March 4, 2010

Well, we did keep Leah's appointment. Dr. Radhi even called me on Monday morning after I emailed him twice asking him his advice. The AFP this month is 2.5.....still well within the normal range, but up a bit. No one in Iowa City is worried, but of course as Leah's mom, I would like the AFP to decrease every single month (which technically isn't possible). It has been 2.5 before, but not for a while. I guess we are hoping this is a growth spurt and nothing more. She has been off treatment for almost four years now, and each and every day we are thankful for her great health. We will continue to pray that her next AFP is lower again so we can breathe a little easier. Her platelets were up a bit, which is what we wanted, as was her hemoglobin - this was not surprising, either, since she has been very full of energy lately. Leah is now 3 ft 9 and a half...it would be great if she could have a little growth spurt.
Shopping and lunch at Hu Hot were on the agenda today, but we arrived home earlier than normal, which was kind of nice. We were both very tired and this way we were able to pick up Chloe from school. Tonight we need to be working on bedtime, but I promised the girls we would watch an episode of Home Improvement before we call it a night. They are waiting (im)patiently for me to be done posting, so I better call it a day.
Thanks for checking in, and all of your prayers. We continue to pray for Leah's complete healing here on earth.

Upcoming Appointment

Last Monday I received Leah's appointment notification in the mail. I knew that we would be returning to Iowa City in March, but thought it was going to be towards the end of the month. I was not mentally prepared for seeing the envelope from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and have been toying with the idea of putting off her check-up for a few weeks. Dr. Radhi left it up to me as to whether we should see him every four or six months. I chose four months; six months seems too long in between appointments, but this appointment is not even quite four months from her last. Obviously I need to make a decision within the next day or two. Leah has let it be known that she does NOT want to go to Iowa City this Thursday, either. I emailed Dr. Radhi to get his input, but he was out of the office last week, so I will have to see if he replies today.
Maybe a check-up seems like no big deal - Leah does look good and seems to feel just fine, yet the idea of some unknown lurking in her body is always there. Even driving through the hospital parking lot during Dance Marathon almost made me sick to my stomach. The longer we are away from that life, the less we want to go back. So, these checkups are a big deal to me. Each one buys us X number of days of living in the real world, not the cancer world.
And we have been enjoying the real world. Chris has been helping with the little kids wrestling program and also the high school wrestling program. I have been doing some after school tutoring that has meant extra hours several times a week. Leah has piano lessons and both girls have gymnastics. They also attend midweek at the Baptist church. Reeve is going to story hour at the library on Thursday nights, and getting ready to start gymnastics herself. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring and hoping for no more snow days this year.
Thank you for checking in on us and all of your prayers. I will update later this week about Leahs' appointment -if we have had it, or when we have rescheduled it.