Week One Done

The anxiety of my daughter's first week of treatments peaked on Monday. It was her first day of treatment. Fear of the unknown was working on both of us. I'm happy they didn't take MY blood pressure. The hour-long drive to the hospital was silent. A doctor's visit had to come before we proceeded to her treatments. More vials of blood were taken, and the wait was on to see if her blood work was satisfactory for treatment. After what seemed like a very long time, the go-ahead was given.

Once upstairs, my daughter was given some meds to help with the side effects, and we waited awhile for the meds to take effect. She had an IV put in. Her arms look like purple highways with all the blood being taken, plus the IVs being inserted. Then, there was a wait for the actual infusion. We arrived at 8:30, but the infusion did not start until 11:30. After fifteen minutes, she had a massive reaction to the injection. The nurses acted swiftly and knew exactly what to do by injecting a Benadryl cocktail. It took her another half hour to regain normalcy, whatever that is. After this period, the infusion was started again. They had given her enough meds for the allergic reaction, making her sleep. Thank you, Jesus. I teared up after she went to sleep. My thoughts were racing. Will this be the way it is during every infusion? She woke up just in time to go home.

Two other days of infusions followed. They all went smoothly, thank goodness. Traveling was not too bad this week except for this morning because she had to be there at 8:00 AM. Rush hour traffic was something I am glad I do not have to navigate every day. There is a reason this girl lives in the country.

Next week begins a new routine for three weeks. Infusions every Monday will be given and then a PET scan at the end of those three weeks to see if we are making any progress with eradicating the lymphoma. I pray that this new treatment works. My daughter is only the third person in the United States to have this treatment since she is in a trial study.

There are always trials in life that we must go through. I hope my daughter has dealt with all of hers because the last eight years have been rough with her health. If you are reading this, please say a prayer for her.

Later...