Rachel started another round of ifosfamide and etoposide today. The doctors wanted to squeeze in another short (3-day) round before surgery so that she doesn’t go 2 months without any treatment before the surgery on September 6. They don’t know if she’ll need more chemo after surgery, so it’s possible this could be her last chemo, but we don’t want to get our hopes up.

Her platelets were only 62 when they should be at least 75 for chemo and her hemoglobin was only 8.6, so we suggested that they consider giving her preemptive transfusions while she’s in here on Friday since she was already tired from the low hemoglobin before we started this round and her platelets were already at a disadvantage. They’re going to check her levels early Friday morning and decide from there.

She arrived in her hospital room to an awesome Wonder Woman pillowcase on her bed that she can take home with her. This week is also the “First Annual Camp Week” at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital and she got another camp-themed pillowcase that’s really cute, with animals in the fabric print. She also got a camp T-shirt and we all had s’mores this afternoon.

 

Yesterday we got to celebrate Alyssa’s 21st birthday: