Friday, March 30, 2012

Port and Chemo

Sierra had her port placed on Wednesday. It is a procedure to put a small disk under her skin on her chest, and run a catheter into one of the arteries in her heart so she can receive her chemo treatment. They also can use it for blood draws, Iv fluids, and transfusions. She did amazingly well before the procedure. She didn't go back to surgery until 3:15 in the afternoon, couldn't eat after midnight the night before, and had only had half of a banana popsicle and a tub of jello that morning. She was just playing happily, and being goofy in the little room we waited in before they took her back. The procedure only took just a little over an hour, and it was another 30min before she woke up from the anesthesia, so not too long. She was in quite a bit of pain right after so she had a few doses of morphine, and then she was very comfortable.
After some time in recovery, she was able to go up and be admitted to the pediatric oncology unit. She was excited to get to have a "sleepover" at the hospital. She loved playing with the toys in the playroom, and the Wii. We didn't know how long before chemo would start( I thought it would be Wed. night, but that didn't happen. Then I thought early Thursday afternoon, nope. It finally started running at 10:15 Thursday evening. First was the Cisplatin(C)- a red colored fluid, injected through her IV over 15 min. Then was the Doxarubicin(D) which was clear, and injected over a 4 hr period. During the D she had to use the bathroom every hr for 4 hrs so they could monitor her output. Having to wake up every hour overnight was very tiring, but she handled it really well. She would just get up, I would carry her to the bathroom, and back to bed, and she would go right back to sleep.
Playing with the music lady in the outpatient playroom, before having her port put in(3-29-12)

After Port surgery, playing in the inpatient playroom.

Dora pillowcase was made for her by a volunteer at the hospital.
Princess Sierra, being pulled around in her wagon, and eating grapes.

First dose of C is being administered.

First dose of D is being administered


When she woke up for the morning she complained a little bit off and on about her tummy bothering her, but she actually ate a bowl of Rice Krispies for breakfast. Her pain from the Port being placed was pretty strong, but she was given pain meds to help. She had to do some physical therapy to stretch out her leg, she has had it bent since the biopsy, and still wont bear and weight on it. she definitely cried during that, but towards the end was a real trooper, and walked herself to the bathroom, and down the hallway to play Wii with daddy. She ate some of my orange chicken at lunch time, and drank part of a chocolate milkshake. She started feeling sick again around 2pm, and ended up having to throw up(sadly,right before the nurse came in to give her some anti-nausea meds). She will do an identical dose of meds tonight, at the same times(24hrs after the first doses) and will hopefully be feeling well enough tomorrow to be able to come home. I am looking forward to having all of us in the same house again.
 Morning after first doses of Chemo, with the new Barbie she got from the hospital.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tests, tests, tests



I know Sierra is already getting tired of all the testing. She has been getting baseline tests done in preparation of starting chemo either Wednesday or Thursday. Monday she had an Echo and EKG, and today she had a PET/CT scan done. The heart tests yesterday were really simple, basically an ultrasound of her heart, which took about 20 min, and the EKG was only about 2 minutes from start to finish(which Sierra was thrilled about). The PET/CT was another story, she had to have an IV(she hates them, but did really well), then they injected her with radioactive sugar and we had to wait for an hour for it to circulate. During the hour, she wasn't supposed to move or talk and basically just be as still as possible. Then they put her in the scanner and she had to be perfectly still for another half hour or more( she was strapped and tapped down so she wouldn't move). Needless to say, by the end she was asking how much longer, but she was very still, and got lots of compliments from the tech doing the scan about how well behaved she was. She goes in tomorrow for a hearing test, and then will be admitted, and have a surgery to have a port placed in her chest where she will receive all of her chemo treatments and medications. Then chemo will start and we will be in the hospital for monitoring for about 3 days. We are praying that she handles the treatments well, and that she doesn't have too many nasty side affects. She knows she will lose her hair, and doesn't seem too terribly upset by it(she knows it will grow back). We appreciate all of the prayers and support from all of our friends and family, keep 'em comin':)
All "plugged in" for her EKG.
Taped down( her penguin got to go in too).
All smiles when it was done, she was so excited to stretch and wiggle.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Early Easter


With Sierra starting Chemo this week, and us not knowing how she would respond to it, we decided to celebrate an early Easter with Dave's parents and sister. They came to church with us and then we went back to his parents house for an indoor egg hunt, and lunch. The food was great and it was fun to have some family time together before we start spending lots of nights apart.
Sierra hasn't been in much pain lately, but she isn't willing to put any weight on her left leg at all. She sees the orthopedic surgeon, who did the biopsy, tomorrow for a follow up, and hopefully he will have some advice on how we can get her up and walking again.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Granny Higbee

Sierra has been out of commission since her biopsy last Tuesday. Whether it's actually pain, or her fear of it being painful, she hasn't wanted to put any pressure on her left leg, which has meant she has been stuck in bed for the last week. Luckily, yesterday, at our appointment with the oncologist, she was able to get a walker(all of the crutches were too big for her) and she is loving being back on her feet. Not to mention how cute she looks. She was excited to be able to go back to school today, she missed being able to see all of her friends. They were all so excited to see her, she is kind of like a class pet, everyone wants to help her, it is really adorable the way they swarm her when she comes into the classroom. The only problem with the walker is how jealous Evy is, she thinks it should be for her:)


March 20, 2012, back on 2 feet(sort of)

March 21, 2012, headed back to school

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Diagnosis

Today Sierra was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma(bone cancer). We knew it was something to watch for because of her diagnosis of Rothmund Thomson Syndrome, so when she started limping in January and complaining of pain, we took her to the doctor for an Xray. When those were clear, we scheduled an MRI, which showed abnormal cells. A CT scan, and bonescan showed no abnormalities anywhere else(which is good, because cancer anywhere else in her body would mean a much harder fight). The biopsy was done a week ago, and today we met with her oncologist for the first time. Sierra will be starting chemotherapy on Wednesday, March 28, 2012, and will have about 40 weeks of treatment. Around week 12 she will have surgery to remove the tumor, which may or may not be an amputation. It is scary to think of her losing her leg, but scarier to think of losing her.
Pic is from 9-18 2011


 


First Post(such a clever title)

Since we have so much family and friends that will want to know what is going on with Sierra, I decided to start a blog for her. Hopefully I will be able to post here on a regular basis and keep everyone up to date on how she is doing. I will also try to have her compose some posts for me and would love if people would leave comments for her. We are in for a long ride, but have so much support surrounding us. We are so thankful for all of the prayers that have been said for Sierra so far, and for our family, they keep us going. Things are about to get interesting, and we are going to face each day with a positive attitude.