A fever? Whats the big deal?

As a parent we deal with many things. One of those things are illnesses. Kids get sick. Its common knowledge. It happens. They get a fever, you give them medicine and keep them home from school and play dates. When Bella or any child with a central line (also called a Port) gets a fever they can have an infection that requires antibiotics immediately. If their counts are up and they are not neutropenic, they are at less risk for an infection and can go home. When their counts are low and they are neutropenic (an ANC of anything below 500) they are at high risk for infection. That is why whenever Bella has a fever we must immediately rush her to the the hospital so that she can start receiving antibiotics.   Without the antibiotic she could go into septic shock or even worse, death. You can never be too careful with a fever.

Back during induction we experienced an infection in her central line. Two to be exact. I didn't know it then, being so new to all of this but it was very serious. No, we never came close to losing her but she was the sickest kid on the floor for 26 days. We made it out, though not by any means unscathed. So of course whenever a fever strikes this house we automatically think the worse. This past week a fever struck just in time for the weekend, our only time with daddy. Bella's ANC was only 15 so of course we ended up inpatient for 3 days. Luckily all blood cultures were negative. It seems whenever Bella has an ANC of less than 50 she gets a fever. This is the 3rd time having this occur, so now I just expect it and become a crazy obsessive mom checking her temp every few minutes. Thankfully she does wonderful and just allows it.



Since her ANC was so low we did not start chemo on Tuesday. She must have an ANC of 750. Friday we went in to get another count check to see if she would clear for chemo on Monday. We also got her her second flu shot that she needed. She cleared with flying colors.With a whooping 1500 ANC.

 So we are back on Monday for another spinal tap and a VERY long day of hydration and chemo because one of the chemos she will be receiving requires 5 hours of hydration. 1 hour before and 4 hours after. Plus we have to add in time for the spinal tap and the administering of the 2 chemos. We will be there ALL day. But we will bring our iPad and many toys to help get through the day. 4 more weeks of this awful phase and we are home free to maintenance. I'm not saying maintenance is gonna be easy because by no means is giving your child chemo every day for 18 months easy, but it is supposed to be a little easier. Counts are not supposed to bottom out as often, though it still does happen. She still can't be around anyone who is sick but we will slowly start doing activities again. Start up dance and swim class again (semi-private lessons) and hopefully start preschool. Possibly once a week. But we just got to get these 4 weeks of chemo, plus a little some after to get her counts to recover. 4 more weeks, say it with me, 4 more weeks! Woo hoo. This 4 more weeks will be very busy though. She will most likely need multiple blood and platelet transfusions, plus for the first 2 weeks, 4 days a week we will have a Home Health nurse coming out to give her her ARAC chemo shots. Not our favorite part but at least mommy doesn't have to do it. Many insurances don't cover it, so parents are required to do it. Our insurance does thankfully!



"We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield." ~Psalm 33:20