Round 11

The joy of school was short lived and we made our way back to Hotel SCH on Tuesday for Round 11, week 20 of treatment - methotrexate. We had food prepped, games packed, and a fresh Mariner pillow case to show off. A reminder that the trips to the hospital are always easier when we know about them!

All things considered, our stay has been pretty standard. Charlotte went to the classroom on Wednesday & Thursday, had PT one afternoon, had a few dance parties, and visited with some other patients. Our neighbor on the unit is an adorable 3-year old who has an insane amount of energy and draws everyone near - it's been a very social area! Charlotte loves being the cool older kid and entertains them with waves & conversation. Despite the excess noise during some resting periods, we tried to remind ourselves that finding connection within the hospital is a beautiful thing. #Perspective

As you may recall, methotrexate is the med where we wait to get to .1 before discharge. At Charlotte's 24-hour draw, the level was 2.30. This was easily the lowest it had ever been after one day. Connor and I tried not to read too much into it - we've been burned before! We kept encouraging food/water intake as best we could and movement around the halls, with the hope we'd get the chemo out sooner rather than later.

Sure enough, the 48-hour draw came back at .32 - we were close! There have been previous admissions where we've been tempted to do another check early, but that has often resulted in disappointment. However, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try again. We spoke with the nurse practitioner and agreed to give it a go at 6am this morning. If it didn't come back at .1, we'd be OK until the afternoon check.

And here we are, with everything running on hospital time and waiting for our discharge order to be finalized. Charlotte hit .08 with the 6am draw! The best way to start a Friday! We'll have the weekend at home before a very long day on Monday: updated MRI, CT, X-rays, an echo, and a meeting with Dr. Brittany. I'm tired (and anxious) just thinking about it, but know it's a necessary part of the process, especially in regards to coming up with a plan for her left knee.

Go M's! Go Dawgs! Go Hawks!