Lumbar Puncture #4

Today, Kaitlyn had her fourth (and last) lumbar puncture for the Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapy Phase of treatment. Her clinic visit was a little rough this morning. It started out bad when the nurse took THREE tries to access Kaitlyn's port. This set the tone for the entire visit. Kaitlyn was so furious and scared. She was screaming at the top of her lungs saying, "Not again, not again...leave me alone!!!" as Mike and I were trying to hold her down on the table. Oh my God, it was horrible. It just broke my heart to see her going through that. I started to wonder whether or not we made the right decision in putting the port under the skin.

The lumbar puncture itself went fine, as it usually does. She does really well with the mild form of sedation that they use on her and I don't even think she can feel the procedure because she doesn't cry at all while he is manipulating the needle in her spine. Most of the time, she is talking away, making everyone laugh. Today, she was quite, but she still did OK. She is not scheduled for another lumbar puncture until January. I am SO GLAD that those are over for a while.

Kaitlyn has another clinic visit scheduled for this Thursday (11/13) where she will receive two injections of chemo into her legs and a flu shot in her arm. She will also be finishing up her oral Chemo Thursday night. Then, she gets a week off before the next phase is scheduled to begin.

We ALL get a week off before her next phase is scheduled to begin.