Tomorrow is a big day for us....

[MarieL]

Well, tomorrow is the BIG day! Tomorrow Marielle goes to clinic, gets her IV vincristine, gets 6 vials of blood pulled so they can do the sensitivity testing and then, upstairs she goes to the Operating Room and viola! OUT comes the Broviac! Yeah! Oh yeah, they also give her chemo in her spinal fluid but we'll concentrate on the broviac removal.

To understand what this means, you have to think a bit about it. The broviac is a huge, honkin' reminder of cancer. It is embedded in Marielle's chest and hangs out of it. It has to be flushed with saline and heparin EVERY day. It keeps her from being able to take a bath. And the dressing has to be changed anytime it gets wet or every 7 days.

Now, dressing changes are pure hell for Marielle. She cries and begs and pleads not to have them. The tegaderm goes on her skin and makes it raw. Pulling it off, even pulling it off ever so gently, hurts like hell. Her skin often bleeds where some of the dressing was, that's how raw it is. We switch off and use Mepore dressings sometimes to give her skin a break, but Mepore has to be changed every 48 hours so it's not a good trade off.

Ok, to give you an even better idea, Marielle defines her life as 'before I had my broviac' (pre- leukemia) and 'when I got my broviac' (after diagnosis). So, having the central line removed is a huge thing. It acknowledges (in her mind) that (hopefully) the worst is past, that she is more 'normal', that things will be the way they were before the broviac (for the most part).

So, 1 day and counting until we say good-bye broviac!

[althea]

What a happy day for Marielle! Hope it all goes smoothly. I can only imagine how tough that would be for such a little girl.

[China2007]

Wow. You must all be so happy to draw a line under this part of the tx. My thoughts will be with you tomorrow.

Hugs to the Warrior Princess.

[JJillie]

What a positive / happy step for Marielle and your family.

Good luck with the big day!

Jillie

[KerryK]

Bless her heart! I'm so glad she can say goodbye to the broviac!!! I'll be praying that this is just the beginning of better things to come!


Hugs,
Kerry

[Pat in St Louis]

Goodbye and GOOD RIDDANCE to the broviac and dressing changes!

HELLO TO BATHS AND SWIMMING!

Congrats,
Pat

[SaraBB]

yeah......I can see a future scrapbook page, the first long bath after broviac.
CONGRATS

[Suzanne]

I hope everything goes great. Will keep her in my prayers.

[Sharon]

So glad she will regain a bit of freedom. Less Leukemia related stuff for the two of you to do. Hope tomorrow is smooth. Kisses to Marielle.

[ivysmom]

that is the best news i have heard in a long time awesome!!!!! What a sweet little tuffie you have! Hugs to all of you and best wishes for a quick recovery AB (after broviac)
Nina