Overwhelmed by popcorn and spots

I gotta tell you, I’m feeling a little fried right now. This week was an adventure.

1. 4 days of clinic visits
2. A visit to the Florida Aquarium with 40ish REALLLLY excited 5-6 year olds

3. A weekend where we couldn’t really go anywhere because Peyton’s counts are low
4. I did the taxes today

Next I think I’ll free the galaxy from the tyranny of the Empire AND try to squeeze in remembering what I’m supposed to send with the kids to school since all my reminder papers got a bath in milk over the weekend.

Peyton looks great in purple. This is fantastic, because every time she falls (which seems to be especially often this week) she forms these pretty evil looking little bruises. This kid runs at 110%, she falls a LOT! She also cracked her head on the coffee table while trying to lean down to put her shoes on AND backed into the corner of a kitchen cabinet door. It’s sort of like a cosmic game of Wack-A-Mole, gravity and fate are just waiting to see where she’ll pop up next so they can smack her around a little. I’m guessing from all the bruising her platelet counts are low and although we only have one scheduled day for chemo this week, we’ll probably end up there for some platelets….or Mr Yellow if you like to make it sound happy.

UPDATE!

WOW>>>>I had to stop writing last night and figured I’d finish it up this afternoon after we returned from our uneventful day at the clinic. Riiiiiiight.

Peyton and I dropped the kids off at school this morning in the middle of the pouring rain. She was thrilled to be wearing her puffy purple rain coat and was generally in a great mood. She asked for McDonalds for breakfast and I was happy to oblige since she was offering to eat something. We got to the clinic, she ate, we talked and laughed with some other patients and staff and it seemed as though it was going to be a nice and easy day. I am so wrong sometimes. In fact, sometimes I stand in sheer amazement at the totalitude (do you like my new word, I made it up) of my wrongness.

The first incident went something like this:

“Mrs. Mayhew, you need to come over and see this.” Dr Kerr then shines the otoscope into Peyton right ear canal.
“What is that?!!! Is that popcorn?”
“I believe so.”
“Peyton! Why did you put popcorn in your ear?”
“Because I did.” She’s so zen it hurts sometimes.

Yes, they had to extract a popcorn kernel from her ear. She was so happy about this event that we had to call her father and announce “I sticked popcorn in my ear, Daddy!” She’s promised not to stick anything else in her ear, however, most of the people that we shared this with went on to tell their own horror stories of peas, play-doh, polly pocket shoes, etc. I could almost see her little mind filing away these ideas for later.

Now, sometime after we got to the clinic, but slightly before true misery started, Peyton broke out in a red rash. At first there were a few red bumps on her arm, but they spread to her hands, back, and shoulder. It wasn’t horrible, just a few bumps to start with, but it was did pop up quickly and then started to bloom on her fingers and in between her fingers. Then it just stopped spreading. Well, that’s interesting, isn’t it? She’s had the chicken pox vaccine, and the spots don’t have any kind of blistered appearance, they don’t itch or hurt…..no one has any idea. She’s had a nasty little cold the past few days involving the cough, stopped up nose and sore throat, but no fever.

There is a nice big sign next to the check in window that says (paraphrasing) “If you have a rash please let us know. We don’t want you spreading your nasty crusty disease around and any violators will be beaten until compliant.” We arrived unaware of any spots and went straight to the play room, where we can best infect others with whatever we have! I felt so bad that if it turned out to be something contagious, we just exposed about 7 other kids! Arggggg. We got sequestered into an exam room and anyone who came in had to be on aware of touching the spotted wonder.

Peyton’s CBC showed that my powers of platelet perception were on the mark. Normal platelet ranges are between 150-350000 and hers was 23000. We now needed to order platelets for an infusion to be done later in the afternoon. Cindy, our nurse, let us know that we could go home, eat and then come back at 1:30 for the infusion. I asked her if I should go home and pack a bag. She told me that it couldn’t hurt to have it on hand, just in case.

So, we left the clinic, went home, I packed a suitcase for a 4-5 day hospital stay and had Peter lug it to the truck. Peyton nibbled on some lunch and I constantly eyed her for new or suspicious spots.

Peyton fell asleep on the way back to the clinic and stayed asleep until it was time for me to put her EMLA cream on her legs in prep for her shots. This action was welcomed by hysterical crying….eyes closed, still half asleep, she cried and wailed for almost 45 full minutes. Did I mention that we were still locked in a little exam room together? With the door closed? It was loud.

She got hooked up for her infusion, she promptly managed to jar something loose in the line and got blood and platelets all over herself. After the infusion, she busted out in hives on her head, an allergic reaction. I had to laugh because now she has two different categories of red spots on her body. It takes three of us, but we wrestle her down to give her the leg shots, it’s painful and she’s miserable….my poor baby. They give her a dose of Benadryl to calm the hives and what looks like a minor skin reaction to the leg shots. Something new to the mix, she has red patches at the injection site. Still no answer on the original red spots, and they’re spreading to her feet and toes now.

“You guys stay in here.” Cindy reminds us as she leaves the room.
“Cause you wouldn’t want us to spread it around to all the healthy kids, right?”
“Yeah, we want to keep them with JUST cancer!”
It’s all about perception!

We ended up coming home. The spots are still there, but no longer spreading and still haven’t formed blisters or anything exciting. She has no fever, no symptoms, no need to break out in showtunes. If any of these things happen then we’re to call the doc and probably head to the hospital. It may just be a random case of weird red bumps. She’s been an emotional wreck all day, in fact, the entire time she napped she’d just start crying and whimpering. I’m exhausted and we have to go back on Thursday for a CBC to see what Friday holds in store for us.

The name Patrick Wills was brought to my attention. He’s a husband, father of three boys, the exact same ages as my three kids, and he died from leukemia on Sunday. I just pray that there is peace and love in the hearts of his family and friends who go on to remember him, that God will provide comfort for their pain and that Patrick has been welcomed by God into a happy and healthy eternity. This is the web page for Patrick : patrickwills.

f.ro.G….fully relying on God
—-Anissa