Delayed Intensification

The CNA, Breezy, is taking Livi's vitals to prep for the Versed and other "doping" meds that Kendra the nurse will be administrating.

Well, we started. Yes that wonderful second to the last phase of chemotherapy for leukemia patients that is commonly referred to as D.I. It lasts 6 weeks and is 4 or five chemo's all put together not even counting the oral meds at home. Actually, the amount of oral meds for some reason seems like a bit of a break compared to what we had been doing, but in actuality it's not. (I plan on doing a post of her med regime at an other date.) I will say that the new meds are back to her steroid, that can cause hunger at strange hours of the night, I will refer you to a blog posted in the first week of June with hotdogs at 2am!!! Also this is the drug that can cause "steroid phsycosis"! Yipeee!!! Oh well, only 6 weeks!

Tuesday was her first round at the new phase and we were told it could take up to 6 hours. With the help of our ward church members, Aaron was more than adequately cared for while Livi and I went to the office. (Bill, once again, was out of town. Those darn elections!) She had yet another Lumbar Puncture with spinal tap, where they test the spinal fluid to make sure it's still clear of cancer cells and then they inject methotrexate(a form of chemo that she has taken orally) into her spine. Nice huh?! I will take the time to mention that the spinal fluid finally flowed freely. Hence the picture, I will apologize, but for me it was exciting! While the versed wares off and she is still seeing two of everyone, they did two more chemo therapies. Vincristine, they pushed into her line/port (in the past this was the reason for her 10lb weight loss), and then an IV drip of doxorubicin. This one was new and is slightly orange in color. They had given Olivia an EKG when she was diagnosed in May as a test to see if she could handle this chemo. From start to finish, we were in and out of there within 3 hours! They really tried to push us quickly as their office was filling up quick. No joke! The waiting room was standing room only on our way out. (It helps alot that I can access her port before we even go to the office. Monday night I gave her the choice of me doing the needle or Bernstein's office and she chose me. It helps speed things along. The staff always ask if I want to help with the accessing and I tell them, "Heck ya! Put me on the payroll!")

This is Dr. Bernstein's NP, Jennifer Buitrago. She is so great and seems to have no other patients than Olivia! She always has such great compassion and talks to Olivia about what she's been doing. When we went camping Jennifer also gave Olivia her cell number incase Livi got "sick" and needed someone to talk to. We Love you Jen! (Jen's also the one who does the LP's.)

In order: Livi having received the versed. Livi having the versed take affect. Livi surrendering to the versed. Versed is a funny medication that makes you see funny things and makes you forget. We like versed!

We were concerned with how Livi would handle the 3 chemo's all at once. The L.P. and vincristine aren't anything new, but with the doxo...we weren't quite sure. Bill got home Wednesday late and found Livi jumping on our bed. "Oh, I guess it hasn't hit her yet?" he said. Apparently not. The office said if the doxo is going to affect her it would be 5 days out...great. By my calculations that's when Bill's off again! JOY! Porcelain throne, here we come! As of this morning, she started coughing a lot and blowing her nose non-stop. I can't tell if she's sick or it's just allergies so I have her on everything we can but...we'll see. After bath tonight we could tell it was starting to sink in. Her face was pale, her eyes sunken with black cirlces enveloping any brightness that had been there. Hopefully a good night's rest is all she needs. "Sweet dreams princess."