So once again, the minimum 72 hours to flush the Chemo Medication from Kira’s system took 132 hours, her system cleared Sunday morning. This Chemo Medication needs to be flushed from Kira’s system to prevent damage to her Kidney’s. Given that Monday April 20th (tomorrow) is the next round of chemo Kira will not be getting home for a break this time. Kira got a day pass on Sunday and was able to hit a couple of playgrounds and go to Cindy and Rob Halfords for an awesome super. Otherwise Kira had a good week this time around, very little nausea and a good appetite all week. She started meeting with a teacher at the Alberta Children’s Hospital to help with school work. She spent lots of time this week playing with Barbie’s and chatting with just about anyone who would listen about her upcoming surgery. The one highlight here for the kids is Bingo, which is on Wednesday afternoons, any kids that play get to choose something off the prize cart and the selection is quite incredible! In fact any kids that may be discharged on Wednesdays insist on staying until after bingo!
We had a meeting with the surgeons (who Kira has met) to discuss the upcoming surgery which has been scheduled for Tuesday May 5.
The surgery is to remove the cancer tumor that has effected Kira’s left femur and the top of her left knee. This will require part of the femur and the knee to be removed.
After consulting with the surgeon and the oncology team at The Alberta Children’s Hospital, hours of research and consulting with other clinics, the plan is for the surgeon to attempt to perform a rare procedure called Van Ness Rotationplasty. Based on the x-rays, MRI and CT scans performed so far, Kira is a candidate for this procedure. This procedure is where they remove the effected part of the femur and knee, and then rotate the ankle 180 degrees and utilize it as a functioningknee. A prosthetic leg then attaches to the ankle (knee). This procedure works really well with kids between the ages of 5 and 12, because their bones are still growing.
There are many benefits of this procedure over other options, a few are:
• It is a biological knee replacement rather than mechanical which tend to wear out.
• Once healed (12 weeks) and Kira trains her ankle/foot to act like a knee, she can do everything she did with here real leg (run, jump, dance, bike, scooter, skate…).
• Only one possible surgery to adjust leg length onceKira is done growing in 7 to 8 years, vs the other surgery option that would require surgery every 1 or 2 years to adjust leg length while Kira is growing, then replacement every 10 years (give or take).
This link will provide more information on Rotationplasty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JozcXncX9KU
Once the cancer tumor is removed, it is analyzed to determine how well the chemo therapy is working. This will take up to 3 weeks and will determine how long the chemo therapy will continue. The hope is that the chemotherapy has killed 90-100% of the tumor.
Kira is aware of everything that is happening and has handled it all really well!! As I mentioned above she is willing to talk about everything. The Nursing staff, Doctors, Child Care Workers, Social Workers and Psychologists are all blown away by how much she knows and understands. She wants the Cancer GONE and is taking a positive attitude towards the surgery and dealing with learning to use her new leg.
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| The days are long. |
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| Bingo Wednesdays! |
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| We love it when Jace visits! |
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| Day pass to the playground. |
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