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It's true, we will miss Auntie Shameika dearly and can't wait til Sunday when she comes back. But, we won't miss the steroid eye drops, even though we had a system down this time (instead of her eyes being pried open by a nurse a la 2012, Jade would close her eyes, the drops were squeezed into the corners of her eyes, and then she would reluctantly blink them in). She's been getting the drops every three hours for a week -- including the 11pm, 2am, and 5am hours -- to prevent chemical conjunctivitis, one of the potential side effects of the high-dose chemotherapy.
It was also the last day for the allopurinol, an oral medicine that Jade was taking to help get rid of high levels of uric acid in the blood caused by all the cells that are being broken down by the chemotherapy. This also happened to be the only oral medicine Jade likes to take.
We probably should have had some kind of ceremony when Jade was untethered from the IV pole. Trips to the bathroom, playroom, art room, meal cart just got that much easier. Not to mention the fact that Jade won't have to put on "yucky baby pampers" at night anymore. It's a big girl, point of pride for her. :)
Jade's ANC also hit 0 today, as expected. The ANC, or Absolute Neutrophil Count, is a measure of a specific type of white blood cell that gauges your body's ability to fight against germs and infection. Unfortunately, the chemo that Jade receives does not discriminate; it goes in and attacks the leukemic cells and the good cells... Having an ANC of 0 means her body has very few natural resources to fight off infections of any kind, making her very susceptible to germs that children with normally functioning immune systems could fend off... But, you wouldn't know by looking at her. Here she is, taking RufRuf, for a walk on the unit.
Thank you for your continued prayers for Jade's complete healing.
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