Second cycle of chemo therapy.

January 23-24, 2014

We are back to begin Jaycee's second cycle of chemo.  We had a CT done on January 13, 2014  to look at the progress of the first cycle.  Since it made her really sick the doctors wanted to adjust the dose of medications she is receiving in hopes that she will have less side effects.  the CT showed that the tumor is still about 3.5cm big, so it has not changed in size, but it does show signs of necrosis or dead tumor.  This is a good sign, the treatments are working and the tumor is dying.  It is also a good thing because they were able to modify the dose of one of the chemo therapy medications.  This should reduce the side effects, especially the mucusitis (mouth sores), and hopefully help her recover more quickly.  If things continue to go as planned the doctors want to do the surgery in about 4 weeks.  This will give them time to finish this round of chemo and then give her about a week to recover.  Surgery is going to be hard but this is ultimately what will cure her and get rid of the tumor.  After that is done they will follow up with four more cycles of chemo treatments to make sure all the tumor cells are dead.  During our clinic visit last week the doctors and surgeons were very optimistic about the progress and what they are seeing so that makes us feel much better!  We are headed in the right direction.  

She was all smiles.  What a good way to start another round of chemo. 

Jaycee is finally starting to laugh, but catching it on video is not very easy.

Jaycee was happy and healthy going into this second cycle.  We hope that the doctors are right and that she will have an easier time with this one.  During the first and second day of each cycle of chemo we are required to be admitted for a minimum of two days.  The first day they start off by giving her lots of fluids and magnesium for about four hours to prepare her body.  Then the treatments can begin.  It takes about seven hours to infuse 2 drugs the first day.  Then day two only takes about an hour to receive three more drugs.  Jaycee has been so happy and you would not even be able to tell that anything was wrong.  Some of the effects including the nausea and vomiting are delayed so we will be waiting for that to set in over the next few days.  We will be going home with a feeding tube and IV fluids so that we can make sure she is getting the nutrition and hydration she needs.  That was one of the problems before, she got dehydrated and quit eating.  This will hopefully help us from getting behind on that and will keep her feeling better.   Other than being bored and having a long night sleeping on the couch, this cycle has gone fairly smooth and painless.  We hope that this is the trend for the next few weeks!!

Little Jaycee is a trooper and has taught us so many things.  We don't know what we would do with out that contagious smile!!  Life has been busy with trying to balance everything with Daxton, Crue, and all the hospital visits and we would not be able to do it with out the help of awesome family and friends.  We will keep posting about her progress to keep everyone informed.  Thank you for your love and support!!!