January 13, 2006

We have had another fine day in Denver. Leah woke up early this morning and had a glass of whole milk, cookie, and yogurt for breakfast. Her big thrill of the day was Mrs. Neuendorf, her preschool teacher, coming and working with her for an hour. She had a lot to report about her letter books and happily showed me her work when I got home from school. Chris worked in the Denver office much of the day, so he was able to see Leah during the day and read her a book before her naptime. Considering she had Vincristine yesterday she had a good day. I do think it tires her out a bit more, and she did have a long nap.

After school I had my parents take Chloe to (in)Convenient Care at Covenant. I hate going there because there is always such a wait, but after hearing from her daycare that she was more tired and did not act like she felt very well (which I also wondered about this morning), I decided she should go in. Enough of the green snot river from her nose. Thank goodness my parents and Chris' parents are around to help us-something we are grateful for every single day. Chloe got a prescription for Zithromax which we had to force down her throat when they got back. Leah even waited to take her medicine until Chloe returned home because she wanted to show Chloe how to do it. Leah did do a fine job modeling this, but Chloe did not take any of her cues.

Leah ate another ton of food today. In addition to her breakfast, she had a grilled cheese sandwich, Kids Cuisine meal, chips, 3 more cups of whole milk, 2 more containers of yogurt...I do think her stomach looks bigger, which is concerning me a great deal, yet I cannot totally discount the fact that she is eating 4-5 times more than she did even a week ago. I would not be suprised if by the time we go back on Tuesday she has gained 5 pounds in a week. Considering she only weighed 26.5 to start, that is a huge percentage increase. I can really tell how much heavier she is when I lift her up and carry her around. The whati-ifs really started to get to me yesterday as I looked at her stomach. We have the CT scan in 10 days, and I want to know NOW if her tumor is smaller. Instead I get to worry for a while (quite unproductive) while trying to tell myself not to worry and let God handle this. So, please pray, pray, pray for good CT scan results.

Right now Chloe is sleeping next to Leah's bed. Up until Thanksgiving when Leah was diagnosed, they both slept in Leah's bed together and cuddled up every night. Leah has always complained about being lonely and Chloe just loves her big sister, so the situation worked well. However, in the interest of trying to eliminate germ spreading, etc. we decided not to let them sleep together right now. This could also be Chloe's bed problem. However, the other night, Leah had fallen asleep in her bed and I was trying to get Chloe to sleep with me in our bed. Chris was still downstairs watching TV-he usually opts to fall asleep on the couch if he knows Chloe is in our bed because she likes to thrash around and sleep sideways leaving no room for anyone in a double bed. Chloe found excuse after excuse to get up and get things. Finally I remember sending her downstairs to get a cuppy. At 3 AM Leah woke up and I went to lay down with her in her bed -but I made sure I did not fall asleep since I was worried Chloe would roll out of our bed and land on the wood floor. So about 3o minutes later I returned to our room and Chloe was not there. This caused me some initial panic-at first I figured she was downstairs and had fallen asleep with Chris. Then I went and looked in her room and she was fast asleep in her bed. As far as Chris and I can figure out, I was asleep when she returned with her cuppy, so she just went ahead to her own bed. Chris was a little annoyed when he realized that he missed his one opportunity to sleep in his own bed. I am thinking I was VERY tired to have missed her returning upstairs. This also reminds me of the fatigue I felt after I had Leah and she was still a little baby and I fell asleep in the bathtub. At that point in my life I had never experienced such fatigue.

Chris is on call tonight and Sunday night and I have nothing on my agenda. We have Monday off from school for Martin Luther King Day, but as of now I plan on taking Leah to preschool. She has had two opportunities to play with friends and both were OK, but I have noticed more recently that she opts to watch a great deal and would prefer to converse with the adults. I am not sure if that is because she has her ears pealed and wants to know what we are saying about her, or because her life is so different from those of her peers right now. She does talk about school a lot, though, especially going for Conner's birthday. And, she is also concerned with the treat schedule because she would really like to bring some.

Leah's quote of the day was recalling Grandma Karen preparing Chris' lunch. She was chuckling out loud as she told me how Grandma had asked "Chis" if he wanted to eat in the living room, but he told her he could eat in the kitchen. "That was kite (quite) hilarious." (I think something was lost in the translation). She also "read" an Arthur book to us (this can go on for hours at times) about Binky Barnes being called a pickle head. Tonight her reading consisted of Arthur replying by saying "b-b-b-but" with a stutter--she really gets into her books.

We all continue to see more and more people wearing Love For Leah bracelets. Sara is quite the salesgirl, and we are happy so many people are thinking about Leah--and praying for her. We continue to need these prayers for the upcoming weeks, and even months as Leah continues in treatment.