Another good day.

We had another good day at home.  Kaylee’s incision is healing nicely, and most (if not all) of the pain she was experiencing has subsided.  We’ve been home for just about a week now, and as with all good things, they all come to an end eventually…  Kaylee is scheduled to have the Bone Marrow biopsy tomorrow morning, and then we’ll checked into her room on floor G71 to start round 6 of chemo.  Kaylee will not be experiencing anything new with this round.   The chemo Kaylee is to take this round is Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin & Vincristine. The Doxorubicin will be administered for 72 hours straight, again.  The Cyclophosphamide is nothing new to Kaylee, she had this drug in Cycle 1 and 2.  I believe the Vincristine is adminstered before the Doxorubicin again, but don’t quote me on that.  I’m going off of my post back on December 8th, 2009 (Cycle 4, Day 1: Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin & Vincristine).

I was supposed to go back to work tomorrow (Monday), but instead I’ll go back on Tuesday.  Since Kaylee’s surgery had a late start, the Bone Marrow biopsy could not be done, so it was rescheduled for tomorrow instead.  I’ll probably visit Carol and Kaylee on Wednesday and Thursday after work, but on Tuesday, I have another dentist appointment (cleaning) right after work.  Kyle will go to school all this week and maybe we can take him up on Wednesday or Thursday to visit with Kaylee.

Thank you for all the continued thoughts and prayers.  Kaylee continues to prove that she is  a strong and determined girl.  She is an inspiration to all of us 🙂

We are sending our love and prayers to you too!

Cycle 4, Day 1: Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin & Vincristine

Day 1 went pretty well despite the late start. We arrived at the clinic around 11:00am, where they drew some blood from her red tube… well, I should say Kaylee drew some blood. Kaylee is getting really good at drawing her own blood. The nurses are so amazed with Kaylee – she’s so willing to help. A short while later, the results from the blood draw came back, and everything was positive. It was time to hydrate… hydrate some more… and hydrate even more. The pre-hydration process is required before we can start chemo.

It was after 1:00pm before we were finally in a room. We weren’t in the room 5 minutes, and Kaylee was already wrestling with Bear Bear, and playing with the bed controls. I think 3-5 different residents, nurses and doctors came in to visit Kaylee, each of them donning a stethoscope. They all listened to her chest, stomach and back… one of these days, I think I’m going to have kaylee take the “cold” end of the stethoscope and yell into it, “Is this thing on?” I’ll feel bad for the person on the other end ~ hehe.

The chemo Kaylee is to take this round is Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin & Vincristine. The Cyclophosphamide is nothing new to Kaylee, she had this drug in Cycle 1 and 2, but the major difference this time around is that she will take the Cyclophosphamide for 6 hours (every day) rather than 1 hour. To combat the side-effects of Cyclophosphamide, she will receive a medication called Mesna. She did not receive the Mesna in Cycle 1 and 2 because she only received the drug for an hour each day.

The Doxorubicin & Vincristine are both new drugs for Kaylee. The Vincristine is a quick one shot dose administered through her tubes. Moving on, we have the “Big Dawg” – a chemo/drug called Doxorubicin! Kaylee will receive this drug for 72 hours straight. It’s administered at a very slow rate, but her body will receive chemo for 72 hours straight – that’s a long time for her.

It’s now 6:00pm, and they’ve finally started her chemo. As usual, everything has gone smoothly – Kaylee is playing on the computer, Carol is working on her laptop, and I’m playing on my computer… notice a pattern – we love our technology.

We had a few more visitors; Kristy, Sarah and Uncle Jesse. Kristy and Sarah hung out for a little bit to chit-chat with us and play with Kaylee. Jesse and I finished up the flyer for Kaylee’s benefit dinner – you know the one on January 30th at the Patrician Party Center in Eastlake, OH at 6:00pm. The same one with door prizes and cash bar and lot’s of good food. Did I just plug the event? hehe.

Kaylee finally fell asleep around 11:00pm with Carol not so far behind her… I was a different story, I think I finally went to bed around 2:30am ~ thanks Starbucks.

This morning has been a bit rough for all of us. To begin with, Carol scared off the medical student twice – we haven’t seen him since. He came in at 7:20am wanting to do an exam on her… I think we found our first victim – “Excuse me sir, can we see your stethoscope”. Kaylee got sick once when she first woke up, but was her happy-go-lucky self after that. Kaylee played on the computer for a little bit before laying back down to rest a bit more. Her stomach was still bothering her.

Thank you all for your support and love. The continuous support is overwhelming, but very much appreciated. I wish I could thank each and every one of you individually, but since there are so many of you, all I can do is send my thanks with a promise that your generosity and support will not be forgotten. We love you all – Kaylee sends lots of hugs and kisses.

A quiet Weekend

I hope everyone is having a good weekend?  Our family has had a great weekend so far.  Other than a doctor’s appointment for Kyle, who had a minor sore throat for two days, we pretty much spent the day at home.  Kyle’s appointment went well – he does not have strep (thank heavens).  On Friday, Uncle Jesse and Brian came over and hung out.  Check out the photo of “Larry, Curly & Mo” 🙂  On Saturday, we had our furnace ducts cleaned – wow did they need it.  Carol Kyle and I had sub-sandwhichs courtesy of Pizza Dock – Thank You!  Kaylee ate some ravioli.  We spent the rest of the day and evening relaxing.  Kaylee has been doing VERY well with her medication.  I can’t remember the last time we had to help her with her meds – she does them all on her own.

