Day 2 - Dexamethazone

Paige's LP went well on Tuesday, however literally 5 minutes after coming out of the room she woke up and was completely miserable, not surprising since the anesthetic would not have had a chance to wear off! Later in the day we spent some time with Orlando and his parents, his outlook has not improved at all and he is in alot of pain, his parents though tormented by his news and the tough decisions that have to be made still managed to be positive and were quite happy for Paige and I to spend time with them and provide a much needed distraction. My heart goes out to these very brave people and pray that little Orlando's pain goes away......


In the meanwhile I have to do the impossible task of keeping Paige happy, she is already totally miserable and spent most if her waking hours crying. The steroid is meant to increase her appetite instead it has done quite the opposite and upset her so much that she's not interested in food, but at least she is drinking loads of water. I've been holding her so much today that my arms feel like they'll fall off. Another side effect of this drug is aggression and I've certainly seen some of that today, if Paige doesn't want something, she will literally knock away with a backhand swing, this included but was not limited to her cereal at breakfast and soup at lunchtime. She will only eat plain food such as pasta with butter and cheese and refuse any orange food. She keeps a close eye on the color of what goes on her spoon and will knock away anything that's not white or meat!

I've been told that even children with cancer have to be disciplined, lest we end up with a spoilt monster who is accustomed to having her own way all the time at the end of treatment, but how am I supposed to do that in the wake of all the bad news around us? We have been advised to be social with the parents of other kids but not to get too embroiled in their lives but that seems difficult if we are all going on a similar journey and we do need support from each other just to keep going and to stay positive.
So I will gather all my positive energy and hope that it transfers to Paige over the next 3 days of dex, so that we can all make it through the day tomorrow and the two days after that because today we have to be thankful that Paige's treatment is working and she is otherwise healthy and we do not have any difficult decisions to make.
For our friends and family who read our blog please offer another prayer for little Orlando so that his pain is lifted and his parents are given the courage to do right by him, whatever that may be.