The first day was spent by putting an IV line into Leila's arm and giving her a blood transfusion. Her red blood cell and platelet counts were extremely low, so she needed two pints of blood and a pint of platelets. The process took several hours to complete.
Leila's second day was the most important one. She had surgery to implant a central line port into her chest. This is where all of the central venous treatments including chemotherapy, blood draws and antibiotics will be accessed. She also had a bone marrow aspiration and spinal tap. Everything went well with her surgery and she slept for quite awhile afterwards.Leila was very sore on the days following the surgery. She could hardly move her left arm and it was extremely painful to get in and out of bed. Her entire left side hurt from where her port was implanted. It took several days for her to get used to it and be able to move around.
Leila received and abundance of gifts while she was in the hospital. She had plenty of crafts, toys, games, DVD's and webkinz to occupy her for quite some time. She enjoyed going to the playroom on the Oncology floor because they had a computer where she could play with her Webkinz. She spent a lot of time in that room when she felt good enough.
While Leila was in the hospital this week, she also received other chemotherapy treatments. One of the treatments called Asparaginase is given intramuscular, meaning in the muscles of the legs. This was very nerve racking for mom and dad because we knew this would hurt. Leila did great and fortunately for her she had no reactions from it.
Part of this treatment plan includes a steroid called Dexamethasone. It also helps fight the cancer cells. It is an oral medication in liquid form that tastes really bad. Leila did not like taking the oral meds and it was a battle each time she had to take them.
On day 8, Leila was able to go home. That was a great day and she was so excited. Grandma and Grandpa Brown were staying with us so we still had help at home.
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