12/23/08 - Clinic Visit

Brinley got her chemo today, clinic went great. She got a Hannah Montana barbie doll from them for Christmas, it has caused some jealousy with Jade....she wants to go to clinic too now! She got her meds and we got the chatty doctor again, he is great, we both really like him. Brinley had lost weight AGAIN, that is 2 pounds in 2 months. They weren't very excited about that, so the dietician wanted us to start her on pediasure for some extra calories. She went from the 25th percentile to the 5th. She said it happens often with the chemo.

As I started whining to the doctor about how Brinley always gets fevers 2 days after her chemo and winds up in the ER, and that would put us there for Christmas, he gave me a nice big peice of humble pie. He told me several patients get the fevers, and one family, who was at the end of treatment, and were used to always getting a fever after the chemo, decided to ignore it because they were tired of the ER trips. Turned out it was an infection, and it killed him. So from my own mouth: I do not know more than the oncologists. When they say she needs to be checked for infection EVERY single fever, I will listen to them wholeheartedly and check for an infection EVERY single fever. It is to be taken seriously. I realize now that her life is at stake every fever, I knew that already. You know the story about the boy who cried wolf, the wolf eventually came. I stand corrected!

Overall, this has been a great phase for Brinley. I hate to move on to the next one. We have two weeks, and then we start the dreaded Delayed Intensification. The doctor today said it is very much like induction the first month, and those of you who remember my posts from induction know it was not a good time for us. In fact, it was really awful. The steroids come back, and those made her so so sick and miserable. It is a two month phase. We have had some coasting time, now we'll be putting our boxing gloves back on for a rough round with cancer, hopefully we'll come out on top!