Today was Odette's day at the Oncology Clinic. We had to get up and leave by 6:30 am. This wouldn't have been bad at all except Odette was awake from about 11pm until 3am. I am not sure if she understood that I wasn't going to be feeding her because she had to be NPO for her procedure or if she heard the word hospital and kept having nightmares. Whatever the reason was, we started the day off exhausted. Luckily I was able to keep my eyes open while driving to PCMC.
When we got to the hospital, Odette was as happy as could be to see all of her friends. Her wave is teh sweetest of all! Lucky for us, one of her favorite night nurses was slow leaving to go home and we got to see her! That was the beginning of great news. At the clinic, we did the usual routine and weighed in. Odette, in the last three weeks has managed to gain 0.3 kilos! I was hoping that she had gained weight, but wasn't thinking she actually had. She gained in three weeks what had taken previously 9 months! We need her to be up to 9kg in order for us to take away the feeding tube completely and see how hungry we can make her, so she might eat. But how awesome it was to know that she is growing!!
The next great thing was when the doctor came in. She opened up Odette's file and said, "Have you seen this?" and she held up Odette's road map. Of course, I had seen it (I practically have the thing memorized!) and instantly replied, "Yes, we only have six weeks left! But I'm not really counting." Both of us smiled and then I got all teary eyed and said, "I remember when you first gave us the entire road map and thought it was going to be impossible. However, I decided to take one step at at time and now look...those steps have added up and our family only has one more big leap to make and we will be out the door!" I was so filled with gratitude and amazement at that very moment. I know for a surety that Nothing is Impossible with Faith, Trust and a little Pixie Dust. My smile was huge and I am sure that I was beaming. (I know I can't explain my feelings any better than that, you just have to trust me that it is an awesome feeling.)
The rest of the visit was routine. The chemo wasn't ready to give before we went to our RTU appointment, so we went down there first. When they were about ready to take Odette back, they informed me we would have to wait a little longer because Odette's chemo for her lumbar puncture was the wrong stuff. (Thank heaven's that they check that stuff a few times!) The chemo eventually came and they took her back. I cannot describe my distaste for that experience. So glad it shouldn't be to many more times. I gave her a kiss and she was asleep and I just have to leave her laying there, praying all goes well. Of course, I know she is in good hands, but that pulls at your heart strings. Both procedures went smoothly. The GI doctor came and said she looks great! We will know the results of her scope by the end of the week. Hoping to drop yet another drug. She woke up quickly, which means grumpy. After about 10 minutes of food running, she calmed down and fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were almost home.
We went back up to the clinic, got her chemo that was now ready, collected her beads of courage, said hi to a a couple more of our friends who were now at work, spend our wad of cash on prescriptions and came home. Odette did great today. She is such a happy fighter! I love to watch her interact with the other patients and parents and bring smiles to their faces. Sometimes smiles are hard to come by around the cancer unit. Maybe there is reason to the trials and chaos that we all face in our lives, even for someone as little as my Odette.
WOOHOO!
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