Day 5

We completed our final day of high-dose chemotherapy yesterday.  Thankfully it was fairly routine and other than the continued diarrhea, Maggie did fairly well.  With all that she has in her to stop the diarrhea, it has not done so.  

Maggie's nutrition she receives through her night feedings have been changed to continue to combat the diarrhea.  This formula is something that is easier to digest.  The doctors also took samples of her poop to determine if perhaps Maggie is not getting the full nutrients out of her food.  They also are testing for any viral infections.  These tests however will not come back with results for several weeks.

However, in the meantime we have the GI appointments scheduled for Tuesday.  The dietitian working with us came in and warned us that they might want Maggie to not receive any food- liquids or solids for 3 days so that her bowels and intestines can get a break.  When I heard this, I was quite aghast.  If they do suggest us doing that, I will have to decline.  There is no way that you can explain to a baby why she can't nurse or eat.  It would be torture on her and all of us.  We don't want to jump to conclusions since we haven't had our visit yet, but we are prepared to continue our advocacy for Maggie.

Maggie has done fairly well since her last chemo infusion.  She has had difficulty sleeping today as she didn't take a nap and we are still working on getting her to sleep (we began around 9:15 and here we are 3 hours later still trying).  Hopefully this will not become a habit once again.  Her eyes look tired and there's just a hint of "sickness" in them.  We know that chemotherapy takes a toll on bodies, and I can't imagine what it does to these little ones who receive it.  

Please continue to pray for Maggie as her counts plummet to zero and will then rebound.  Pray that she doesn't get any infections or have any side effects to the chemo.  We will wait about 2 weeks for Maggie's counts to recover and then we begin a new phase of treatment, much similar to Maintenance.  With that, we will say good-bye to Maggie's broviac as she will finally be getting a port.  We also celebrated yesterday that she is finished with high-dose chemo for the rest of her life (God willing)!  

Thank you for your continued prayers.