Done With the Chemo, For Now

So Isabella finished up the second day of chemo uneventfully.  Now we play the nervous waiting game.  We’ll monitor her closely for nausea and fevers, although we don’t expect the nausea to hit for a couple more days.  She has been ok so far and has been eating with no problems. 

On Monday, we’ll do our first of several blood draws that will check her blood counts to see when she will need transfusions. 

Since we don’t know how Isabella will react to the chemo, we don’t have any plans for the weekend (or for the next few weeks for that matter).  We’re just going to sit around home and take it easy, and maybe catch up on some movies.  Also, her hair probably won’t fall out for a couple of weeks, which we’ll be sad to see.

Here We Go Again

So we officially start up chemotherapy again tomorrow, Thursday, November 4.  Our oncologist has put together different drugs for a custom treatment plan for Isabella.  There is no protocol anymore – at this point, we’re just trying anything in hopes of trying to contain this thing.  Right now, we have two cycles of chemotherapy planned.  For the first one, she’ll receive two drugs over the course of two days.  We’ll then monitor her blood counts, and over the course of the next three weeks, she’ll probably require some blood transfusions.  With low blood counts, Isabella will be susceptible to infections, so we’ll also be watching out for fevers – if she suddenly develops a fever, we will need to be admitted to the hospital for antibiotics for 10 days.

In about a month,  we’ll try two different drugs for the second cycle.  The theory behind this approach is that since these drugs work in different ways, if we attach the tumors from different angles, we have a better chance at some sort of response.  Shortly after the second cycle, we’ll do another MRI and see if there is any response and either try something else or do more of the same.  At this point, we’re not looking past that next scan.

Isabella did well with the chemotherapy last time.  She tolerated it fairly well and the tumor responded well.  We’re hoping that it’s the same this time around.

Thanks to everyone for your support and well wishes.

Happy Halloween Weekend

As promised, we had a great Halloween weekend.  On Friday night, the kids had a Halloween dance at their school.  On Saturday, we went for a nice walk through the New Canaan Nature Center discovery trails.  On Sunday, before the the trick-or-treating festivities, we played in some leaf piles.  As they say, pictures are worth a thousand words, so we have a few thousand words below!

(Click on each picture to see a larger view!)