My mommy-sense ( slightly similar to spidey-sense) made me think that something was off a bit, and for a moment my heart sank but I took her temperature and everything seemed OK. It wasn't until I was making her some toast that she mentioned that she did not feel well. She said that she felt like she was going to throw up, but her energy had increased a bit so I actually thought she might be kidding. She was sitting on the counter (next to the toaster) and I was standing in front of her, so I let her down and she walked down the hallway towards her room. I heard her cough, then I heard what sounded like her choking on something - as she yelled "I am throwing up....." So I rand down the hallway and she had thrown up a bit in hallway. She hadn't eaten yet so it wasn't as bad as it could have been but still - I was worried considering this whole diagnosis began almost 4 months ago when she last threw up. I calmly ( yet immediately) contacted the oncology nurse and left a message about what had happened and asked that she call me back. It was a Thursday before a long weekend and it would be true Aly style to get sick again during a long weekend when no-one was around, so I wanted to get someone on the phone ASAP to get their opinion. While I waited for the nurse to call me back, I took her temperature and it was 35.5, so well below the doomed 38. Aly seemed fine, started running around and had all the energy she has had in recent days so I was slightly confused by her recent throw up. When the nurse called back she was a bit surprised that Aly had never thrown up before following her treatment. I had given her some anti-nausea meds the day following her procedure, but didn' think I needed to give her any on this day ( perhaps I was wrong). Apparently this was a very common side effect based on the chemo that Aly had been given just 2 days earlier and as we progress through her treatment the infusion of meds is, at times, accelerated. I guess this was a first for Aly and a bit of a lesson learned for me. Tougher days may be ahead, so I shall enjoy the tremendous energy she has right now ( she is full of energy non-stop ALL day long) and begin to prepare myself both mentally for the months ahead.
Hi Audrey,
ReplyDeleteSounds like Aly is acting like a kid on chemo. When Matt went through this phase he was nauseated on and off and vomited occasionally. Zofran does wonders for this. What I found remarkable is that the feeling unwell was only what is was in that moment. So after he vomited, that was that, he would get back to what mattered to him - being a kid. Kids of that age respond to this so differently than adults, they do not worry about what will come in the future (even 30 min into the future) cause they don't really have a sense of time and they don't know what to worry about(as far as illness goes). It is the innocence of childhood - wish I could get some of that back at times. As I remember during this phase of treatment Matt did not have vomit as much as I might have expected. He was however very sensitive to smells, he would walk through the kitchen with his nose plugged. I think the smell of certain foods nauseated him. This all lead to a period of picky eating.
Hang Audrey, Aly is trucking on through this!
Angie.