Authors: Meghan Redenbach
On the way back to the room we went to the movie room and picked out movies. She, of course, picked out “Grease” and then fell asleep halfway through. Kristin came in and watched the rest of the movie. Meghan decided after the movie was over that she wanted to go play games, so Kristin, Meghan and I went to the Lion’s Den and played “Sorry”. Kristin played two games and then had to leave. It was 5:00. Meg and I played three games, and she won one game. Soooo…Sorry.
We came back to our room at 6:00 p.m. because Meg was getting tired. I watched the news and she went on her laptop. She got her Ativan around 5:45 p.m. We watched Jungle Book. Meg wanted me to sleep in her bed while we watched it. She was a little loopy. They gave her Zofran, Decadron and Benadryl before chemo. She fell asleep around 10:00 and they started chemo at 11:00 p.m. She had her last bag of Ifosfamide. Yeah!!! She slept through the night. We now are done with all the bad treatments. I am excited about getting out of here tomorrow, and so is Meghan. It is like being in jail with nice people.
Friday, May 29
Meg is still sleeping at 9:00 a.m. The resident was in and said she could go home today. Meg did roll over and ask for hot chocolate and sugar cookies. Her two cancer numbers went down (C-125). They did blood work this morning just to make sure she doesn’t need to be transfused. Mike will be here around 11:00 a.m. or so. Dr. B came in at 9:15 and said Meghan could leave when her paperwork is done. Meg woke up conveniently after the doctor left. Meg received her last dose of Zofran and Decadron at 12:00. We were out of the hospital by 12:15. Meg had a craving for steak and steak quesadillas, so we stopped at Applebee’s, and she had a little of everything. When we got home she just rested because she wanted to go to Mike’s baseball game. She was feeling great. She ate and drank a lot at the game. We got home around 11:00 p.m. and we hooked her up to fluids and sent her to bed. She was ready.
Saturday, May 30
Meg got up feeling pretty well. She had a big breakfast, but we found out later that bacon doesn’t mix well with chemo. She felt kind of yucky all day. She didn’t eat or drink much of anything. She then had a craving for tuna salad, so at 9:00 at night I was making tuna salad. We didn’t hook her to fluids today because she seems to think that is what is making her sick. It feels like she has heartburn. She didn’t throw up. She went to bed at 11:00 p.m. and slept through the night.
Sunday, May 31
Meg got up around 10:45 a.m. and felt much better than the day before. She had blueberry Toaster Strudel; we will see what happens. She had two bowls of tuna salad, and now she is in the shower. We are going grocery shopping today and to Walmart.
We weren’t gone very long because Meg got really tired. We came home and she took a rest. She ate a pretty good dinner. We kind of chilled until we left for Mike and Nick’s hockey game at the Pepsi Center.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Meg got up around 8:30 a.m. for the nurse. Ann came today because Lee had a death in the family. Meg went back to bed after she left. I called for the results on her blood and they were good. Meg worked on her DBQ
(Document Based Question – Essay for Social Studies)
today for 3 hours. Lynn didn’t come today. We are trying to rest Meghan up until the Earth Science exam. Meg is looking forward to going to school tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 2
Meg went back to school today. She had the state Social Studies test and wasn’t expecting that. She did the best she could. She stayed after for Earth Science. She came home tired and has a bit of a cold.
Wednesday, June 3
Meg had the second half of her Social Studies test today. Today was the DBQ. She said she was writing forever. She also stayed after for Earth Science again, as the hands-on part is tomorrow. I think she should do alright. We came home and didn’t do very much because she still doesn’t feel very well.
Thursday, June 4
Meg went to school today and felt pretty good. She didn’t get blood work today because she had to take the “hands-on” portion of her Regents Exam in Earth Science, so we moved blood work until Friday. Meg felt pretty confident with what she did on the test, but knows she switched answers on two of the questions with rocks and minerals. After she realized it, it was too late to change the answers. She was upset with herself, because the rocks and minerals were plainly labeled. I told her to blame it on the “Chemo Brain.” She stayed after school to watch the varsity girls’ softball team play Olean for the title. We had to leave before the game ended because Meg was getting her wig trimmed. They ended up losing. We went to Pecoraro’s and had lots of fun. Meg loved her new haircut, and she learned how to draw on eyebrows. She looked awesome. We decided to go to Friendly’s for a bite to eat. Meg had this huge appetite for everything, but ended up ordering the popcorn chicken. She really wanted ice cream, but didn’t get that either. We stopped at Rite Aid so Meg could get some nail polish and eyebrow shadow. She went home and tried doing the eyebrow thing herself, and she did a great job.
