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| Ready for bed. |
We've had a couple of restless nights, but it looks like Jade and I will finally get some sound sleep tonight thanks to some "Magic Mouthwash" - a mixture of maalox, benadryl, and lidocaine that is actually called by that name - and a small dose of oxycodone. The tiny sore that we spotted on Jade's tongue last week didn't alarm us at first; mouth sores, or mucositis, are a know side effect of chemo, especially the chemotherapy agents that Jade receives. Jade actually developed one mouth sore late in her previous round of chemo, but it resolved pretty quickly on its own.
The one sore we saw last week, however, is now at least three (apparently these little suckers can pop up in the mouth and throughout the throat; the chemo attacks cancer cells and other rapidly dividing cells. The cells that line the mouth, throat, stomach, and bowel fall into that "rapidly dividing" category). They're pretty uncomfortable from what the doctors describe and from what I can gauge from changes to Jade's normally playful demeanor and healthy appetite -- this cranky baby woke up every hour on the hour overnight and only ate a couple of spoons of oatmeal, a few bites of a pancake, and a couple of crackers all day.
Aside from frequent rinsing and smart eating/drinking, there's no real treatment for the sores themselves. The mouthwash and pain medication are to ease the discomfort and make eating and sleeping more possible. The sores typically clear up when the ANC recovers, so... c'mon ANC!
Today's Counts
White Blood Cells: 0.19
Hemoglobin: 7.5
Platelets: 11
ANC: 0
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