Today was yet another laid-back day.  Kaylee played a lot of Wii Sports with Kyle, until Kyle had to leave for his last day at Basketball Camp.  Carol decided to go to church while I stayed home with Kaylee.  Kaylee played some more Wii Sports, and then retired to the computer for some good ole’ fashion flash gaming (Cartoon Network and Webkins).  I watched the Browns be the Browns, until Carol got home from church.  The highlight of the day so far was the early trick-or-treating we participated in around Grandma and Papa’s house.  Grandma and Papa arranged the afternoon with some of the neighbors since Kaylee will not be able to participate in trick -or-treating next weekend due to her chemo treatments this week.  The kids had a lot of fun.

The rest of the evening should be pretty laid back as well.  We’ll have some dinner, give Kaylee a bath, change her Broviac dressing, flush her tubes and get ready for bed.  Tomorrow starts Cycle II – Chemo Day 1: Cyclophosphamide  and Topotecan.  Carol and Kaylee need to be downtown early.  I will work all this week and get updates throughout the day.

Keep those comments coming; we all love to hear from you.

Thank you for all your support!  Love, hugs and kisses from Kaylee.

Cycle 1, Day 5: Cyclophosphamide and Topotecan

Cycle 1 is complete! Kaylee’s final Chemo treatment for this cycle has come and gone, and she did great.  We’re so proud of her and thrilled at how she did through her first week of treatment.  Kaylee only got sick one time, and we’re not even sure that was from the chemo.  Carol and I have been through so much training the past two days – I literally have a headache. I feel pretty confident though that we will be able to care for Kaylee at home.  The Cleveland Clinic is only a phone call away, so we’re not totally alone with this. I think we need a stand-alone medicine cabinet for Kaylee – with all the medicine(s) and medical supplies we’re taking home with us.  Carol took many notes, and I’ve been watching the nurses closely – we’ll be okay.

We have not received the official word, but the unofficial word is that we’re going home sometime early afternoon tomorrow.  I know Kaylee is really excited to go home and see her brother and sleep in her own bed.  Two weeks in the hospital is way more than enough for anyone.  As of this morning, there was nothing pending that would prevent us from going home (other than completed paper work).

Once we’re home, I still plan on updating Kaylee’s blog – daily.  Just because she’s home, doesn’t mean she’s done.  We have 2 outpatient visits to the Clinic every week, and we’ll be back in the hospital on October 23rd through October 27th for her second cycle of Cyclophosphamide and Topotecan.  Once the second cycle is behind us, she’ll have some of her stem cells harvested.  Some of her cells will be sent to a lab in Los Angeles and the rest will be frozen here at the clinic so that they can be transplanted back into her body in a later cycle (I believe between cycle 5 and 6).  These cells will help rebuild her bone marrow (uses her own baby cells), once the cancer has been neutralized.

Well, I’ll try to post another update later in the evening, but if I don’t it’s because I fell asleep.  Carol and I are really tired, and just can’t wait to sleep.

We love you all!  My next update could come from home – woohoo!

Oh yea, – Go Cavaliers!  Pre-season game 1 is tonight.  Too bad I can’t watch it from within Kaylee’s room.  Oh well – that’s what DVR is for.

Cycle 1, Day 1: Cyclophosphamide and Topotecan + Blood Transfusion

Well, the time has come to start Kaylee’s Chemo treatments.  Days 1-5 will consist of 30-60 minutes of Cyclophosphamide  and 30 minutes of Topotecan.  Both Chemo meds are IV Infused.  Okay, so before I even think about going forward with this update, lets get one thing straight… from now on, I’ll refer to Cyclophosphamide as “Cyclo” and Topotecan as “Topo”.  I can’t even pronounce these words, let alone remember how to spell them.  Oh yea, wait until the coming months when you see the names of those Chemo meds… yikes!

So as we stand right now, it looks like Kaylee will be going home on Wednesday sometime.  She ends her first round of Chemo treatments on Tuesday, but the doctors want to evaluate her progress and make sure everything looks good before sending us home.

Her treatments started just before 3:00pm today, with some blood draws and some medicine to help her stomach – I call it the “No Pukie” medicine.

My dad and I left the hospital for a few hours to get some fresh air and run some errands.  By the time I got back to the hospital, Kaylee was fast asleep, and Day 1 of her chemo treatments was complete.  The only thing left was the Blood Transfusion I mentioned in the last post.  It’s now 11:20pm and the transfusion is just about finished.  I can already see the color returning to her face and lips.

Carol did tell me that Kaylee said that her stomach was upset, and it felt like she wanted to throw-up.  Luckily, that never happened, and she just went right to sleep.  I know the nurses gave her some medication to help combat the belly ache, but I don’t know what that medication was – right now.

Day 2 starts tomorrow at 3:00pm again, but she will not need the blood transfusion.  Tomorrow morning we’ll also start giving her an oral medication called: Difulcan.  This medication is to be taken once a day at around the same time every day.  Because we had to do the blood transfusion, and she was sleeping so well, they decided to skip the first dose, and give it to her in the morning.

We also skipped one other oral med; Bactrim that she’ll take every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  This week she’ll take it on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Well, Day 1 is complete.   She’s still sleeping – even with the nurses coming in and out doing vitals and equipment checks.

Until tomorrow (in a few hours) we love you all and thank you for all your support and love.  Hugs and kisses from Kaylee.