Friday, June 5
Meg was able to sleep in a little today because the nurse was coming to do blood work. Meg had the Relay for Life event tonight at Grand Island High School. A teacher’s (Monique Corraro) daughter and her friends had Meghan as their survivor sponsor. They had a tent for her and raffles to raise money for cancer research. Being the eighth day after chemo, I was nervous to call for her counts because this is usually the day that they are way down. Sure enough, her white count was 5.7, which is very low and she is nutropenic. They are going to send the nurse back on Sunday instead of Monday to check and see if she needs a transfusion. The bad news is she couldn’t go to the Relay for Life event because of being neutropenic. The girls understood and texted her pictures of the tent and when they illuminated her name on the screen. She was bummed, but understands that she could catch anything very quickly. We went to Mike’s softball game instead.
Saturday, June 6
Meg got up and still has that darn cold. She has no fever; therefore we don’t have to take her to the hospital (Roswell). Mike and I have Bethany
(not Maclam)
and Andrew’s wedding in Geneseo today and plan to spend the evening, provided Meg is ok. Gram is coming to spend the night with her. Meg is going to her cousin Mikey’s birthday party. Dave is picking her up and bringing her home. She was thrilled. She got home from the party around 11:30 p.m. Mom said she felt pretty good and went to bed.
Sunday, June 7
The nurse called in the morning and came around 9:30 a.m. Meg still has a cold. Mike and I got home around 10:45 and Mom went home. We made Meg stay home today to rest up. Mike and I opened the pool. We kind of hung around the house all day. We were tired. Mike went to hockey by himself today. Nick has been in Kansas visiting Dylan since last Tuesday and will be home this Tuesday. I called for Meg’s blood work and it was back up again. So no transfusion and no GSF shot. YAHOO!!!
Monday, June 8
Meg went to school at the normal time today because the nurse came yesterday. She stayed after today with Miss Dewey to take her Spanish speaking test. She got a perfect score. We hung at home all night. Nick is having a good time in Kansas.
Tuesday, June 9
Mike picked Meg up from school today as she has to go to the dentist for some cavities to be fixed (she has four). I had to go pick Nick up at the airport. We all hung out at home.
Wednesday, June 10
Meg went to school as normal. Mrs. Budziszewski came over with the last of what Meg has to do. She also brought four baseball hats with the teal ribbon on them. They are really nice. Meg is doing well in all of her classes. Her teachers and Mrs. Budziszewski feel she will do fine on her Earth Science exam on the 17
th
.
Thursday, June 11
Meg wanted to go to school today but had to stay home to collect urine for her LAST treatment tomorrow. Courtney came over after school to watch movies. Meg packed and went to bed around 11:00. We had her drink, drink, drinking all day. She hates it.
Friday, June 12
Today is the day we have been waiting for. This is Meg’s ninth and final treatment weekend. We got to Roswell around 9:30 a.m. and all the nurses and doctors knew it was the last treatment. Mike and I had Chef’s Restaurant deliver lunch for everyone on the 6
th
floor pediatrics. They loved it, and Meg liked socializing with all of them. After lunch, Kristin, Brandee and some of the nurses came to Meg’s room and yelled “surprise!” They had balloons, a cookie cake, gift cards, and a Sorry game—because we always play that when we come here, so they got Meg her own. The best part was they sprayed her and Mike with two cans of Silly String. Kristin took pictures and printed them for us. Meg didn’t feel well around 6:00 p.m., and yes she barfed, but then I leave for two seconds and come back and she is eating cookie cake. So it just must be a random thing with throwing up. They didn’t start the first bag of chemo until 11:00 p.m. because Meg’s urine had to be just so. Her second bag started at midnight and had to go for six hours. So she finished at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday. She didn’t even barf…yet.
Saturday, June 13
Meg slept until around noon today, she is very tired. Dr. B was in this morning. She gave Meg a note saying that she can go to Darien Lake with her class on June 23
rd
. She also said that in about two and a half weeks, when Meg’s counts are up and we are sure she won’t need any transfusions, that we need to call her and she will schedule a date to have Meg’s port taken out. Meg will have to come to the clinic every three months for one to two years to have blood work and a CAT scan. All her blood work today came back good as far as the C125 test (cancer test). She had me get her chicken fingers and chicken noodle soup for lunch. She only ate one and a half fingers. She didn’t want to push it. She will be getting her chemo today at 7:00 p.m. Meg and I are going to take a quick nap, since it is 1:45. We played four games of Sorry and Meg won all of them.
