Fever.... To Clinic... Then Home

Hangin' out in clinic...


Last night, Mollie seemed exhausted and mother's intuition told me she was coming down with something. We checked her temperature several times and no fever, but she went to bed without eating much dinner at all. She was coughing all night long and woke this morning complaining of aches and pains and vomiting. By the time we got to clinic, her temp was 102!

But, her ANC was 2500, so she didn't have to be admitted to the hospital. She received rocephin (an antibiotic) and fluids in clinic and they sent her home on an oral antibiotic.

So, Mollie is glad because she gets a pass on the flu shot until next month. They can't give it to her right after she's had a fever because it might mask a reaction, but they also have to time it so that it is exactly between steroid pulses, because the steroids suppress the immune response and reduce the effectiveness. I got my flu shot today, though.

Lots of rest and fluids for today. Probably, she will stay home from school tomorrow as well. She is definitely feeling better after the IV antibiotic, and is being her usual goofy self! Hopefully she will be back to 100% by Thursday so she can go to her Daisy Girl Scout meeting. Plus, we have fun plans for the weekend. Ah, yes, the spontaneity that cancer brings into our lives.

I'm so proud of how Mollie just rolls with everything. Things that would have been a HUGE deal to her 18 months ago- like having a giant needle stuck into her chest, being hooked up to an IV, having to wear a mask, sitting in a boring clinic room for hours- are just water under the bridge for her these days. She had a very smooth chemo-port access and needle removal. I remember when just taking the bandage and tape off caused her to go to hysterics. Now, she brings one of her special worry stones with her so she won't worry when she undergoes different procedures. It really works!

In & Out of Clinic

Thursday night, Mollie was craving "steroid food" and wanted to go to Subway for a turkey and cheese sandwich. So, off we went, and the food seemed to hit the spot. But, a few hours after we got home, Mollie started complaining of acid reflux (or so I thought). I gave her some Zantac and put her to bed.

She came downstairs around midnight, not feeling well. I tried to soothe her and get her to go back to sleep, but she just couldn't get comfortable. Then around 1 am, she started throwing up. Afterwards, she said she felt much better. We cleaned her up and got her back to sleep. When she woke up in the morning, she had cramping and diarrhea (but no fever). She also said it felt like her heart was racing.

I thought it was probably food poisoning (Lucy and I didn't have turkey sandwiches, and we were fine), so to be safe we headed to clinic. All of her vitals (temp, HR, BP, etc) looked completely normal and since she had a good ANC just two days prior, they didn't need to draw blood. Dr. McD advised us to just keep track of her temperature and make sure she was drinking lots of fluid.

We spent most of the day resting (perfect weather for it: rain) and she woke up this morning feeling much better! Lucy was adorable and helped me take care of Mollie; she gave her lots of kisses and hugs and offered her snacks and Gatorade.

Tomorrow is the last day of steroids for this round, and I have to say she is handling them very well. I think preparation is key (pretty much true for everything). We have lots of steroid food (chips, applesauce, cheese, Hawaiian rolls, etc). and some new videos on hand for rest periods.

Clinic Update

Clinic went fine today. We had some tears for the finger stick and port access, but after it was all over, Mollie didn't even want a band aid. Her ANC is a little on the high side again (3200); they want it to be < style="font-style: italic;">like pizza, ate pasta. She has started her monthly dexamethasone and it is already affecting her. She's complaining of some pain in her sides and is having a hard time making decisions. Despite that, she had a nice afternoon making cookies, cakes, and other confections with playdough.