Jun 6, 2016 2:05pm (Sara)
Today at 3pm, we will take Maya to get her first Echocardiogram (ECHO). This is an ultra sound of Maya’s heart. Before anyone worries too much, Maya is doing really well. She had her last infusion of Interim Maintenance 1 on Thursday. The Dragon Princess has prevailed during this phase. She received all of her escalated doses of IV Methotrextate and IV Vincristine. And now we have two weeks off. We’ll take em. And we are hoping to enjoy them. As long as every one stays healthy (and Maya stays out of the hospital), we get to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Morrison’s (Grama Sandy and Bapa Lance) 50th wedding anniversary. A visit with Aunties, Uncles, Pies, and Cousins have been filling Maya’s mind and heart. She is so excited to meet her new cousins and spend time with family.
Maya continues to feel pretty well. She is a bit more sleepy some days but for the most part, I feel like she is her normal self. Maya’s labs looked great going into the last infusion. WBC: 3.9, Hgb: 11.7, Platelets: 313, ANC: 1470. I’m not sure we could ask for better numbers. We will get a pokey butterfly on Thursday to monitor her counts before we head into the weekend of family and celebration but unless there is an underlying bug in her system, we anticipate good numbers.
Back to Maya’s ECHO. This is part of the protocol for ALL treatment. In fact, many chemo kids need to have their cardiac health monitored at some point. Because Maya starts Delayed Intensification next week (June 17th – pending counts), they need to be sure her heart can handle the more intense chemo that we start. The doctor never really talked to us about this so I was (yet again) thankful for the road maps I requested at the beginning of consolidation. The road map (which I will post eventually) have little letters that indicate what labs and diagnostics will be preformed. There is a little letter “E” next to the other letters…the key to the map shows this is an ECHO. So at least, while I was a little thrown off guard when Children’s Heart Center called to schedule an ECHO, I knew where to look to make sure it wasn’t something we should really be concerned about. I also called Dr. Salo’s office to be sure it was just protocol. And it is. AND I am thankful that Children’s Heart Center has a Carson City clinic once in a while. We get to go meet the cardiologist, Dr. Ludwig, today.
I guess since Dr. Ludwig will be conducting the ultrasound, we get any “results” back right away. I have know idea what to expect for the next phase of treatment if we get bad news from the ECHO….but we aren’t expecting anything but good news today. I have a great amount of faith that Maya The Dragon’s heart is more than healthy enough to handle what she has coming. Mommy’s on the other hand….I’m just grateful they aren’t doing diagnostics on mommy…I’m not sure I can handle a picture of my heart right now. Even though our dragon is strong, she is wild, she is breathing fire. She is beautiful, she is happy, she is growing, she is loving, she is funny, she is brilliant. Even though our dragon is thriving and flying, she cannot help keep my heart from breaking.
Love is Life.