her smile is contagious

Have you ever met our sweet B? If you have, you know her smile, man it melts you. I've never lived a day without seeing her smile...not until this. Not until she experienced the effects from the cocktail of chemotherapy drugs. Cocktail, like that makes it sound more appealing. 

So if you're following the transplant journey, this would be installment 3. Make sure you read from the beginning. It's not timeline based, but it helps to go in order. 

So the first 7 days were chemo days. These were considered days -8 to -2, day -1 was a rest day, no chemo was given this day. Day 0 was cell day. This would be the day she would receive the millions of cells that had been collected over the course of 2 years. 

The pictures below sort of document a few of the moments I captured over that first week. Overall, B was in a great mood. She tolerated the chemo well with little medical intervention. They started her on Zofran (nausea) and Benadryl (nausea) the night we checked it. It cycled every 4-6 hours the entire month. She experienced a few episodes with nausea and vomiting. Carboplatin is known for making her feel crappy, it was part of a protocol she was on after her first relapse. 

{Days -8 through -2 she spent most of her mornings in bed. Chemo started early. Cartoons started early. Pre-meds started early. Early has never been in Bailey's vocabulary.} 

That SMILE is there.

{I tried to get her out of bed when she was felling up to it. Even just to order a snack. She wouldn't eat it, she wasn't hungry. But, her pregnant hormonal mother was always hungry. Sweet girl always put me first.} 

That SMILE is there.

{Visiting with her brothers. I'll write more about visitation. Long story short, she could only see them through Plexiglas. They couldn't hear each other, but you could see the love. I wish you could have seen the pain as well, because it was still there.}

That SMILE is there. 

{Enjoying a little PT. Another topic I'll discuss later. She loved the e-z rider. And did you know for the thrifty price of $100, you too can have one delivered via Amazon.} 

That SMILE is there. 

B made it through days -8 through -2. I expected nothing less from my girl. I have never doubted her ability to overcome obstacles that presented through her journey.

Day -1 was a day of rest. Let me start by saying the only thing she got rest from was chemotherapy. So it wasn't a true day for her body to rest. She still had lab work, vitals, weight, breathing exercises and physical therapy.

Day 0. My most hated day. I could list every date that has left me crushed, crying, heartbroken and defeated. Everyday that we received bad news, experienced loss, attended a funeral...this had become part of my new "normal." I'll be honest, nothing should be normal about attending 3 funerals in a year. All for children. All children who battled cancer for a combined total of 12 years. That's bullshit.

Cell Transfusion day will continue on the next post...