Last Week…
Last week was full of really high highs and really low lows.
Hutton was supposed to start her first 5-day chemo since her surgery on Monday, but her numbers weren’t where they needed to be, so she couldn’t start until Wednesday. This gave us a day on Tuesday to have a little family day. Hutton wanted to go to Nordstrom for chicken fingers and then to Barnes and Noble and Target, so that’s what we did.
It was so nice to spend time as a family. We were also able to pick up a little birthday present for Mimi. April is our big birthday month; me, Mimi, and Hutton all have birthdays in April!
On Wednesday, it was back to UCLA for Hutton and Steph for Hutton’s 5-day chemo. Typically, 5-day chemo is the “easier” of the chemos for Hutton. It doesn’t bother her taste buds as much and doesn’t make her feel as horrible as the 3-day chemo does.
Day 1 didn’t start until very late in the evening, so Hutton slept through her pre-meds, chemo, and post-meds. The next day, Thursday, we woke up to sad news. Steph’s grandmother, Nana, Hutton’s great-grandmother and Mimi’s mom, passed away. We had been preparing Hutton for her passing, and she was able to FaceTime with her on Tuesday…but it was still very hard on her.
When Nana was unable to live on her own, she moved in with us and lived with us for almost 4 years. As challenging as that was sometimes, we are thankful that Hutton and Nana were able to make so many great memories together. This is, however, the first death of a human Hutton has experienced; combine that with the emotions and everything else that comes with chemo… it has been extra hard on her. Day 3, however, was a little better, and she continued to get better with days 4 and 5. By day 5, she was just ready to be HOME. I was able to leave work on Friday and drive up to spend the weekend in the hospital, giving Steph a little bit of a break during the evenings, but Hutton is just wanting to be home and not be in the hospital, which we completely understand. Even after the long stay she did post surgery, though she was intubated for the majority of it, having such a big break from chemo, she needs to get back into the “hospital routine,” which, of course, like starting any new routine over, is difficult.
She still has about 8 or 9 more sessions of chemo before she is “done”. But what makes these chemos more difficult is that she is still recovering from her hemipelvectomy, and is not mobile. She is still confined to her bed, but is getting a little more mobile every day. More importantly, pain management is going great. She is, however, having a very hard time with not being independent. She can’t walk, and she needs help to do everything, which, for a young girl we have raised to be fairly independent, is very difficult for her. But she is looking at things in hindsight and learning. Before her surgery, as she would recover from chemo, she would want to stay in bed and have everything brought to her. We told her multiple times she should get up and out of bed as much as possible because she wouldn’t be able to for a while after her surgery. She, of course, still did not want to and complained every time we forced her to. Well, the other day she looked at me after I helped her out of bed and said, “Dad, looking back, I wish I had gotten out of bed and walked more like you said before my surgery.” Little lessons during trying times.
For her next scheduled chemo session, she is supposed to go in and get another scan done. She is so close to the “end” of this battle, we are praying that this scan will show that the chemo is continuing to work, that she is 100% cancer free, and there won’t be any additional treatments or any “delays”. In these trying times, God has been great, showing his presence in many different aspects of this fight, from all of your love and support you have shown her and all the prayers she receives and continues to receive. We know He will use this journey to do so many amazing things for Hutton in her future.
Please continue to pray for her during this time, and that the scans return nothing but good news.