Chemo day 4

Today was a great day! She didn't get sick at all and was in a good mood all day! She slept a lot though, and went to bed around 8:30...which is unusual for her as she's usually up til 11:30 or later these days. I'm sure she'll sleep more and more. It seems like most people are pretty impressed with her energy & activity levels..they stay high not only while receiving chemo but also benedryl, antibiotics, some anti nausea meds and a handful of other meds around the clock! She cracks me up, they'll be like okay we're giving her (or whatever) so she should sleep for a bit, we're like haha yea right..you can see in their faces their thinking silly parents, she'll fall asleep in no time..and then they are like dang, she really isn't going to sleep, in fact she's playing dinosaur. The only one that does get her is phenagrin. She had that again today during chemo and slept through it. When she woke I was waiting for her to get sick like yesterday but she never did! :) :) :)
Tomorrow is a rest day. I'm going to run home to sanitize everything and prepare for our return. Chris has to leave Sunday (sad face) and he's going to take Sasha back home with him (another sad face). We just can't take any chances, although Sasha brings us all great joy we just can't risk having the litter box around. There arent many reasons to be happy that we are so far away, but I think it's a blessing to have our apartment here which is free from dog and cat germs and probably a billion times cleaner than our house at home. Thank you to our family for helping us with that(among countless other things), our "Houston home" is a little safe haven; a home away from home! We have the best family and support groups! I just don't know how we would do this without all of you!Every person in our lives has been a godsend and we love you all so much!
The worst of this stay is over, it wasn't perfect but it wasn't terrible either. Like I said, Hayden has thrown up before, this time it's because the bad cells are getting attacked and killed and not bc the bad cells are spreading like wild fire attacking everything in their path..when you look at it that way, chemo doesn't seem so bad and we basically sailed through this round! Fight fire with fire, and lots of it!! Hayden is superhuman strong (especially for a 3 yr old) it's hard not to think that some part of her wasnt built for this fight. She was born ready! I'm so proud of her strength, her fight, her endurance, her stubbornness and her willingness and desire to stay happy & laughing through this all! She s such an amazing little girl!
She still has the transplant on Friday! It's possible to have a reaction to the preservative in her cells, but that's not usually so bad and since they are her own cells it's not likely her body will reject them but these things can be crazy..I doubt it though. I just know she's going to do great even if she does smell like cream corn dipped in garlic. (doesn't really sound to bad to me but everyone keeps saying it like it's terrible..We'll see) The whole transplant is really cool. We are very lucky to have the opportunity to do it. They don't do it everywhere. I always though a bone marrow consisted of sucking out the marrow and injecting new (donated) marrow into the bones in a very painful operation. But no, it's not like that at all. Whether it's donated o your own (in hay dens case, her own) it just goes in like any other transfusion. After the stem cells are placed she is given a drug to help them multiply. There is no crazy sucking out of the old Marrow, for Hayden (and pretty much anyone receiving a bone marrow transplant) there will basically be none to suck out anyways. the cells have to go in bc there will be none there, her white blood count will literally drop to zero. Scary and pretty crazy. All is well, we'll keep her super protected from germs while she has no defenses.
Every day we get closer and closer to the end of treatments! I'm so excited that everything is going so smoothly! We have been so blessed and are soo lucky to live so close to Houston, where the magic happens! Which reminds me, a nurse told me today that nurses in Houston get paid about 10$ more an hour than Austin.. Yikes!! I'm not moving to Houston. I'm just saying...
Good night all! Keep Hayden in your prayers, it's the most important thing you can do for us!!