The Amazing Violet

We all have prayed and prayed for Violet to have amazing strength through the process of her treatment. God is SO good! Here is a photo of our Violet the very next day after her surgery ...

From the few surgeries that I have had, I know I am never this happy the next day! She slept through the night the day of surgery and the next and continued to eat normally. At the very worst she was a little fussy at times but she is teething through all of this too. We were so very happy to have Violet handling everything so well. 

On Thursday we went to the hospital for her first chemotherapy infusion. I was nervous to have her port accessed for the first time, especially with such a short amount of healing time between this appointment and the surgery. The nurse came out, applied a numbing cream to Violet's port site and had my mom and I watch a video so that we would know what to expect and how everything would proceed.

The video actually made me a bit more uncomfortable. I understood and appreciated the point of it, but the poor sweet little girl in the video was trying so hard to smile for the camera as her port was accessed, but you could see the fear in her eyes and the flinch when they put the needle in. I kind of zoned out on it at that point. To me, it was bad enough having to see Violet going through it and now I was watching another child go through the same pain.

After the cream had time to work she then brought us to another room. She left for a moment, returned with her sterile kit and explained everything as she went along with each step. She was very nice. We had a bottle ready and started to feed Violet right before the needle went in to help soothe and distract her. She only cried for a few seconds and then she was fine. Her reaction was so much better than I had expected. We all cheered, "Yay, Violet!"

After Violet finished her bottle, we went back to the infusion area. There was a reclining chair for me to sit in so I could comfortably hold Violet as her chemotherapy was being administered. There was a small TV high up in the room so that Violet could watch cartoons as she was lying back.

Another nurse came in and explained that she would be taking care of Violet's infusion. She showed me a large clear bag full of all the different chemotherapy medicines that she would be giving her. As a mom that has been fearful of the effects of just common vaccines, this was a lot to take in. It was hard to imagine Violet's little body having to withstand all of this.

Our little girl amazed me again by handling the 3.5 hour infusion quite well. She watched cartoons, played with the toys we brought and even took a short nap in the middle of it. I was very grateful to have my mom there with us. As always, she helped so much and brought a lot of comfort to me.

When everything was done the nurse decided to leave the IV line in Violet's port so that she would not have to be stuck with a needle again for her second infusion scheduled for the next day. I was very glad that she could do that for her. Nervous that Violet would pull on it, I asked the nurse if there was anything that we could do to help prevent her disrupting the line. The nurse made Violet a little shirt by cutting two holes in a strip of netting and slipped it over her, covering the line. This made me feel a lot better.

We went home with a bag of medications and the information that Violet would be feeling sick and may vomit so much that we would have to bring her in for hydration through IV. We were also told that Violet may refuse to eat, not be able to poop without the help of one of the medications and that her sleep patterns would be thrown off.

Violet slept through the night that night, ate at all of her normal feedings, never vomited and pooped on her own.

The next day we had to do it all over again. This time Josh was able to get off of work and go with us. I was so happy to have him there. He held Violet for her infusion of 1.5 hours. She was a little fussy this time because she just didn't want to be still but she handled the infusion well again and when they took the IV line out she didn't even blink an eye. That's our girl!

Here is a photo of Violet after we got home from the hospital ...

Violet continues to do very well. She is happy, playing with her toys and very active. Her coloring does change a bit day to day. On Saturday it was quite pale with purple under her eyes and that made us sad to see but it was much better the next day. She has spit up a few times but very small amounts and nothing to get worried about. She continues to eat her regular meals and I have never had to give her the laxative medication.

Thank you all very much for your continued prayers for Violet. We pray multiple times a day for her complete healing. I know God is here with us ... I feel him with each smile Violet gives me.