May 2, 1997

Good news! We set 2 records since my last update. Darien was at home 11 days in a row and when she had her fourth chemo treatment, she was only in the hospital 2 days (1 night). Details to follow.

Similar to my last update (Thursday 4/17), I would have to classify Darien's condition as being stable. She continues to eat well (gained a couple of pounds) and her spirits and energy are about the same (good). Also, her hair is thinning a bit more, but not really any drastic changes.

At my last update, we had just gotten home from the hospital (4/16) after running fever. She was scheduled to begin her next chemo treatment the next week, but her blood counts (platelets in particular) were too low. This actually turned out to be good for Darien, because she felt good - it was like a week of vacation. In addition, she was able to attend her First Communion on Saturday (4/26) still feeling good. So, Darien was home for 11 days in a row, the most she has been at home since January.

We had Darien's blood checked on Sunday (4/27), which checked out o.k. and I took her to Temple on Monday (4/28) to start her fourth chemo treatment. The combination of drugs for the fourth chemo treatment is the same as she took during her first treatment. It is also the shortest treatment; the drugs can be administered in about 1 day. Darien took the drugs fine on Monday and Tuesday, but a few hours after they stopped, she felt pretty sick at her stomach. She told the doctors she was ready to go home, though, and they said o.k. I figured she could get sick just as well at home as she could in the hospital. As it turned out, she never got sick at home. In fact, she took a couple of anti-nausea pills and went to school and dance class on Wednesday. (She's pretty concerned about missing dance classes since their recital is coming up next week.)

Darien was scheduled for another CAT scan of her liver and chest while we were in the hospital this past week, but since she wasn't feeling too good, I convinced them to wait until another time. For Darien's CAT scans, they require her to drink a BIGGEE glass of contrast fluid. It doesn't taste all that great and since her tummy wasn't doing well, I knew it would be a fight to get her not only to drink the whole glass, but to keep it down. The doctors weren't in a big hurry for the CAT scan and agreed they could wait until the next time we go in for a checkup.