Day +119, looking a little up

Today Olivia seems like she's feeling a little bit better. She's had more to eat and drink today than she did over the last 2 days combined. We still had a long visit at clinic but again the time seems to fly by when I'm only there entertaining one child instead of 2. Today we saw a different attending and a different nurse practitioner and they suggested that we give Olivia a couple more hours of IV fluids again along with some potassium and magnesium. She still isn't peeing as often as she should be and her weight was down a tiny bit from yesterday so I agreed. This is the first time that Olivia has ever received either but it's common for kids to need both via IV following transplant when they aren't really eating much. Olivia was eating so well when we were discharged from 5200 that we kinda skipped over this part. It was nice to hear again that the team really thinks this is just a stomach bug. By this point Olivia has seen 3 of the 7 attendings and they are all telling us they really think that it's just a stomach or intestine bug, not Graft vs. Host Disease. Olivia is feeling much better today. She's talking more and smiling more. She's not back to her normal self but it's clear that she's feeling better. Now she just needs to keep eating and drinking!

We did get a chance to say goodbye to some new friends. Sarah and her mom headed home today. Sarah was admitted about a month after Olivia but they left 5200 the same day. Sarah gave Olivia her treasured Spongebob purse and both Olivia and I think Sarah is pretty cool. We're so excited for them to head home!

This evening was my first time administering IV meds to Olivia in several weeks. I haven't had to give her any IV meds since the beginning of October. I can't remember if I mentioned it yesterday but the treatment plan calls for IV steroids which I administer at home. They leave Olivia's port accessed-meaning they insert a needle attached to a short tubbie and leave it like that for up to 7 days. They put a bandage over the entire thing and then they use the tubbie to administer IV meds, fluids, etc. The bandage is exactly the same as the one that they would put on Olivia's old "tubbie" and it all looks very similar so it doesn't seem to bother Olivia too much.

We'll see what tomorrow brings but I'm really looking forward to a glass of wine now that Olivia is in bed. Tomorrow is my birthday and I think the best present would be Olivia feeling better and having a normal poop but I'm not sure that will happen. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.