Shot 1/3: done!

Ok. So I have Piper her first shot of G-CSF. Phewf!

We had our appointment at BCCH in the afternoon (much nicer for baby routine, I might add), when they would check her neutrophil levels again and see whether or not to try the G-CSF. So off I went, with a baby in the back seat and the medication (which we had taken home earlier in the week) in the back on some ice. The medication, if you don't know, is all ready and loaded in syringes. Yes, needles. I mean, the sharps are covered, but otherwise, they are just needles kinda floating around. And have I mentioned that they are expensive? It just felt strange to have to transport these little things, with a teeny tiny amount of liquid in them, but worth so much... and needles! For some reason, it feels wrong for normal people to have needles. Regardless.

We went to pick up Matt from work and we got to BCCH in good fashion.

Blood test done (never fun, but the blood people seem to be getting better at it, though Piper is hating more and more the restraint factor and the tourniquet), we just had to wait in the hematology clinic for the results on the neutrophils.

We ate our snacks and Piper played in the mini-kitchen (so stinkin' cute to see her play like that!).

Our nurse finally came out and told us her levels were back down to 0.14, so we would be going through with the trial of G-CSF. No biggy, I guess, but a miracle could have been nice. We'll save the miracle for another day!

Then to give Piper her shot, which I had done a trial one the other day and it was fine, this time, I froze a little before I gave it to her. I don't know if it was the fact that it had been a few days since that last time, or that it was the "real deal" this time... Anyways, Matt had Piper in lock-down and the nurse was kinda hovering and my head was saying "go fast, go fast, go fast!" and Piper was a-squirmin' like a worm. I had to pause a few times and kinda just shake it off.

I did poke her, just as I was taught: a nice darting action at a 45 degree angle, good and fast but not jabby, then depress the medication in with a steady pace and pull the needle out.

Ta-da! Does Mom get a gold star? It seemed to go fine, a tiny bit leaked out, but I will hopefully get better at this.

Piper didn't seem to have any of the side effects (flu-like symptoms, bony pain) and the evening and night were fine. Both us girls took a nap on the way home (I fall asleep every time we come home from the hospital. It's becoming a tradition), so Matt took that opportunity to go pick up some car parts in Langley. I didn't even know:)

So today, we go to BCBioMed and get blood taken and then we'll give Piper her shot 2 of 3 this afternoon. Let's hope we see these levels go up! Again, this is just a trial, to see how she'll react to this drug, so they know how much to use prior to surgery.

I did hear an encouraging thing from a physiotherapist who works at BCCH, that the kids who get G-CSF (the cancer kids who need it post-chemo), are up and at it 2x faster than the other kids. It just helps them recover so nicely :) That was good to hear.

Ok, this is the cutest thing of late: Piper saying "uh-oh" and trying to put things on her head. Matt is always putting things on her head, but she has just recently figured out that she can reach them, sorta... she can't put them back up there because of the arm to head size ratio, but she is working on it!