Another Day One

Round three for Ruby is supposed to include a lumbar puncture before chemo (They insert a needle in her spine to pull fluid so they can test for leukemia in her spine and/or brain. The only other time Ruby has had one was just before round one and it was negative.), followed by admission to Aflac and a chemo drip for 96 continuous hours. This is the same dose/cocktail of chemo Ruby had for round one, so we aren't expecting any surprise reactions. Assuming all goes well, Ruby can go home when it's done (Sunday night/Monday morning).

We started on the right foot: Ruby did not have to report for her procedure until 9AM, AND she was scheduled to have her procedure in the day surgery center of CHOA rather than the Aflac Clinic (across the street from the hospital). So far our admissions through the clinic have been a compilation of delays, waiting room stays, delays, and more waiting. So when we were told that we'd *have* to go through day surgery instead, I was actually overjoyed. I think the protocol is to admit through the clinic and start chemo there, moving to the Aflac unit (in CHOA) once a room is available. That sounds like a great plan except we have never had that experience. Instead, we've arrived at the clinic at 8AM only to wait around all day (seriously, we've been moved over at 5:45, 4, and 3:30PM) to be moved over to the Aflac unit/CHOA and then start chemo.

Today's procedure didn't happen until just before 12, but Ruby was fairly happy through the morning. No problems with anesthesia, and we were moved over to her room on the Aflac unit as soon as she woke up! Ruby and I had a quick lunch with Daddy while the nurse drew some blood to test before starting chemo, then I took Ruby for a walk to the gardens. We came back to the room to hang out because the lack of nap was starting to wear on Ruby, but a quick speech video turned her mood around.

Once the chemo was hooked up, I got Ruby down for a short nap, but not without a fight. That is worth mentioning because even though she is two (and my daughter), she really doesn't throw fits. Nothing worth noting, anyway. But this afternoon she was in rare form, crying and arching her back and not wanting to settle down at all. Totally overtired. Fatigue finally won.

We had a pretty tame dinner and evening. Ruby ride around in her 'pole' for 20 minutes or so before getting ready for bed. I forgot how much sitting around time chemo really means; we can't leave the unit when hooked up, which means we don't do much outside of our room. On the positive, lots of time for speech work!