Nothing to see here.

Well, nothing much has changed. We are still at Primary Children’s. Serenity’s fevers seem (to me) to be a little less frequent, but they are still high. Last night’s was 105. The doctor did do a urine culture, along with blood cultures and stool tests and everything is negative. They are testing for C diff again (this is the 3rd time in the last 2 weeks) because her poop is still so liquid. I don’t like when we are waiting for C diff results. She can’t leave the room & all the staff puts on protective gowns every time they enter. When I go to the ice machine I feel like everyone is looking at me, wondering if I washed my hands. I’m sure it’s all in my head, but it was such a relief when her test came back negative and we could go back to being normal patients.

Serenity’s regular oncologist is the attending doctor over the weekend, so I am hoping to get more information from him as to what they are thinking. I’ve heard various things from other cancer parents. The fevers could be a side effect of the ARA-C, which we finished 6 days ago. They could be from some sort of infection that hasn’t shown up yet. Although it’s uncommon for it to take this long, it’s not unheard of. It could be a fungal infection that hasn’t manifested yet. It’s possible, but unlikely, that it’s related to her port. The nurses often refer to her as the mystery patient, because she looks & acts so good when her fever is down. But she is so very sick when the Tylenol wears off.

She has been complaining a lot about her eyes since we’ve been here. I spoke with the resident, and I hope that an opthalmologist will be able to take a look at her.

It is hard being away from the rest of the family for so long. I miss the kids and I know they miss me. It seems like there was hardly a break between Taran’s 2 weeks in the hospital and now this. But I am grateful that I have neighbors and family helping out with my other children & with meals so that I can be here with my girl. And I love the fact that I can snuggle her all day and all night long.

She has had the Neupogen shot for 3 days now. It is bringing her ANC & white blood count up, which is what we’d hoped. Her hematocrit and platelets continue to drop. My poor girl hates the shots and I hate having to hold her during them. It will be hard to continue to give them to her at home. 🙁

On a happier note, here are some photographs from our stay here.

One of Serenity’s favorite things to do at the hospital is get extra “stickers” with her name on them and put them all over her clothes.

Being a little bit bashful about me photographing her artwork.

The artwork in question. (I helped with the socks ;))

Our pediatrician & her office manager (also a very good friend) sent up a goodie bag filled with snacks and activities. Serenity had a blast with her Play Doh.