Amanda's Tuesday

It is Tuesday evening and I wanted to let everyone know how Amanda's day went. I just spoke with her and she is getting ready to go to sleep. It is her first night back at University Hospital. She and I checked her in to the University this morning to begin the next series of her chemo treatments. After lab work, lots of questions and a check up from her Doctor, her resident, the student studying to become a resident, and her nurses....gotta love it...we finally got to her room in the early afternoon.

Her chemo began at 3:15. Different from the last series which was a very long, slow infusion, this bag is given much more quickly and the entire infusion was done in 4 hours. Readings were taken to determine the amount of chemical that had been absorbed into her body. On Wednesday afternoon (24 hours after the last of the chemo) Amanda will begin receiving a recovery drug. This purpose of this drug is to help clear the chemo out of Amanda's system. The chemo that she received is very, very strong. Amanda' s body needs to clear it out as soon as it can. Readings will be taken every 24 hours or so to determine how quickly it is being removed. When the readings show that there is .1 or less of the chemo in her system, Amanda will be cleared.

We do not know how long this will take. We have been told that if all goes well it could clear her system in as little as 4 days. The average is closer to a week. There are occasionally times when it can take as long as 10 days to clear, but that is rare.

Assuming that Amanda is able to clear this drug within the week, she would be allowed to come home and stay until next Tuesday which is when they will give her the same infusion all over again. And, once again, we will wait for a recovery drug and Amanda's body to clear the chemical away. Should it happen that it takes her longer than one week, they will delay the 2nd dose until the following Tuesday. They do not want to do that and so our prayer is that this drug will clear her body quickly and with minimal side effects.

Thankfully I get to tell you that her lab work was good. The Doctor, resident, student and nurses (all of them!) were very pleased with how well she was doing and so far she is comfortable and not experiencing any difficult side effects. We are so very grateful and truly believe that this is a gift from all of the prayers that are being offered on her behalf.

I love her so....she is brave, she is wise, she is funny, she is beautiful...even more beautiful than the two dozen red roses we were gifted with today (thank you Russ). And thank you to each of you who continue to remember her - and all of our family - in your prayers.

Good night Amanda. Sweet dreams honey.
Hallway light on, bathroom light off. Perfect!
I love you more.

Mom