Shay is doing pretty well, all things considered. The transplant was on July 10th, so we are 6 days post transplant (T+6, in shorthand). The day of the transplant was more stress than anyone needs. Shay had been admitted a few days before, but Cassie and I were still staying at the Ronald McDonald house, down the street. She had to be here for pre-op check in at 6 in the morning - poor kid doesn't do mornings. They did all of her pre-op stuff, including giving her some Vistaril to relax her, and wheeled her off for the harvest a little before 7. The waiting room was quite empty about that time of the morning, so I had a lot of privacy to sit and think about the fantastic thing my one child was doing for my other child. A lot of people I know say they would do anything for their family, but Cassie is proving that she is *my* hero
I waited and waited, and finally about 9:30, they called me back to recovery to see Cass. She was *very* sick from the anaesthesia and in quite a bit of pain, so they had given her 10 cc of morphine and zofran for her stomach. (Zofran does *nothing* for either of the girls as far as nausea goes.) They kept her in recovery until almost noon, and then we got to come up and spend time with Shay. The transfusion was running when we got here and she handled it really well. A little bit of anaphilactic itching and that was about it. They have her Benadryl for that, and started her on morphine injections (through her central line) as she needed them.
Fast forward a few days... Now Shay is developing a roaring case of mouth sores. The lining of her mouth, esophagus, and the complete route to the other end is sloughing off as a side effect of the chemo/radiation/transplant. The inside of her mouth is starting to look like raw hamburger -- it comes off into her mouth and is making her so sore. They put her on a morphine pump yesterday afternoon -- she gets a continuous drip and can give herself a bolus amount every 10 minutes, and that seems to give her some relief, although they had to increase the amount she's getting this morning. They have said they will keep increasing the amounts to keep her comfortable.
She is having a lot of nauseau and vomiting and that means she hasn't eaten anything except a few sips of soup broth in -- about 2 weeks I guess. They have her on TPN and lipids (IV nutrition and fats, to keep her strength up). She is retaining fluid, so they give her Lasix every couple of days to keep her from swelling too badly. She has physical therapy 2 times a day, and every time she has to get up and move around, she throws up blood. I know they say these side effects are to be expected, but it doesn't make it any easier to handle watching her suffer.
I've been renting her DVD's from Blockbuster to try to keep her mind off of all of this. She's got books but doesn't have enough 'ooomph' to hold the book. She sat up and tried to colour a little bit the other day -- it didn't last very long but at least she was trying.
Cassie is at my sisters' in Houston and seems to be having a really good time. She's been lounging around and listening to Sams' CD collection <G>. Oh, and she is getting to know what will probably be the newest member of the family, when we get home. Sam has a cat, who came to live with her after her family moved to the UK. Sam doesn't *like* this cat and has made noises like Gregora will be coming to live with us when all of this is over. <G> Oh well, what is one more?
I am going to try to get the camera working tonight and see if I can get some pictures of her, our room and some other stuff around here. Not too sure how it's going to work since there isn't a flash on the camera but I'll try. Take care and I'll work on this some more tomorrow...
Missy
