Tonight finds us in the E.R. with Phoebe. This is the first time we have made the trip from Lindale to Dallas for an E.R. trip since our move on Monday. Phoebe finished a very strong round of chemo last week and it has completely knocked her counts down. Over the past few days we have been trying without much success to unpack boxes and get settled in our new home in Lindale because Phoebe has not been feeling well and has needed constant attention. Nathan took her in for a blood transfusion on Tuesday and she felt a little better when she came home that night, but in the past few days she has become progressively more weak and started showing deep, dark bruises on her injection sites.

We called the Oncologist today to talk about Phoebe’s symptoms and he felt that Phoebe almost certainly needed a platelet transfusion and that we should come to Dallas. The only part of Phoebe’s treatment that will be done in Tyler is her regular weekly labs. Or, should an emergency arise, she would be taken to Trinity Mother Francis hospital in Tyler, stabilized and then transported to Children’s in Dallas for treatment. They simply do not treat pediatric oncology patients in Tyler and Phoebe receives continuity of care here at Children’s so we will be driving back and forth quite a bit.

Tonight was a bit rough. I brought Phoebe in around 5:30 pm and five hours later she had had two separate nurses try and fail to access her port. Blood was all over her dress and we were both in tears. Phoebe is always so brave during these times and she was done crying before I was.  Seeing her hurt and the endless pokes and the feeling sick and weakness and vomiting and mucositis and all the effects of the chemo just does me in. At times I feel like I’m losing my ability to bear up under the stresses of chemotherapy and it’s effects on Phoebe. I feel incapable of seeing her suffer any more. If I only had an ounce of the grace Pheobe possesses through all of this… She is such a miracle and a delight.

Around 11 pm we finally got one of our favorite Hem/Onc nurses to come to Phoebe’s room in the ER and access her port. Nurse Julie was quick and kind and had that port giving blood within seconds. I really am so impressed with the Oncology nurses and many of them feel like friends. I was so thankful for Julie tonight and so was Phoebe. Phoebe’s labs came back showing that her platelets were extrememly low and her sodium was a high 159. So, we are being admitted for an overnight stay to receive platelets and get her electrolytes regulated. As I write, it is 1 am and we are still in the ER waiting for a room to come open.

We are enjoying our house so much and I really wish I could post about that tonight, but I am too tired. We have been so blessed by our friends and family and church family and we are looking forward to being all settled in. Thank you all for praying for us and for Phoebe. I will be able to update more frequently when we have internet access at our house.

~Amey