Whos' Who In the Zoo (D+45)

"An optimist is someone who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery." - Walter Winchell

I'm happy to report that very little has been happening. Elise is still getting IV antibiotics every 8 hours and this will continue through Friday. This is the follow-up to the S.Aureus blood infection she got from the venous access catheter she had that was used to draw blood, give meds, etc. The every 8 hours schedule is a significant hassle since it takes about 30 minutes to get to NIH (one way) and about 45-60 minutes to complete the IV infusion. so that leaves about 6 hours between infusions. Elise goes to bed about 12 or 12:30am and has to get up at 6am to make the 7am dose. She naps for a couple hours after the morning dos and Becky and I swap off the late and morning trip to NIH (I prefer mornings).

There have been other things going on. Elise has class most days for an hour. There is a teacher she meets with at NIH. That will transition to more time after school starts in a week. And today she needed to get her IV replaced. The technician on the wing tried first but couldn't accurately place the vein (ouch!) so we had to go to the VAD clinic where they use ultrasound imaging to direct the placement (ouch x 2).

Hopefully when the course of IV antibiotics are done we'll be able to transition to only once daily Monday and Thursday visits to NIH for labs and visits with the medical staff. We're crossing our fingers.

This past weekend it was overcast and cooler than normal on Sunday so after the morning IV we went to the zoo for a few hours. Then Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch (then to NIH for afternoon IV dessert). Elise needs to avoid the sun because some of the meds make her susceptible to sunburn, and also sunburn can trigger GVHD (or at least some literature says that).

In general Elise is doing well. She's eating well, gaining weight back, her energy is up, and her hair is clearly growing back (although that will take many months).

We're inside the 2 month to go mark and counting down.