January 11, 2006

I am sure it won't last, but right now both girls are in their respective beds and I am not being asked to lay down with either of them. I am actually very tired tonight, so if I would take a minute to rest, that would be it for the night.

We will leave tomorrow around 5:30. All of us are planning on an Iowa City day. Leah seems to be getting more used to the idea of going down there and at least seems to be satisfied with this as long as we plan on returning the same day. She is also looking forward to helping Chloe at Prairie Lights. I am curious to see what the blood counts are. If we start GCSF shots tomorrow that pushes her next inpatient chemotherapy back a few days. Their clinic is closed on Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so we would be giving GCSF until at least Monday night. At the very earliest chemo. would then start on Wednesday.

Leah has been waking up before I leave for school. This way I can give her her medicines and breakfast. This morning she had a cup of whole milk and 2 containers of yogurt. She ate an entire grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and two small Reeses peanut butter cups. When I came home I brought a Burger King kids meal for the girls and they both ate a portion of that. Leah did not eat tons, but as soon as she had her last bite of that, she needed a snack. She followed up Burger King with a cookie, container of yogurt, and another cup of whole milk. By 6:30 she was ready for supper and had a spaghetti Kids Cuisine meal. Before bed she had part of a piece of pizza, another Reeses peanut butter cup and another glass of milk. It is just amazing how much food she can eat right now. I am thankful for each and every bite because I have heard of many children undergoing chemotherapy who have to receive IV nutrition. While I do believe there will be times she does not feel like eating as much as she does now, at least she is gaining a little bit of weight so if she loses a few pounds later we won't be further down than we were a week ago.

Leah was tired tonight, and I do wonder about her counts, but she also managed to play DJ with us. We got out our mini-trampoline and she and Chloe took turns jumping and running around in circles (I got to take turns, too). When they do this they have some favorite songs they always request: Video Killed The Radio Star, Celebrate, 9 To 5. We have decided that Leah's nurse, Tom, would like the name Tommy TuTone--one hit wonder of 8675309. Leah has been busy learning the words to the song so she can sing it to him tomorrow. I doubt she will perform when asked, but she does definitely enjoy doing so at home.

Chloe has been her usual crazy self and after Leah watched her tip her little chair over several times and land right on her face, Leah looks at Chloe and says, "That child is insane."

We enjoyed watching the DVD of Leah's preschool class that they made for her before Christmas. I felt a little sad seeing all the kids there without Leah, but she liked the songs and especially hearing them say her name. The DVD consisted of Christmas songs, a story and calendar time. We watched it three times tonight and each time Leah commented on how she could hardly wait to see the bathroom break part on TV. What a thing to look forward to. Of course that part never was even filmed.

Each time we go to Iowa City I am nervous for her appointment. Considering we just saw Dr. Ellen Sarvada and Dr. Rahdi on Monday, I doubt there will be a lot of news. However, I am praying for as much good news as they can give, for the tumor to shrink, for chemotherapy to be working and for Leah's counts to be high enough to continue chemotherapy next week. As always, please continue to pray for Leah, too.