherine's energy level has plummeted to zero. She spends most of her day on the couch or in Mommy and Daddy's bed sleeping. She is also in some pain - it's either in her back, or her stomach, and of course, the Vincristine induced headaches. This weekend was tough. Saturday, we took a drive to see Aunt Vita, Uncle John and cousins Julia and JV. Catherine was so excited to see them and be able to go in their pool. But, as soon as we got there she started complaining about her back. Based on her screaming I could tell it was bad. I sent Dave out to get Children's Tylenol, but he and JV were gone a long time and with each passing minute, I knew she would need something stronger. I had a precription for Codeine in my bag so, Aunt Vita went to her pharmacy to fill it. Unfortunately, they didn't have it handy (we needed the liquid form without the acetometaphine that is found in Tylenol). By this time, Catherine was in agony and just wanted to go home, so we got her to take some Tylenol and home we went (by the way, Aunt Vita lives 2 hours away!) Spoke to my pharmacy and it turns out that my scrip can't be filled because the drug companies don't make it in a liquid form. Luckily, Catherine survived without it, but we now have some Tylenol with codeine on hand just in case. Sunday wasn't any better. Some friends from Florida came to visit and again Catherine wasn't feeling well - this time a terrible headache. Poor thing spent most of the afternoon crying and then by 5:30 p.m. went to bed for the night.
It is so hard to see your child in pain like that, but deep down I know this must be working and come Fall, we will be on Maintenance and the worst will be behind us.