August Appointment

Today was Anya's August appointment which included a spinal tap to put chemo in her nervous system and regular IV chemo and preventative antibiotic.

We had intended for Israel to take her, but he has been suffering with an infection and though he shouldn't be contagious anymore, we didn't feel comfortable taking any chances of infecting any of those poor little kiddos with decreased immunity. So Samantha, Anya, and I got dressed and out the door by 8 so we could make it to Children's Mercy on time for Anya's appointment. (Super mommy to the rescue!) :)

Overall things went very smoothly - Anya was pretty upbeat before the spinal tap, her port cooperated, and the doctor said that she looked great. Unfortunately she was feeling pain again during the spinal tap - which isn't supposed to happen because they give her "sleepy medicine" - but I comforted myself with the fact that THIS IS THE LAST TIME WE HAVE TO DO THIS! It is so hard for me to watch her suffer...to feel so helpless to make things better so this reality is so exciting for me!

The other good news is that the doctors also give her a medication that doesn't allow her to remember the pain during the procedure, so if you asked her how the spinal tap went she would probably tell you "great!". Gotta love that medicine!

And I'd also like to "give a shout out" to the child life specialist at CM. She came in during the procedure today, and was such a big help - especially since I had Samantha there with me. She stroked Anya's head, spoke sweetly to her, and read a book to her that we had brought from home to make things as easy as possible on my baby. Thank you Jesus, for such loving people!