Update On Sarah....Post Second Chemo

Sarah's second chemo treatment was very different than the first one. The first chemo treatment was like a party. It went so well. Little did we know that the second chemo would be so different.

Sarah is NEVER cold. Sarah is ALMOST ALWAYS too hot. Well, Sarah was cold almost the whole time during the second chemo. In the picture below you can see that Sarah had on a quilt, a little blanket, a heated blanket provided by the nurse and something on her head to keep her head warm.


Below is the Caringbridge entry I wrote on Sarah's behalf today. I wanted to post it on my blog, as well, for those who don't go to Sarah's Caringbridge website.

Dr. Migliori, Sarah's plastic surgeon, said it would hit her someday. The feelings would hit her. And, he was right.

Sarah is riding the low part of the roller coaster the last couple of days.

Sarah is sad....mostly about losing the last of her hair. She used some special tape to hold her wig on securely last week and, when she took her wig off, the tape took some of her remaining hair off as well. That has left some splotchiness on her head. And, her hairline at her forehead is losing hair. We thought about shaving her head, but we can't do that. It is too risky as she has to avoid anything that could possibly give her a scratch or a cut that could get infected.

There is something final about losing the last of her hair. She has had fun with taking charge of losing her hair.....re: the mohawk...but this is different now. Her hair doesn't hurt like it did when she had the mohawk, but she hurts inside. I see it in her eyes and she tells me.

Dr. Migliori said it would hit her. It is. I told her she can take some time to just feel...to just be...sleep...cry...do nothing...let her feelings have a voice...and she is.

On the physical side she pretty much feels like she has the flu 24 hours a day. She wants to eat but nothing sounds good. She is starting to have the muscle aches today and we learned from the nurse practitioner that she can take Oxycodone for those. That was great news! And, the yukky taste in her mouth started today. The nurse practitioner recommended making a mix of water, salt and baking soda to gargle. Sucking on sugar free mints helps too.

She also has a cough. She called Jayne, Dr. Zander's nurse and Jayne called in a prescription for an antibiotic. Her blood levels will be dropping in the next week and after the last chemo her while blood cell count went down to zero. She had NO infection fighting cells. So, caution prevails right now!

She looks at me and says, "I'm sorry mom. It is harder for you. If I were sitting where you are it would be hard to feel so helpless. I would hate to see you going through this."

I would take this from Sarah, in a heartbeat, if I could.

Sarah ends her posts with.......

Let's do this people!

She is doing this! She is my brave, strong, courageous, inspirational child with such a big giving heart and a wonderful attitude.

Somedays are just hard and that is ok to let it show.

I love you Sarah!
mom
xo

Let's do this....all of this....feelings and all!