February 6, 2006

I am blogging earlier than usual. Leah is reading books on the couch--we are hearing all about how jealous Ginger Snap is of Blueberry Muffin right now. Chloe is busy playing house, although she has informed me she has a dirty diaper.

Yesterday we all slept late and it felt great. It seems like the girls get up early no matter what time we go to bed, but yesterday we slept til nine. I use the term "slept" loosely. They seem to get sleep-Leah at the head of her bed and Chloe sleeping at the foot of the bed, but I am supposed to fit in there somewhere, too, and there is not a lot of room. Chloe sat up and looked at us and happily announced, "Ahmornin'" which we translated to "good morning." Leah did not seem too motivated to do anything special yesterday, but it felt great to be home. We took an afternoon nap and Chloe spent a lot of the afternoon with my mom and dad. She seemed to like that, too. Just as Grandma Kathy was driving to Denver with Chloe Leah announed she needed to go to Grandma and Grandpa's. So, we humored her and Chloe and Grandma returned to her house and we were a few minutes behind. This is also on the agenda for later tonight.

Leah and I had our first experience at Covenant getting blood in the Outpatient Clinic. I do like this so much more than the finger poke lab. Here we had our own private room and two nurses who were extremely kind to Leah. She hated it, of course, and it makes me want to cry, too, to see her have to endure this, but of course we are doing these things because we want to save her life. The whole procedure itself was done in just minutes and they had blood return right away and no trouble accessing her port. That made it seem better. The two nurses we met today, Elaine and Georgene, will be the same two we see each time.

After the Covenant experience we went to Target to get some new nail polish and a DVD for Grandma to have at her house for Leah to watch when she wants to. We did not have a lot of time when we got home for us to hang out because I went to school this afternoon. It actually feels good to be there sometimes, and it makes me remember a little what it is like to be "normal." I am sure people are sick of hearing me talk about Leah, cancer, chemotherapy, etc. It is hard to be a normal person and talk about all the other things in life that everyone else gets to talk about. It is not that I am not interested, because sometimes it is a good diversion, it is just that my mind is on one thing, and one thing only.

Mary in Iowa City (Mary in the Middle) called with Leah's blood results just as I left for school. Overall her counts look good- including her electrolytes. Her hemoglobin is even 11.3 - good for Leah, and almost in the "normal" range. The bummer of the day is that she is neutropenic-the only count of hers that was not good- so we are starting the dreaded GCSF shots tonight. Leah knows about this and shed a few tears, but this is another thing we have to do. I think Chris and I would do fine with this, but I called our neighbor, Esther, who is a nurse practitioner and is going to come over and help us out. The hope is that her counts recover enough by Wednesday so she is done with the shots and we can start chemotherapy by Friday. Otherwise it will get pushed back until next Monday. Mary also told me her next CT scan is scheduled for February 23. This felt like an instant kick to the gut. I know we need to know how her tumor looks and if it is responding, but part of me enjoys happy oblivion, too. Obviously the sooner this round of chemo. could start the more time it will have to shrink the tumor before her scan. You can imagine what is on my prayer list----shrinking tumor, good scan results, and the ability to start chemotherapy this week.

Also a sidenote that I forgot to mention when writing about Dance Marathon-Leah's preschool teacher, Mrs. Larson, was down for Dance Marathon, too. She was able to be in the ballroom with the dancers and really, really wanted Leah to dance with her. Of course Leah in her typical fashion, stuck her little chin out and refused. Mrs. Larsons daughter, Katie, participated in Dance Marathon and raised a huge amount of money for this cause.

So, just so you can hear it one more time and there is no confusion-please pray for a shrinking tumor, good scan results, and the ability to start chemotherapy this week.

I have heard from our bracelet salesgirl, Sara, that she is still doing a good business and ordered 800 more bracelets, so there are still some available. We are looking forward to getting Leah and Sara together soon to meet.

Also, as you plan ahead, a benefit for Leah is being planned for April 8. While Chris and I do not know all the ins and outs there are several people on the committee, and they have great things planned.