Millie, Unleashed

This morning, for the 8th time in a year, Millie was put under general anesthesia. (I always think I am going to be better about it, but still find myself dry-heaving in a hospital bathroom stall as the arrangements are being made to take her back to surgery.)

Millie was more of a general than a trooper this time. She tugged on my sleeve to pull me down, and whispered urgently and firmly her desire that the doctor use a particular kind of anesthesia ("the clear kind, not the white kind"). The white kind, propofol, tastes like garlic to her. I told her I'd let the doctor know that she does not like the garlic kind.

She sat on the bed next to the elevators to surgery, with me distracting her as the anesthesiologst slowly pushed the anesthetic into her broviac tube. Her face reddened, and she coughed a bit- giving me a look of shock and anger as she realized she'd been duped. They used propofol after all. Luckily the moment was fleeting, as she passed out immediately and was off to surgery.

The nurse told me it would be quick, less than a half hour. She wasn't kidding! As always ( I can't believe I have such a routine for when my child awakens from general anesthesia), I went first to the cafeteria to find fruit salad and cheez-its. Then to the lobby to pick up my parents, who had once again volunteered to drive Millie and me so we could snuggle in the back seat, and back to the waiting area. Within a minute of returning to the waiting area, Millie was already in recovery. They must have taken her broviac out in 10 minutes!

She woke up well, rather quickly, and enjoyed the fruit salad chattily as we prepared to leave. We were on the road home by 9:30 after an 8am surgery!

I am looking forward to packing up our medical supplies (see http://bellways.blogspot.com/2010/02/care-and-feeding-of-cancer-patient.html ) and booking a teeth cleaning for Millie. She wasn't able to go to the dentist on treatment and with the broviac for infection concerns.

Millie's next scans will be in February. I am very curious, but not as scared as I was, to see if those areas of her bone marrow are growing or shrinking.

We'll post some pictures of Christmas this week- we are all so very grateful to have 2010 behind us, and to celebrate with true joy this Christmas.

One Foot In Front Of The Other

While she's out on a new job briefing this morning, Laura wanted me to make a quick update, since many friends and family have been inquiring and I guess we haven't gotten the word out sufficiently. The conclusive lab analysis of the biopsy found absolutely no cancerous cells in the bone marrow sample. We still don't know why there are depleted areas in various bone marrow locations, but no red flags have been raised, and one specialist even suggested that these anomalies shown in the scans are quite "normal".

(As I recuperate from a bad knee sprain that has me completely incapacitated, I'm imagining how many of these anomalies would show up in a bone scan of my thrashed body.)

The doctors are so certain of these positive results that they've scheduled an appointment for the surgery to remove her broviac catheter, or "central line" that is used for administering chemo and drawing her blood (it's a simple outpatient procedure that nevertheless requires general anesthetic). She'll still have scans every three months for two years, and less frequently after that, for which, unfortunately, she'll have to have a regular IV inserted in her arm (something she's not fond of at all, as you can imagine), but this step is a positive one forward, symbolic of the full recovery that we have faith in her having achieved, almost exactly one year to the day.

Congrats, Ms. Millie! Just in time for the holidays, not to mention the full head of hair just waiting to be styled in an Edie Sedgewick pixie do! We love you!