Another day in clinic!

We have made it halfway through the induction phase!!  Two weeks may seem like a short time for some of you but for me it was an eternity!  I can't think about how we'll make it through the next two weeks I just remind myself we have made it through two weeks of treatment plus a very difficult week before that and somehow we will make it through the next two.  The induction phase is 29 days and will end on May 27!  This is supposed to be the most intense phase of treatment and we are hoping that is true. Today we just had one IV chemo tx of Vincristine ( a quick 5 min drip) then they gave her a little Ativan to help calm her down to change the dressing on her PICC line.  She did pretty well I think although her eyes were still open and she fussed off and on.  She has continued to gain weight pretty steadily and today weighed in at 31 lbs 14 oz.  Taking her from 27 lbs 2 oz last friday to 31 lbs 14 oz today.  So we are still not very fond of the steroids and all there effects.  The newest issue that has come up is her horrible diaper rash that has her screaming in pain in the middle of the night.  It's been pretty bad the past few days and her frequent dirty diapers were not helping.  It's by far the worst rash I've ever seen, but as I seem to hear on regular basis about things that are shocking to me..."that's normal, in fact it looks a lot better than I was expecting".  It's bright red and started to look like we dragged her along the carpet almost looks its starting to ooze a little.  We've been giving her oxycodone every 3-4 hours to keep the pain down and just got a new cream that took me from yesterday morning until 4:30 pm this evening to get.  (don't ask it was a very long frustrating situation).  It has lidocaine in so hopefully it will help numb her a little from the pain.  She's changed from being almost wired to very lethargic.  So she has been sleeping a little more and will sleep sometimes 2-3 hours a day in my arms but usually requires me sitting and rocking without stopping or she wakes up and can't get comfortable (which I don't mind at all, it's my guilty pleasure these days to be able to hold her and watch her sleep- seeing her look so peaceful and escaping the pain for a few moments is the best thing I can think of).  She's been having  better nights and occasionally sleeps for a 3-4 hour stretch and usually 1-2 hours at a time otherwise. 
Her levels today were looking a little better. 

Platelets: 140,000 (that means she made all those on her own and she was at 78,000 on Tuesday and at 14,000 right before her first transfusion)

Hemoglobin: 8.5 (they take longer to produce and stick around for 120 days instead of only 1 day like the platelets so they take a lot longer to produce on their own...but no transfusions until she hits 7.0)

ANC (absolute neutrophil count): 200 so a little production on her own but still in the very critical levels

She came home and we let her air with no diaper on for about an hour and half while she slept here's a picture of our little angel resting. 

A picture of us at clinic right before we snuck her blood draw in while she slept in my arms.  She still loves her binkies and blanket and luckily her Mom even after all I seem to put her through.

Here's to hoping the next two weeks fly by quickly and with little incident. We look forward to a steroid free month afterwards and getting moved into the house we are moving into with a little more space and a backyard for her to play in!!