Radiotherapy Days 12,13 and 14 (19 left to go)

Three weeks in, four to go. Niamh is still coping very well with it all.

Treatments are still going smoothly. Emilie has helped a lot this week. Shame she has to go back to school next week. But as she says, she has to, she has some learning to do.

On Thursday morning Niamh had a very good physio session with Claire. I thought she would be too tired as we had only just arrived home from her treatment but she was fine, she got into it. Claire is very happy with her progress.

This morning she had a session with Jo and Kaye, speech and langage therapists. Emilie helped too. They had a great time, lots and lots of giggling and shouting. Jo hadn't seen Niamh for three weeks and couldn't believe how much she had progressed with her sounds.

Niamh's blood counts were a bit confusing today:

at the Cancer Centre they were:

Hb: 9.6.
White Cells: 2.2.
Platelets: 35 (very low... transfusion needed).
Neutrophils: 1.4.

So we had to go into the Children's hospital for midday for a blood transfusion and a platelet transfusion. Haemoglobin needs to be above 10 when having radiotherapy.

When we arrived at the Clinic at the Children's Hospital they did the cross match for the blood and did another full blood test for their own record.

By 3pm, I was given some new blood results:

HB: 10.8.
White Cells: 2.3.
Platelets: 33.
Neutrophils: 1.7.

Quite a big difference for the haemoglobin level. The consultant said she wouldn't need blood as it was above 10, just platelets. So we waited, and waited and waited some more and at 5pm she started the platelet transfusion which lasted 30 minutes. By then she was very tired, very bored of being in the Clinic and was sick (luckily tube stayed in). Such a waste of an afternoon. By the time we got in the car to go home, around 6.15pm she was not smiling. Luckily her smile came back when she got home and Emilie gave her a cuddle.

Niamh hasn' t been looking so well this week. The anaesthetists have to put tape on her eyes every morning so that her eyes remain close when they put her mask on. Niamh has very sensitive skin and it has made the skin under her eyes look very sore and red. It makes her look even more tired than she really is.

Apart from all this, the week has been nice. The girls have enjoyed a few trips to the playgroung, Emilie has had a couple of friends over to play which Niamh has also enjoyed. It has been a nice sunny week. Hopefully a nice sunny weekend ahead.