The Pendulum

Steroids. They make Mollie tired. And moody. The other chemo is bad in terms of the physical side effects, but the dex is what makes her go from "You're the bestest, bestest mama in the whole wide world" to "When I get bigger I'm not going to live with you any more! And I'm not going to have any babies. And I am going to have my own house with my own couch. Huh!"

(The latter statement was prompted by me sitting down on the sofa next to her. Jeesh, I should know better by now!)

Today wasn't too bad though. I took her to see Madagascar 2. She really enjoyed the movie. And the buttered popcorn and junior mints, getting out of the house, and some time away from Lucy.

Ow! Shots.

Mollie got her PEG-asparaginase shots today- two painful shots, one in each thigh. She had to stay at the clinic for an hour afterwards to be observed for allergic reactions.

The shots were pretty awful- she screamed for someone to help her and said she was trapped and wanted to get away. Thankfully the traumatic part lasted only 5-10 minutes, and most of this was before actually getting the shots (the anticipation). A few minutes afterward, Kym, the child life specialist, had her laughing at Aloysius the bubble-eating alligator, decorating a turtle, and watching Angelina Ballerina for the observation period. And eating Cheetos. Lots and lots of Cheetos.

She's been walking around a bit so I think some of the pain is wearing off. She just told me she forgot about her shots, but she didn't forget about being a brave, strong girl!

Just So-so

The steroids make Mollie really indecisive. She's not sure if she's hungry or if she's tired. When she gets upset, she has a hard time calming down. She needs a lot of hugs. And ice cream.

We decided we were going to go to the park since the weather was lovely, but then Mollie fell asleep. By the time she woke up, it was starting to get dark. So... we went to run a few errands and ended up finding a cool toy store called Learning Express. I let Mollie pick out a toy and she picked a set of marbles, complete with a shooter. We played marbles after dinner this evening, so the day was not a total wash.

Steroids, Day 2

Today was not a good day for me, but Mollie actually did very well. My problem was not getting any sleep last night. I stayed up to watch Obama's speech and then I was just headed to bed when Lucy started crying (she barely got a nap in yesterday because of clinic, so she had gone to sleep without eating). I fed her, got 3 hours of sleep, and then Mollie woke up. It was downhill from there (no more decent sleep the rest of the night).

So on to Mollie. She is alternating between being lethargic and very active. She has huge dark circles under her eyes and some nausea. I don't know if it's from the steroids, the vincristine, or the doxorubicin. She is not very interested in eating and her diet today consisted of cheerios, chocolate milk, a tiny amount of sliced apple, a piece of cauliflower, a roll, a few pieces of cheese, and chips. There are medications to manage most of the side effects, so we will just try to roll with it. Tomorrow I'll try making her a smoothie to give her some good protein.

DI Begins

Today was a big day. This morning, my dad headed home and we headed off to clinic. Mollie's ANC was 1470, so she got her doxorubicin (i.v.), vicristine (i.v.), and methotrexate (spinal/LP) and she started a 7-day pulse of the dreaded decadron (and it is a higher dose than previously). She didn't get over to the OR for her LP until late in the day, so she was hungry all day long. She did great though.

We went to vote afterwards and we are back home, about to enjoy a delicious dinner made by a neighbor (we also enjoyed a delicious dinner from another neighbor last night).

We are all tired, and worried about dealing with Mollie on steroids for the next few weeks (even Mollie is concerned). I am not looking forward to the PEG-asparaginase shots on Friday either. Forty -two days until this phase is (scheduled to be) over- we have been warned that there are likely to be delays due to low WBC/platelet counts.

Rotkäppchen

Well, since Mollie didn't start chemo last week, we had a fun, fun Halloween. We kicked off the day by trick-or-treating at the hospital. We got to see all of the staff dressed up and Mollie got tons of candy and non-edible treats (stickers, pencils, a tooth brush!).

That was followed by pumpkin carving at our house, trick-0r-treating in our neighborhood with Bella, and then to Inna's well-decorated house for tea.

Lucy was the side kick (she was the big bad wolf to Mollie's red riding hood) and she fell asleep while trick-or-treating.

Problems uploading pictures.... will get them soon I hope!