Emma is in Remission!

Emma started her next round of chemo on tuesday of this week. We were very nervous about this round because the chemo medicine's are very strong, but Emma has handled them quite well. She may have had a tummy ache from time to time and loss of appetite, but other than that she has been great! Well, great considering what she has been through. We also got the test results back from the bone marrow and they can officially say Emma is in remission. Praise God!!! Our prayers were answered and have been since the day Emma started chemo. They did send it away to another lab for a closer look and we will get those test results back in about a week.

Tuesday morning we arrived at the hospital at 8 a.m. We wanted to be there as early as possible so they could get started on her procedures. Every time she has a procedure she has to stop eating at midnight the night before, so you can imagine how cranky Emma is when she realizes she's not getting a bottle first thing in the morning. Her spinal chemo treatment, bone marrow biopsy, ppt test(they had to draw blood from somewhere other than her line), and echo cardiogram were all scheduled for 9 a.m. Well, by the time the chemo arrived and the doctors were ready, the procedure started about 10 a.m. Emma was very patient and even took a couple of short naps while she waited. They were also scheduled to put in a catheter a little bit later in the day while giving her medicine that would help her relax.

The procedures went great and they called us in to help with the echo and blood draw. They stuck her 2 times and were unable to get a sample because her veins are so small. So we decided to try to draw it when we did the catheter. She was a little upset when we had to hold her down for the echo, but after about 5 minutes she fell asleep and they got what they needed.

When we arrived back in the room we gave her a bottle and she was starving! We had given her anti-nausea meds right before the procedures and she had no problems. Just a couple of minutes after arriving back in the room, they set up to do her catheter. The medicine to help her relax is oral so we had to wake her up to give it. Of course she wasn't happy about this, but we got the medicine in and it worked right away. First, they tried to draw blood and had no luck. They decided that they could try to get a sample through her line, but sometimes the test results are skewed because of the medicine they use to lock the line. But we all decided that this would be the best option for the time being. The ppt test is to check to make sure her blood is clotting the way it's supossed to.

Next, was the catheter. It went in fine and Emma did great, but we have never really had any luck with catheters since we've been here. Wednesday afternoon the catheter snapped and we were going to have to insert a new one. I begged the doctors to just leave it out and I would change her diapers every hour so she wouldn't get diaper rash. At first they told me no, but after some more convincing they decided to give it a shot. So, I have set my alarm for midnight through 7 a.m. on the hour every hour to change her diaper. Although, this is not my most favorite thing to do, it's better than watching them put another catheter in and Emma having to deal with the inconvenience. I just hope I can do a good enough job and keep her from breaking out! She was scheduled to have a deep muscle shot also which is a long lasting chemo medicine. So, she had 6 different chemo meds all in one day along with 2 procedures, an echo cardio gram, a catheter, and 3 attempts at drawing blood which failed! At the end of the day Emma was still smiling. It just shows you how innocent and forgiving children are. What a blessing God has given our family, to have the honor of knowing and caring for such a beautiful and strong little girl. She has taught me so much these past few months and I have heard numerous times how her story has touched the lives of so many people.

A part of this round of chemo is taking a prednisone(a steroid) which helps the other chemo meds work better. This medicine is very bitter tasting and has always made Emma vomit. They can give it through the IV at the hospital, but at home we have to do it orally. So we decided to try it orally again this time to see how she would handle it. Well, she has thrown it up 4 times! We tried to mask the flavor with orasweet, chocolate icecream, and hershey's chocolate syrup but nothing has worked. So thursday afternoon the doctor called in a prescription for the name brand steroid which is supossed to taste better. We had to use our pharmacy because the hospital pharmacy doesn't carry it for some reason. We were so nervous to give it to her, but if we couldn't get it down her orally, we would have to stay at the hospital until we succeeded. I tried this steroid by the way, and it almost made me sick and I'm not doing chemo. We tried to mask this flavor with marshmellow cream and it worked! She still shivered when she took it, but she has had 2 doses and kept them down. What a relief! Now we can go home : )

Jonny and I are both exhausted because we have gotten very little sleep at the hospital. Emma has had a more restful stay this time and is sleeping through the night and even sleeping through most of the diaper changes. We have two chemo treatments today and should be on our way home early saturday morning unless something changes.

Praise God for:

Emma's remission

Please pray specifically for:

No infections

No diaper rash

No side effects

A restful stay at home

No relapse