Last Treatment

Avery had her last treatment on January 17th. We got up early early early that morning to get up to the hospital for her MRI and skeletal survey. I was so rushed and had to pack so much I actually forgot the cake I was going to take up to the hospital for the staff in the oncology clinic! Once we got all checked in, the nurse came into the waiting room and got us. It was really special because we got the same nurse that we had at Avery's very first CT scan. She remembered us and she was so great with Avery.

They did all the usual things.. took her weight, temperature and height. Once we got in there I took of her shirt so they could access her and realized the numbing cream I had on her port wasn't really ON her port. I used Glad press and seal to hold on the cream but she threw quite a fit while getting her shirt on so I think it moved. She got accessed and really screamed because the port site wasn't quite numb. I felt awful. :( The sweet nurse went and got a huge chest full of toys for Avery to pick one. She ended up picking The Avengers action figures!! A little weird for a two year old girl if you ask me but that's what she wanted! :)

They were behind in imaging so we ended up waiting an extra hour to get into the MRI. Avery went to sleep really easily and they took her back. I'd explained to the nurses that Avery metabolizes the medication really quickly and has woken up every single time in the middle of the scan so they took the machine in with her and keep the medication going. It worked like a dream and she stayed asleep!

I'd also requested that they wheel her right in to do the skeletal survey while she was still sedated. In the past, the skeletal survey has been the most traumatic for both Avery and I because they have to hold her down while she's naked on a cold, hard table. This time, they kept the medication going and she got to sleep through the entire thing. I was so grateful to have her asleep for it!

Image from the skeletal survey and waking up in recovery

My cute sister works close to the hospital so she got to come over and hold Avery while I ate lunch. We went up to clinic so we could get her last chemo treatment and go over the results of the scans with our Oncologist. Avery ate some cheetos and almost immediately fell asleep. She even continued to sleep through getting her chemo!

I talked to the doctor and she said that the results were all good news. Avery is completely disease free!

The nurses are so amazing about making it a big deal that they are done with treatment! They made a huge sign for her, sang a song in the infusion room, and they have a bell you can ring when you are officially done with treatment. They also gave her a really beautiful quilt and filled it with a TON of toys for her to celebrate. Avery was pretty much completely out of it by the time we got to the bell ringing and I ended up ringing it for her. The necklace she is wearing is full of beads from the program they do called Colors of Courage. She is only wearing about 3/4 of the beads she has and they each represent something she had to do during treatment.

Once we got home we ate the little chocolate cake I had bought her to celebrate and she played with her toys!