Having raised Maya to 2.5 now and changed who knows how many diapers, I’ve seen some diaper rash. What Zoe is dealing with at the moment is more akin to the results of a napalm attack on her poor bum, so painful does it appear. It’s happening because of the steroid and etoposide medications, which between them give her diarrhea and make her movements rather toxic to the touch. We have to wear gloves to apply her cream as apparently it can hurt us through contact. Dr. B took a look and is moving her to some sort of hardcore diaper cream. We’ll see how that goes.

Thankfully the rash is the worst of her problems on this particular day:

• Her liver and spleen appear to be back to normal, meaning all swelling is gone and we are again seeing a good response to her chemo.
• Her weight is at13.8, holding steady.
• She’s starting Bactrim today to prevent a specific infection type that’s particularly dangerous to children in her weakened immune state.
• Platelets are at 178k, meaning she’s crossed the threshold into normal now; 3 cheers for that one.
• Hemaglobin is at 9
• WBC count is at 5.1

And as a nice end to the day, she was finally detached from her central line iv, allowing her to be free of everything but the little bit attached to her chest inside her onesie. She’ll be reattached whenever she needs medications, but at least we can say she’s strong enough not to need monitors and support fluids anymore. It’s pretty amazing how much difference it makes getting to hold your child and move freely without tubes and wires, and finally feel like she’s getting back to normal again.