A volunteer brought Meg up a whole bunch of balloons from an event they had here. They started giving Meg her nausea medicine around 6:00 p.m. along with the old faithful, Benadryl. They started her chemo at 7:10 p.m. This is the second to last bag forever!!! Meg went to sleep around 7:45 p.m. She was fighting it. Chemo ended at 8:15. Bethany came around 8:10 and brought snacks and Sobe Lizard Lava. Meg loves it. After Bethany left Meg was off to LaLaLand. She had a really good night.
Sunday, June 14
Meg slept until around 8:30 a.m. when Dr. B came in. Meg was feeling good today. They will be giving her the last bag of chemo around 3:00, and after that we can go home if she feels ok. Meg can resume her normal doctor visits with her pediatrician, but if we have any questions we are to call here. I asked the doctor what is Meghan’s current diagnosis, and she said she is in remission or cancer free, but is not cured yet. It is too early to tell because she just finished chemo today. We need to wait a little while to say she is “cured.” Julie will get in touch with Dr. C’s office to schedule a visit before getting her mediport out. That will be in about two to three weeks. After he sees her we will schedule surgery to have it removed.
Meg and I played lots of games of Sorry. I finally won most of them today. Meg had eggs, sausage, toast and a bagel for breakfast. She received her last dose of chemo at 1:45 p.m. It lasted for one hour, and then she had her last dose of Zofran. We left the hospital around 3:30 p.m. Meg had a craving for breadsticks from Pizza Hut, so that’s where we went on the way home. We called Nick and he met us there. We came home and Meg laid around the rest of the evening. Deirdre and Chuck came around and brought Meg an ice cream cake and balloons. Bethany stopped by and dropped off a book that Meg wanted, called
My Sister’s Keeper.
She tried to start reading it, but I made her go to bed.
Monday, June 15
Meg went to school today. It was awards day in the morning. Mike and I both went. Meg didn’t know we were going. She received five awards. We were so proud of her. She stayed after school today to review for Earth Science. She is very nervous about the test. She went to the boys’ baseball game. She went to her room when she got home to study and finish up projects that needed to be completed.
Tuesday, June 16
Meg went to school today but was very tired. She stayed after again to review for Earth Science. Olivia came back to our house and then I took them to the baseball game again. Meg came home and studied more for the test. She went to bed early because she was exhausted.
Wednesday, June 17
Meg went to school again today. Today was the Earth Science exam at noon. Meg said she thought she was going to throw up, she was so nervous. She came home around 2:30. We rented the movie “Seven Pounds.” It was ok. She ate pizza. She went to bed around 10:00 p.m.
Thursday, June 18
Meg went to school again. She has been going to Miss Dewey’s other Spanish classes to practice for her test on Monday the 22
nd
. Miss Dewey also came over yesterday and today to tutor. After Miss Dewey left, Meghan needed me to call Mrs. Budziszewski to come over and help her with her English project. Blood work is good.
Friday, June 19
Meg had so much trouble getting out of bed this morning, but she did make it to the bus. She came home and just chilled before it was time to go to Mike’s baseball game. Mrs. Budziszewski called me to tell me that Meghan failed the Earth Science test by four points. She got a 61%. I told Meghan and she was very upset as she worked hard on this course. We will look into it to see what we need to do. She soon forgot about it this evening.
Saturday, June 20
Another good day today. Meg and I went to Boulevard Mall to do some Father’s Day shopping and a little shopping for Meg. When Meg gets extra money or gift cards they tend to burn a hole in her pocket. We didn’t do much of anything else.
Sunday, June 21
We went to breakfast this morning for Father’s Day. It is very rare that we can all do this together. Lee, the nurse, had to come around noon today because Meghan has her Spanish exam in the morning. After Lee left, all four of us went to Darien Lake to get our season passes. We walked around the park to check it out. There was a car show, so we also looked at all the cars. When we got home it was dinner time. I made a nice steak dinner for us. Mike and Nick had hockey later at night. Meg and I didn’t go because she has an exam tomorrow.