Fourth Round of Chemo Begins

Rich sent me this picture of what I am "missing" at home. Yes, the snow is quite piled up by our house! Luckily, he can get in and out okay! What are the odds that this will be cleared up by the time I get home next week?!

Back here in Houston, we left the house at 10 this morning for an 11 AM appointment at the clinic. Well, the appointment was really for 11:45 but Dr. Thompson told Bonnie to come at 11 so we could get started earlier. We love our team and just about everything about Texas Children's but there are so many patients and so much going on that nothing happens very quickly. Waiting has become something we are very good at. I used to think I needed to practice patience and these last couple of months have given me ample opportunity.

We arrived 15 minutes early and both parking garages were full. After circling back around, we tried to valet park and were told that was full as well. The valet said we should go ahead into the parking garage (even though the "full" sign was illuminated) and drive around because there were some spots available. Apparently, they'd told lots of other people the same thing. It was a cat and mouse game, trying to figure out who was leaving and where they had parked, only to get there and find another car had made it before us. Once we even sat and waited for a car that looked like it was going to pull out any minute but someone behind us was not practicing patience and began to honk, forcing us to continue through the rows. Finally Bonnie spotted a family walking out of the building and drove the wrong way down the aisle to reach their spot. Then came the task of parking her 4Runner from the wrong direction in a tiny parking place next to a large cement column. I hopped out of the car to help direct her and waved a waiting vehicle past us so she would have more room to maneuver. Good job, Bonnie--she did it! Whew! By the time we got everything out of the car, walked to the elevators and made it to the 14th floor, it was 11:20. So much for being early.

We saw Dr. Thompson in the lobby and he asked the nurses to please get Emery's weight right away so he could start writing orders. Guess what! Baby girl is up to 10 lbs. 1 oz! We were very happy and so was the doc, especially since Emery's weight has remained the same for a couple of weeks.

The clinic was packed today--as always, lots going on. Labs were done and all of Emery's counts were good so she was ready for chemo. Dr. Thompson did an exam and thought she was doing great. We are still waiting for OT to get her on a regular schedule so he put in orders for someone to come see her while in the hospital.

Then the wait began for a room. David arrived around 3:30 or a little later and was very happy to see his girls. And they were very happy to see him! Emery was sitting up on his lap like a big girl. She just does not want to lie down any more than she has to and likes looking around at everything going on. She's also making a lot of cooing noises now and sounds like she just can't wait to talk! Bonnie was making little sounds and Emery would do her best to repeat them. So cute!

I think we finally went up to a room on the Oncology floor about 5:30 or so. They're all settled in and I left at 8:45 to go back to Becky and Sean's house. Chemo still had not begun. That's a bad sign for hitting the road at a reasonable hour on Saturday. Luckily, they have a bit of leeway on the chemo and can start it a little early each night as long as it is within a certain time frame. So we have not yet given up hope of getting out early on Saturday. We'll just have to see how it goes. Practicing patience.