trip to ER

This past week has been a rough one for Isabelle. She has felt very sick to her stomach and has barely eaten anything. Today she had 1 string cheese, 2 fruit crisp bars which were 100 calories total, 1 small container of applesauce, and a croissant. She has also been throwing up a little bit too. She has had zero energy and has been very cranky.
At around 4 we noticed she had a fever, so off to the hospital we went! It was a miserable drive and it rained the entire trip. Once we got there we were brought back to isolation which was nice, especially since half the time they have us sitting out by the sick people for at least 10 minutes. About 6-7 nurses were in the room with us because they couldn't figure out what to do with her since she is a "hemoc" patient. I hate the fact that we have to use the ER because they dont deal with cancer patients that often and they aren't very experienced. All of the nurses were babbling back and forth trying to figure out what to do. Between the 6-7 of them, they finally got a plan going and were able to get Isabelle's tube in. A child life specialist was there entertaining Isabelle, which would have been nice had she not been sick. She washed her hands and wore a mask, but it really didn't make me feel that much better. They hooked her up to antibiotics and we waited there. They did lab work, but our nurse did not know how to tell if her counts were good. That was pretty frustrating. She didn't try to figure it out, she was just like I think they look ok. We had no call button in our room, so I had to leave to find our nurse whenever we needed something. The nurse seemed pretty bothered everytime I asked her for something as if I wanted to be at the hospital. At least she is getting paid to be there!
 Isabelle was hungry so the nurse brought her crackers. Isabelle threw up it all up and then some. The nurse was  no help and the pile of vomit on the floor sat there for well over 45 minutes. She said she called maintenance, but she could have at least put a towel on the floor or something. Isabelle accidently stepped in it once and it was between my chair and her bed. It smelt so bad in the room. I asked a couple times and finally asked another nurse. I told her the puke had been there for a long time and my daughter was already sick to her stomach without having to smell her vomit in a closed room. Finally someone came in and cleaned up the mess.
 A different nurse had checked Isabelle out and said she had an ear infection. When the doctor came in she didn't even double check! While she was at the hospital her fever was 102 degrees. It took an hour before we got tylenol because the nurse forgot to put the order in. I was very relieved when we were released. We have to go to the clinic tomorrow for more antibiotics, but at least we were able to go home. I got home at 11 o'clock. Isabelle is exhausted and fell right to sleep. Hopefully once her ear infection is treated she will feel back to normal. Please excuse any run on sentences or crazy grammar I am exhausted. Unfortunately, I still have to give Isabelle pills in a half an hour, so must stay awake!

The past couple of months

Well Abc did not air Isabelle much to our disappointment. She just kept getting bumped. They even had a commercial with her on it, but no air time. Isabelle was sick with a fever last month and was on a chemo hold the entire time. We flirted with having to be hospitalized between having low counts no fever and then high counts fever. We never had to go, which was great. Since November she has had over 2 months worth of chemo holds. In the maintenance phase, if you lose chemo time then you do not make it up. Its very scary knowing she will never get that time back. It makes me wonder if this will affect her overall recovery and if she will be more likely to relapse because of this. I would not worry about relapse as much if we didn't have our big scare in November. This experience will forever leave me paranoid.

Our monthly spinal taps have been moved to the hospital, which is good and bad. The good thing is Isabelle is fully anesthetized. The bad thing is it takes a lot longer. Her next tap is scheduled in 2 weeks and her appointment isn't until 1:30. That is all day with no food or water. We have been going to the clinic every 2 weeks since she has been having a hard time keeping counts up. The doctors lowered her chemo dose 2 weeks ago. They are wanting to go back up on it slowly.

Isabelle has been sick for the past week with a stomach virus. She just stopped having diarrhea, but is not herself. She is sleeping quite a bit, is cranky, and has lost weight. When we went to the clinic today, her counts were still great.

ABC news

Isabelle was interviewed by abc news on her opinion of a bald barbie. They came back today and gave her a surprise bratz doll that was bald. They are supposed to air it tomorrow night at 6 on the world news!! She wasn't as chipper today, as she normally is because she just had a spinal tap 2 days ago AND shes on steroids! She was in good spirits while the camera was rolling, but after everyone left she was an emotional roller coaster!