Wednesday, May 19, 2010

1st chemo dose - check!

Lauren had her 1st dose of chemotherapy today (Actinomycin-D). She goes in again tomorrow for a second chemo drug (Vincristine). So far, so good. It was a little traumatic for her to get her port-a-cath accessed, but she survived. We are going to try a numbing cream instead of numbing spray next time to see if this helps.

Her lab work was reassuring WBC 8,000 (normal 6,000-17,000) and ANC 1800 (normal 1500-5000). She also received an antiemetic that should work for 24 hours. We have Zofran for any breakthrough nausea as well and pain medication for pain control. She also got a fluid bolus because her appetite is still not back, and we are having a hard time getting her to drink anything! Now for the weekly regimen to begin. . .Septra twice a day Mon/Tues each week (an antibiotic for prophylaxis - to prevent pneumocystis pneumonia, a very dangerous form of pneumonia that children with cancer are at greater risk to develop) and chemotherapy each Wednesday.

She gets lab work each week before her chemo and also will get various tests (CXR, CT scans, and ultrasounds) throughout the course to check for any metastatic cancer.

Her final pathology report is back. She has nephroblastoma AKA Wilms tumor, favorable histology, stage 2 cancer. The next step is to determine if she has LOH (loss of heterozygosity - studies show that tumors with certain changes on chromosomes 1 or 16 seem to be more likely to reoccur after initial treatment). This test will be back in another 7-10 days. It will determine if she is treated for 25 weeks with an additional chemo drug vs the standard of care with 18 weeks of 2 chemo drugs. Only about 5% of Wilm's patients have this, so chances are good that her test will be negative.

She is a trooper and has done amazing. As long as she has some sort of Disney princess to play with all is well. We are just starting this long journey, but so far things have gone as well as can be expected. We are praying for continued success.

8 comments:

Heather said...

Kristin, I just found your blog through FB. Thoughts and prayers with your family...

Rachel said...

Wow that all seems like quite the process, but of course worth going through to keep her healthy! We are so happy that overall things are looking positive for Lauren, and we will continue to pray for each of you!

alli said...

Thanks for the update! I am excited to see the photos you took of her last week! We always remember your family in our prayers--love you!

Unknown said...

Looks like you'll be busy Kristin. Are you able get your shifts to work around her?

Disney Princesses will always save the day.

Unknown said...

and, this is Aimee, not Rory. :)

Kym + Marco said...

Kristin-
So glad to hear that your daughter is handling treatment well. Please know that you and your family are in the thoughts of the entire SCN staff. Lots of love, Kym

Kristin said...

Aimee- I haven't worked since her diagnsis and have been on unpayed leave, but I start back this Friday night. I traded my shifts around so I could take Lauren to her appointments. We'll see how it works out!

Jules said...

Thanks for the update--Lauren continues to be in our prayers!