Life Is Good

Our baby is doing good. I was expecting this first week being home from the hospital to be the same as last time. Someone needed to be right with her or she would tip right over, she was also out of it and more fussy than normal. This time was much better. She has hardly been groggy at all. I think that she had a lot less medication in her this time when we brought her home. She seems to be doing really well. Her blood counts are all up and looking great, in fact her ANC (absolute neutrophil count- which helps to fight off infection) are high enough that for now we can stop giving her the neupogen shots that we usually give her every night, YEA!!! Her levels will probably drop over the next week though and we may need to give them to her again before her next treatment, but that is okay. Her Broviac Line is still causing some problems when we try to draw back blood, but our home health care nurse is getting pretty good at figuring out what to do to get it to work. We have found that it works much quicker if we have her laying down either on her back or stomach, but even with that it is no guarantee that it will draw blood right away. It is always interesting especially those mornings when she comes and I haven't had the chance to brush my teeth yet and I end up needing to sing over and over again, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with actions all while holding my daughters arms and being only about a foot away from the nurses face. Maybe on those days I should get up a few minutes earlier to brush my teeth, so that the home health care nurse doesn't pass out on me! My little girl is quite the trooper, I wonder if her body will just continue to get more adjusted to its new normal and the changes in her will have less effect on her. She is still struggling with finding foods that taste good to her, but when we find something we let her eat it until she is full. We also just follow her around with a sippy cup offering her drinks throughout the day, our hope is that she will get enough to drink this way. She loves spending time with her brother and sisters and they can always make her smile and laugh. Sometimes I listen to her playing with her siblings and forget that she has cancer, and has just undergone chemotherapy... until I look over and see her darling little bald head, then I remember! I guess my point is, she is doing much better than I had expected coming home this time, WHAT A BLESSING. I will keep everyone updated with her blood counts over the next few weeks, and if things continue to go as well as they are we won't need to go the hospital until her next round of treatment, which will happen after Thanksgiving.